Quick summary: The signs of a water issue aren’t always obvious, and the same solution won’t address every concern. Three Culligan experts explain how to connect what you notice at home with water test results so you can decide whether anything needs attention.
Key takeaways
- Pay attention to the clues. Buildup, spots, chlorine taste or odor and high TDS readings can all be signs worth investigating.
- Start with water testing. Sight, taste and smell alone cannot give you a complete picture of your water.
- Work with a local water expert. A professional can provide testing and interpret results, then recommend further testing or the right treatment solution based on your specific water concerns.
Water is a core part of daily life at home, from drinking and cooking to bathing and cleaning. Yet for most homeowners, unless they see noticeable issues, it is common not to give the water that helps keep their household running much thought at all.
We sat down with three Culligan experts who spend their days visiting homes, testing water and helping families understand the quality of what’s coming from their taps. They told us what they wish every homeowner knew about their water, from the importance of testing to the everyday signs of potential problems that are easy to overlook.
1. You can’t really know your water until you test it.
For Jamie Caruso at Culligan of Saratoga, many conversations begin with a simple question: Is my water okay?
“The main question I get is, ‘Is it safe to drink? Is it safe to bathe in?’” Caruso says. “I can’t answer that until we test.”
But testing is only part of the conversation. Caruso says talking with homeowners about what they’ve noticed and what they want to address helps an expert understand the larger picture.
“I’ve been trained to ask questions based on a homeowner’s concerns to get a larger picture and get the full spectrum of someone’s water at home,” she says.
Andrew Evans of Culligan of Belleville says online research can give homeowners a false sense of certainty, especially when general advice is applied to water conditions that are specific to a particular home. That is where it helps to lean on an expert who can help identify the actual issue before recommending a solution.
“A lot of people come in thinking they already know what they need. But water treatment is more complicated than that. You can get a filter and not see any changes if you use a system that isn’t meant to treat the issue you’re having. That’s why it’s important to know what’s in your water first,” says Evans.
That distinction matters because water quality isn’t something you can judge by sight, taste or smell alone. Culligan’s free, in-home water test can typically measure characteristics such as hardness, pH, chlorine and total dissolved solids (TDS), helping turn assumptions into actual information. For additional concerns, water samples can be sent to our IL EPA-certified lab, which can test for more than 45 different potential contaminants.
Once an expert understands the water itself, the conversation can shift to what, if anything, a homeowner wants to improve.
Schedule your free water test.
2. City water can still have quality issues (and you can fix them).
Municipal water systems are treated and regulated according to federal guidelines, but that doesn’t mean that cities are addressing all potential contaminants that could enter a home’s water supply.
One typical problem is chlorine, which is commonly used in municipal water treatment. Eric Reid at Culligan of Toronto says homeowners often notice the unpleasant smell or taste but assume there’s nothing they can do about it.
“Identifying whether they actually smell chlorine is the first step. Then I ask where else they’re noticing it, because it doesn’t have to relate specifically to drinking water. They may notice it in the shower, too,” Reid says.
Depending on where and how much the issue is impacting the household, solutions are available specific to drinking water or covering the whole home.
Hard water, which leaves behind a mineral buildup that can be both a nuisance and damaging to your home, can also occur in municipal water. As Caruso puts it, “Just because water is regulated by the city, it doesn’t mean it’s treated for water hardness.”
Meeting government drinking-water standards and meeting your preferences for how water tastes and feels throughout your home are not necessarily the same thing.
3. It’s not your cleaning, it’s your water.
Often, homeowners see evidence of hard water without recognizing what it is. Hard water contains higher concentrations of dissolved calcium and magnesium, which can contribute to film on shower doors, residue around faucets, spots on dishes and scale buildup on fixtures. Because these signs tend to build gradually, they can start to feel like routine housekeeping rather than clues about what’s happening with your water. Sometimes, the evidence has been there so long that it simply starts to feel normal.
Caruso says one of her simplest demonstrations is often one of the most effective.
“I just flip over their faucet head [to show the buildup] and I’m like, ‘Look. I can test all day, but I’m a visual person. Look at what it’s doing.’ And people just had no idea.”
Reid often points homeowners toward one especially revealing place: the shower door. “Once they notice it on the shower glass, homeowners often start connecting the dots and spotting similar buildup elsewhere in the house,” he says.
The buildup you see around a faucet may also also be inside your water-using appliances.
Hard water scale isn’t limited to the surfaces you clean. These deposits can form anywhere water flows, including inside pipes, water heaters, dishwashers and washing machines. Over time that buildup can interfere with water flow, reduce efficiency, require added maintenance, and even shorten appliance lifespan.
“Oftentimes, the most expensive water problem for customers are the ones where they noticed the signs, but left the source untreated,” says Evans.
Reid encourages homeowners to connect the visible signs with what they can’t see.
“If you take a brand new kettle and see how much buildup is in it after just a couple of weeks,” he says, “doesn’t that correlate with what might be happening throughout the rest of the house?”
5. A TDS number is useful, but it doesn’t tell you everything.
Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the combined amount of dissolved minerals, salts and metals in water. Noticeable symptoms can vary from a salty, bitter or metallic taste to more serious problems like scale buildup or even corrosion in pipes.
A TDS reading doesn’t measure the presence of individual substances, but it can be a useful signal of a potential issue, especially when a reading is outside what an expert typically sees. For example, Reid remembers testing a private well where the result immediately caught his attention.
“When I measured their TDS , I got a number of about 1,200,” Reid says. “Normally in my region, on the high end I see maybe 150 to 190.
He says the result was just as surprising to the homeowner. A reading like that doesn’t identify what’s actually dissolved in the water, but it can signal that more questions need to be asked. Depending on the results and the homeowner’s concerns, an expert may recommend more specific testing to better understand what’s in the water before determining whether treatment is needed.
The takeaway: TDS is one useful piece of the picture, not a diagnosis on its own. When a reading is unusually high, a water expert can look at it alongside the rest of the water analysis and the homeowner’s concerns to determine the appropriate next step. That may include more specific testing to better understand what’s in the water before recommending a treatment solution.
A clearer picture starts with testing
You don’t need to understand every detail of water quality to make informed decisions about your home. A professional water test can provide a clearer picture of current conditions and help identify whether anything warrants further attention.
From there, a trusted water expert can help explain the results and determine whether any changes are needed based on your home, your water and your priorities. Schedule your free in-home water test with your local Culligan water expert.
