Water Quality For Best Commercial Laundry Practice !

Water Quality for Best Commercial Laundry Practice!       Hardness Parameter   

Introduction

Content What is Hard Water? Why does Soap not work with hard water? Cleaning action of soap on clothes. Disadvantages of hard water. Water Softener. Advantages of using water softener.

Laundry is the sector which is more explored by the experts. There is nothing as such left un-revealed about secrets in this sector. The basic utilities required to be used in laundry process are water, electricity and chemicals. The laundry operators always make an effort to keep these utilities at the lowest to reduce the expenses of the laundry operation. 

What is the best test for water quality for commercial laundry is the most prominent question asked by the laundry operators? Today we will see how the water which is the main laundry component effects the quality of the linen washed. To start with we have to understand the laundry water chemistry in short, to help us get better laundry results.  

Surface water and ground water are the sources from where we get the water. Surface water we get from lakes, rivers, ponds and reservoirs. Wells and Bore wells are ground water sources.  

We will be focusing more on water quality testers like TDS and hardness of water. We always talk about the TDS but, TDS and hardness of water are interrelated.

 

WHAT IS HARD WATER?

Water has minerals dissolved in it. Calcium Carbonate (CaCo3) and Magnesium (Mg) are mostly found in water and the quantity of these minerals decides the hardness of water.  Hardness is measured in Mg/litre. According to water quality standards for soft water, the quantity of calcium carbonate and magnesium equivalence concentrations should be less than or equal to 60 mg/litre. If it is between 60 mg/litre to 120 mg/litre it is moderately hard water quality and if its concentration is more than 120 mg/litre to 180 mg/litre it is hard water quality and if the concentration of more than 180 mg/litre then it is considered as extremely hard.  

Any person if consumes extreme hard water for longer, then there is a chance of getting kidney stones. This is because these salts and minerals did not get filtered through the kidneys and form calcium stones. Ground water quality are found more hard compare to the surface water. Hard water fills the drink with sweetness and alkaline in nature at about 8.5 to 9 pH which can be checked by a hardness testing kit.  

Detergents and soaps do not get easily dissolved in hard water and also does not form lather. This is because magnesium in hard water reacts with stearate to form magnesium stearate. This makes it difficult to lather in hard water, it also causes soap scum on the side of the tub.     

The scaling of what we see inside the water pipe line, that is the white deposit, is nothing but the calcium carbonate deposition. 

WHY DOES SOAP NOT WORK WITH HARD WATER?  

First we need to understand the cleansing action of soap. Let us see the molecular structure of soap. When sodium hydroxide is added to a long chain of fatty acids, it forms soap. Sodium slat of long chain fatty acid is called soap or detergent molecule. With a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail.  

CLEANING ACTION OF SOAP ON CLOTHES  

Consider a piece of oil stained cloth in soapy water. As discussed in a soap molecule the head part is hydrophilic and the tail part is hydrophobic. Soap molecule gets embedded on clothes. Hydrophobic parts get embedded in the stains. Hydrophilic head gets attracted towards laundry water. So the head gets attracted towards water. When the number of molecules embedded on stain increases they will pull the stains into the water and the cloth gets cleaned.  

Now, suppose more ions of calcium and magnesium are present in water, the calcium reacts with the water molecules to form an inert complex and do not take part in removing the stains on clothes.

In hard water approximately 30 % of more detergent has to be used with a higher laundry water temperature. Use of more detergent and high laundry water temperature increases the operating cost of laundry.    

Disadvantages of Hard Water Quality

So among the main disadvantages of having hard water are  

      1        It leaves a film of soap scum on your dishes and bathroom fixtures.

      2        It can cause mineral build-up in laundry appliances and pipe lines.

      3        It can reduce the efficiency of heating elements in water heaters.

      4        It can produce corrosion and rust.

      5        It reduces the lather of soap and shampoo during showers and 

       baths and

      6        It can make your laundry feel stiffer and look less vibrant. 

So to determine if you have hard water quality, you need to take a water sample from your tap and bring it to your local water tester to get it analyzed. There are also some visual signs to let you know that your water might be hard. 

       1       It will leave soap scum behind on your sinks and in your bathtub and 

       2        It will also lead to a scale build-up in washing machines, dishwashers, water         heaters,  humidifiers and coffee makers.  

So this is where the water softener system comes into the picture.  

Laundry Water Softener

These machines essentially reduce water contaminants, scale build-up and extend the lifespan of laundry appliances, so what is hard water essentially hard water contains a large amounts of dissolved calcium, magnesium, iron and other particles.

Now this is an ion exchange system meaning it will remove all of the metal particles and contaminants from your water, act like a magnetic sponge to pull those minerals away and leave you with soft water.  

So how they work, essentially they take the water coming in from the main water supply line, it runs through a tank that contains resin. There are tons of little ionic beads in there and the water flows through that resin and the resin takes away all the hard minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and other contaminants and removes it from hard water and then returns some nice clean water for use.  

So a water softener system contains two tanks, the main tank in which we have the resin that cleans away the water and makes it soft and then we have a second tank that contains salt. In the second tank there are some fine particles of salt, a typical salt. At the bottom of this salt tank there is some water in order to create a salt brine.  

Every couple of days this salt brine is flushed into the resin tank to clean away and wash away all those hardness ions and those hard ions get rinsed and the rinsed water is then sent into wastewater drain.  

Maintenance of these softeners is super easy and there is nothing to do other than add bags of salt into the tank. So every month or so just look in and if you see that there is some salt missing you take your bag and pour it in there, close the lid back up you seal it and you are good to go. These machines will run anywhere from 15 to 20 years depending on how you maintain them. There are many advantages of using a water softener system. 

 

Advantages of using Water softener  

      1        You are lowering your energy costs by reducing the scale build-up in your water 

             Heater.

      2        You can reduce the amount of soap you need in order to create lather.

      3        You extend the lifetime of plumbing.

      4        You get a silkier feel of the water when washing.

      5        Clothes become soft and look more vibrant.

      6        Your skin will feel much softer and your hair as well.

Regular cleaning and descaling of washing machines is highly recommended if hard water is used in laundry process. Use liquid detergents instead of powdered detergents, as liquid detergents can better tackle water hardness and prevent formation of soap scum. Use of laundry borax in wash load can also help soften the hard water.