4 Signs You Need to Treat Your Water

When you live in the middle of the desert, you value clean water. You have to drink it constantly to keep up with the dry air, and you have to bathe more often to keep up with sweat and heat. Even if you work in an air-conditioned hotel, you’ll still feel the climate’s effects.

So when your home’s water starts doing strange things, you probably feel alarmed. Whether it turns a strange color or develops a strange taste, you become concerned and maybe even scared. All you want is clean, normal water. This usually means you’ll need a water treatment solution.

However, before you can determine what kind of water treatment solution you need, you’ll need to diagnose your water’s problem. Below, your local plumbing experts at Rakeman Plumbing Las Vegas have given 4 Signs You Need to Treat Your Water:

1. It has a strange color or appearance

You probably don’t like it whenever you find an insect or a piece of food floating in your water, so you’ll likely feel worse when it tur ns a strange color. An altered hue or appearance could indicate a number of problems:

• Grayness, cloudiness, or milky qualities. Your water contains natural contaminants, like dirt, clay, sand, organic matter, or other particles. These qualities can also indicate methane gas contamination.
• Foaminess. This usually indicates that your water contains soaps, detergent, or diluted sewage.
• Redness or brownness. This accompanies iron contamination.
• Yellowness. Your water will turn yellow if tannins from your soil or plants seep into the water.

If you see any of these signs, write down where they occur and how often. Then call your favorite Las Vegas Rakeman plumber.

2. It has a strange smell

Smells might make you more concerned than water. The smells will block your ability to taste the water as crisp and clear. And if you r water has a strong odor, you might not want to drink your water at all. You need hydration to stay on your feet in our desert city, so You need to identify the problem and fix it as soon as possible. Common odors include:

• Bleach: As you might expect, this simply indicates that you have chlorine in your water. This means it will smell l ike a swimming pool.
• Detergents: You have soap in your water.
• Must, earth, or dirt: You have organic matter or actual dirt in your water.
• Oil or gas: This indicates that you might have gasoline or other semivolatile compounds in your drinking water.
• Rotten eggs: Smells like this often accompany sulfur. In this case, you probably have a hydrogen sulfide contamination.
• Sweetness: This means that you have volatile or semivolatile compounds in your water. Avoid drinking it until You get this fixed. Stock up on bottled water in the meantime.

Again, you’ll want your plumber to double check on these odors. Only then can he or she help you find the right water treatment for your needs.

3. It has a strange flavor

This one may also be fairly obvious, but its a fair Signs You Need to Treat Your Water if it’s beginning to taste funny!

Watch for these common flavors:

• Metal. You’ll taste this when your pipes contain corrosion from copper, iron, lead, manganese, and other metals
  . It can also come from sodium chloride.
• Sharp chemicals. If you didn’t smell your water before drinking it, this flavor will tell you that your water contains volatile and semivolatile compounds. It might also contain pesticides and herbicides. Do not drink this water. Use bottled water in the meantime.
• Chlorine. This indicates the same thing as a bleach smell. You have chlorine in your water.
• Grit. You’ll be able to feel and taste sand or dirt in your water.

Remember that even though you may have water troubles, you still need to drink water. Stock up on bottled options, then call your Rakeman plumber to get a second opinion. Plumbers have actual meters that’ll tell them exactly what you have in your water. Then you can move on to choosing a softener or filter.

4. It does strange things to what it touches

You’ll notice these signs as visual or textural cues. These signs include:

• Blackening or pitting on sinks, tubs, and fixtures. You have hydrogen sulfide or manganese in your pipes. You should be able to smell the hydrogen sulfide.
• Blue-green stains on sinks, tubs, and fixtures. These stains often accompany a metallic taste and indicate metal corrosion, especially from copper and brass.
• White deposits on sinks, tubs, fixtures, dishes, etc. These deposits are a sign of hard water. “Hard water” refers to water that contains high concentrations of calcium or manganese.
• Dry hair or skin. Calcium affects the way soap lathers and dries, so it doesn’t clean your body properly. You’ll ha ve drier hair and skin than usual if you have hard water.
• Soaps that won’t lather or stay soapy. Again, hard water keeps your cleaning agents from foaming properly.
• People who drink it feel ill. This usually indicates that you have microorganisms in your water.

Each problem requires a different kind of filter. If you only have hard water, you may only need a water softener. However, if you have problems with lead or microorganisms, you’ll need something a little stronger. Either way, these are tell-tale Signs You Need to Treat Your Water.

Once your Rakeman plumber tests your water, they can help you find the best solution for your needs. Call your Rakeman plumbing experts today for more information!