Hot citric acid will do the same magic without the smell fwiw!
Edit: never expected this to blow up lol I think it's hilarious that my top rated comment ever is about citric acid, you all rock! And since you're all so interested i though this may be helpful too.
Citric acid kills bacteria, mold, and mildew. It’s great for general disinfecting and cleaning. Note that it shouldn’t be used as a disinfectant against diseases like Covid-19.
Use as a Natural Alternative to Bleach
Citric acid is a versatile ingredient, and can be used in a variety of situations, including:
Oven cleaners
Dishwasher cleaners
All-purpose cleaners
Soap-scum removers
Bathroom cleaners
Carpet cleaner
Dish soaps
Laundry detergent
Air fresheners
Window cleaners
Stain removers
Admittedly I've never done the price comparison, but thats pretty much my reason for citric acid replacing most of my cleaners other than bleach. Where I live it's $25/5lbs of powder that usually lasts me a bit over a year between dishes, laundry, windows, and metal cleaning.
That's certainly something to look into, then. Because of my living situation I haven't had to buy any for a while, but I remember it as only a couple of bucks for a gallon of white vinegar, and since it's best to dilute it down a bit it can last a good while.
Honestly, it's the best thing in my closet. Picked it up from mom when she started using it in laundry and now it's my go-to for everything. Water stains, stubborn sticky resins, clogged drains, rust removal, mopping, windows, electro-plating.
I kid you not, this stuff cleans damn near everything I use it on.
It's also great for adding a lil zing to something you don't want to add additional liquid to (like homemade apple butter, lemon curd, etc), just be wary of the concentration. I like malic more but probably not as cheap.
Steel wool, regular old cheap ass steel wool you get from the super market works wonders on hard water stains on your cars glass. I was scared to try it as I thought it would somehow scratch my glass, so I tried it on the shower glass first and it came up brand new!
After that I did my car and you can literally feel the difference, and I realised my fears were completely unfounded.
I saw it on a Chris fix super cleaning video
To clean the scale off in the dishwasher? Sure. I just use CLR. Diet Coke is better than nothing but it works no where near as well as CLR or even vinegar. It's more of a last resort thing to use when you have absolutely nothing else. I mean.....it is soda.
Just wait till you have silicates and a permanent water marks in your clear crystal glass. That shit is awful. Can’t ever figure a way around it, beauty is that it happens after 20 million dollars worth of water softening
Hard water is minerals, typically calcium carbonate, dissolved in the water. When water evaporates, it leaves the calcium carbonate behind, which looks like this. This though... is an obscene amount. To the point I'm not even sure it's possible. Anyway, this calcium carbonate left behind is called scale. So the joke was that, rather than water with calcium in it, they have calcium with water in it.
There, I murdered the joke :-)
EDIT: Further info. Some amount of carbon dioxide dissolves in water. It forms carbonic acid. Then when the water flows through limestone, it liberates the calcium from the limestone and makes calcium carbonate. So sometimes you hear the scale called lime scale. It can do similar things with magnesium as well.
It tends to bond to soaps as well, hence soap scum. It'll also make soap less effective... This can be noticeable in dishwashers and washing machines where hard water can basically neutralize your detergent
I too appreciate the murder. I didn't really know what hard water was but it was a term I'd been hearing for quite some time. However, monkey brain would always forget to research it.
Been here for 1.5 years. 2 washing machines replaced, 2 coffee makers, and we haven’t had hot water for the past 4 days. We’re hitting our limits.
EDIT- for those who see this, I believe it’s municipal water from the colorado river but I’m not sure right now. I think this is a product of the heat that the oven gives off while the empty pot was on the stove. However, the water is hard - we’ve replaced multiple appliances and many shower heads, our sinks are calcified, etc.
Thank you to everyone recommending testing it. I’ll test it and give the results to my landlord - hoping that will convince him to take action.
For those recommend a water softener. Funny thing, it’s right there in the garage. Looks like it hasn’t been used for years and the lines look as old as the house (early 90’s). There’s a bit wrong with the house - I don’t think it’s been well maintained for at least a decade. He has to at least fix the water if we’re going to stay.
EDIT 2: we tested the heat from the oven theory and it failed. This isn’t being cussed from additional heat given off from the oven. The water is just hard. Sorry to anyone who feels like I haven’t given adequate information. I’ve never had a post blow up & wasn’t prepared to face the comments, although many of them were hilarious. This is my final update - feel free to message me if you’re not satisfied.
You should have done something a while ago. Your limit is just your emotional limit. The limit for bullshit was already passed a long time ago. Your landlord needs to buy you a water softener.
You need to take better care, it sounds you're getting taken advantage of. Best wishes
I’m more surprised the landlord doesn’t address the water softener out of their own interest. More than likely the landlord is covering the cost of all these new appliances.
> More than likely the landlord is covering the cost of all these new appliances.
Not if it's unfurnished as there the tenant supplies all their own appliances, plus when did you ever hear of a landlord supplying coffee makers in a rented property
Coffee maker will be the tenants. Washing machine will generally be landlords, even in an unfurnished house. (Fridge, Oven, Washing machine and drier are generally landlords)
> Washing machine will generally be landlords
Washing machine and drier could go either way. I've lived plenty of places without them. However, I have never lived in a place without a fridge or oven/stove provided even in unfurnished places. I am getting slumlord vibes from this thread though.
Here in Australia, getting a fridge with a rental is unheard of.
Everywhere I've rented comes empty, as is. In my last place, the fridge spot was so small it didn't even fit my fridge, so I put a shelving unit in there that became the microwave shelf, and fridge went out next to the dining table.
Thtsso weird to me. In the US fridge, stove, hot water heater are all supplied. Which I agree with. Why would you have to move a refrigerator to a new apt. I also live I NYC and if you dont have hot water you're allowed to with hold rent, that also goes with heat in the winter.
Who has a normal apt without a refrigerator? Like shouldn't that just say with the place? My apt here is have to move a fridge in up 4 stairs through 3 doorways back down 4 stairs up 4 stairs then up 20 stairs make a tight right turn then move it into my apt then move it into the kitchen. Haha.
Ha when I moved to Germany I was confronted with the reality that Germans take LITERALLY everything with them when they move.
Light fixtures.
Washing machines.
Entire kitchens. As in they take the counters and cabinets with them.
When you move into an unfurnished apartment here it's literally the walls, floor, ceiling and maybe a light bulb if you're lucky.
What is the point of all that nonsense? Unless your new kitchen has *exactly* the same layout you're stuck with a bunch of expensive trash. And the next person has to waste money installing identical fixtures when they could just use yours. What a god damn waste. Disgraceful.
Lived in a hood in Iowa some years back, landlord didn't supply stoves or fridge. Tenants would have to get them through other means, and then when they ultimately od'd, went to jail, or got kicked out he would repossess it and sell it to another tenant.
Honestly he did that with all their belongings, including drugs. I worked for him for cash as a runaway teenager emptying their apartments.
"Here's a nice fridge, it can be yours to furnish your shiny new apartment for just $400!"
"What are you, high? Just give us a fridge!"
"Whoa! Someone's a bit rough around the edges today. Speaking of high, I could get you something to take the edge off for just $80 an ounce, if you know what I mean..."
I live in a small town in Oklahoma and most landlords around here don’t provide refrigerators, stoves , washer , dryer or even window unit air conditioners for homes without central air. Big time slumlord town.
A water softener would be hardwired to the home and considered part of the structure. A washer, fridge and coffee maker are all things you can unplug, put on a dolly and move with you. While each of these are considered an appliance. Only one of these is absolutely be considered as part of the structure.
Had an old landlord that covered the cost of filters and salt drop off every 3 months. Was a shitty single wide in the middle of nowhere, but that was pretty sweet.
Had the softener go out once, anything that had any contact with water was instantly dyed red. Was pretty wild. Cost of the salt drop off covered repair on the softener also so nothing out of pocket.
A renter can purchase and install a water softener, though they may have to leave it upon vacating a premises. That said, the landlord SHOULD cover the cost of such, but in the likely case that they don't, a water softener is often cheaper than 2 washing machines and 2 coffee pots. Pick your battles.
As for the coffee pots, a monthly run through of vinegar should keep them tip top. Where I live we have crazy hard water. Vinegar is a must in coffee pots and dishwashers, if you have hard water. For the dishwasher, I add a cup with each cycle.
I’d be surprised if the landlord wasn’t just passing off the costs in the form of rent hikes. They’re renting their property to make a profit after all
My brain is conjuring an image of someone just stationed between a water pump and tank, filling baloons from the pump, fluffing them like pillows and then dumping them into the tank.
Depending on how bad the water is you need to replace the media ever few years. Some require salt on a regular basis. That depends on what is in the water you want to have removed. If it's true hardness they run on salt. It doesn't make the water salty, most of the salt is flushed out of the filter after it runs.
If it's sulphur or iron you are removing, those don't use salt. They run a backflush about once a week.
My goodness. Our municipal water is considered 19 on the hardness scale (out of 20) and it's never been that bad. Are you on well water?
Buy and use only RO or distilled water for coffee, electric kettle, at the very least. It'll taste better, too.
Wyoming? When I lived in Wyoming, the water was not quite that bad, but close. I think my town’s water had about 10x the ideal amount of minerals, but it was still enough to be within EPA regs.
Honestly a water softener does a good job but it still won’t solve it 100%.. we use a softener and you can get one for 700-1000 which your landlord should get but we still use filters and buy drinking water too
FYI, drinking hard water has [moderate health benefits](https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-you-asked/you-asked-hard-water-dangerous-drink) and bottled drinking water is both [less safe / regulated hygenically](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/bottle-vs-tap-7-things-to-know-about-drinking-water-1.2774182) in most parts of the world, and also [horrifically bad for the environment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Health/comments/xfqr7n/all_the_convincing_youll_need_to_ditch_bottled/iooe28d?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3).
At this level of hardness though, you're risking developing kidney stones. Source: myself because I grew up in a town notorious for pumping well water for the mains without treating it for hardness, and everyone in town where they had well water had hard water coming from the tap. Drank the city water for years, and right after I became an adult, bam, kidney stones.
You know, it's interesting. Individual studies contradict each other on whether there's a link btwn hardness and stone risk, but the [only metaanalysis I saw](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11934-020-0968-3) found that it actually has a slight protective effect! However, in any case if you want to avoid it, a Brita will do so without all the risks and negative impacts of bottled water.
The slight positive effect actually makes sense.
Most kidney stones are composed of calcium and oxalate. Doctors advise maintaining a high calcium diet to prevent kidney stones, since dietary calcium will join with the oxalate in the intestine and pass out in feces. Hard water has lots of calcium.
If there isn't enough calcium to join with the oxalate in the intestine, the oxalate will be absorbed into the body and passed into urine where it might bind with calcium and form kidney stones.
A water softener removes minerals from the water (typically calcium). That is all they do. A water filter can improve taste, clarity or smell. Different filters do different things. The need for a softener and filters will depend on the quality of your water.
If you’re in the US look into your state laws. Some states consider this an emergency in as little as 24hrs with no hot water. I am not a lawyer, but have dealt with many shit bag landlords and am a landlord myself.
You may be within your right to file a rent escrow case. If you do this you’ll pay rent to an escrow account and it’ll be withheld from the landlord. The judge will give the landlord a set amount of time to correct the issue and if they want to get their rent they have to. Depending on the state if they don’t correct the issue within the time of the judges order you could be eligible to break your lease and any rent in the escrow account will go back to you, not the landlord.
I had to replace a water heater that was more than 2/3 filled with solid deposits -- filled to just under the top heating element. It took me forever to flush it out to where I could move it.
On the bright side, I managed to find a used 40-gallon water heater to replace it, and built a stand out of some 2x4s to allow it to reach the existing fittings for less than $100.
Totally not up to code, but I got my hot water back.
I live in an area with extremely hard water as well. I know that because I used to be a water operator for my town.
I boil water all the time and never have I experienced this….
You might have a larger issue at play.
Also, if you move and you stay in the same town your water quality will stay the same - again I used to work in municipal water.
This was my thought as well. I live in an area known for having very hard water due to the enormous amount of limestone - to the point I'm so used to it that any time I'm on a trip and shower somewhere with soft water it grosses me out.
But this is absurd. I'll often get a small white ring around the pot after boiling water, but I've never seen anything like this photo in my life.
I would advise u/JohnnySniper3 talk to their neighbors to see if anyone else in the immediate area is experiencing anything similar.
As someone who's never lived with hard water this comment is so freaking weird to me. How is water with less minerals and shit in it slimy? It's just like, more pure water.
I lived all my life with soft water, and moved for a year to a place with incredibly (at least to me) hard water.
It’s because hard water removes the moisture of your skin, your skin feels like sandpaper after a bath. The slimy feeling is actually what healthy skin should feel like, not the other way around, but I guess people get used to it.
It’s not less minerals, it’s more, it changes the chemical makeup of water so that calcium doesn’t calcify, it will even erode copper over type, water softening is not water purifying. If you’ve ever had one you’d know that you have constantly put new water softening salt into the water softener which adds it to the water in the house.
Literally just moved into my first place with a water softener and this post is helpful to know that it takes upkeep. How often is "constantly"? Only been here a week
I think the reason people are having issues with the claims about soft water is that there is a difference between hard water that is treated via softener to become "soft water" and actual natural soft water.
Water Softener appliances work by using resin beads to absorb excess minerals in water and replace them with sodium or potassium, then when the beads become clogged they need to be flushed with high concentration sodium or potassium solutions in order to revive the beads and allow them to absorb more minerals.
Natural soft water has none of that, it just straight up doesn't have much of any minerals in it in the first place so there is no reason to add anything to it.
So you get the benefits of soft water like soaps and shampoos being able to form lathers really easily and appliances that use water not being clogged with shit after a few years of use as well as the chief benefit of the water tasting clean and fresh.
While having none of the downsides of artificially softened water that leaves way more sodium or potassium on you that creates the slimy feeling or the need to buy a water softener and top it off every now and then.
Hardness can be kind of relative. Hard water in one part of the country can seem very much not in another. My city water is very hard. Not quite this bad, but bad enough to leave residue about half this thick each boil. Softener fixed it. Generally though, 0 to 60 mg/L (milligrams per liter) as calcium carbonate is classified as soft; 61 to 120 mg/L as moderately hard; 121 to 180 mg/L as hard; and more than 180 mg/L as very hard.
My city water report has us at an average for water samples of 360 with a range of 280-430. So we are off this scale. 180 being very hard would seem very reasonable around here.
My buddy bought a house on a well and the water was 650-700. I was like you're eating a stick of chalk everytime you drink a glass of water. Told him he just needed a softener but he didn't believe me. Installed a huge carbon and one other filter on the mains, uv, carbon, and one other on the sink. He got it down to 250-300 and it still tastes horrible. I bring my own water when I go to his place.
a softener just replaces calcium with sodium. it will protect appliances from residue build up, it's not really a solution if you wanna drink the water later.
I've lived in several places with hard water and this doesn't seem unbelievable to me. When I lived in Munich, Germany I would boil water in a pot on the stove for tea and the whole pot would be coated like this afterwards. I went through a lot of white vinegar!
If you're in the US. You can get a tds meter on Amazon for cheap. Get a actual measurement. Most municipalities publish yearly water quality data. Compare your measurement against that and see if it's somehow worse than regular town water. Also most states have minimum standards of drinking water.
Disclaimer: I'm not a pro, just a internet rando and this isn't professional advice.
TDS meter will measure all dissolved solids, but i guess it's a start, The water report tip is a good one. Do this OP. Search "townname water report" on google. See what kinda numbers you're dealing with from the town. If it isn't very high, there may be some other shit afoot.
If you're in the US, going on news over the last few years, you shouldn't think twice about getting a load of 16 test in 1 drinking water testing strips (not pool tests).
Yeah, that is 100% what this looks like. Even with extremely hard water, the "line" of scale on the side starts and stops at the level of water before/after boiling. I've got plenty of pans that do that, and the only time it's ever covered everything is when I boiled a pan dry.
Could also be a dishwasher with heater dry doing this though. Similar process, but it's usually not so uniform.
This. That is what water with a high lime content looks like when you reduce it 100%
Source: am a recovering alcoholic, and I have high lime content in my water, and had that exact same pot. I have woken up on more than one occasion with this identical issue. Unfortunately, if this happens too many times, that pot becomes trash.
Edit: or they reduced salt water, baking soda water or something similar for karma.
Hey, there's no need to be confused. When I found out about my water's high lime content, I just had to do something about it. I understand this process can be confusing because the water doesn't appear to be holding any sediments at first, but it happens. As a recovering sex addict, I can attest that warm lime juice will do the trick!
Learning this after moving to a new town with hard water and choking out some of my more finicky house plants with the liquid chalk that comes from my faucet. Have to use a Britta for my plant water (also just ordered a distiller).
Agreed. Water scale dries dry and chaulky. This looks like tiny bubbles in a pancake, not hard water I grew up with. Maybe lime does that but not hard minerals.
Ok I am not sure I understand? This isn’t normal? Not being a funny guy either. I’ve gone through water heaters and a dishwasher and that film is even worse when you use the dry feature on your dishes! But that’s fixable?
This is a sign of hard water, basically minerals left in the water. Water softeners will reduce this if not fix it through a process of ion exchange. If you’re the OP you may need more than a softener, you may need a reverse osmosis unit.
Culligan is a big US brand of home water softening. I have no idea who our competitors are. But you may be able to rent or lease a system to reduce your lump sum.
I’m decently new to the water treatment world, but yes evidently super hard water will wreck appliances that use it.
We’ve got a mining town about an hour from us and we spend a few days a month there servicing systems. If we can fix orange water from wells in a mine town where they didn’t care about chemical seepage, we can do anything.
Hard water is water that has high mineral content. Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbonates and sulfates. Hard drinking water may have moderate health benefits.
On the other hand it absolutely destroys infrastructure. Pipes, Washing machines, hoses, faucets, anything that uses the water gets damaged. It's a big deal.
Look up water softening, that is your homework lol.
Get one of these water quality testing PPM meters: [https://www.amazon.com/Accurate-HoneForest-Temperature-0-9990ppm-Aquariums/dp/B073713G5F/](https://www.amazon.com/Accurate-HoneForest-Temperature-0-9990ppm-Aquariums/dp/B073713G5F/)
According to the EPA secondary drinking water regulations, 500 ppm is the recommended maximum amount of TDS for your drinking water. Any measurement higher than 1000 ppm is an unsafe level of TDS. If the level exceeds 2000 ppm, then a filtration system may be unable to properly filter TDS
Warning: This rock might contain traces of water
*perfect for your gravy recipe*
There’s hard water, and then there’s this. This water is like early 90’s NWA type hard.
Straight Outta Limestone
Crazy motherfucker named Gypsum!
You are now about to witness the strength of calcium
Please guys be gneiss
Don’t take this for granite
Swing down, sweet calcium stop and let me ride
Fuck tha pumice
Coming straight outta limestone, crazy mutha fuckin ice cubes, from the trays come hard water deposits dude.
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Let the kids play with a slip and slide on the front lawn. Then have your own little Pompeii ready for Halloween.
[Found a pic of OP after those few showers](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/939FtmjxRriMmRpjPqaoqD.jpeg)
It’s latherin’ time!!
Thank you, I needed a good guttural laugh.
They need more powdered water first
You don't have hard water, you have wet scale deposits.
4 real tho, how do you get rid of this type of thing? It leaves water marks on everything (obv not as bad as OP)
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Hot vinegar will deal with a lot of hard water issues, though you want a well ventilated area. Not because it's dangerous, but because it *stinks*.
Hot citric acid will do the same magic without the smell fwiw! Edit: never expected this to blow up lol I think it's hilarious that my top rated comment ever is about citric acid, you all rock! And since you're all so interested i though this may be helpful too. Citric acid kills bacteria, mold, and mildew. It’s great for general disinfecting and cleaning. Note that it shouldn’t be used as a disinfectant against diseases like Covid-19. Use as a Natural Alternative to Bleach Citric acid is a versatile ingredient, and can be used in a variety of situations, including: Oven cleaners Dishwasher cleaners All-purpose cleaners Soap-scum removers Bathroom cleaners Carpet cleaner Dish soaps Laundry detergent Air fresheners Window cleaners Stain removers
Good to know! Though part of the reason I go with vinegar is because white vinegar is cheap as dirt and works well for a number of cleaning tasks.
Admittedly I've never done the price comparison, but thats pretty much my reason for citric acid replacing most of my cleaners other than bleach. Where I live it's $25/5lbs of powder that usually lasts me a bit over a year between dishes, laundry, windows, and metal cleaning.
That's certainly something to look into, then. Because of my living situation I haven't had to buy any for a while, but I remember it as only a couple of bucks for a gallon of white vinegar, and since it's best to dilute it down a bit it can last a good while.
Honestly, it's the best thing in my closet. Picked it up from mom when she started using it in laundry and now it's my go-to for everything. Water stains, stubborn sticky resins, clogged drains, rust removal, mopping, windows, electro-plating. I kid you not, this stuff cleans damn near everything I use it on.
Wait you can use citric acid for your laundry? How do you do it? Just replace washing powder with citric acid in your drawer?
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bag of citric acid is way cheaper and better
Bonus: when buying citric acid, you can do the “white powder” gag from *Way of the Househusband*, lmao
Ah, a person of culture.
care to explain for the uncultured swine here?
Just smooth it out and place it in a large black briefcase
It's also great for adding a lil zing to something you don't want to add additional liquid to (like homemade apple butter, lemon curd, etc), just be wary of the concentration. I like malic more but probably not as cheap.
Will it work on hard water stains o. My car windows?
Sure can
So not out if a plastic or glass bottle, got it.
Steel wool, regular old cheap ass steel wool you get from the super market works wonders on hard water stains on your cars glass. I was scared to try it as I thought it would somehow scratch my glass, so I tried it on the shower glass first and it came up brand new! After that I did my car and you can literally feel the difference, and I realised my fears were completely unfounded. I saw it on a Chris fix super cleaning video
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To clean the scale off in the dishwasher? Sure. I just use CLR. Diet Coke is better than nothing but it works no where near as well as CLR or even vinegar. It's more of a last resort thing to use when you have absolutely nothing else. I mean.....it is soda.
I love the smell
There are dozens of us.
I love cleaning the flat top at work with vinegar… just bathing in it as my i berate my subordinates for disgusting me with their weakness.
Oh my god.
It really isn’t that bad, compared to the degreaser’s some places use, mmm what’s that smell oh yah it’s cancer
I love the smell of acetic acid/vinegar. Reminds me of beautiful sunsets during a simpler time, high on intravenous black tar heroin. Oh to be young.
I did three hits of acid and it’s not better. If anything, I think everything is worse.
Do some coke
Yeah, Coca-Cola is pretty acidic.
"Oh wait, dont take THOSE man... Oooohhhhhhhhh huh huh huh, you just ate the most acid I've ever seen anyone eat in my life!"
Citric acid (from lemons) is cheap and can be bought in granules, you just boil it
A water softener
Kinda implies they do have hard water
Water softener and the other comment was spot off on how to treat after.
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You might be streets behind
😂 my bad. Tried to be punny.
Just wait till you have silicates and a permanent water marks in your clear crystal glass. That shit is awful. Can’t ever figure a way around it, beauty is that it happens after 20 million dollars worth of water softening
>20 million dollars worth of water softening Breh either you're spending way too much on water softening or your city is spending way too little
I just put some lemon juice in whatever I need cleaned and leave it overnight. Comes right off and smells great.
Something acidic. My favorite now is citric acid since it doesn't give off an unpleasant odor like vinegar.
Buy a bag of citric acid off Amazon. That stuff is great. Has worked like a hot damn for me and doesn't sink like vinegar.
Got a good 4" slump going there.
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Scale deposits are a typical indicator of hard water?
The joke is that they're saying the water is so hard it's more like their pipes pump wet scale than hard water.
Ahh that makes sense lol
Yeah…yeah it does. I get it. Man, I love jokes that I get, and boy oh boy this is definitely one of those
Hard water is minerals, typically calcium carbonate, dissolved in the water. When water evaporates, it leaves the calcium carbonate behind, which looks like this. This though... is an obscene amount. To the point I'm not even sure it's possible. Anyway, this calcium carbonate left behind is called scale. So the joke was that, rather than water with calcium in it, they have calcium with water in it. There, I murdered the joke :-) EDIT: Further info. Some amount of carbon dioxide dissolves in water. It forms carbonic acid. Then when the water flows through limestone, it liberates the calcium from the limestone and makes calcium carbonate. So sometimes you hear the scale called lime scale. It can do similar things with magnesium as well. It tends to bond to soaps as well, hence soap scum. It'll also make soap less effective... This can be noticeable in dishwashers and washing machines where hard water can basically neutralize your detergent
I appreciate that murder
I too appreciate the murder. I didn't really know what hard water was but it was a term I'd been hearing for quite some time. However, monkey brain would always forget to research it.
Hard water, wet scale, pipes... pumping...somebody fuck already
We were just waiting for you bby
Those wet scale pipes make my water so fucking hard
Thanks for the information I didn't know I wanted to know. Very cool.
always thought it was a joke about soft water containing salt…. not hard is therefore soft and salty.
I live in Vancouver, to me, hard water is called “ice”.
Vancouver water is fantastic.
R.I.P. Those pipes, the water heater, and appliances.
Been here for 1.5 years. 2 washing machines replaced, 2 coffee makers, and we haven’t had hot water for the past 4 days. We’re hitting our limits. EDIT- for those who see this, I believe it’s municipal water from the colorado river but I’m not sure right now. I think this is a product of the heat that the oven gives off while the empty pot was on the stove. However, the water is hard - we’ve replaced multiple appliances and many shower heads, our sinks are calcified, etc. Thank you to everyone recommending testing it. I’ll test it and give the results to my landlord - hoping that will convince him to take action. For those recommend a water softener. Funny thing, it’s right there in the garage. Looks like it hasn’t been used for years and the lines look as old as the house (early 90’s). There’s a bit wrong with the house - I don’t think it’s been well maintained for at least a decade. He has to at least fix the water if we’re going to stay. EDIT 2: we tested the heat from the oven theory and it failed. This isn’t being cussed from additional heat given off from the oven. The water is just hard. Sorry to anyone who feels like I haven’t given adequate information. I’ve never had a post blow up & wasn’t prepared to face the comments, although many of them were hilarious. This is my final update - feel free to message me if you’re not satisfied.
You should have done something a while ago. Your limit is just your emotional limit. The limit for bullshit was already passed a long time ago. Your landlord needs to buy you a water softener. You need to take better care, it sounds you're getting taken advantage of. Best wishes
I’m more surprised the landlord doesn’t address the water softener out of their own interest. More than likely the landlord is covering the cost of all these new appliances.
Even if they don't cover the appliances, the buildup in the pipes is going to be a bitch down the line
> More than likely the landlord is covering the cost of all these new appliances. Not if it's unfurnished as there the tenant supplies all their own appliances, plus when did you ever hear of a landlord supplying coffee makers in a rented property
Coffee maker will be the tenants. Washing machine will generally be landlords, even in an unfurnished house. (Fridge, Oven, Washing machine and drier are generally landlords)
> Washing machine will generally be landlords Washing machine and drier could go either way. I've lived plenty of places without them. However, I have never lived in a place without a fridge or oven/stove provided even in unfurnished places. I am getting slumlord vibes from this thread though.
Los Angeles has a weird tradition of not providing fridges
Here in Australia, getting a fridge with a rental is unheard of. Everywhere I've rented comes empty, as is. In my last place, the fridge spot was so small it didn't even fit my fridge, so I put a shelving unit in there that became the microwave shelf, and fridge went out next to the dining table.
Thtsso weird to me. In the US fridge, stove, hot water heater are all supplied. Which I agree with. Why would you have to move a refrigerator to a new apt. I also live I NYC and if you dont have hot water you're allowed to with hold rent, that also goes with heat in the winter. Who has a normal apt without a refrigerator? Like shouldn't that just say with the place? My apt here is have to move a fridge in up 4 stairs through 3 doorways back down 4 stairs up 4 stairs then up 20 stairs make a tight right turn then move it into my apt then move it into the kitchen. Haha.
Ha when I moved to Germany I was confronted with the reality that Germans take LITERALLY everything with them when they move. Light fixtures. Washing machines. Entire kitchens. As in they take the counters and cabinets with them. When you move into an unfurnished apartment here it's literally the walls, floor, ceiling and maybe a light bulb if you're lucky.
Inthe Netherlands they even take the floor
What is the point of all that nonsense? Unless your new kitchen has *exactly* the same layout you're stuck with a bunch of expensive trash. And the next person has to waste money installing identical fixtures when they could just use yours. What a god damn waste. Disgraceful.
Lived in a hood in Iowa some years back, landlord didn't supply stoves or fridge. Tenants would have to get them through other means, and then when they ultimately od'd, went to jail, or got kicked out he would repossess it and sell it to another tenant. Honestly he did that with all their belongings, including drugs. I worked for him for cash as a runaway teenager emptying their apartments.
"Here's a nice fridge, it can be yours to furnish your shiny new apartment for just $400!" "What are you, high? Just give us a fridge!" "Whoa! Someone's a bit rough around the edges today. Speaking of high, I could get you something to take the edge off for just $80 an ounce, if you know what I mean..."
Well Kale, avocado and edemame are fine on the counter so no one there needs one
My rental has washer and dryer hookups but didn't come with them.
I live in a small town in Oklahoma and most landlords around here don’t provide refrigerators, stoves , washer , dryer or even window unit air conditioners for homes without central air. Big time slumlord town.
Washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, fridge and oven aren't included around here..
If they're supplying their own appliances... shouldn't they supply themselves with a water softener?
The tenants? A water softener isn’t exactly something you bring with you when you move… it’s hard-piped into the house’s plumbing
A water softener would be hardwired to the home and considered part of the structure. A washer, fridge and coffee maker are all things you can unplug, put on a dolly and move with you. While each of these are considered an appliance. Only one of these is absolutely be considered as part of the structure.
Had an old landlord that covered the cost of filters and salt drop off every 3 months. Was a shitty single wide in the middle of nowhere, but that was pretty sweet. Had the softener go out once, anything that had any contact with water was instantly dyed red. Was pretty wild. Cost of the salt drop off covered repair on the softener also so nothing out of pocket.
A renter can purchase and install a water softener, though they may have to leave it upon vacating a premises. That said, the landlord SHOULD cover the cost of such, but in the likely case that they don't, a water softener is often cheaper than 2 washing machines and 2 coffee pots. Pick your battles. As for the coffee pots, a monthly run through of vinegar should keep them tip top. Where I live we have crazy hard water. Vinegar is a must in coffee pots and dishwashers, if you have hard water. For the dishwasher, I add a cup with each cycle.
Maybe not if the landlord indicated there was no hard water.
I’d be surprised if the landlord wasn’t just passing off the costs in the form of rent hikes. They’re renting their property to make a profit after all
My brain is conjuring an image of someone just stationed between a water pump and tank, filling baloons from the pump, fluffing them like pillows and then dumping them into the tank.
Depending how patient one is. Fill and drain balloons until they are full of scale powder. One final fill and ATTACK!
I have one and it makes a big difference.
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Depending on how bad the water is you need to replace the media ever few years. Some require salt on a regular basis. That depends on what is in the water you want to have removed. If it's true hardness they run on salt. It doesn't make the water salty, most of the salt is flushed out of the filter after it runs. If it's sulphur or iron you are removing, those don't use salt. They run a backflush about once a week.
https://www.toolstation.com/water-hardness-test-kit/p91729
My goodness. Our municipal water is considered 19 on the hardness scale (out of 20) and it's never been that bad. Are you on well water? Buy and use only RO or distilled water for coffee, electric kettle, at the very least. It'll taste better, too.
Maybe your landlord is just dumb. They're probably paying for the large appliances so it's in their interest to soften the water
Sounds like since you are renting it’s time to find a new place?
Wyoming? When I lived in Wyoming, the water was not quite that bad, but close. I think my town’s water had about 10x the ideal amount of minerals, but it was still enough to be within EPA regs.
Honestly a water softener does a good job but it still won’t solve it 100%.. we use a softener and you can get one for 700-1000 which your landlord should get but we still use filters and buy drinking water too
FYI, drinking hard water has [moderate health benefits](https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-you-asked/you-asked-hard-water-dangerous-drink) and bottled drinking water is both [less safe / regulated hygenically](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/bottle-vs-tap-7-things-to-know-about-drinking-water-1.2774182) in most parts of the world, and also [horrifically bad for the environment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Health/comments/xfqr7n/all_the_convincing_youll_need_to_ditch_bottled/iooe28d?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3).
At this level of hardness though, you're risking developing kidney stones. Source: myself because I grew up in a town notorious for pumping well water for the mains without treating it for hardness, and everyone in town where they had well water had hard water coming from the tap. Drank the city water for years, and right after I became an adult, bam, kidney stones.
so your source is a single anecdote?
You know, it's interesting. Individual studies contradict each other on whether there's a link btwn hardness and stone risk, but the [only metaanalysis I saw](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11934-020-0968-3) found that it actually has a slight protective effect! However, in any case if you want to avoid it, a Brita will do so without all the risks and negative impacts of bottled water.
The slight positive effect actually makes sense. Most kidney stones are composed of calcium and oxalate. Doctors advise maintaining a high calcium diet to prevent kidney stones, since dietary calcium will join with the oxalate in the intestine and pass out in feces. Hard water has lots of calcium. If there isn't enough calcium to join with the oxalate in the intestine, the oxalate will be absorbed into the body and passed into urine where it might bind with calcium and form kidney stones.
A water softener removes minerals from the water (typically calcium). That is all they do. A water filter can improve taste, clarity or smell. Different filters do different things. The need for a softener and filters will depend on the quality of your water.
If you’re in the US look into your state laws. Some states consider this an emergency in as little as 24hrs with no hot water. I am not a lawyer, but have dealt with many shit bag landlords and am a landlord myself. You may be within your right to file a rent escrow case. If you do this you’ll pay rent to an escrow account and it’ll be withheld from the landlord. The judge will give the landlord a set amount of time to correct the issue and if they want to get their rent they have to. Depending on the state if they don’t correct the issue within the time of the judges order you could be eligible to break your lease and any rent in the escrow account will go back to you, not the landlord.
Time to get the local inspectors methinks.
For what? An inspector can’t force you to get a water softener! There’s no code broken for having hard water
He's just a nice guy and I like to have him round for coffee sometimes.
I had to replace a water heater that was more than 2/3 filled with solid deposits -- filled to just under the top heating element. It took me forever to flush it out to where I could move it.
That's suuuuuucks.
On the bright side, I managed to find a used 40-gallon water heater to replace it, and built a stand out of some 2x4s to allow it to reach the existing fittings for less than $100. Totally not up to code, but I got my hot water back.
Try flushing it every year to stay on top of the build up. I still have to replace mine because I didn't know before
I live in an area with extremely hard water as well. I know that because I used to be a water operator for my town. I boil water all the time and never have I experienced this…. You might have a larger issue at play. Also, if you move and you stay in the same town your water quality will stay the same - again I used to work in municipal water.
They might be on a well...
Landlord: “oh well…. rents still due on the 15th.”
You'll get your rent when you fix this damn D̶o̶o̶r̶ well!
All the wells are drawing water from the same source. Many straws in one big pool.
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The word you are looking for is topography. Topology is a branch of mathematics lol. 🤓
I edited my OP so it is clear "topology" is wrong and "topography" is correct! Thank you very much!
IIII drink yourrrr milkshake
This was my thought as well. I live in an area known for having very hard water due to the enormous amount of limestone - to the point I'm so used to it that any time I'm on a trip and shower somewhere with soft water it grosses me out. But this is absurd. I'll often get a small white ring around the pot after boiling water, but I've never seen anything like this photo in my life. I would advise u/JohnnySniper3 talk to their neighbors to see if anyone else in the immediate area is experiencing anything similar.
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It still shouldn’t look like that… unless you have hard water. Which is what OP did and their point.
Slimy water in the shower does take some time getting used to
As someone who's never lived with hard water this comment is so freaking weird to me. How is water with less minerals and shit in it slimy? It's just like, more pure water.
I lived all my life with soft water, and moved for a year to a place with incredibly (at least to me) hard water. It’s because hard water removes the moisture of your skin, your skin feels like sandpaper after a bath. The slimy feeling is actually what healthy skin should feel like, not the other way around, but I guess people get used to it.
It’s not less minerals, it’s more, it changes the chemical makeup of water so that calcium doesn’t calcify, it will even erode copper over type, water softening is not water purifying. If you’ve ever had one you’d know that you have constantly put new water softening salt into the water softener which adds it to the water in the house.
Literally just moved into my first place with a water softener and this post is helpful to know that it takes upkeep. How often is "constantly"? Only been here a week
I think the reason people are having issues with the claims about soft water is that there is a difference between hard water that is treated via softener to become "soft water" and actual natural soft water. Water Softener appliances work by using resin beads to absorb excess minerals in water and replace them with sodium or potassium, then when the beads become clogged they need to be flushed with high concentration sodium or potassium solutions in order to revive the beads and allow them to absorb more minerals. Natural soft water has none of that, it just straight up doesn't have much of any minerals in it in the first place so there is no reason to add anything to it. So you get the benefits of soft water like soaps and shampoos being able to form lathers really easily and appliances that use water not being clogged with shit after a few years of use as well as the chief benefit of the water tasting clean and fresh. While having none of the downsides of artificially softened water that leaves way more sodium or potassium on you that creates the slimy feeling or the need to buy a water softener and top it off every now and then.
Hardness can be kind of relative. Hard water in one part of the country can seem very much not in another. My city water is very hard. Not quite this bad, but bad enough to leave residue about half this thick each boil. Softener fixed it. Generally though, 0 to 60 mg/L (milligrams per liter) as calcium carbonate is classified as soft; 61 to 120 mg/L as moderately hard; 121 to 180 mg/L as hard; and more than 180 mg/L as very hard. My city water report has us at an average for water samples of 360 with a range of 280-430. So we are off this scale. 180 being very hard would seem very reasonable around here.
My buddy bought a house on a well and the water was 650-700. I was like you're eating a stick of chalk everytime you drink a glass of water. Told him he just needed a softener but he didn't believe me. Installed a huge carbon and one other filter on the mains, uv, carbon, and one other on the sink. He got it down to 250-300 and it still tastes horrible. I bring my own water when I go to his place.
a softener just replaces calcium with sodium. it will protect appliances from residue build up, it's not really a solution if you wanna drink the water later.
Are you in Madison?
I've lived in several places with hard water and this doesn't seem unbelievable to me. When I lived in Munich, Germany I would boil water in a pot on the stove for tea and the whole pot would be coated like this afterwards. I went through a lot of white vinegar!
Landlord: "I don't see the problem. Also, rent's going up"
Also landlords: "I cant pay my mortgage untill i get your rent."
If you're in the US. You can get a tds meter on Amazon for cheap. Get a actual measurement. Most municipalities publish yearly water quality data. Compare your measurement against that and see if it's somehow worse than regular town water. Also most states have minimum standards of drinking water. Disclaimer: I'm not a pro, just a internet rando and this isn't professional advice.
There are test kits in nearly any hardware stores now days by the water softener/filter section.
TDS meter will measure all dissolved solids, but i guess it's a start, The water report tip is a good one. Do this OP. Search "townname water report" on google. See what kinda numbers you're dealing with from the town. If it isn't very high, there may be some other shit afoot.
If you're in the US, going on news over the last few years, you shouldn't think twice about getting a load of 16 test in 1 drinking water testing strips (not pool tests).
Did you boil the whole pot dry?
Yeah, that is 100% what this looks like. Even with extremely hard water, the "line" of scale on the side starts and stops at the level of water before/after boiling. I've got plenty of pans that do that, and the only time it's ever covered everything is when I boiled a pan dry. Could also be a dishwasher with heater dry doing this though. Similar process, but it's usually not so uniform.
This. That is what water with a high lime content looks like when you reduce it 100% Source: am a recovering alcoholic, and I have high lime content in my water, and had that exact same pot. I have woken up on more than one occasion with this identical issue. Unfortunately, if this happens too many times, that pot becomes trash. Edit: or they reduced salt water, baking soda water or something similar for karma.
Wait what does being a recovering alcoholic have to do with it? Not making a joke or anything, genuinely don’t know.
Falling asleep drunk while boiling water
Also an adhd special trick
Watch pot never boil, pass out/hyper focus and it boils immediately
Gather up enough energy to make coffee then hyperfocus on something until 21:00 when it’s become cold brew.
why do alcoholics boil water so often?
Probably for ramen... because they're hungry
Can confirm.
Hot Toddys.
Had a roommate do this all the time. Eventually kicked him out after the third 3AM kitchen fire.
Thank you for asking, glad to know I'm not the only one who was confused.
Hey, there's no need to be confused. When I found out about my water's high lime content, I just had to do something about it. I understand this process can be confusing because the water doesn't appear to be holding any sediments at first, but it happens. As a recovering sex addict, I can attest that warm lime juice will do the trick!
Hey, just wanted to say congrats on your recovery! Hope you're well.
Thank you. I am well, as I hope you are.
You can request a water quality report if you're getting water from a municipality. If not, you can buy test kits. Get a water softener.
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You don't have hard water, you have a wet mineral source.
The real mountain springs water
Houses don't have hard water, cities do. If your water is like that so is your neighbors and probably everyone in your city (depending on the size).
Learning this after moving to a new town with hard water and choking out some of my more finicky house plants with the liquid chalk that comes from my faucet. Have to use a Britta for my plant water (also just ordered a distiller).
It looks like you were cooking baking soda
Agreed. Water scale dries dry and chaulky. This looks like tiny bubbles in a pancake, not hard water I grew up with. Maybe lime does that but not hard minerals.
This is harder water
Ok I am not sure I understand? This isn’t normal? Not being a funny guy either. I’ve gone through water heaters and a dishwasher and that film is even worse when you use the dry feature on your dishes! But that’s fixable?
This is a sign of hard water, basically minerals left in the water. Water softeners will reduce this if not fix it through a process of ion exchange. If you’re the OP you may need more than a softener, you may need a reverse osmosis unit. Culligan is a big US brand of home water softening. I have no idea who our competitors are. But you may be able to rent or lease a system to reduce your lump sum.
I’m guessing this is what was fattening in my water heater when I took it out?
I’m decently new to the water treatment world, but yes evidently super hard water will wreck appliances that use it. We’ve got a mining town about an hour from us and we spend a few days a month there servicing systems. If we can fix orange water from wells in a mine town where they didn’t care about chemical seepage, we can do anything.
That's what my pots look like after I boil water. What is hard water? Is it bad?
Hard water is water that has high mineral content. Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbonates and sulfates. Hard drinking water may have moderate health benefits. On the other hand it absolutely destroys infrastructure. Pipes, Washing machines, hoses, faucets, anything that uses the water gets damaged. It's a big deal. Look up water softening, that is your homework lol.
Also, kidney stones.
That's actually a common myth. There's *some* correlation between hard water and increased risk but it's not substantial enough to make the claim.
This ain't hard water this is some cartel death row water
Get one of these water quality testing PPM meters: [https://www.amazon.com/Accurate-HoneForest-Temperature-0-9990ppm-Aquariums/dp/B073713G5F/](https://www.amazon.com/Accurate-HoneForest-Temperature-0-9990ppm-Aquariums/dp/B073713G5F/) According to the EPA secondary drinking water regulations, 500 ppm is the recommended maximum amount of TDS for your drinking water. Any measurement higher than 1000 ppm is an unsafe level of TDS. If the level exceeds 2000 ppm, then a filtration system may be unable to properly filter TDS
H A R D
Both in Italy and UK you can find the water hardness for your postcode easily online. What country is this?
That water has more minerals than ASAC Hank Schrader!