Can a Water Descaler Improve my Water Quality?

If you've ever asked yourself what a water descaler is and if it can truly improve water hardness and other aspects of your life, stick with us till the end of this article to find out all the necessary details.

When it comes to the quality of our water, the first unpleasant things we notice about it are its color, odor, taste, and traces it leaves behind.

If you are tired of low flow rates, inefficient appliances, and stained surfaces, you might want to test for hard water in your house or place of business.

We will discuss today whether a water descaler improves your water quality and to what extent, reminding you that you will still need pro water filters for your water to become 100% pure and safe to drink.

But first, let's look at how hard water affects your life so that you can get a better understanding about the importance of a water descaler or other water softening method.

Hard Water and Its Negative Impact on Water Quality

Hard water affects more than 80% of all American households. While some cities enjoy soft water – or at least lower levels of hardness – others have to deal with high and even extreme levels of hardness. As we have already discussed on our guide to hard water, this issue puts a lot of stress on our lifestyles altogether.

It manages to make everything harder (pun not intended), from the way we drink our coffee in the morning to the endless hours and huge budgets we spend on weekly cleaning activities.

To summarize, here are the worst consequences of hard water:

• Mineral deposits on the inside of plumbing that interfere with the water flow rates to the point of blocking and clogging pipes completely;
• Limescale that adheres on surfaces and inside your appliances, rendering them inefficient or breaking them altogether;
• Dermatological issues for people with sensitive skin, children, pets, and others vulnerable to dry skin and hair conditions;
• Budgetary matters for those who need to repair appliances and devices, replace them altogether, and invest in more and more powerful cleaning agents to remove the stubborn limescale from visible surfaces, fixtures, taps, kitchenware, etc.
• Environmental issues that stem from the heavy use of detergents, harsh chemicals, and scale-removing substances that end up back in the water circuit through the sewer systems.

The Annoying Hard Water Effects and the Quality of Your Life

What we described above is just a big picture. Let’s now look at a smaller one – your everyday life and comfort. Here are the most significant nuisances caused by hard water and its monstrous progeny, limescale:

• Your soaps and shampoos do not lather properly – meaning you spend more time in the shower, consuming more water and energy, and even buying more expensive products in the hope they will work better;
• Your skin feels dry, and your hair is dull & frizzy when you come out of the shower – so you invest even more money in higher-end cosmetics, moisturizers, and self-care products;
• Your dishwasher liquid foams poorly – meaning you waste more time, product, water, and energy washing dishes by hand;
• If you use a dishwasher machine, the limescale deposited inside prevents the device from working correctly – yet another waste of resources, time, and money;
• Your clothes feel stiff when you take them out from the washing machine, with dull colors – so you might feel like investing in more detergents;
• When you iron clothes, the limescale inside the iron interferes with the way it produces steam, leaving unsightly traces on your clothes or doing a poor job at ironing them;
• You spend time, money, products, and resources removing the build-up limescale from your coffee maker, kettle, pots, pans, sinks, bathtub, tiles, taps, faucets, and so on;
• The limescale deposited on your heating elements render your heating system inefficient over time – besides the fact that you shouldn’t be cold in your own home, you tend to turn the heat up a few notches, which translates in higher bills, energy wastes, and lots of frustration.

These are just a few facets of life made difficult by hard water and limescale. To counter them, you need a system that deals with all these issues.

Your Hair Versus Hard Water

Did you know that showering in hard water for prolonged periods can lead to hair loss? The calcium in hard water sticks to the scalp, preventing it from taking in nutrients and oxygen.

In turn, this leads to scalp calcification, which inherently brings tons of problems for your hair and scalp. Luckily, there are ways to wash hair in hard water that prevent hair loss and other problems caused by the minerals.

However, with the help of a water descaler, you won’t need to rely on such methods ever again. Furthermore, by using a descaler, you won’t need to do the following:

Removing Limescale Deposits

We’ve mentioned earlier that limescale deposits and hard mineral stains can appear on several surfaces. Removing them can be tricky and time-consuming.

Fortunately, we have prepared an article detailing how you can remove limescale deposits from several surfaces. Some of the methods are relatively simple, but they’re still time-consuming. A much better option would be to soften water using a descaler.

So, the next logical inquiry is, can a water descaler improve your water quality and, consequently, improve your life? Let’s find out!

Can a Water Descaler Improve My Water Quality and My Life?

In short, yes. But we need to discuss more what a water descaler does for your water and how these results convert into a better quality of life as well.

What Does a Water Descaler Do Against Hard Water?

As you learned from our guide on how water descalers work, such a device does not remove the hardness minerals in your water (which are healthy and even recommended for consumption). What it does is change their molecular structure, so they do not stick to anything anymore. Water descalers remove the existing scale buildups and prevent new ones from forming.

It means a water descaler will leave those minerals in the water but in a different shape with different behavior and properties.

How Does a Water Descaler Improve the Quality of Water?

There are some crucial aspects of water quality improvements generated by a water descaler. Let’s see them:

Water Nutritional Value: Since a water descaler does not remove calcium and magnesium from your water (it just makes them non-adherent to surfaces), your tap water will keep all its nutritional properties. As we all know, calcium and magnesium are vital for our health, and we can absorb them from drinking water just as we do from milk and foods.

Water Taste: If we are to compare the water treated with a traditional water softener and the one treated through a water descaler, the latter tastes better. Salt-based water softeners replace the hardness minerals with sodium chloride. Drinking salty water does not feel great, let alone it comes with restrictions for people with specific health conditions, children, and pets.

Water Cleanness: Limescale is a breeding ground for bacteria. Once you start using a water descaler, this breeding ground disappears, leaving your water cleaner. Also, a water descaler helps with the reduction of the corrosive rust (iron molecules) that stick to the limescale inside your pipes. Consequently, your water will show less rust in it, thus getting a better color, odor, and taste.

Softer Water: In all honesty, a water descaler does not give you that slick, slippery water feeling against your skin as you can achieve with a traditional water softener. However, it will soften the water enough so you can enjoy better soap lathering, brighter clothes colors, more efficient cosmetics and moisturizers, and better-working laundry detergents and cleaning agents.

The Water Descaler Limitations

You need to understand is that a water descaler is not a water filter.

• If you have contaminated water, you have no other option than installing a water filter.
• We said this before, but you should take note of the fact that neither traditional water softeners nor water descalers remove the common contaminants found in tap water.

A whole house water filter based on active charcoal filtration or a reverse osmosis system is your go-to choice if you deal with lead, chemicals, pollutants, viruses, radioactive elements, and other contaminants in your water.

The next thing you need to understand is that water descalers are not water softeners.

• Water descalers do not replace water softeners.
• However, they offer a more sustainable alternative to water softening. Water descalers do not change the chemical composition of your water. 
• By comparison, a water descaler can be, on average, ten times more affordable than a water softener.
• A water softener takes a lot of room, whereas a water descaler is insignificant in size.
• Water softeners are harder and more expensive to maintain. Besides the fact they require you to buy salt pellets for them to work, their functioning depends on frequent professional maintenance. 
• As you probably know, water softeners are meeting restrictions, regulations, and bans, as they are environmentally unfriendly. 

How Does a Water Descaler Improve Your Quality of Life?

The installation of a water descaler is a blessing for dynamic people who show mindfulness about their money and the environment as a whole. Let’s see how a water descaler improves the quality of your water with consequences on the quality of your life:

• Increased heat efficiency and conservation of resources (gas, electricity, etc.) – limescale can cause a reduction of up to 40 % in your home’s energy efficiency. Installing a water descaler prolongs the lifespan of your heating system, saves energy, money, and protects the environment;
• Improved energy efficiency and productivity of all appliances (from dishwashers and washing machines to irons and kettles);
• Cleaner surfaces, from tiles to glasses;
• Improved skin and hair – although the effects are not the same as the ones provided via a traditional water softener;
• No more money waste on harsh products to remove scale from inside appliances, on laundry detergents, cosmetics, cleaning agents, and more;
• Less time wasted with cleaning and scrubbing off limescale from your surfaces – the bane of dynamic peoples’ existence who have better things to do with their lives.
• Upgraded sustainability and eco-friendly efforts; a water descaler helps you conserve water in comparison to traditional water softeners, as water descalers do not waste it by flushing it away. It is also an environmentally friendly option if you do not want to overflow salt and other chemicals back into the environment through sewage lines.

Is a Water Descaler Better For the Environment?

Yes, when compared to a water softener, a water descaler is significantly better for the environment. Now you might be thinking "doesn't a descaler require electricity every second of the day?" and you'd be right.

However, you should take into account the fact that it doesn't disperse any sodium or chemicals in the sewage line. As such, it won't affect your septic system or grey water systems in your vicinity. And, as far as electric consumption is concerned, it's almost unnoticeable.

In fact, as stated earlier, it actually helps you save money by making your water heater's job much easier. No more extra pollution or extra pressure on the local power and water plant because of this.

Bottom Line

A water descaler leads to a handful of improvements when it comes to the quality of your water and your life.

• It saves a lot of precious time, cash, and resources.
• It is an eco-friendly option to salt-based water softeners and is affordable to buy, install, and maintain over the years.
• While it does not generate that squeaky clean feeling of smooth water in comparison to traditional softeners, it comes with advantages that you will hardly find in other devices.

Have you ever used a water descaler before? How do you think it improves the quality of water? Would you consider buying one for the home or your small business to live a completely stress-free life with plenty of time, money, and resources savings? Click here to see all of our models.