Are you experiencing mineral buildup on your cookware, water-using appliances, and plumbing fixtures?

Does your “clean” laundry smell sour, look dingy or feel harsh and scratchy after it is washed?

Do your dishes and glasses come out of the dishwasher spotted with water marks?

Does your hair feel sticky or look dull after shampooing?

These are tell-tale signs of hard water problems in your home.

While hard water is safe for drinking, cooking and other uses, it can be a nuisance that interferes with the operation of water-using appliances, and can lead to costly appliance repairs and/or pipe and plumbing fixture replacements.

What Causes Hard Water?

When water moves through soil and rock, it dissolves small amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals and holds them in solution. The higher the concentration of these minerals in your water, the harder the water becomes.

Heated hard water forms a scale of minerals inside washers, dishwashers, coffee makers, and other water-using appliances. Over time, these appliances will operate less efficiently as hard water deposits build up inside them. Hard water mineral deposits can also clog pipes, leading to reduced water flow and the need to replace pipes.

Hard Water and Bathing

If you have very hard water in your home, you may also notice that your skin is left with a film of sticky soap curd after bathing or showering. Soap curd irritates skin and does not allow your skin to return to its normal, slightly acid condition after bathing.

Soap curd on hair will leave it looking dull, lifeless and difficult to manage.

Hard Water and Laundry

Hard water also shortens the life of your clothes. It will cause soap curds to lodge in fabric during washing and make fabric stiff and rough. Over time, your clothing and linens will start to turn gray, since soil is never completely removed when the laundry is washed. Your laundry may develop a sour odor.

Testing for Hard Water

If your home is connected to a town or municipal water system, you can ask them to tell you the hardness level of the water they supply. If you are on a well or private water supply, you can contact a water testing laboratory to evaluate your water’s hardness as well as drinking water safety. You can find a list of certified water testing laboratories through the Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services.

Appleton Campbell can also test your water for hardness, Iron and pH levels. and recommend water treatment solutions tailored to your needs.

How Water Filtration Can Improve Your Life

Appleton Campbell’s water filtration systems and services can reduce hard water deposits that are damaging your appliances and corroding your pipes and plumbing systems. A whole-house water filter is located on the main water line before water enters your water heater. This means that all the water that enters your home will be treated and filtered before use. Your water will taste better, your laundry, skin and hair will be cleaner, and your appliances will work better.

Appleton Campbell Water Treatment Services

Appleton Campbell offers homeowners and residents of Northern Virginia and the Virginia Piedmont area a full line of water softeners, filters and treatment systems to improve your home’s water quality. We can also repair water filters and replace old pipes that are causing water problems in your home.

As a locally owned company, doing business in Northern Virginia and the Virginia Piedmont since 1976, Appleton Campbell is very familiar with local water conditions and how to treat them.

If you are experiencing hard water problems in your home, call Appleton Campbell today:

(866) 543-3996 Toll Free
(540) 347-0765 Warrenton VA
(540) 825-6332 Culpeper VA
(703) 754-3301 Gainesville / Northern VA

Appleton Campbell Water Filtration and Water Softening Services

Appleton Campbell is a full-service, fully-licensed Class A plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical contractor serving homeowners and residential clients throughout Northern Virginia. Appleton Campbell’s President, Mike Appleton, received the 2011 Business Person of the Year Award from the Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about Appleton Campbell’s services and homeowner maintenance tips, visit AppletonCampbell.com.

If you live outside the town or city limits, chances are your home has a well that supplies your family’s water. Proper maintenance of your residential well and well pump is important to the health of your family because they supply the water you and your loved ones drink, bathe and cook with. That’s why you should have an experienced plumber inspect your well and well pump regularly to make sure they are functioning properly and delivering clean, healthy water to your home.

How Typical Residential Well Pumps Work

In order to get water from the well to your home, you must have an electromechanical system that will deliver water into your home. At the heart of these systems is a well pump.

The most common types of well pumps are jet pumps, used for shallow wells (less than 25 feet deep) and submersible pumps for deeper wells (more than 25 feet below ground).

Pumps are not intended to run continuously, and they don’t start each time you open a tap or flush the toilet. In order to provide consistent water pressure inside your home, pumps must first move water from the well into a storage tank. An air bladder inside the storage tank is compressed as water is pumped into the tank, and the pressure in the tank moves the water from the well through the household plumbing system.

Once the water pressure reaches a preset level, which can be anywhere from 40-60 psi, a switch turns off the pump. As water is used inside your home, the pressure inside the tank decreases until the pump turns on again and the cycle is repeated. A pressure gauge mounted on the storage tank controls the switch that controls the pump.

When to Call a Plumber for Well Pump Problems

If you experience any of the following problems with your well pump, you should call an experienced plumber to check the problem and see if the well pump can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced:

• You have no water or intermittent water
• The well pump isn’t running properly
• Low water pressure
• Leaking pressure tank
• The pump runs too much
• The pump runs but does not deliver water to your taps, toilets or other plumbing fixtures
• Pressure switches aren’t working properly or click on and off rapidly
• Water pulses when the tap is turned on

Appleton Campbell: Experienced, Licensed Plumbing Services

Well pump repair and replacement is not a job you should do yourself. Always call an experienced, licensed plumber to ensure that your well pumps are operating correctly and supplying clean, healthy water to your home.

Appleton Campbell’s experienced plumbers can also arrange for drilling crews to drill wells and hook up all the necessary plumbing lines, fittings and the well pump.

Appleton Campbell services all makes and models of well pumps and we honor all manufacturers’ warranties.

If your well needs servicing, repair or replacement, call Appleton Campbell today:

(866) 543-3996 Toll Free
(540) 347-0765 Warrenton VA
(540) 825-6332 Culpeper VA
(703) 754-3301 Gainesville / Northern VA

Appleton Campbell Well Pump and Sump Pump Services

Appleton Campbell is a full-service, fully-licensed Class A plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical contractor serving homeowners and residential clients throughout Northern Virginia. Appleton Campbell’s President, Mike Appleton, received the 2011 Business Person of the Year Award from the Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about Appleton Campbell’s services and homeowner maintenance tips, visit AppletonCampbell.com.