Hard water question?

Anne_Marie_2

Live in NE Scotland and water here is great, never have to clean kettle as no calcium deposits, can drink water straight from the tap.
We will be moving in about 18 months-2 years to area where water is hard. Anyone any suggestions as to what I can do to improve the water, reduce calcium deposits, keep pipes and shower heads clean? Anything else that I haven't thought of? Saw device on Ideal World which has coil you wrap round pipe nearest to inflow and plug in to electrical source, they say that this will cut down on calcium sticking to pipes, showerheads etc. Is it worth buying such a device?
Obviously am thick as mince, as our water is so good. So really would appreciate any advice, pitfalls, what to expect - do you get clogged washing machines, dishwashers due to hard water?
Friend who comes from down South told me that she took really badly using her washing machine on moving here - put far too much soap powder in - kitchen floor was lovely and bubbly! We can get away with using 1/2 tablet for a full wash, otherwise clothes still full of soap. Am appreciating it while it lasts, not gloating.
Another thing I remember was visiting relation who lived in Dover many years ago - had 3 flasks of boiled water left over (we drove down), and was about to pour water down sink. She nearly hit me! She wanted a decent cup of tea. I expect I will be the same with visitors from Scotland!
Anyway, would appreciate any tips and hints.

black-saturn

Anyone smell vinegar? You can descale your kettle and any other electrical appliances with white vinegar. For the kettle pour in enough vinegar to cover the element and turn the kettle on and bring it almost up to boiling point. Then switch it off and give the vinegar a good swish around. Then keep repeating the whole process until it's descaled.

Put white vinegar in your washing machine instead of fabric softener.

nikiyoung

Hi
We live in S.E Kent
I use the old vinegar to clean my shower head once a week - put shower head in a jug fill up to just above the shower head and leave over night- nice and clean! Just done my taps also, plastic bag vinegar and tie on.
washing machine liquid use what the instructions say and i top up with you guessed it vinegar.
For a nice cup of tea use a hard water filter in your water filter (a must) or use bottled water. Yorkshire tea do a hard water version of their tea bags - not tried.
Dishwasher has a setting for the hardness of water - just check with the water company for the setting.
Err that is about it all i can think of at the moment
Honestly it's not to bad down here, just enjoy the quiet, countryside up there!!
Niki

scuzz

We have a filter jug for drinking water.

But we don't really have much of a problem. Occassionally we have to boil the shower head in vinegar.

Mado

It depends on the area... we live in a very hard water area but the water tastes fien to drink. Just need to descale appliances occasionnaly and wipe water down the shower door.

Pal

If you are being really fussy, you might want to start cooking your veg in bottled water, as hard water makes green vegetables lose their colour.


<cough>

arkonite_babe

Hi Anne Marie

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [email="andrea&#64;moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/email].

So I'm going to move this thread to In My Home to see if you get some more advice there.

a_b