Hygiene was at a very low level. Not before nineteenth century when the epidemics of cholera and typhoid started, people thought about ability of water to transmit diseases. After that scientists have focused on disease-causing microorganisms and the ? ?era started.

Over the years, while human knowledge increased, we still care about our water to be clean, but the problems have changed. Nowadays, we need to deal with the various . And what 'hard water' is? This phrase is used to describe water with high levels of dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water may cause many different problems. The mentioned minerals, during the heating process, form a visible scale in pipes, kettles and dishwashers. As a result, the scale is clogging the pipes and the efficiency of heat that it is needed to make water hot is increasing, therefore it can bring much higher bills. Other problem is that hard water lowers the standard of living. Clothes laundered in hard water usually feel harsh and scratchy. Dishes have spots when got dry. And after washing hair in hard water they might feel sticky.

Are there any tips on how to deal with that? There are few options that you might choose when you care about your water. For example you can change your water detergent for a special one which can be used on any level of water hardness. You might as well use more detergent as it was written on a box, which will give more suds. To remove scale from dishwashers and kettles the rinse agents or a vinegar will be a good solution. But if you want to do something more you have to buy a special appliance. It might be a water softener, that works by replacing the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium. Although, sodium in a high level isn't healthy, the appliance have to be refilled with salt, and it is relatively expensive. An other method is buying a magnetic conditioner that treats water with a strong magnetic field. As a result, the chemical complexes, that could break down, remains in suspension and don't form crusts on the surface. But to have benefits from it you have to install not one device but few of them. And it is working only partially in good conditions like ideal flow of water. An alternative to all of this might be such device as Scalewatcher, that works similarly to a magnetic one but sends much stronger signal, remains water treated for a few days, reducing the amount of scale and one unit might be used in whole house.

So think over your situation and choose the best method for yourself.

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