Learn More About Liberty Pure
Have a water-related question? We have the answer. Check out these FAQs and give us a call today for more information!
Do I really need a service plan for my water treatment equipment?
Service plans ensure your water treatment equipment is in continuous working order. Poor or no maintenance can bring back the hard water issues you bought your water softener for in the first place. During your service call, the water is tested before and after to make sure all adjustments are made for efficient and thorough water conditioning. Testing the hot and cold water is important to make sure water is not getting by untreated.
A water treatment system malfunction is sometimes so gradual that you don’t notice, but a professional will pick up on issues before they cause a breakdown. Sediment can clog injectors, cause timer motors to fail, and bypass valves can get accidentally activated along with a host of other issues you want to avoid. A timer valve failure, for instance, can ruin the softener as it is no longer cleaning itself and will fail prematurely. Other items like UV lights must have the bulbs changed annually; however, if you do not check and clean the quartz sleeve inside, it can become ineffective over time. Reverse osmosis systems are very expensive, and if not maintained, will fail to remove the dissolved solids.
Through our service plans, we offer the following services:
- Deliver and install filters throughout the water process annually
- Deliver and install a 12-month supply of solar salt if needed
- Service and refill acid neutralizers
- Dump and repack carbon tanks as needed
- Replace UV lights and clean annually
- Add upgrades and introduce new technology as it becomes available
- Offer special pricing on upgrades and plumbing services
- Offer special pricing on water heaters, well pumps, tanks, etc.
- Offer special pricing on plumbing services
- Allow you to customize some of the plans to meet your specific needs
We encourage you, as included in our maintenance plans, to regularly assess water quality to indicate changes in your water filtration systems.
Are there any potential health risks associated with corrosion by-products from water transported through galvanized drinking water pipes?
Although galvanized (zinc-coated) pipe is still considered to be a safe transport material for drinking water, there are some potential health concerns if the water supply is corrosive due to its acidic condition (low pH). Public water utilities treat their water to make it essentially non-corrosive, so this should not be a concern if you are on a public water system. The concern is not for zinc or iron that may be leaching from the pipe, but for lead and cadmium, two other heavy metals that may be present as impurities in the zinc used for the galvanizing process.
The primary drinking water standards for lead and cadmium are 0.015 and 0.005 mg/L, respectively. If you are on a private well water system where the plumbing is galvanized pipe and the water frequently has a slightly bitter taste, you should have your water tested. A zinc concentration of more than 5 mg/L will give water a bitter, astringent taste but is not a health risk. The EPA has set a secondary contaminant level of 5 mg/L for zinc.
Installing water softener systems and filters is a step any homeowner can take to improve their water quality.
Our water is life-giving, but is it also of a quality that might harm us?
The fact is a lot of us haven’t ever tested our water, nor asked any critical questions about it. Through helping my neighbors deal with water quality issues for the past 30 years, I have learned how to deal with a wide variety of contaminants. Arsenic, nitrates, radium, radon, pesticides, herbicides, and metals, such as copper and lead, can have negative health effects on the human body, young and old, born and unborn. These concerns can be mitigated with effective water filtration systems.
There are also numerous nuisance contaminants, such as low pH, which can corrode metal pipes, causing blue-green stains on sinks and eventually leaks due to pin holes in the pipes. According to ABC News, hard water can be found in around 90% of homes across the country. Total dissolved solids and hardness can cause scale buildup in pipes and water heaters, lead to spotting on dishes, shower doors, sinks, and fixtures, or ruin appliances years before you should have to replace them. Iron could ruin your favorite outfit the next time you do laundry. Chlorides from road salt and other sources have contaminated hundreds of wells in the area, ruining appliances, clothes, and pipes due to their aggressive nature.
My company, as well as a lot of my competitors, offer free water testing and estimates (advice). When selecting a company, check their rating and water treatment certifications (wqa.org), find out about previous complaints through the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and most importantly, talk to your neighbors about water treatment providers. Get more than one estimate.
According to The Water Quality Association National Science Foundation Harford County Quality Water Report, the annual water report states: “Last year, as in past years, your drinking water met all EPS and State health standards.” However, while atrazine, ethylene dibromide, radium, PFAS, chlorine, and sodium are all below the EPA standard (municipal water), they are all present in the drinking water at a level that EPA says is safe. Water softeners and reverse osmosis systems can significantly improve the quality of your home’s water.
What are the key benefits of UV sterilization?
UV sterilization isn’t essential if you are on a public water system, but it could be if you have a private system, as there are many concerns to be addressed there.
As part of effective water filtration systems, UV sterilizers offer the following benefits:
- Elimination of microbiological organisms
- Removal of organic and inorganic matter
- Elimination of other organic and inorganic substances
- Reduction of decontamination derivatives
- Increased efficiency disinfection
- Removal of bad odors and flavors
What's a common disinfection myth and its rebuttal?
The most common water safety myth is that nobody needs disinfection. The truth is everyone can benefit from disinfection. Here are some of the most common objections we hear, and why those beliefs are wrong:
If the water looks and tastes good, it doesn’t need to be disinfected.
You can’t see, smell, or taste microbes in water. Just because the water’s crystal clear and tastes great, doesn’t mean it isn’t contaminated.
A little bacteria never hurt anyone.
Some bacteria that can be found in water may not make an average, healthy adult sick, but when ingested by children, the elderly, or someone with a compromised immune system, those same bacteria can cause extreme, even life-threatening illnesses.
The well is deep and constructed properly, so it won’t get contaminated.
According to the USGS, one in three private wells tested show coliform contamination. A well may be drilled and maintained perfectly, and something completely unrelated to the well’s integrity or structure can cause the water to become contaminated. Whether it’s due to agricultural run-off, a nearby leaking septic system, or a flood that causes water to rise over the well cap, contaminants can get into the aquifer and water well through countless ways. There’s also the problem that well integrity lessens over time, so older water wells become vulnerable long after that great construction job.
Water filtration systems with UV sterilization features offer the disinfection needed to support the health of everyone in your household.
What are PFAS?
Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic compounds widely used in industrial applications. They are characterized by a highly fluorinated hydrophobic linear carbon chain attached to a hydrophilic functional group. PFAS are of interest due to their longevity in the environment, toxicity, adaptability, and negative human health impacts.
The chemical structure of PFAS give them unique properties, such as heat survivability and oil and water repellency, making them useful in industrial and consumer products. During the manufacturing process and use of PFAS products, PFAS have become airborne. Water and soil have become contaminated throughout the world.
The Environmental Protection Agency has found that there is strong evidence that PFAS may cause cancer (EPA 2016d, 2016e). The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has found that PFOA is possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)(IARC 2016). In May 2016, the EPA established drinking water health advisories of 70 parts per trillion (0.07 micrograms per liter) for PFAS. To learn more about our water softeners and water filtration systems and how they address PFAS, give us a call today.
Hard water – 8 major signs you have problems in your home
You just moved into a new place and you notice something is not quite right. There’s something going on, and you have a sneaking suspicion it might have to do with the tap water.
Hard water problems can be a real hassle, especially for new homeowners who may be unfamiliar with the issues it causes. Solving those problems can vastly improve your family’s quality of life and get things back to normal again.
So What is Hard Water?
We all learned in school that water is H2O – two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom make up a water molecule, right? What many of us don’t realize is that extra stuff can get into the water we drink. Some of it is perfectly safe to consume, while other water contaminants could negatively impact your family’s health. But tap water is certainly not 100% pure H20.
Hard water is basically water containing a high mineral count. Groundwater often percolates through limestone where it picks up calcium and magnesium deposits.
Drinking water can also contain trace minerals like iron, which gets picked up from the soil, lakes, and rivers – even older, corroded plumbing. In some regions, hard water may also contain manganese or aluminum.
Of course, things like calcium, magnesium, and iron aren’t necessarily bad for you. In fact, they’re actually beneficial nutrients. However, hard water sediments can also carry potentially harmful bacteria along with them. A 2014 study found hard water scaling is directly responsible for bacterial growth in residential drinking water.
If your home gets water from a well, you most likely have hard water. But it’s not just a rural issue. The U.S. Geological Survey says 85% of homes in the nation have hard water.
Here are eight potential problems hard water causes. Do any of them sound familiar?
1. Your Water Tastes or Smells Funny
A strange odor or taste in drinking water is often one of the first clues you have a water conditioning problem. It’s a sure sign there is hard water or some sort of bacterial contaminant.
For instance, if your water has an unpleasant metallic taste. That’s probably too much iron.
If your water smells like rotten eggs, that could be naturally occurring hydrogen sulfide gas or certain bacteria reacting with magnesium to form sulfates.
Some people say their water tastes like dirt.
That could be sediment (actual dirt), old pipes, or algae. Algal blooms can also give tap water a moldy aftertaste.
No one likes to drink water with a funky smell or flavor. But that’s just the beginning of your problems.
2. You’re Getting Strange Stains
Ugly brown or reddish stains on the porcelain are a big embarrassment.
You can blame hard water for that too – specifically iron.
It’s no coincidence those stains look a lot like rust spots. The iron in your water could be coming from rusty pipes.
You’ll have to use a lot of elbow grease to get rid of those stains.
Some people suggest using vinegar to help clean and remove them. Unfortunately, the stains will keep reappearing until you fix your hard water problem.
3. You’re Constantly Cleaning Up Soap Scum
Another unsightly issue is the appearance of those white, hard water spots.
That’s what you get when water evaporates and leaves calcium deposits behind.
When you have hard water, you’ll notice nasty soap scum seems to accumulate all over the place. That’s because soap and the minerals in hard water just don’t play nicely together.
If your dishes are always spotty, it may not be your dishwasher, it’s probably your water. What’s worse – soap scum left on shower curtains can lead to the development of a microbial biofilm that might contain disease-spreading bacteria.
With hard water, you may find yourself cleaning the bathroom and kitchen more often and using more cleaning product to get the job done. Who wants to do that?
4. Your Showering Experience Suffers
Showering is your time to escape the world for ten minutes to wash the dirt and worries away. But when you have hard water, shower time can be ruined.
As we’ve mentioned, minerals cause hard water to react ineffectively with soap.
This makes it harder to get a good lather when you bathe. It also makes it more difficult to wash all the soap off your body, leaving a film of soapy residue on your skin.
Deposits from hard water can clog up your shower head too. That means weaker water pressure.
With hard water, you may not be getting as clean and you may notice your hair is hard to manage. Yes, hard water could even be responsible for your bad hair days.
5. Your Pipes Keep Getting Clogged
Showerheads aren’t the only things that can get clogged up thanks to hard water.
It can cause major plumbing issues as well.
Scale deposits build up inside your pipes, like plaque inside an artery, constricting the flow of water, eventually leading to backups and the need to call a plumber for help.
If you have PVC or copper pipes, this probably is not an issue. It’s most common with older, steel pipes.
6. Your Clothes Aren’t Getting Clean
Hard water can have a negative impact on laundry – and once again – it’s all due to the rocky relationship minerals like calcium and magnesium have with soap and detergent.
Soap is used to wash away dirt and grime, but when soap doesn’t get rinsed off, it can actually increase soil buildup on your clothes.
Clothes washed in hard water often appear dingy and wear out faster. It can even make your towels scratchy and rough.
When you have hard water, you may have to buy detergent formulated to soften the water for you. However, you’ll likely have to use more laundry detergent (and hotter water) to get your clothes clean. It’s even advised that people with hard water use four times as much detergent.
Plus, just as iron stains your bathroom fixtures, it can stain your clothes. Premature yellowing of your whites could be caused by the iron content in the water. When combined with bleach, iron oxidizes, and iron oxide is just another name for rust.
7. Your Family Has Skin Irritation Issues
Because washing in hard water will leave soap behind, it causes people’s skin to get dried out and itchy.
Mineral deposits left on the body can also suck the moisture right out of your skin.
The skin condition eczema is fairly common, especially among younger children.
There is research indicating that bathing in hard water could cause eczema symptoms to worsen.
Another study concluded exposure to hard water could increase the risk of developing eczema in elementary-school-age children.
8. Your Appliances Are Wearing Out Quickly
This might be the most expensive hard water problem of all. Those scale deposits can wreak havoc on many appliances in your home, from the dishwasher to the hot water heater.
A buildup of sediment in your water heater can make it far less efficient. The same goes for other appliances. Poor efficiency means bigger utility bills.
The icemaker in your fridge can stop working as scale deposits clog up valves. The American Water Works Association says hard water can cause a washing machine to wear out 30% faster than normal.
It’s not difficult to see how hard water can cost you money in the long run. In fact, it’s estimated hard water expenses could cost you $800 or more every year.
How Water Conditioning Could Help
There are different solutions to different problems, but there’s only one perfect answer to all your hard water issues. That would be installing a water softener in your home.
Water softeners remove things like calcium, magnesium, and iron from your water as it comes in from the source. It’s an investment that could save you headaches as well as money.
There are also other types of water conditioning products, like a reverse osmosis system, which can help eliminate potentially harmful contaminants.
If you’re ready to look into the possibility of a water softener in your home, or if you simply have questions about the options available, see our all of our quality product lines on this site or call 1-800-253-2692 (800-CleanWater)
(Credit WQA.Org/water-rite(tm))
Reposted from http://www.water-rightgroup.com/blog/8-hard-water-problems/
Water heaters
Water heaters? Tankless water heaters? Oil, gas, or electric solar water heaters?
How can we help clear the confusion for you? We offer traditional heaters, high-efficiency heaters, and tankless and duplexing heaters. The stainless steel lifetime water heaters are the best in the industry, we also handle the most economical options.
Water heaters are not hot water heaters, as the water is not hot yet; sorry.
Water heaters can be very inconvenient when they go out; when should I consider replacing them? 10-15 years. Servicing water heaters is simple and can only take 30-45 minutes.
UV light - do I need disinfection?
Things happen. Any water source can become contaminated with microbes, and it always comes down to – you guessed it – fecal contamination.
Common sources include:
- Human: water sewage treatment plants, combined sewage overflow (CSO), poorly sited/functioning septic systems;
- Domestic animals: manure spreading, pit stock overflow; or
- Wildlife
True, the ground does act as a natural filter of sorts but make no mistake, microbes travel through soil layers right along with the infiltrating water. Viruses, because of their small size and large numbers (among other things), have the greatest potential to reach groundwater.
Having reached a saturated layer, microbial contaminants will spread – in every direction – through the whole groundwater body(1). Yes, the deeper the well, the better – assuming it’s actually drilled into a confined aquifer. Those wells are generally less susceptible to contamination(1).
Private well testing results
An analysis of 54 groundwater studies, most of which were focused on private wells, showed that 15% of tested wells were positive for enteric pathogens: bacteria, viruses, and/or protozoa(4). It seemed that bacteria and protozoa were local issues, while viral contamination was related to contamination at the aquifer level.
So, a well owner can simply test the water to know if harmful microbes are in it, right? Not so fast! The study(4) found NO correlation between the % of wells positive for indicator organisms (total coliforms, E.coli) and the % of wells positive for pathogens. And other studies have reached similar conclusions.
Water basics
Water basics – what is it?
Water is a molecule called H2O that contains two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. It’s a transparent, odorless liquid that you can find in lakes, rivers, and oceans. It falls from the sky as rain or snow.
Fresh water is the result of the Earth’s water or hydrologic cycle. Basically, the sun’s heat causes surface water to evaporate. It rises in the atmosphere, then cools and condenses to form clouds. When enough water vapor condenses, it falls back to the surface again as rain, sleet, or snow. The process repeats itself in a never-ending cycle.
The water we consume and use every day comes from two main sources: groundwater and surface water.
Groundwater
When rainwater or melting snow seeps into the ground, it collects in underground pockets called aquifers, which store the groundwater and form the water table, another name for the highest level of water that an aquifer can hold. Water levels can reach the water table or fall well below it depending on such factors as rainfall, drought, or the rate at which the water is being used. Groundwater usually comes from aquifers through a drilled well or natural spring.
Surface Water
Surface water flows through or collects in streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and oceans — not underground like groundwater. Surface water can be beautiful, even pristine-looking, but most of it isn’t directly fit for drinking. Fully 97% is found in the oceans and can’t be used for drinking because of its salt content. The other 3% of water is fresh, and most of that is locked up in ice or glaciers.
How much do you use?
A typical American uses 80-100 gallons of water every day. If that sounds like a lot, consider that the total includes not just drinking water, but also the water used for washing, watering lawns, and waste disposal. In fact, people actually drink less than 1% of the water coming into their homes. The rest goes for other purposes.
Unless you have your own well, you likely have to pay something for the water you use. A typical U.S. household pays about $1.50 per 1,000 gallons or $0.0015 per gallon. For a family of four using 100 gallons per person each day, that adds up to about $18 per month.
Bottled water has a higher price tag, although it may be preferred for businesses or homes that want a low-maintenance source of quality drinking water. According to the Beverage Marketing Corp., the wholesale cost of domestic, non-sparkling bottled drinking water was $1.21 per gallon in 2011. Drinking water sold in 20-ounce bottles may cost more than $6 per gallon.
Also, many homeowners have to pay for sewage (water that leaves the home). In the U.S., the average monthly cost for sewage is $84 a month.
How does it get to your home or business?
Typically, pipes bring the water supply from a facility that treats the water to your home or business. A well-built and maintained distribution system of pipes helps ensure its quality. Another format to provide water specifically for drinking to a home or business would be the installation of a water cooler or the delivery of bottled water.
Municipal water
Raw and untreated water is obtained from an underground aquifer (usually through wells) or from a surface water source, such as a lake or river. It is pumped, or flows, to a treatment facility. Once there, the water is pre-treated to remove debris such as leaves and silt. Then, a sequence of treatment processes — including filtration and disinfection with chemicals or physical processes — eliminates disease-causing microorganisms. When the treatment is complete, water flows out into the community through a network of pipes and pumps that are commonly referred to as the distribution system. Approximately 85% of the U.S. population receives its water from community water systems. Community water systems are required to meet the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Well water
A well is a strategically placed access point drilled into an aquifer, combined with a pump to withdraw the water and a basic filtering or screening system. Approximately 15% of the US population relies on individually owned sources of drinking water, such as wells, cisterns, and springs. The majority of household wells are found in rural areas. Water quality from household wells is the responsibility of the homeowner.
Bottled water
Bottled water is popular. Studies suggest that half of all Americans drink bottled water from time to time, and about a third consume it regularly. As with tap water, the source of bottled water is usually a municipal water system or a natural spring, and from there it may go through additional purification. As a packaged product, bottled water is regulated under the guidelines of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
