Category: Water Treatment Systems

The Amazing Secret of the Water Softener: Ion Exchange

Posted on

Hard water is an unfortunate plague on the plumbing in many homes in our area. The minerals that create hard water—magnesium, gypsum, various calcites—seep into the pipes carrying water from the municipal supply to homes, which is why hard water gets past chemical treatment plants.

Hard water damages plumbing and appliances, create a filmy residue on surfaces and leaves skin feeling dry and itchy. If your home is suffering under the curse of hard water, the magic to make it go away is the water softener.

How a water softener works

A water softener isn’t a standard type of water treatment system that uses filters or UV radiation to clean the water. Filters are excellent at straining out many contaminants, but they rarely are any good against hard water minerals, and UV purifiers are only designed to target organic pollutants.

A water softener instead works through a process called ion exchange. The short version of ion exchange is that it swaps the hard water ions for sodium ions, which “softens” the water. Yes, trading magnesium and calcium for salt.

Now here’s the long version:

A whole-house water softener it attached to the water main where it enters a home, so all the water from the municipal system must pass through it. The water goes through a chamber that is filled with beads made of resin. The beads are covered with sodium ions. Because of the difference in charge of the sodium ions and the hard water ions, they naturally change position. The magnesium and calcium are drawn to the beads, and the sodium is released.

The beads in the chamber can’t carry on this ion exchange indefinitely—they’ll run out of sodium eventually. The chamber is thus recharged regularly from a brine tank, which contains a solution of water and sodium. The brine washes away the collection of hard water minerals (basically going through ion exchange again, but the other direction) and leaves the resin beads “recharged” with sodium. The brine in the tank will need occasional refilling to ensure the water softener can keep doing its job.

“What if there’s too much sodium in the water?” This is something people are concerned about with water softeners. Can the water become too soft? Yes, it can. However, professional plumbers will size the water softener so there is little danger of this happening. If the high sodium problem can’t be avoided, plumbers can install a reverse osmosis filter to reduce the sodium levels and balance out the hardness in the water to the ideal levels for a home.

Professional Water Softener Installation

To take care of your plumbing in Hyattsville, MD, whether it means installing a water softener or any other job, you can depend on our team of licensed plumbers. We’ve built our business on honesty and integrity, offering great work at a fair price. We work with water softeners as well as other water treatment systems like reverse osmosis systems, UV water purifiers, and water filters.

Signs You Need a Water Softener

Posted on

Hard water. It’s a major problem across the country in residential water supplies, affecting approximately 85% of homes to some degree or another. For some households, the hardness won’t cause problems. But the higher the level of hardness, the more danger the hard water minerals pose to the plumbing system and the water-using appliances attached to it. If your home has a high level of water hardness, the best method to deal with it is to have our plumbers install a water softener.

Warning Signs of Hard Water Trouble

Hard water means water that has above-average concentrations of certain minerals in it, primarily magnesium and calcium. These do not make the water harmful to drink (although they can affect taste quality). But they create scale inside pipes and fixtures and along surfaces, leading to plumbing problems and difficulty with keeping a house and the people in it clean. Below are some signs that this is occurring in your house:

  • Poor soap lather: The presence of hard water minerals makes it more difficult to create soap suds for washing and bathing. This is often one of the earliest signs people notice of hard water.
  • Filmy feeling in skin and hair: Hard water leaves behind an unpleasant, filmy residue. You may notice this film on your skin and hair after showering.
  • Streaks and film on glass and porcelain: Likewise, the film from hard water will appear on glass surfaces and the porcelain of sinks. If your glass shower doors never seem to get clean, hard water may be the reason. You’ll also notice spots on glasses that go through the dishwasher.
  • Faded laundry: The minerals in hard water are brought out as scale when the water is heated. This will cause your laundry colors to rapidly fade after going through the washing machine.
  • Flaky deposits on fixtures: Calcite deposits will develop on faucets and showerhead because of hard water. If your showerhead is clogging up and sending streams in all directions, the trouble may be these calcite deposits.
  • Increased water pressure: High water pressure occurs because scale deposits inside the pipes are cutting down on volume. This can also lead to excessive amounts of leaks.

Keep this in mind: hard water isn’t just a nuisance. It can lead to expensive trouble for your plumbing. The appliance in your house that’s in the most danger is the water heater, which will develop limescale inside its tank and threaten to overheat or corrode. You’ll also run into busted dishwashers, laundry machines, and leaking pipes. Never ignore indications of hard water—because when they get out of hand, it will hit your budget hard.

Water Softeners Solve the Problem

Water softeners safely counteract hard water by replacing harmful minerals with sodium ions. This “softens” the water and protects the plumbing, as well as makes cleaning easier and the house more pleasant.

Where do you get a water softener in College Park, MD? You don’t go out and shop for one, either in a brick-and-mortar store or online. For the right water softener installed correctly, it takes plumbing professionals with experience in water treatment systems.

What Does a Water Softener Do?

Posted on

Hard water is a common problem in homes across the country. In fact, studies have shown that approximately 85% of homes have hard water in their plumbing.

But what does this actually mean? What makes hard water a problem, and how does a water softener fix it?

Hard vs. Soft Water

Right from the start, the terms “hard” and “soft” water sound strange to people who aren’t specialists in water treatment. (How can water be “soft”? And isn’t “hard water” just ice?) But the concept isn’t that complicated. The hardness of water, which can be determined by professional water testing, is the amount of magnesium and calcium grains suspended in the water. The more grains, the harder the water. Water is considered hard when it exceeds 3 grains per gallon (GPG). Less than this is considered soft. Unfortunately, water hardness here in Maryland homes often exceeds 10 GPG, which is considered “very hard”!

Hard Water Problems

Hard water isn’t harmful to drink. The minerals in hard water are in much of the food you eat. The trouble from hard water comes from what it does to the plumbing in a house. The minerals can dissolve from the water and create build-up along with the interior of pipes. Over time, this build-up reduces the volume available for water, leading to spikes in water pressure, leaks, and clogs. Worse is what hard water mineral can do to a water heater: the heat inside the tank will turn the minerals in hard water into limescale along the tank walls. This will significantly reduce the service life of the water heater.

There are many other nuisances hard water creates: soap scum on surfaces, spots on dishes and shower doors, difficulty creating soap lather for cleaning, faded fabrics in the laundry, and a generally icky feeling on your skin after you bathe or shower.

The Water Softener at Work

The solution to hard water is an installation of a water softener in Gaithersburg, VA. You must have a professional take care of the job of attaching the water softener onto where the main water line enters the house.

Water that enters the water softener passes through a chamber filled with resin beads. The beads are negatively charged and covered with positively charged sodium ions. As the hard water moves over the beads, ion exchange takes place: the sodium ions, which are harmless for plumbing, swap places with the magnesium and calcium ions, which instead attach to the resin beads. Once all the sodium in the tank is used up, the water softener goes into a regeneration cycle. A salty brine solution washes over the beads, replacing the lost sodium ions while removing the magnesium and calcium ions. The hard water minerals are flushed out of the water softener and the system is ready to start the process again.

Because hard water is such a common problem, we recommend all homes arrange for water testing. You can contact us to set up a convenient testing appointment. After we receive the results, we can advise you on whether you need a water softener and then handle the work to install one.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice for Silver Spring, MD, and the Surrounding Areas.

The UV Water Purifier: How It Works and Its Benefits

Posted on

People are more worried than ever before about the contaminants that might enter their home’s drinking water. Although lead is the first worry of the majority of homeowners, bacterial and microbial infections are often the bigger danger. Microorganisms that can lead to health problems can seep into a home’s water supply in a variety of ways, and unfortunately, they often slip through water treatment systems such as charcoal filters designed to trap larger particles.

Our plumbers recommend our customers look into the installation of UV water purifiers in Potomac, MD or elsewhere in Montgomery County for their homes. We offer many types of water treatment systems, and we’ll see your home receives the protection it needs.

How a UV water purifier works

Your home’s water supply can contain E. coli, Rhizopus stolonifer, Legionella pneumophila, salmonella, viruses, cholera, and other harmful microbes… but they won’t be able to escape the power of ultraviolet radiation found in UV water purifiers. In action, this purifier is simple. It uses a special lamp that bathes the water entering through the water main in UV light at a particular wavelength harmful to the DNA of microorganisms, i.e. the “germicidal spectrum or frequency.” This UV spectrum isn’t harmful to people or pets, but it causes microorganisms to lose their ability to function and reproduce, making them unable to replicate and therefore unable to harm other organisms. A properly installed UV water purifier will destroy 99.9% of the harmful microorganisms you may find polluting your water supply.

The benefits of using a UV water purifier

The main benefit of using this type of purifier is how effectively it targets small contaminants that standard charcoal filters (the type you find infiltration pitchers and standard whole-house water filtration systems) can’t stop. Even powerful reverse osmosis filters can miss these contaminants. UV purifiers also place no restrictions on water flow and will not interfere with water pressure.

A UV water purifier also keeps water genuinely pure. Unlike other methods of dealing with water-borne microbes, a UV purifier places no chemicals such as chlorine into the water supply. The light from the ultraviolet lamps does no harm to the water—or to anybody in your home. Although people often think of UV rays as harmful to the skin (and when coming from the sun, they can be), the UV rays used in water disinfection are not carcinogenic. Besides, the process occurs in an enclosed container so no one in your household will be exposed to the lamps in the first place.

UV water purifier filters will last from 6 to 12 months, but they are easy to have replaced. You can always rely on our technicians to assist you with regular maintenance as well as repairs when necessary.

To get started with the right water treatment system for your home, arrange with us for water testing services. Our professionals can use this data to find if you require a UV water purifier or some other type of water treatment system to purify your household drinking water.

The Importance of Testing Well Water

Posted on

Not all homes in Silver Spring and Montgomery County have access to a municipal plumbing system. These homes instead rely on drawing their water from the ground well. Our plumbers are familiar with the plumbing systems necessary to keep water flowing from a well and into a home’s freshwater pipes. We work with well pumps, so if your home uses a well and you’ve experienced issues with a drop in water pressure, contact our team. They can help with fixing your well pump or replacing it if necessary. Our regular maintenance will see that your well pump continues to work at its best.

Today, however, we’re going to address another important concern with wells, and one that our professionals can help you with as well: water testing.

Regular Water Testing Is Vital for Wells

The water that comes from the municipal system must go through a treatment plant first to remove contaminants such as bacteria and lead. But water from wells doesn’t go through a treatment plant, which often makes it necessary for a homeowner to have a water treatment system in place to remove pollutants. There is a danger of harmful impurities entering a well through ground seepage.

Here are some of the specific concerns with well water that testing will find:

  • Hard water minerals: The minerals that cause hard water are principally magnesium and calcium. This is the most common problem found in well water, and happens because of water passing through limestone and gypsum. Hard water isn’t known to cause negative effects on health, but it will cause damage to pipes and water-using appliances.
  • Nitrogen: Nitrogen compounds enter the ground water through a number of sources, such as fertilizers, manure, sewage, and landfills. Common kinds of nitrogen in ground water are ammonia and nitrates. Nitrates are especially harmful to children under 6 years old.
  • Bacteria: Many types of dangerous bacteria can enter through water seepage. coli is only one example of dangerous coliform bacteria that can enter your water.
  • Sulfur: Sulfide and sulfates in water creates the “rotten egg smell” from well water. They can cause plumbing damage from corrosion and cause stains on clothing.

How Often to Schedule Well Water Testing

The National Ground Water Association recommends that well owners have water testing from professionals done once a year. They recommend testing more often if a homeowner notices specific issues with the water, which includes changes in taste and appearance, or if the property has recently had a septic system problem. Homes with infants or young children may often need to have more frequent water testing because children are at a higher risk from waterborne pollutants.

If you haven’t had water testing for your well in over a year, call our offices today to schedule your water testing in Chevy Chase, MD.

Water Testing Is a Good Idea for Any Home

We’ll close out this post with the reminder that testing water for a home, regardless of whether that water comes from a well or the municipal system, is a good idea. The water that comes through civic pipes can pick up lead, chemicals, hard water minerals, and other harmful pollutants. Thanks to our professional testing, you can find the water treatment system that will provide your house with healthy water.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Contractor of Choice! Contact us for all your plumbing needs.

Ways to Tell It’s Time to Schedule Water Testing

Posted on

Water testing does a thorough job of finding out if the water in a home contains unhealthy pollutants. The testing usually takes around a week: a team of professionals comes to the house to take samples from different water sources in the house, and then sends them to a lab. A week later, the lab results return, and the professionals go over the report with the homeowners and offer suggestions for how to improve water quality.

We’re proud to offer water testing services, as well as filters, UV water purifiers, water softeners, and reverse osmosis systems to purifier a home’s water. If you aren’t sure if you should have water testing done, here’s a few ways to tell the time has come:

1. You’ve never had water testing before

Yes, the easiest sign that you need water testing is that you simply haven’t had it done. Almost any home can benefit from water testing—and even if the testing doesn’t find issues that need addressing, you’ll be glad to have the peace of mind.

2. Your water comes from a well

It’s essential to have your water tested regularly (as in once a year) if you receive the water from a well rather than the municipal system. The water from a well doesn’t go through a treatment plant, and there could be numerous ground contaminants in it.

3. High turbidity in the water (i.e. the water looks cloudy)

If you look at a glass of water poured from one of the taps, and it appears cloudy, which means there’s high turbidity in the water. Testing will find out what is causing this and what to do about it.

4. A change in water taste or smell

Unpleasant metal tastes or rotten-egg odors in the water are warnings of problems such as heavy metals and sulfides.

5. Film and build-up over fixtures and surfaces

When water starts to leave a detectable film across surfaces (most noticeable on glass), then it’s likely you have hard water. Hard water also leaves flaky deposits on fixtures and can bleach out colors from clothing in the laundry.

Is a Reverse Osmosis System a Good Option for Clean Water in My Home?

Posted on

If you are concerned about the quality of the water that comes into your house from the municipal plumbing system, you aren’t alone… and you probably have a good reason for those concerns. Even the best water treatment plant can’t prevent chemicals, minerals, and heavy metals from entering the water in the pipes as it travels to your house. When you suspect poor quality water, arrange for water testing with us, and we’ll determine what type of water treatment system will resolve the problem.

One of the most common types of water treatment solutions we recommend is the reverse osmosis filtration system.

How Reverse Osmosis Works

A reverse osmosis (RO) filter is essentially a powerful filter that can remove much smaller pollutants than standard adsorption filters. An RO system can eliminate pesticides, nickel, iron, chlorine, sodium phosphate (the source of that “rotten egg” smell everybody hates), arsenic, and even bacteria. But if you know anything about how filters work, you’ll wonder how the water can be forced through a filter powerful enough to trap those contaminants. Wouldn’t it be too thick, and end up stopping the water as well?

This is where the osmosis part comes in. An RO treatment system creates two areas of pressure in the water on the two sides of the filter. The water on the incoming side is kept at a much higher pressure, and osmosis—the natural movement from a high-pressure area to a lower pressure one—forces the water through the semi-porous membrane. The water flow isn’t interrupted, and the unwanted particles are removed.

But to make sure that an RO system is right for your home, leave the work to professionals. Testing and proper installation are necessary to make sure an RO system does the job it’s supposed to, without harming water flow in the house.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating offers extensive water treatment services in Gaithersburg, MD and through the surrounding areas.

Book Now