Water softeners in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Supplied and fitted.

Why Balbriggan water is so hard

Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush and Lusk are on the Bog of the Ring supply, which is groundwater pumped from the limestone under north Fingal rather than river water from Leixlip. Groundwater has spent years in the rock, so it comes out with far more calcium and magnesium than the rest of Co. Dublin gets. Uisce Éireann's figure for the Bog of the Ring supply zone is around 336 mg/L of calcium carbonate, which is very hard, and a world away from the 200 in Swords a few miles down the road.

What hard water does in a Balbriggan home

• Immersions and hot cylinders. Scale on the element and coil, slower heating, higher bills and an early failure.
• Electric showers and mixer valves. The heater can and spray plate block, pressure drops and the shower cuts out.
• Combi boilers. The plate heat exchanger furs up and the hot water fades.
• Dishwashers, washing machines and kettles scale and get replaced early.

A whole-house softener on the incoming mains stops the lot.

Which AquaSilk suits a Balbriggan house

Balbriggan is mostly newer family homes: Castleland, Moylaragh, Hampton, Bremore, Folkstown and the estates off the Skerries road, four or five people and two or three bathrooms. Up to four people suits the AquaSilk Mini, which fits under most kitchen sinks, five or six people the Midi, and seven or more people the Maxi. A house with three bathrooms goes up from the Mini to the Midi, and four or more bathrooms means the Maxi. The size picker below marks the right one for your household.

Private wells around Balbriggan

Houses out towards the Naul, Ballyboughal, Garristown and Stamullen are often on their own well, and the same limestone that hardens the public supply hardens the wells. The AquaSilk range on this page is for mains water only. On a well we build a Clack system to suit your water test report, so it's quoted from the report rather than sold online. No report yet? Order a well water test through us and the fee comes off your install. See our well water treatment page.

Getting it fitted in Balbriggan

Balbriggan is thirty-five minutes up the M1 from our Dublin base and we cover Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Stamullen, Gormanston, Julianstown and Laytown on the same run. Order the softener fitted online or ring us, send a photo of your stop valve and the space beside it, and we book a slot. Two to three hours and you have soft water. The fitted price shown is the full price for Balbriggan. For a quote first, use the quote form; the full range is on our main water softener page.

Need a plumber in Balbriggan, Skerries or Rush?

The same plumbers who fit our softeners handle burst pipes, leaks, blocked drains and no hot water across north County Dublin, with the phone answered 24 hours. See emergency plumber in Balbriggan, Skerries and Rush or ring CPS Plumbing & Electrical on 01 556 3050.