Hard Water vs. Soft Water for Home Cleaning

In most cases, you can tell how dirty your tabletop, countertop, or other surfaces in your home is by looking at it. But there are some things that you can’t see. When it comes to water treatment , it is important to keep in mind that contaminants in drinking water are invisible to the naked eye and are most likely to raise more serious concerns for homeowners. These contaminants can also affect the cleanliness of your household surfaces. The quality of the water you use to clean your home makes a big difference for disinfecting.

As we enter flu season and continue to deal with concerns about COVID-19, you must have the proper water quality to keep surfaces clean and disinfected.

Cleaning is a process where you use water and soap or a detergent to remove any dirt or grime and some of the germs on the surface. Disinfection is a process where you kill a higher number of germs while also preventing the pathogens from reproducing. This process involves using household chemicals such as Lysol spray, Clorox bleach, etc.

Before you disinfect a surface, you should clean it first to eliminate any dirt or grime that could be trapping bacteria and viruses.

Using hard water can make cleaning your household surface much more difficult. Hard water contains an abundance of minerals such as magnesium and calcium that leaves behind a limescale residue while also decreasing the soap or detergent’s effectiveness.

The minerals in hard water act like grains of sand that, when mixed with soap, will become sticky and clump together, creating soap scum. This scum will stick to your surfaces and allows germs and bacteria to stick to the surfaces too. Hard water can also reduce disinfectants’ effectiveness, which can be detrimental to your household during flu season and the COVID-19 pandemic.

With soft water, you get a soapy lather that helps wash cleaning products away entirely, avoiding soap scum buildup. When you use soft water, you will not need as much soap to clean because you won’t have any minerals sticking to the soap and wasting product. Since soft water cleans away dirt effectively, it does not impact the effectiveness of disinfectants.

While soft water alone won’t protect you and your family from harmful bacteria and viruses, it will ensure that your cleaning products and disinfectants work effectively to keep your household surfaces clean.
If you don’t have a water softener or need to update your water treatment system, Aqua Solutions offers water filter installation services for Pittsburgh homeowners to keep your water safe to use for drinking and cleaning. Contact us today to learn more.

Hard Water vs. Soft Water for Home Cleaning

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