How 12 GPG Water Affects Skin and Hair
The high mineral content in Hobbs water prevents soaps and shampoos from lathering fully. This creates a sticky soap scum that clings to your skin and hair, leaving you feeling less than clean even after rinsing. It often leads to dry, itchy skin, a flaky scalp, and hair that feels dull, heavy, and unmanageable. For household members with sensitive skin or eczema, this constant residue can be a significant irritant.
Choosing the Right Water Filter for Hobbs
With hardness at 12.0 GPG, protecting your home's plumbing from scale is a smart financial decision. You have two solid options:
- Best Performance: A whole-house salt-based water softener is the most comprehensive solution. It physically removes the minerals, preventing scale, reducing soap use by up to 50%, and giving you that silky soft water feel on your skin.
- Low-Maintenance Choice: A salt-free water conditioner is a viable alternative in Hobbs. It won't remove the minerals but will alter their structure to prevent them from forming hard scale inside pipes and heaters. This protects your appliances without the need for salt refills.
- Drinking Water: For either whole-house system, add an under-sink reverse osmosis (RO) system to improve the taste of your drinking water and eliminate spending on bottled water.
A salt-based softener (around $1,500 installed) delivers about $126 per year in savings on energy and cleaning supplies. While the payback period is 11.9 years, it protects your home's most expensive appliances from premature failure, which is where the largest savings are realized.