Water Gal

Anyone who lives in Wisconsin can probably admit to using their water softener salt as “multi-purpose” salt.  In other words, it works quite nicely on icy sidewalks & driveways.  I’m not the most skilled driver in the first place, but when you add snow or ice into the equation I turn into a little version of what my family knows as “she-freak-qwa.”

The other morning I was on my way back from the gym, still pitch dark outside, pulled into my driveway and started to slide down the drive way sideways.  My 4 wheels & steering wheel locked up in my fancy car & I completely lost control for one brief second.  After “she-freak-qwa” had a mild heart attack, my car finally came to a stop.    I put my truck into park and marched down the rest of the drive leaving my car at the top of the driveway.  Luckily my husband hadn’t filled our brine tank the with the salt he had brought home the other day.   Instinct kicked in….I tore open the 80# bag of solar salt, filled a bucket with the salt & marched up to the top of the drive way where my truck was sitting.  I was going to salt the *+!# out of my drive way so I could pull my car into the garage and avoid being mocked by the rest of my family about my driving skills.  Solar Salt to the rescue!!  The minute I poured the first cup load onto the drive way, the ice started crackling and I knew I would be in the garage plenty early before the rest of my family got up.

Solar salt provides that fabulous ancient old “technology” of ionic exchange.  The water treatment industry is constantly looking for ways to treat hard water in more efficent ways with reducing salt consumption & water usage which is becoming a very hot topic for many city municipalities because of the sodium discharge that its facilities are getting stuck with from inefficient water softeners.   Our manufacturer, Hellenbrand, has been very aware of this growing problem and has made many great improvements to their technology over the years.  But holy cow, they are about to release a technology that is going to blow the doors off of their previous achievments in salt reduction and water usage.  We’re not talking 10%, 15%…not even 20% reduction.  They have a softener that they are about to release that will save approximatly 40% more salt and water usuage than a traditional metered water softener.  That is HUGE!  I know I probably get way more excited about this type of technology than the standard gal, but this is truly remarkable in my world.  So when it comes time to replace your water softener, be sure to check this level of technology out.  It will allow you to have plenty of solar salt to get you through the rest of the winter!  Yours in water, H2O Gal

Every day we  hear about new studies that have some how found something else that is potentially harmful to us.  Certain vitamins cause cancer instead of preventing it, artificial sweeteners will eventually kill us, forgetting to floss will shave 5 years off your life, blah, blah, blah, blah.  What about the water you’re drinking?  I heard something at a Water Quality Association conference about 5 years ago that completely blew me away.  To this day, I still can’t believe the media hasn’t focused more on this  subject.

The topic that was being discussed was what scientists were discovering about certain frog species in rivers and bodies of water around the world.  As I started to zone out,  doing major head bobs, my ears perked up when I heard the word hermaphroditic.  The speaker was kind enough to dumb it down for those of us who struggled through Biology 101.   She continued to describe that they were finding  male tadpoles that were  were becoming hermaphroditic and developing  both male and female organs.  After hearing this statement, I suddenly sat up straight and gave the speaker my full attention.  I felt like I was in a secret CIA conference- why on EARTH hadn’t I heard about this before?  Why hasn’t 60 Minutes covered this?  Why aren’t people freaking out??? Frogs are changing sexes!!  This was crazy!!    The speaker then went on to talk about estrogen being found in rivers and streams that were causing frogs to turn into females.  What??  Boy frogs are turning into girl frogs?  Again, why aren’t people freaking out about this?

I walked around the conference for the rest of the weekend realizing that my business had a truly needed future.  Pharmaceuticals, hormones & pesticides are getting into our water supply.  After researching this further, it turns out that a lot of municipal water supplies don’t even test for pharmaceuticals. You can really start to freak yourself out if you think about how your water may contain the Prozac your neighbor is taking, the birth control pills your sister is taking, & the Ritalin that your friends son is taking.  Shouldn’t that concern the population a little bit?

Now for the magic question- how can these elements be removed from your water supply?  Unfortunately there isn’t a single slam dunk technology that will take care of all of these elements- there are just too many of them.  For now, Reverse Osmosis systems are the best option for reduction that is available for residential applications as long as they contain an activated carbon filter in the system which most do.  For more information to freak out on, read the following USA Today article. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm   Yours in water, H2Ogal

I get panic phone calls from people who are about to move from the big city out to the suburbs frequently. They are moving from city water to a private well.  Usually it’s us girls calling, completely freaking out.    I actually love to take these phone calls!  I will be more then happy to talk you off the ledge.

I use to be a city slicker myself- I had city water that was rock hard & highly chlorinated, but it wasn’t scary private well water.  I use to be such a city girl that when I started dating my husband I didn’t have a clue what this thing called a “private well” was.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around what it was my then boyfriend was doing during his summer breaks from college for his summer job.  He was what my now in-laws call a “pump man.”  ??   So I decided to go a long with him one day when he was servicing an “Out of Water” service call over the weekend that was suppose to be devoted to me.  Out I went in the “crane” truck, off to this service call.   I won’t bore you with the details of an “out of water” service call, but basically, that person was out of water.  It’s completely appropriate to wig out when this happens to you. Who can blame anyone for freaking out when they are out of water!??

What if I told you that is probably the worst thing that will happen to you when you are on private well water?  I LOVE being on private well water.  I love the fact that my water supply is coming directly from the well that was drilled on my property.  It doesn’t have a boat load of chlorine running through it.  Yes, it has iron in it and the water is hard- but both of those issues are resolved with out adding any chemicals to my water.  I typically only recommend one other type of testing other then a safety test in this area if you are moving into a home that was built on land that once was a farm. This test would be a Nitrates test.  Nitrates are found in this part of Wisconsin , but are only harmful to pregnant women or infants.  If you do have an elevated level of Nitrates, install a Reverse Osmosis System which is rated to remove Nitrates.

So don’t be afraid to move out of the big city into the “country.”  It’s really quite nice out here.    You’ll LOVE having water supplied to your home that isn’t running through miles of pipes, being treated at various points for potential contaminants just to get into your home.

One of my number one jobs is to make sure that homeowners understand the importance of having a water softener in their home.  As you know from some of my other posts my number one and two reason for having soft water is my hair and my skin.  My hair stylist couldn’t agree with me more and my skin agrees too.  Although my hair and skin value go into the category as “priceless,”  your home appliances will prematurely fail if they are supported with hard water.   Simply put, anything that comes in contact with hard water is going to get a beat down.  Lets start with the most expensive appliance in your home that can protentially ruin your mood if it isn’t working; the hot water heater.  If you have hard water, a white chalky build up will develop inside your hot water heater, caking it with calcium & magnesium.  Studies have shown that it can reduce the life expectancy of a hot water heater up to 30%.   I’m the farthest thing from a mathematician (ask my husband about my checkbook balancing) but lets say your hot water heater is suppose to last 8-10 years,  on hard water that is going to be reduced to a life expectancy of  5-1/2 -7 years life expectancy.  Remember, your hot water heater always dies at the worst time when you least expect it or have time for it!

The same thing goes for your dishwasher & washing machine not to mention how your dishes, glasses and clothing look when you have hard water.  Spots on your glasses, or a white milky finish is the most visible clue that you have hard water.  Your whites aren’t white, colors fade and take a beating as well on hard water. 

I continue to be baffled that even after knowing all of this information, I still have property owners who may be renting their property to tenants that think that having a softener isn’t necessary if the tenant doesn’t complain.  Does the tenant replace the hot water heater when it fails?  Does the tenant pay for the new dishwasher?  If you’re paying for your home, protect it!!  Spend your money wisely on a softener instead of expensive appliance replacements!  Take a minute to review a very intensive study that the WQA spent A LOT of money on to show the effects of hard water.  WQA Press Release

 I receive at least 3-5 phone calls a week asking about the”saltless water softeners.”  I can’t think of a better way to sum up that question by repeating the idiom “it is too good to be true.”  How great would it be to not have to lug salt bags into the basement?  I agree!  If there were truly a “saltless” water softener that actually consistently removed calcium & magnesium in the water I would order a truck load of them and start planning my retirement!   I would gladly close down the salt delivery part of our business based out of our Delafield, WI location and give Tony our wonderful salt delivery guy a new title and job description.

Here’s the truth about the ”saltless” water softeners:  The technical name is Physical Water Conditioners.  The reason for that specific name is because these systems modify or change the waters physical quality, characteristics, or behavior of the water but they do not remove calcium and magnesium. The performance in these systems is not consistent in effectively  softening the water.  The WQA has released this statement: “Not efficient scientific knowledge to determine the efficacy of the physical water treatment technologies in practical water applications.” 

Water softeners ionic exchange technology is robust and works everywhere regardless of the application.  An investment in a good, high quality water softener such as a Guthrie & Frey Water system will be an investment that will protect all of your water using appliances, your plumbing fixtures, and most importantly your hair and skin.