Did you know there is a chance that hard water may be costing your business?

You could be losing money from something that you can’t even see. Hard water can have a huge impact on the longevity of your energy use, the environment and most importantly, your plumbing infrastructure.

It might not seem so bad, spending a little more time and effort cleaning your equipment. But it’s the effects you cannot see that are building up and will cost you in replacement parts, insurance cost and utility bills.

What is hard water?

Hard water is water with a high mineral concentration. This can come with some great health benefits in comparison to soft water – but it doesn’t do any good for your business costs.

If you are a business in the UK, then hard water could definitely be affecting your business as the UK is classified as having very hard water.

What does hard water have to do with business costs?

Hard water can actually have an adverse effect on major appliances and equipment that you may not even realise.

As limescale and mineral deposits in water continually pass through pipes and plumbing, it builds up and starts to significantly restrict the flow of water.

This happens in appliances that use water, such as refrigerators, ice makers, washing machines, and dishwashers.

Untreated hard water can cause appliances to leak, malfunction, use more energy, need replacing, servicing or repair every few years.

Limescale build up

Firstly, no matter how thoroughly you have cleaned your equipment, if you have hard water in your area, limescale deposits are inevitably going to build up.

It can become quite a large job to regularly keep your equipment clean, which comes with associated costs and manpower. Any surface that hard water is in contact with can quickly become infested with limescale deposits. What makes it worse – limescale loves to stick to limescale. This makes it even harder to completely remove. This can also affect your business if you own a restaurant or coffee shop, as it can be unsightly for your customers, as well as affect the taste of your food and water.

Higher energy costs

A build up of limescale as a result of hard water can lead to energy inefficiency. Hard water means more energy is being used to run your plumbing equipment in your building, as well as increasing the associated maintenance costs. Equipment will have to work harder and for a longer period of time in order to heat water.

When the limescale builds, your boiler and heating equipment are easy targets as they are constantly in contact with hard water and will quickly impair efficiency, which in turn will increase utility bills. The Water Quality Research Foundation suggests that it costs 29-percent more to heat untreated water. But your business cannot run without hot water heaters, boilers and all necessary plumbing equipment, especially during your peak times.

Hot water heaters, boilers, and plumbing equipment must be maintained to keep a commercial building running at peak performance and to remain profitable. If they have to be regularly cleaned and flushed through, this is a huge waste of water, as well as energy and chemicals. There are a plethora of water treatment solutions available that can help keep energy efficiency high and utility bills low.

Plumbing issues

All your plumbing equipment is threatened if it is affected by hard water and limescale build up. This shortens the life span of the equipment in your building as it is likely to fail more often than it is manufactured for. This means that equipment will need to be replaced more often than planned, or regularly repaired which comes with expensive labour costs and sometimes, insurance payouts.

Hard water solutions

There are many treatment solutions to commercial hard water problems. One being a commercial water softener. Water softeners will reduce the limescale build up and overheating of equipment.
Using The Water Quality Research Foundation statistics, a typical commercial business (for example, a coffee shop or a restaurant) can save approximately 30% in energy per month. Water softeners can also save money on detergent costs and maintenance repairs.