Does hard water really ruin appliances?

Does hard water kill or ruin appliances, or is that some urban legend that crept it's way into the realm of common knowledge? And I recognize that there is some subjectivity here, such as "hard" according to who, and how is ruined defined.

What I can offer is my example. Last week, I had a three year old dishwasher leaking all over the floor, and upon removing the dishwasher to replace it, it's clear to me that it had been leaking for six months, a year, maybe more. Before I removed it from it's cubby in the cabinetry, I placed a small cookie sheet underneath it, and I had to dump it once during a cycle. While I did not take accurate measurements of the volume of water, to me it looked to be in the neighborhood of close to a quart. In my mind, it probably started as a minor slow leak but worsened with time. It was dripping from two different locations, one drip in the very center at the bottom, the other off to the side from an electrical plug, which I think was the recirculation pump. None of that really matters now, but this dishwasher was dripping from two locations, and it is possible that it could be a single leak and the water found two paths to exit and drip.

I told my brother about this, and his retort was a statement that I interpreted as an absolute, and he said "yeah... hard water kills appliances" said in such a way as to imply it was fact. It's a belief he holds, but one that I question. Perhaps, maybe hard water can contribute to accelerated wear on household appliances, maybe in something like mineral scale buildup, but in my particular case, I am more inclined to believe that there was likely a defect in a component. If one knows they have hard water, there are measures one can take to aid in remedying things such as mineral scale buildup, such as using a mild acid like vinegar or citric acid to dissolve mineral buildup, as an example. I do this with my tankless water heater, and it is even in the owners manual for that appliance to periodically circulate white vinegar through it for an hour to remove mineral scale. But I guess what I hope to discuss here is things such as hard water destroying o-rings or gaskets if that's possible, or somehow contributing to appliance failure.

Knowing people in Buda, Tx, their experiences suggest it does.  

https://paradiseapplianceservice.com/washer-repair/how-to-protect-your-appliances-from-hard-water-damage/ this site goes into detail both why and how to protect some appliances.   I note that they don't really give a good method to protect the water heater.

I used to live in an area with very hard water (by which I mean high dissolved mineral content, it would leave limescale everywhere). It scaled up the kettle very quickly and we used to boil vinegar to dissolve it - after a week it would be scaled up again! The toilets and showers were probably the most annoying and gentle cleaners didn't do very much to remove the residue.

I can imagine how a large build up of limescale around a heating element (such as one in a dishwasher or washing machine) could cause it to overheat - the scale would insulate the element and prevent it from heating the water. The heating element will be switched by a thermostat elsewhere in the system. I suppose that higher-end appliances might also detect an overheat situation and turn off the heating element before it burns out or causes a fire.

I can also imagine how scale could weigh down the impeller in a pump (which dishwashers and washing machines will have too). The additional weight and surface area will cause drag and the pump motors will have to work harder. They will wear down faster due to this.

Finally, in extreme situations pipes could be blocked by scale which would obviously be catastrophic.

Note that I'm not a plumber so appliances could deal with these situations somehow, such as having built-in sensors or failsafes. I imagine that, in the case of the dishwasher, the salt might go some way to softening the water too.

Do you consider a toilet "an appliance". Ours wasn't flushing well. I decommissioned it and poured cleaning vinegar in the bottom. Then I'd suck the vinegar out and chip at all the crud that had built up where one couldn't see it - particularly on the outflow floor and walls, but also where water comes in at the bottom to help push stuff out. I had beginner's marble - in layers! I got out as much as I could and the toilet worked much better. Now I try not to let it get to that point, but it takes cleaning it out a couple times a year. Extremely awkward. If Hubby would fix the slight leak between the tank and the bowl, I think they rate of build-up would slow, but that's another story...

Back to the topic: there was a dishwasher here when we moved in of unknown age. It did not leak, but after 10 years, the inside surface had started to feel "chalky" - in other words, it was just at the end of its natural life. We bought a quality replacement, and that had to have been at least 10 years ago. I occasionally put a shallow pan of vinegar in it (I should do that again - it's due) when it's running, and it has a filter that I clean out a couple times a year, and it does not leak.  The only thing that went wrong was build up on the soap dispenser which Hubby fixed - I think it was soap as much as calcium although I'm prepared to suggest that the hard water was part of the equation.

If however, you've got deposits in some of the pipes, that may be causing the machine to work harder than it should, and running it a few times with lots of vinegar might help and probably won't hurt. Can you disconnect the "out-put" and feed the vinegar into a bucket? That would allow you to reuse the vinegar a couple of times, but would also show you if "bits" are coming out. Does yours have a filter?

I have certainly seen calcium build up on o-rings and seals, but generally, the build up is on the parts the water can reach and if the o-ring is sealing properly, the calcium isn't going to get inside the crack unless you disturb and reorient that o-ring (but you'd probably look at it and say it needs replacing instead of reusing it). If the seals all look fine and wiping them with vinegar doesn't help the problem, I'd hesitate to blame it on hard water. Ours is pretty hard. We have to clean the tap filters regularly, and Hubby de-scales my electric kettle several times/year to keep it working (scale builds up on the element). Our washing machine is over 30 years old and has needed repairs to various bits, but we've always been able to get it working again. I do find spray nozzles on hoses have limited lifespans on this farm. I found one type that has lasted well, but mostly I limit their use. Every couple of years we have to remove the nozzle on the shower and Hubby reams it out with the correct sized drill bit and that fixes it. So, yes, living with hard water has its special needs (very good for heart health though!) but I'm not convinced it's caused your leak!

The only big appliance I have is the 1993 Maytag washer though I add vinegar to the wash which may be a big help.

We use reverse osmosis water in our coffee maker and ice machine to prevent that damage since we live, where the water comes from the ground that is full of limestone.

Can you live without a dishwasher if they get so damaged with use?

My issue with the term hard water or dissolved minerals is which minerals because it matters. While I can't remember the specific minerals that are prevalent in our water they seem to damage metals when they sit in them over time, like metal bowls for animals. We do not get many problems in cooking pots in which water is boiled. I know that this is the complete opposite in other areas within 60 miles.

So with many things in life, my answer would be it depends. Where I live well water aquifers are highly specific but I've heard that in other areas an entire state could be pulling from the same aquifer. If that's the case where you live, maybe the local appliance repair people are correct but if you live in an area like mine, it seems less likely.

James Freyr wrote: I told my brother about this, and his retort was a statement that I interpreted as an absolute, and he said "yeah... hard water kills appliances" said in such a way as to imply it was fact. It's a belief he holds, but one that I question. Perhaps, maybe hard water can contribute to accelerated wear on household appliances, maybe in something like mineral scale buildup, but in my particular case, I am more inclined to believe that there was likely a defect in a component.

I'm extremely inclined to believe you. I'd bet a nickel there wasn't even any signs or scale build up around the areas that leaked. If the seals don't look dry rotted and worn out (seems unlikely in that timescale) then they likely were either pinched or not tight enough to deal with the vibration and came loose over time. Either way, you can probably find or make new gaskets pretty cheap and get it back together if that's the only problem.

John C Daley wrote:Can you live without a dishwasher if they get so damaged with use?

Yes, of course we can, but we choose not to. Between my daily farm duties, my wife's full time job, and now added to that her mothers recent diagnosis of dementia and her decline, there are things that should be done around here that get pushed to the back burner or deferred to "maybe next year". Having an appliance that washes dishes for us allows us to do something else, even if that something else is sitting on the couch reading for an hour in the evening.  

We do fine with no dishwasher and I am learning to love line drying but I wouldn't like being without the clothes washer.  It's wise to know how to value your own time.  Self care is still valuable work.

Between John's cooking and fermenting projects, my baking, preserving and herbal work, we can barely keep up with the dishes, even with a dishwasher. Without one, I'd never be able to leave the kitchen.

Whether hard water destroys appliances or not, very much depends on how hard the water is. Extremely hard water will quickly coat wetted surfaces including valves, heating elements, and pipes, and this can have obvious negative impacts on system performance. The surfaces that get coated the fastest are ones where you have an air/water interface or surfaces that are wet / dry / wet / dry.

Water hardness is most typically measured as Grains per Gallon (GPG). In my experience water that has less than 7 GPG is fine. If the water is harder than about 12 or 13, it will eventually have some impact on appliance performance. If it's harder than 20, this will have an impact pretty fast and we've seen appliances (usually dishwashers) fail in a couple of years.

You can look up your actual water hardness for your city or town here to get an idea of how hard your water is and how much of a risk it might be to your appliances: https://www.aquatell.ca/pages/aquatell-canada-and-usa-water-hardness-charts