The Secret Is Out: How to Remove Hard Water Spots

Sometimes, businesses will withhold valuable information to make sure clients will be “locked in” and keep coming back, essentially treating their clients like cash cows.

Here at Force Plumbing and Heating LLC, as a family company, we treat you like family, so we aren’t going to keep information from you. Today, we’re going to give you some valuable tips on how to clean and avoid hard water stains in your home.

What is Hard Water?

Hard water is water that contains higher amounts of minerals in it, particularly calcium and magnesium. In the United States, 85% of homes have hard water.

This water is what’s responsible for build-up and rust that might appear on your shower and faucets, and is accountable for clothes getting worn out faster, lackluster hair, and even making your appliances work harder than they need to.

It can also cause mineral build-up and clogs in your pipes. On a similar note, one of the things that bother people the most is the fact that it causes hard water stains around the house.

The 411: How to Clean Almost Everything!

Pesky hard water stains can form on dishes, utensils, tubs, faucets, and areas that you wipe down with water, such as counters. Glass, porcelain, tile, and metal surfaces will also fall victim to these spots.

Hard water stains result from the magnesium and calcium ions in hard water evaporating on your surfaces. We’ll give you suggestions on using purchased cleaners or home-based cleaners to get rid of these annoying stains.

If convenient chemical cleaners are your thing, there are several ones that you can use. For most cleanings, you need acidic cleaners, which could be as simple as vinegar, or as advanced as commercial cleaners containing ingredients like phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, or sulfuric acid.

Be sure to carefully read instructions so that you don’t use the wrong cleaner on the wrong surface, i.e., don’t use an abrasive cleaner on porcelain! Be sure to also work in a well-ventilated area due to the cleaning fumes.

For your chrome faucets, you might consider Lime-A-Way, following the bottle’s instructions and giving a good scrub with a toothbrush. For the following weeks after, Comet or a similar cleaner should help maintain work the elbow grease you put into your initial cleaning.

For your shower tiles, you might try Scrubbing Bubbles with Bleach, or Comet Bathroom Spray. Typically, an all-purpose cleaner for soap scum should work, as long as the cleaner is intended for the surface in your shower.

For marble counters or other stone surfaces, you’ll need a stone cleaner and a cloth--do not use an all-purpose cleaner!

What about your dishes and silverware? If your drinking glasses and forks have become unsightly items, fear no more! Soak dishes and utensils in half vinegar and half water solutions. Fill up the sink halfway with white vinegar, and then fill the rest of the way with COLD water. Fully immerse some of your dishes and leave them soak for 3-4 hours.

Rinse and dry. Or, another way to clean your tarnished silverware is to wipe the stains away with olive oil, and then wipe them off with vinegar, After, rinse and dry off the items. Once your dishes are all clean, try using some vinegar in the dishwasher’s rinse agent section to keep your dishes as clean as possible for weeks to come.

Do you dislike or have a bad reaction to commercial chemicals? Hard water stains can be removed via natural home-based products.

• - You can spray a mixture of half vinegar and half water, and then wipe it up after a few minutes.
• - You can make a paste out of baking soda and vinegar, which you can smear onto the surface and then let sit for 15 minutes. Afterwards, scrub the mixture off, rinse off the surface, and immediately dry it off with a towel so that you’re not just instantly restarting the mineral build-up.
• - Around faucets, spray lemon juice then wipe dry after about ten minutes.
• - For glass, consider simple vinegar or salt water to get rid of stains.
• - For your toilet bowl, there are many solutions. One of the many ways is to make a paste out of borax. Turn off the toilet’s water supply and flush away remaining water. Then smear a paste comprised of 1/2 cup of borax with enough vinegar to make a paste. Let sit for 15 minutes before scrubbing away with a nylon toilet brush.

For anything not covered above, the internet abounds with articles about the best cleaners, natural or chemical, for everything getting stained by hard water in your house.

Purchased Solutions

Although you can always keep cleaning the surfaces of your home, cleaning hard water stains is difficult and time-consuming, and, as they say, “time is money.” It can also be emotionally draining to always worry about what hard water might be doing to your pipes, appliances, body, and clothes. In the long run, preventative maintenance is a better option and can end up being cheaper.

Some people elect to invest in a water softener or filtration system. Many water softeners will work by removing ions of magnesium and calcium in hard water. In some systems, the water passes through a resin bed, which removes the magnesium and calcium, and then eventually the resin bed fills up with hardness ions which are then cleaned out with salt. A salt-free water softener won’t get rid of the minerals, but will at least prevent build-up of hard water “scale” in pipes and on appliances. For a more comprehensive solution, consider a water filtration system service to address both hard water issues and other water quality concerns effectively.

Water softeners come in a variety of prices and sizes, so be sure to research or consult with a professional about which water softener would best meet the needs of you and your family. If you don’t want to buy a water softener, a lot of companies offer leasing options. Look for certification and a reputable company, see if a regular plumber or a special technician needs to install the softener, and last, but not least, get two quotes to ensure you’re getting the best deal!

Share These Hot Tips!

If you’ve been feeling down about all the hard water spots and stains in your kitchen and bathroom, or on your silverware and plates, we hope that the information we just shared with you will give you hope. Your home and dishes shouldn’t need to look dirty all the time.

We hope the above tips will empower you to clean your home to your satisfaction, or perhaps to make the final decision to change the entire way your home’s water is processed to prevent problems to begin with. The choice is yours now that you know. To keep this information from being a secret, please be sure to share it with your family and friends!