Hard water is a nuisance for water ionizers. Hard water is when your tap water has been sitting for so long in a well or water reservoir that the minerals congeal together. It’s usually the magnesium and potassium that clump together and form what is called scale. This scale can gum up water ionizer filters and also can coat the plates inside the water ionizer. When the plates get coated with this magnesium and calcium scale, your water ionizer doesn’t ionize the water very well. So, for the most effective water ionization, you have to treat your hard water.
Hardness of water is measured either by parts per million or by grains of hardness. If you suspect that you have hard water, the first thing to do is to get on Google and type in the name of your county and then the words “municipal water treatment report.” In the first couple of links you should see a link that takes you to the latest water report for your area. Click on that link and search the results of the water report for parts per million or grains of hardness.
If they display the hardness as grains, then you are looking for your water to be below 10 grains of hardness. If the results are displayed in TDS parts per million, you want it to be less than 171 parts per million.
If your results are less than 10 grains or less than 171 TDS parts per million, then you don’t have to do any pre-treatment of your water. If your results are above those numbers, you need to install a hard water pre-filter. We recommend using the Omnipure with scale inhibitor. This is an inexpensive filter, usually about $20, that goes between your water diverter valve and the base of your water ionizer. It has Quick Connect adapters so all you have to do is cut your water source line and then push in the supply line to the IN of the filter and then connect the other tube to the OUT of the filter. It takes less than a minute.
If your water is harder than 13 grains of hardness, or 210 TDS parts per million, then you should install a reverse osmosis water treatment system as a pre-filter. The reverse osmosis water treatment system will remove all of the minerals and everything else from your source water. Then, instead of using the regular carbon-based filters that go inside your water ionizer, we have specially made mineral filters that will put just the right amount of minerals back into your water. This ensures that you will get a full range of ionization when you use your water ionizer.
Reverse osmosis water systems vary in ability and price. You need to get one that produces a strong output of water. It has to be enough to push through the water ionizer at at least one liter per minute. Most systems will accomplish this, but the really cheap ones tend to have a lower water flow rate. Any mid-range system should be fine.
Finally, if you have been using hard water in your water ionizer, you should check the pH. Your water ionizer comes with ph reagent drops. Set your water ionizer to the number four alkaline setting and put about a shot glasses worth of water into a glass. Then add three or four drops of the reagent drops. The color should be purple. If it’s not purple, you can clean your plates using a cleaning filter. Cleaning filters are available on our website under ‘products’ and then ‘water ionizer accessories.’ The Omnipure hard water filters are also on our website.
The cleaning filter will dissolve citric acid throughout all the lines and plates inside your water ionizer. This will clean everything up, dissolve the mineral deposits, and leave your machine working like new.
It is very important to treat hard water before it pushes through your water ionizer. Just check your results on Google, and then you’ll know if you need a pre-filter, a reverse osmosis system, or nothing at all. If you have any questions, give us a call.
