How long after the expiration date will they work?

We recently posted an article on the topic of short shelf life test strips on this site because we get asked this question a LOT. You can read that article here: Do Tests Strips with Short Shelf Life Still Work?

To answer the question directly, though, we have this to say: “If properly stored since the date of manufacture the products should still work, but no one will guarantee the product’s accuracy beyond the date stamped on the bottle.”

The answer above actually applies to pretty much ALL products that come with expiration dates if you think about it. But, in order to hedge off lawsuits from potentially disgruntled consumers with really old or poorly stored products, manufacturers do have to put a time limit out there.

Are WaterWorks Total Hardness Test Test Strips the right product?

Regarding the matter of ‘is the WaterWorks Total Hardness Test Strip the best product for you, that would all depend on what you believed you needed to test — since this product detects only Calcium and Magnesium.

If looking just to make certain your water softener functions as expected, meaning it reduces calcium and magnesium hardness as described by the unit’s manufacturer, then we believe WaterWorks Total Hardness Test Strips should work just fine for what you want to do.

Now on the other hand, if you have curiosity about other potential water contaminants (i.e. lead, nitrates/nitrites, coliform bacteria, arsenic, etc.), then this product will not cover all those bases and you will want to consider a product that perhaps includes total hardness test strips as well as test for the other items you would like to test for.

If the latter situation sounds more like your situation then we suggest you consider a multi-parameter water test kit like the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit, WaterWorks COMPLETE Test Kit, or the WaterSafe City Water Test Kit.

Each of the those kits offers slightly different water testing options and each comes with easy-to-follow directions that make testing one’s water for a number of critical water quality parameters a painless process.

Our well water before filtering was high hardness according to the builder when we moved into our new house and we saw that the first time dishes got done. We had SPOTS on all the glasses plates and cups. Then the bathtub junk started and we had lots of scummy caked on stuff that we had to clean out of the showers a lot. SO we put a water filter in and the scummy junk all but disappeared… but water now feels slippery and like it dowes not get all the soap off us when we shower. Is that normal?

After doing a bit of research we found conflicting answers regarding why softened water feels slippery to the touch.

• We read in a Culligan Water (Mid-Missouri) article that soft water does not have ‘scum’ (calcium & magnesium ions bonded to soap particles) that gets deposited on your skin and since your skin therefore has no ‘scum’ on it to cause friction, water then feels slippery.
   
• On a Collective Science Q & A Site we read that the slippery feeling comes from the depositing of soap ions that would ordinarily have bonded with the calcium and magnesium that the water softener took out. Apparently in the absence of those metals the skin’s weakly positive charge becomes a magnet for negatively charged, free-floating soap particles. Therefore, the deposits on skin make water seem slippery.

Which do we believe? Although both answers seem somewhat plausible, we believe that the first answer has a lot more merit. Why do we believe that? Quite simply, since soft water fails to leave deposits on other surfaces that possess weakly positive charge, why would it selectively leave deposits on the skin?

Testing for water hardness (aka: total hardness)

The simplest water test method for hardness involves using a dip-n-read testing product such as the WaterWorks Total Hardness Test Strip. Just dip the indicator test pad into a water sample, remove it, and match the developed color to a corresponding color on the product’s color chart.

Will too much or too little hardness hurt me?

We have yet to hear of any cases where overly hard water negatively affected the health of a person and, coincidentally, we have also not heard of a case where softened water negatively affected a person’s health.

Hard water WILL, however, shorten the life expectancy of plumbing, water heaters, refrigerator ice makers, washers, and any other devices that use (or transport) water in your home. Oh, and it will increase the amount of cleaning you will have to do in the shower stall to get the ‘soap scum’ off of, well, pretty much every surface.