How hard water affects pressure washing

At Hotsy Water Blast Manufacturing LP, we provide portable pressure washers and washer parts all over Western Canada, from Edmonton to Calgary to Vancouver. To ensure that our customers get the most out of their cleaning equipment, we also provide advice on how to keep your investment working at its best. One issue that often comes up with pressure washers is what to do about hard water. This is particularly important in Calgary and the rest of Western Canada, where water is often hard.

All of our water ultimately comes from rivers and lakes. Sometimes this water takes a long path before coming out of our taps in our homes. As our water travels through riverbeds it inevitably picks up some residue along the way. Because water is what we call a “universal solvent,” is dissolves all sorts of materials, including the minerals that exist along the bottoms of rivers. When there is an unusually high concentration of minerals in our water, we call that water “hard.”

How does hard water affect a pressure washer?

For the most part, hard water poses no real problem for us. By the time it’s gone through municipal treatment plants and comes out of our taps, it’s entirely safe to drink. There are certain situations, however, where the hardness of our water becomes an issue. If your water is harder than normal, it can pose three main problems for a portable pressure washer:

• If there are minerals in your water, it may lead to the parts of your machine wearing out faster than usual. Water hardness usually isn’t a big deal and any water treatment plant in Edmonton, Calgary or Vancouver will have taken care of anything dangerous. When hard water travels really fast through a pressure washer, however, the minerals cause miniscule amounts of damage than can affect your machine in the long run.
• Minerals in your water can also react when they’re heated and turn into solid calcium carbonate. You may be more familiar with this under the name “lime scale.” When this lime scale builds up, it can cause serious blockage or other damage to your pressure washer.
• Hard water can also limit the effectiveness of any detergents or soaps you may use. If you live in Edmonton, Vancouver or Calgary and have hard wateryou may have noticed that it’s a bit harder to get soap to form bubbles with your water. That’s because the minerals of hard water interfere with the chemical reaction that allows soap to do its job. The same goes for your pressure washer.

What can I do about my hard water?

These three main problems with hard water can, over time, lead to expensive repairs and using more soap than would otherwise be necessary. That’s why many of our customers choose to get their machines regularly checked by a pressure washer professional for damage and use soap that includes a “softener” or agent that eliminates the minerals’ affect on our machines.

The next time you’re looking for a portable pressure washer, washer parts, water softeners or other cleaning equipment, talk to one of our experts at Hotsy Water Blast. We know the local conditions of your water, whether you live in Edmonton, Calgary, or Vancouver, and sell and install water softeners for you.  Contact us today to find out more.