The Silent Threat to Wiltshire’s Homes
If you live in Swindon, Chippenham, or the surrounding Wiltshire towns, you’re dealing with some of the “crunchiest” water in the UK.
While the minerals in our water are great for drinking, they are a nightmare for household machines. In fact, Swindon is often ranked in the top 10 hardest water towns in the country.
At Anderson James, we see the results every day: failed heating elements, noisy pumps, and “cloudy” dishes that just won’t come clean.
Is Your Town a Hard Water Hotspot?
Wiltshire’s geology means most of our water has passed through chalk and limestone. By the time it reaches your taps in Swindon or Chippenham, it’s packed with calcium carbonate.
| Area | Water Hardness | Average PPM |
| Swindon | Very Hard | 340+ PPM |
| Chippenham | Hard | 290+ PPM |
| Trowbridge & Melksham | Hard | 280+ PPM |
Just 1.6mm of limescale on a heating element can make it 12% less effective. In a busy household, that can add hundreds of pounds to your annual energy bill.
3 Signs Limescale is Damaging Your Machine
You don’t always need to see the scale to know it’s there. Keep an eye out for these red flags:
1. The "Crunchy" Laundry Effect
If your towels feel like sandpaper and your clothes look dull, it’s likely limescale and detergent residue trapped in the fibres. Hard water makes your detergent less effective, so you end up using more.
2. Cloudy Glassware
Does your dishwasher leave a white, chalky film on your wine glasses? This isn’t just “dirty” water; it’s mineral deposits being baked onto the glass during the drying cycle.
3. Strange Noises
If your washing machine sounds like it’s “rumbling” or “grinding” more than usual, scale could be building up around the drum bearings or the pump. This forces the motor to overwork until it fails.
How to Protect Your Appliances
The good news is that you can stop the damage before it requires a professional repair.
Use a Quality Descaler: For washing machines and dishwashers, we recommend a heavy-duty descaler. This helps strip away existing buildup from the internal pipes and elements.
Lower the Temperature: Limescale forms much faster at temperatures above 60°C. Try to run your daily washes at 30°C or 40°C to slow the buildup.
Top up the Salt: If you have a dishwasher, never let the salt reservoir run dry. In Swindon and Chippenham, your water softener needs that salt to function correctly.
Professional Help in Wiltshire
Sometimes, a sachet of descaler isn’t enough to fix a decade of buildup.
If your appliance has stopped heating or is making a worrying noise, it’s better to fix it now before the part fails completely. We provide expert appliance repairs across Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, and Trowbridge.