Water is a main ingredient in your daily life. From the water you drink, to the water you shower in, to the water that washes your clothes and dishes. You rely on that water to be good for you — and your home.

However, depending on where you live, that water may contain minerals like calcium and magnesium, making it hard water. Hard water has a bad reputation — and it deserves it too!

Hard water can:

  • Dry our your hair.
  • Dry out your skin.
  • Leaves spots on your dishes .
  • Make your clothes look dingy.
  • Reduce your appliance’s lifespan by one third.

Given that list of problems, you probably want to find out if you have hard water and put a stop to it. The best way to find out if you have hard water is to bring out a professional for a hard water test. Give us a call at (609) 604-8364— we’ll determine your exact level of hard water and provide you the solutions to fix it.

If you like to do things DIY, check out our simple home hard water test.

Home Hard Water Test One: Make Some Tea

This test works on the principle that even when the water is gone, the hard minerals remain.

What you’ll need:

  • A metal teapot
  • A flashlight

How to do it:

  1. 1.Fill your teapot with the water you’ll be “testing.”
  2. 2.Boil the water.
  3. 3.Pour the water out (and make tea, if you want).
  4. 4.Shine a flashlight inside your metal teapot and look for the telltale hard water scale.
  5. 5.The more scale you see, the harder your water.

An image of pot with hard water

a tea pot showing evidence of hard water

Home Hard Water Test Two: Boiling Water

Essentially the same test as above, just for people who hate tea.

What you’ll need: an image of a metal pot

  • A Metal Pot

How to do it:

  1. 1.Wash your pot thoroughly to make sure it’s spotless.”
  2. 2.Fill the pot with the water you’ll be testing.
  3. 3.Boil the water.
  4. 4.Pour out the water and look for a ring of white hard water scale.
  5. 5.The more scale you see, the harder your water.

a pot with scale residue

Advantages of a Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® of Pleasantville Hard Water Test

These DIY home water tests are more of a first look rather than a complete assessment. These tests are imprecise. They can show you whether you have hard water, but are not able to give you any more specific information than that.

For a scientific hard water test, bring out the water quality experts of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® of Pleasantville. The best part of getting a water test from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® of Pleasantville? Our water quality experts are able to give you expert advice and install a solution on the spot. We specialize in both point-of-use and whole house water conditioning solutions.

If you want to know the true hardness level of your water, and you want a solution, bring out Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® of Pleasantville.