The Impact of Hard Water on Your Laundry
About 60% of the UK has Hard Water in their home. Hard water is simply water that has picked up minerals (calcium and magnesium) as it percolates through rocks such as limestone and chalk. The calcium and magnesium in the water leaves limescale deposits, which you can see as staining on taps and shower cubicles. These deposits also react on cleaning products reducing their effectiveness.
Hard water can cause a variety of problems to your laundry. The mineral build-up means the colours fade more quickly. White clothing may go yellow with repeated washing. More detergent is needed to create enough lather to clean your clothes. The build-up of limescale deposits within the washing machine, can affect the life of the machine.
Using Soft Water you can use less product and there will be less soapy residue.
Hard Water – Laundry Study Findings
The following summary is findings from The Detergent Savings Study conducted in 2010 in conjunction with Scientific Services S/D, Inc. and funded by the Water Quality Research Foundation.
This is the most significant conclusion of this study.
Stain removal performance increases dramatically when hardness is removed even when dose and temperature are also lowered. Depending on the stain, hardness reduction was up to 100 times more effective at stain removal than increasing temperature or increasing detergent dose.
Softening water will allow use of less detergent and save energy by lowering water temperatures while still maintaining or improving performance.
When water of any hardness is softened prior to its use in washing, the detergent use can be reduced by 50% and the washing can be carried out in 60ºF (16ºC) cold water instead of 100ºF (40ºC) hot water and achieve the same or better stain removal yielding whiter clothes.
This was true for all stains and all detergents tested.
This was verified for top-loaded and high-efficiency front-loaded washers.
Towels soft or scratchy?
Washing towels in soft water still has plenty of benefits, but the facts are, air drying towels still leaves them hard and scratchy. It seems some people prefer a scratchy towel, I guess for invigoration and shedding dry skin. Fabric conditioners will make towel soft, but are not good because over time it will affect the towel’s absorbency.
I’ve experimented at home, cutting down soap powder and trying different types of wash. After trawling the internet to find out different experiences, I’ve found tumble drying the towels only on the cold setting does improve their softness.
Cut down on washing powder
My own experience of laundry with soft water, is follow the guidelines on the packet for measurements in soft water areas. I only use powder and about a tablespoon. As soap lather in soft water is much better, using too much product can make it difficult to rinse away the suds properly.
