Hard Water in Heaters and Industry

Problems in Water Boiler Systems and Pipework
Hard water also contributes to inefficient and costly operation of water-using appliances. Heated hard water forms a scale of calcium and magnesium minerals (limescale deposits) that can contribute to the inefficient operation or failure of water-using appliances. Pipes can become clogged with scale that reduces water flow and ultimately requires pipe replacement. Limescale has been known to increase energy bills by up to 25%

Limescale in Solar Heating Systems
Solar heating, often used for heating swimming pools is prone to limescale buildup, which can reduce the efficiency of the electronic pump and therefore the overall systems performance will deteriorate.

There are low cost solutions to this problem which prevents limescale build up and over time will remove existing deposits completely – more information on this can be found in Chapter 4.

In Industry
Hard water contributes to scaling in boilers, cooling towers and other industrial equipment. In these industrial settings, water hardness must be constantly monitored to avoid costly breakdowns. Hardness is controlled by addition of chemicals and by large-scale softening with zeolite resins and ion exchange resins.