Hard water woes?

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Hello Davis residents! Recently (well, for several months...) my roommates and I have noticed some mysterious stains appearing on our laundry. They look like either rust stains or bleach stains. My roommate did some Googling and read that chlorine bleach can interact with the iron in hard water to create stains like this, and she was wondering if I could poll the community to see if anyone else has had similar troubles. What say you?

Comments

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

Hardness is more a function of calcium and magnesium rather than iron. I haven't seen much evidence of iron in my water here in Davis. The soap lathers up pretty well so there must not be too much dissolved mineral salts in the water.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I don't ever use bleach...so...no.

[kjc.livejournal.com]

Well there's a boatload of chlorine in the water itself, as part of our water treatment.

chlorine

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

Actually, Somerville gets its water from the MWRA, which, since July 2005, has used an ozone-based process rather than chlorine as its primary disinfectant method. (The water tastes noticably better than it used to!)

[amethystmoon.livejournal.com]

I get those weird spots that don't quite look like bleach and don't quite look like rust at the laundromat on Broadway all the time (gr).

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Has the enamel chipped on the inside of your washer?

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

do you guys wash your clothes all together? do you notice the stains in particular areas of your clothing? it might be lotions or a product with bleach that you use, which you then transfer to your clothing (e.g. a lot of acne medication does this).

i don't know though. one of my roomates used to have this problem. i didn't though, so i assumed it must be something she was using...

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

Soemrville sends out periodic notices about rust in the water. (http://www.townonline.com/somerville/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=597463)

Until the water runs clear, it is advisable to avoid washing clothes, especially white fabrics. If any rust stains appear on wet laundry, the clothes should not be dried, and the homeowner should contact the Water Department for a bottle of rust remover at 617-625-6600, ext. 5850.

Rust can also build up in the hot water heater.

Some home owners put in a home water filtration system on their main line.

Somerville water quality

[davelew.livejournal.com]

In my own experience, I've gotten rust stains out of T-Shirts by soaking them in 50% lemon
juice and 50% water

As for the questions about water hardness and water quality, here's what the MWRA says:

http://www.mwra.com/04water/html/qual4concerns.htm

"MWRA's drinking water is soft. If you are an MWRA customer, you probably don't need to use
special water softeners for your clothes- or dishwashing machines.

...

MWRA water, which comes from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, sometimes turns yellowish
from low levels of dissolved iron picked up from old iron pipes in both our system and your
community's water system. This mainly occurs in winter, when water usage is low, because the
water sits in the pipes for a longer period of time."

[julishka.livejournal.com]

if they do look like rust stains and are on white fabrics, you can try a rust stain remover (very strong) like whink:

http://www.whink.com/rust_stain_remover.htm

when they say follow directions, they really mean it. voice of experience!