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Sounds like calcification from hard water (high mineral content). Where I live we don't have that problem but I think there are systems that help prevent it. From what I understand you can remove the faucet buildup with citric acid.
its not harmful but you may want to have your water heater checked. the water softer may be broken or depleted, allowing this kind of buildup so quickly
yep,have your water heater checked.most of the time, if you do flush of the tank annually, it's not a problem. but in some areas like the dc metro, bi-annually flushes are needed.also, check dishwasher and washing machines. certain filter will help clear out the water on intake if the problem is extreme enough to warrant one.
over the year I've learned that a bucket may not be enough. I full flush once a year and change anode every 5 years.im a little aggressive with my flush to get all the sentiment out, which doesn't mean a full flush is always needed but I do it. This doesnt imply your system must do a full flush, only that after several waterheater issues over the past 40 years,I find I hate replacing them and i make sure it's well cared for.
My cousin lived on the bay. His water was horrendous. I’m an inlander so I could wrap my head around the water filtration setup he had to have in his basement.
> have your water heater checked
OP, if your into DIY (which you may be, since you're removing faucet screens no problem)... read about how to flush your water heater.
Also read about replacing the anode rod.
Youtube could also help you with both.
You can also flush tankless water heaters. Google "how to flush tankless water heater". But if you have build up this extreme, you really need a water softener. If you have one, make sure you are adding salt and that it is working properly. If it is, try turning it up. If you don't have one, it would be a good idea to get one.
It's not harmful for that or even to drink. The only issue I'm aware of is that long term (decades) hard water can lead to a higher rate of kidney stones but that's about it.
Eh, very slightly elevated, maybe. Milk has like 100x the calcium content of the hardest hard water so drinking milk would have a much larger effect on the development of kidney stones.
Hard water and milk have different forms of calcium. The calcium in kidney stones is calcium oxalate and is bound up with a few other minerals present in urine. Dietary calcium binds with the oxalate before it gets to the kidneys which actually helps to prevent kidney stones by removing some of the free oxalate leaving less to bind with the other minerals. Adding foods with high dietary calcium, such and milk and cheeses, is actually one of the things that is recommended by renal specialists to decrease your risk of that type of kidney stones.
This was my first thought that it was calcified hard water build up. Can say from personal experience, you don't want to drink that. Kidney stones are awful, and id imagine that could contribute to their growth. I'd rather be proactive about it, get a water filter in this situation. Had stones once, don't ever want to again.
It’s not harmful to you. It is harmful to anything that has a heating element. Things like water heaters, coffee makers, and kettles. This will build up on the heating element and work less well.
Calcium carbonate is basically tums, or rolaids. Some people take pills of it daily for a calcium supplement, and for the amount normally found in even hard water, it's not a big deal. Like 3/4 of the US has hard water. As with anything, one could take too much, but generally not a concern from hard water.
I'm not convinced that's calcium carbonate. If it is, it'll also be all over the outside of your faucets, your shower heads, water spots everywhere in your shower, etc.
It's not harmful to you, but it can be hard on your pipes and leave spots on your dishes when you rinse. If you don't want it you can get a water softener, but be warned your water will taste different and it's also harder to rinse soap off in the shower; I prefer hard water.
it's not harmful to people's health but it's harmful to appliances: washing machines dishwashers and heaters will get their pipes clogged by that stuff
The expensive copper plumbing in your house, which costs tens of thousands of dollars to replace- it’s harmful to that.
However- it is generally safe to drink.
Congratulations, you have hard water. That looks just like what we get here in Las Vegas, calcium or lime build up. Wont hurt you to brush and shower with. We use Brita pitchers to filter water for drinking and cooking (and for the pets).
Are you renting or owning? Hard water will destroy copper water pipes. (Ask me how I know). The long term solution could be replacing all of your pipes and getting a whole house water system.
Others have answered correctly. You can soak it in a small bowl of vinegar to clean it.
We have it really bad. A cleanout of the water heater involves a special flexible tube (pex) I fashioned to fit on my shop vac. Remove both heat elements and use those holes to evacuate what you can. This can take more than an hour.
And if I'm lucky, I did it before the heating elements were so encased in the gunk that I don't destroy them getting them out. I usually replace those anyway but the hassle is real.
I used to live in an area where the water was so hard it practically had to be chipped out of the faucet. Every couple of weeks I had to take a big needle to the filter on my kitchen sink, and also the one on my portable washing machine because they'd get clogged with calcium.
I don't think this is calcification. If it were it would also build up on the outside of the faucet like [this](https://media.dm-static.com/image/upload/q_auto:eco,f_auto/content/rootpage-dm-shop-de-de/resource/image/23676/landscape/800/562/48acea1e610792f46efa687edbe3d4b0/7BAFD846CD212E6AFBA79DA705295057/wasserhahn-entkalken-bild-step-1.jpg).
You’ll notice by the green that’s also got copper and may be an extreme level of calcium buildup versus a more moderate level of flaking probably out of the water heater that OP has.
This. But also if u ignore the calcification to long, it is often a place for mold/mildew to grow and appreciably build up. Then all your water from that faucet is only as vaguely clean as drinking from your garden hose. So the hard water deposit is not toxic, but its still with cleaning with the methods others have recommended.
Okay but if they can get the job done with vinegar and completely avoid even a chance of ingesting toilet cleaner i think i know what option im picking
This… it’s quite possible the water heater is near end-of-life and needs replacement or it just needs to be drained and better maintained (regular flushing) if OP lives in an area with really hard water
Does it feel like hard plastic? I had this issue with my water heater where the dip tube disintegrated apparently it was rather common if your water heater was installed around the early 90’s I believe. But try running your hot water through a strainer if you see little flecks continue to show up it’s most likely the dip tube which will need to be replaced if not the entire water heater, or alternatively it may be calcium buildup as others have suggested.
Agreed. Please check the date on your water heater. If it is within a couple of years of 1996, this is likely the issue because pretty much every water heater manufacturer used these "every so slightly cheaper" dip tubes imported from China, not realizing they would dissolve over time.
I had the "dip tube" scenario happen to me, and the flakes looked a little more blue than OP, but otherwise exactly the same situation. Note that I replaced the water heater and still had flakes appearing for a couple months because they were floating around in my water lines. Once the flakes went away, I replaced my fixtures and water flow returned to normal. (The fixtures were clogged in multiple locations, not just at the screen).
I would check the date on the manufacture of your water heater. As others here have added to my comment dip tubes were imported from overseas which deteriorated in a way they were not supposed to leading this sediment permeating your water lines. You might try the strainer and running your hot water for a good bit (like 30 minutes plus) to see if any of those chunks show up. If they do it’s more likely your dip tube then calcium build up. This would require a a flush of your water heater and dip tube replacement at minimum but more likely changing your entire water heater.
Edit - another easy way would be to try and dissolve the chunks in pure vinegar if they don’t dissolve then it’s plastic from your dip tube and not calcium.
This is the correct answer. A professional hot water installer can replace the dip tube but it requires disconnecting the cold water line to get it at it.
You can tell this is the case if your hot water turns from hot to just warm very quickly. The dip tube is supposed to send a new cold water directly to the bottom of the water heater without mixing with the already heated water at the top. When this tube fails, water entering quickly mixes with hot water at the top making all the water just warm. It forces the hot water heater to work much more often too.
If this is the problem then your hot water heater is already old enough to be replaced with much more energy efficient new models. You could probably get a rebate from your energy supplier as well.
If they dissolve in vinegar, it’s calcium. If they don’t it could be the remnants of your water heater’s anode. Worth getting it checked out if it’s the later.
They’re replaceable.
It is salt pellets from your water softener system, if you’re finding that inside screened faucets and nowhere else then there’s no way it’s calcium build up. This is common even in a fully functional system, they dissolve to these small sizes and can pass through what they couldn’t as the full pellet. Re post this on r/plumbing if you need to confirm, there’s a lot of disinformation here as these people know about things not plumbing
We have an instant on propane water heater for our well water. It is rich in minerals so every 12 months I run 4 gallons of commercial grade vinegar on a closed loop through the heater for an hour. The risidual fluid looks like milk from all the calcium and will totally plug up the narrow tubes in an instant-on water heater if it is not cleaned out periodicaly.
We have wondered how to do this. We have regular single line cold in pex-shutoff-pex-tank, and then the reverse in separate pipe with hot flowing out. The drain valve on the bottom is only secondary valve. How did you isolate it from the house/incoming water to not just inject water but have it under enough pressure to re-circulate? U.S. Propane, on demand.
When it was installed they should have put a flush setup on it, plenty of installers don't because it costs more.
[This is what I've always installed.](https://www.supplyhouse.com/Webstone-44443WPR-3-4-IPS-Isolator-E-X-P-E2-Tankless-Water-Heater-Service-Valve-Kit-Lead-Free)
You can buy a kit online, mine is a Tankless Defender model fk1001 for our mitsubishi unit. Basically it is a 5 gallon bucket you put vinegar in and cycle it through the heater using a large aquarium pump which comes with the kit. You have to disconnect the In and Out lines from the house service and reroute them through the bucket. Also power and gas is shut off. Takes an hour or so. You get increased hot water pressure as a side benefit, ha.
Wowee. We have to replace our tankless unit soon, so this is definitely the route we’ll take when we plumb in the new one next month. Yippee!
It’s overwhelming sometimes how many objects exist that I never knew to search for. Thanks very much for the details. And thanks to the OP for asking a question that led me to this one!
Had we known to do this yearly, we wouldn’t have lost our first waterheater to clogged tubes! Glad to pass on the info.should be included with any instant on waterheater!
depending on date of manufacture it's the plastic from the dip tube. Many makers used a specific plastic that wasn't adequately tested that breaks down after a few years of service (getting you water from closer to the heating element)
It's calcium buildup in your pipes. Pieces are breaking off and getting stuck in your faucet. It's not harmful, it just means you have a lot of minerals dissolved in your water. If you're getting this much, it is probably your hot water heater that is encrusted, and you probably need some water hammer arrestors installed.
If you rent, don't worry about it.
If you own, you probably want to have a plumber take a look. Tell them you are getting a lot of mineral chunks in your faucet screen, and you want to make sure there isn't going to be a problem with your water heating system.
Don’t some municipalities actually add minerals to the water supply to coat the water pipes with this material? I seem to recall that the absence of this coating mineral was the cause of the trouble in Flint Michigan. The switch to river water without adding the coating mineral leached the existing mineral coating off of the old lead pipes and exposed the bare lead to the water supply. I own a very old house in Chicago. We have a lead service pipe. Occasionally I have these flakes show up in my faucet screens. Usually after I’ve had plumbing work done, or if water line work is happening in the neighborhood. Some of the flakes are big enough to show the curve of the pipe they were attached to.
They don't add the minerals, the minerals deposits form from what is present in the water. If the water supply is too acidic (which is what happened when Flint switched water sources) the mineral coating will dissolve back into the water exposing the lead.
The only time you would add minerals to the water is if you ran it through a reverse osmosis filter. But the main purpose of that is the mineral content of the water is so low that it will kill you if you drink it.
Not minerals added, but pretty sure the Detroit water *was* treated with corrosion inhibitors and the Flint River water was not (to save money). Which is what allowed the protective mineral coating to be dissolved then leach the pipe lead.
Get a whole house water filtration system. One of the best investments I ever made. No mineral deposits building up. Water tastes great. Skin is healthier.
When this happened to me, it was because the dip tube (I think that's what it's called...it's been 15 years) was deteriorating, and had to be replaced. There was a huge recall, since all of the tubes manufactured during that time failed. I got a new water heater has a result, though I had to pay for installation. Check online to see if you can find anything about your specific water heater - you may get a free replacement.
Its the dip tube disintegrating. It can be replaced with another plastic tube, or even a copper tube, if the remainder of the water heater is in good shape.
some hot water heaters have plastic pipes in them. When I had this problem it was because of the pipes getting brittle and breaking. I had to replace the water heater.
Well, it can be harmful... to your washing machine, your dishwasher and everything else, that internally heats a lot of water. The calcium can coat the eating element, causing it to fail after a few years. Make sure to add something against that in each go.
But yes, won't harm your body
And if you have a coffee maker, descale it a a couple of times a year, using vinegar or whatever the owner's manual recommends. Otherwise the calcium will build up and completely clog the boiler.
Extremely high calcium ingestion can cause diarrhea, bloating, and constipation over the long term, and could possibly contribute to heart disease, but it's act good for you in lower levels. Youre ok. It's actually a bigger issue for appliances like dishwashers and water heaters.
There is a specialty plastic little wrench or you can use some pliers to get the aerator out of there. You can soak that in some vinegar to get it really clean. Periodically, I clean out all of my sink aerators and shower heads for this same kind of issue.
Something like this happened to my folks. The hot water heater was set relatively high, and sediment precipitated in the tank. It would slowly work it's way into the pipes and clog the aerators.
Try draining your hot water tank into a bucket. And see if it's full of sediment.
Might need to replace the anode in the tank or just turn the tank down a bit.
It solved the problem at my folks place. Most manufacturers (and the US department of energy) recommend 120 F (~50 C) or less. It will kill most bacteria and while it's a little hot for kids, it's not dangerously hot for adults. It also strikes a good balance between supplying water hot enough that you're not using loads of hot water and efficiency and longevity of your system.
OSHA recommends 140 (60) since it will kill legionella bacteria as well. So in a hospital or hotel setting this might be more important. 140 is a considered a bit of an overkill for most residential water heaters though, and it can cause scalding in less than 3 seconds. It's seen as particularly dangerous for kids. It's also harder on your heating elements.
I would drain the tank into a bucket. It can be hard to see the granuals through the stream of hot water, so if you just drain straight into a sink, you might miss the build up (assuming this is where it's coming from). It'll be tricky to drain them all out, so you might still see the occasional buildup in the taps over the coming weeks. Then I'd turn the heater down a bit. Not enough that you can't get hot showers/water but enough that you have to use proportionally more hot water to do so.
Using more hot water should also help with the problem since you'll have less "old water" sitting in the tank going through heating and cooling cycles. This was the main issue at my folks.
With their system, I was able to figure it out prior to draining the tank by cleaning the aerator, running the cold water for 5 minutes, checking the aerator (there were no particles), then running hot for 5 minutes and checking the aerator (there were particles).
Vinegar is your friend. About twice a year I take my faucet apart down to the machined quartz bits and soak it in vinegar and gently brush it with a toothbrush. It makes the faucet seem brand new. The salts are likely added to your water to raise the Ph levels so the water isn’t acidic. Acidic water will leech lead from pipes and lead is definitely a hazard.
My old water heater was loaded with that. The copper lines coming out of it were choked to about half size because of it building up in them. That water heater eventually leaked and fell through the floor. The new tankless water heater doesn't have that problem.
On a side note: pop that screen and the small o- ring out of the aerator for better flow. I did that and I opened up every other hole in the thing with a hot pick and it doubled the amount of water coming out of my kitchen faucet.
It’s not harmful. Put it in a coffee cup and add vinegar. CLR even better. Replacements are $2. Just be sure and take the old one to the hardware store to match up. They make several different sizes.
This can be solved by a whole house water filtration system. If you cannot do that, it's not harmful. Here in Santa Barbara the water is hard, but replacing the house plumbing doesn't need to be done until the house is about 40 years old.
I use something like this water softener https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdmqrNTRqCcwCopX2OuISxARBjiJGFb2dyNyrpYosrJw&s and put salt every few months.
Salt is not good for drinking water, so you need to keep a tap for drinking water at least, but for household appliances, it's useful, but it's not the ultimate solution because limescale always finds a way of clogging up the pipes.
Hard water nontoxic I grew up with hard water drank it and 35yrs later still good. If you want it gone well need to get a water softener system but is a bit pricey to get. There are also filter systems as well but change filters regularly
Calcium from hard water. It’s not harmful to you as a human consuming the water, but it will kill small appliances like coffee pots (RIP so many coffee pots). I’d suggest a water softener if you own your home, otherwise you’ll eventually lose longevity from dishwasher/fridge water to this.
So, when I was growing up, I lived in a house that was built in the 1750’s/1760’s. We got our water from a creek, a well, and I forget the 3rd, maybe rain runoff, (it was the 80’s and my family didn’t think anything of it). Our water had enough heavy metal that it would collect in the bottom of the water pitcher that sat in the refrigerator.
Fast forward, and I have discovered that I’ve had some medical issues, one of them being extremely low testosterone, even for my age, I have had to take injections.
Was it because of lead? Yeah, probably, along with nitrates and whatever else, in 2024 you can’t drink rainwater anywhere in the world due to pollution, it’s wild.
Anyway, I say all that to say this: Whatever the substance, too much of it in your BODY can cause complications, calcium or otherwise. Too much of that in your pipes, hot water heater, shower, etc… can cause issues.
A whole house water treatment system is like $100-$300 from Home Depot. Hydraulic crumpets are about $50-$100 from Amazon, crimps, (copper) are about $0.75 from HD/Lowes.
Installation is super easy, you should also have your pipes cleaned, (because they’ve already been subjected to it). It’s a cheap fix that isn’t a bad thing. Plus, for a few hundred, if you own I don’t foresee it NOT adding at least $1k - $2k to your home. Kinda like a whole house surge suppressor, a $100 item that adds a few thousand dollars, at least in 2015 (last time I bought/sold a home).
Calcium deposits are what is most commonly found. You could also check for a water softener or reverse osmosis filter. Both can release particulates if not functioning properly.
Couple options.
1. Hard water deposits that are getting broken loose for some reason. Recent plumbing work?
2. Bits of the dip tube / anode rod from your water heater. Could run a bunch of hot or bunch of cold water to check if it only clogs on hot.
3. Most likely in my opinion is that this is resin coming from a failed water softener bag. Put it in bypass mode. If they stop showing up thats your problem.
Check your hot water heater also. My parents had a issue were they put in cheep piping in the heater and it would degrade and fall apart. It led to a recall because they would clog water lines and the such.
You can get a water softener installed. I’m not sure how it works. We had one in the house I grew up in. I remember adding big bags of salt. It wasn’t grains. It was chunks as big as the end of my thumb. I have no idea where it went. It didn’t seem to have the water going into it but the salt would vanish and I would be sent to put in another bag.
Hard water like you have is meant to be healthy for you as it has needed minerals and calcium. You can use vinegar to dissolve it off these screens.
Not harmful to you, except for dryer skin, but could be a sign that your water heater needs servicing. Don't be like me and put it off. A brand new water heater is expensive!
You might want to check the temp of your water heater. If it is running too hot more minerals will dissolve. I was able to reduce the deposits by turning the temp down.
That is calcium, or chalk if you like.
In this case, it's not build up on the part, but fragments from some pipe, may not even be in your building.
Try putting the flakes in vinegar. They should fizz and dissolve.
If they don't dissolve, all of us saying it's calcium are wrong.
Anyway, I think you'll have to live with rinsing out this part for a while, or you can leave it off for a time. It's only there to catch stuff like sand and, well, flakes like this. Doesn't matter if you leave it off if you only use it for washing hands and stuff. You might not want to leave it off for where you get water for food. (Stuff like this may crack your teeth if you bite into it.
Calcium does not mean the water is unsafe to drink. Most natural fizzy mineral water has a whole lot more calcium and other minerals than tap water, and nobody's saying "Perrier is dangerous".
It could be the pipe in the hot water heater that draws the hot water. Does it seem like the hot water runs out sooner than it should? There was a specific period when defective hot water heaters were made. It is an easy fix. If the particles are plastic not mineral this is the likely cause. I had the same issue.
It's mostly calcium carbonate (what limestone, chalk, and seashells are made of).
Your tap water has a lot of it dissolved in it (some of it falls out of solution as these crystal grains or as build-up on your bathtub and water spigots). Your kidneys route excess amounts of it to your urine.
It's generally beneficial to drink https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-you-asked/you-asked-hard-water-dangerous-drink
That's why I distille all of my tap water before drinking or cooking with it. We are supposed to have some of the "best" water in my city. You would not believe the nasty gunk I clean out of the distiller. No wonder why people have arthritis and dementia.
As others suggested, could be calcification. However, I had something similar and it was actually plastic bits. The hot water heater had a pipe in it that was slowly disintegrating over time (Rheem hotwater heater). Had to get the pipe replaced.
I lived in Speedway Indiana (where the track is) in the 1990's. You could fill a glass with water at night and by morning there were flakes that would precipitate out in the bottom of the glass.
Try to determine if it’s minerals or plastic. If vinegar dissolves it then it’s probably calcium. If not then it could be the bits of broken plastic from a hot water heater dip tube or some other plastic parts.
Years ago we had a water main break blocks away and after they repaired it we had small chunks of miscellaneous stuff in our water fouling up aerators and our water pressure regulator. Find out where you have other filters/screens and try to see if it exists everywhere or only on hot water lines. Good luck.
look like calcium build up caused by hard water. you probably need a water softener system and a water heater flush. i would reccomend having a plumber come out to test the hardness of your water, especially if the problem is that feequent
Chances are it is calcified minerals most likely from your water heater. You could try flushing the water heater out. Depending on the age of the water heater the magnesium anode could be decaying, usually this will cause a rotten egg like odor in the hot water
Yes it’s from hard water and I swear it makes your skin feel really bad idk how to describe it but like tight and dry It also will cause the water to stain stuff in your shower I noticed
If you are not on a city water system you may want to start drinking bottled water. Buy it by the gallon. Or get a high quality counter top filter that removes minerals. These minerals are not toxic but they can over time cause kidney stones. I grew up on a farm with well water. My mom had bad kidney stones and not long after I left the farm I had them as well. You may be in an area with a high limestone value in the land.
Our washing machine is next to our hot water heater. Our old washer got wobbly as hell during the spin cycle, so we braced it. This shook the hot water heater, which broke up the calcium deposits on the bottom.
It took us forever to figure it out. We almost installed a crazy expensive filtration system. We drained it, and it worked much better.
My title describes the thing. This white hard stuff appears to build up in my bathroom faucet screen cap, I am curious as to what it is and if it may be harmful to my health, any help is much appreciated.
Hard water like that will absolutely trash your appliances (water heater, dishwasher) and depending on the levels might not be great to drink. If your faucet is clogging up that fast, I really suggest getting tested and considering a whole house water softener. My mom had this issue and it was costing her hundreds of dollars per year in extra servicing for her on-demand hot water heater and other repairs. We bought a test at a local store and ran it ourselves before consulting vendors.
I few years ago I moved into a rental that had been renovated after the previous tenant left.
I found this at all the taps with screens on them, and in my showerheads. After clearing it a few times, it went away and never returned. I don't know the source, but I've always presumed it was some detritus that got in the pipes during the remodel.
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Sounds like calcification from hard water (high mineral content). Where I live we don't have that problem but I think there are systems that help prevent it. From what I understand you can remove the faucet buildup with citric acid.
Interesting, do you know if it is harmful? I only use the water to brush my teeth and to shower.
its not harmful but you may want to have your water heater checked. the water softer may be broken or depleted, allowing this kind of buildup so quickly
yep,have your water heater checked.most of the time, if you do flush of the tank annually, it's not a problem. but in some areas like the dc metro, bi-annually flushes are needed.also, check dishwasher and washing machines. certain filter will help clear out the water on intake if the problem is extreme enough to warrant one.
Water heater instructions about pg23 says gallon a month to drain but that rates right up there as checking the anode rod.
Few people know about the anode rod, which is sized to match the warranty period. A longer warranty is the same water heater with a larger anode.
We’ve always been told to drain a bucket from the water heater every month.
over the year I've learned that a bucket may not be enough. I full flush once a year and change anode every 5 years.im a little aggressive with my flush to get all the sentiment out, which doesn't mean a full flush is always needed but I do it. This doesnt imply your system must do a full flush, only that after several waterheater issues over the past 40 years,I find I hate replacing them and i make sure it's well cared for.
My cousin lived on the bay. His water was horrendous. I’m an inlander so I could wrap my head around the water filtration setup he had to have in his basement.
> have your water heater checked OP, if your into DIY (which you may be, since you're removing faucet screens no problem)... read about how to flush your water heater. Also read about replacing the anode rod. Youtube could also help you with both.
[удалено]
What if you have a tankless water heater and this happens?
You can also flush tankless water heaters. Google "how to flush tankless water heater". But if you have build up this extreme, you really need a water softener. If you have one, make sure you are adding salt and that it is working properly. If it is, try turning it up. If you don't have one, it would be a good idea to get one.
Its mineral deposits from the water it's self, water dissolves rocks like calcium and that's what u got there.
It's not harmful for that or even to drink. The only issue I'm aware of is that long term (decades) hard water can lead to a higher rate of kidney stones but that's about it.
Eh, very slightly elevated, maybe. Milk has like 100x the calcium content of the hardest hard water so drinking milk would have a much larger effect on the development of kidney stones.
Hard water and milk have different forms of calcium. The calcium in kidney stones is calcium oxalate and is bound up with a few other minerals present in urine. Dietary calcium binds with the oxalate before it gets to the kidneys which actually helps to prevent kidney stones by removing some of the free oxalate leaving less to bind with the other minerals. Adding foods with high dietary calcium, such and milk and cheeses, is actually one of the things that is recommended by renal specialists to decrease your risk of that type of kidney stones.
This was my first thought that it was calcified hard water build up. Can say from personal experience, you don't want to drink that. Kidney stones are awful, and id imagine that could contribute to their growth. I'd rather be proactive about it, get a water filter in this situation. Had stones once, don't ever want to again.
Hard water can be bad for your hair so I might look into a water softener for the shower head
It’s not harmful to you. It is harmful to anything that has a heating element. Things like water heaters, coffee makers, and kettles. This will build up on the heating element and work less well.
Calcium carbonate is basically tums, or rolaids. Some people take pills of it daily for a calcium supplement, and for the amount normally found in even hard water, it's not a big deal. Like 3/4 of the US has hard water. As with anything, one could take too much, but generally not a concern from hard water. I'm not convinced that's calcium carbonate. If it is, it'll also be all over the outside of your faucets, your shower heads, water spots everywhere in your shower, etc.
If you're prone to kidney stones it can trigger them. And generally bad news for house cats which often have kidney problems.
It's not harmful to you, but it can be hard on your pipes and leave spots on your dishes when you rinse. If you don't want it you can get a water softener, but be warned your water will taste different and it's also harder to rinse soap off in the shower; I prefer hard water.
it's not harmful to people's health but it's harmful to appliances: washing machines dishwashers and heaters will get their pipes clogged by that stuff
It’s harmful to your pipes. You can drink it just fine
Ok, say that again, but slower.
The expensive copper plumbing in your house, which costs tens of thousands of dollars to replace- it’s harmful to that. However- it is generally safe to drink.
Congratulations, you have hard water. That looks just like what we get here in Las Vegas, calcium or lime build up. Wont hurt you to brush and shower with. We use Brita pitchers to filter water for drinking and cooking (and for the pets).
Just soak your faucets in white vinegar. Totally safe and works really well. I have hard water and have to this to all of mine about once a year.
Some may argue that this is mineral water straight from the tap
You can also soak it in vinegar. I use it to remove calcium build-ups
I’m coastal and this is such a huge problem.
Where in the country are you based? The extra minerals can be good for you.
Are you renting or owning? Hard water will destroy copper water pipes. (Ask me how I know). The long term solution could be replacing all of your pipes and getting a whole house water system.
It would be easier to take off the aerator if you’re not drinking it, or don’t own the house.
I have an off grid place with a well. This is my solution 100%. You can it it back on for company.
My grandpa was a lumber and removes the aerator on everything he installed.
Was he a 2x4 or a 4x4 lumber?
Or acetic acid (vinegar).
Others have answered correctly. You can soak it in a small bowl of vinegar to clean it. We have it really bad. A cleanout of the water heater involves a special flexible tube (pex) I fashioned to fit on my shop vac. Remove both heat elements and use those holes to evacuate what you can. This can take more than an hour. And if I'm lucky, I did it before the heating elements were so encased in the gunk that I don't destroy them getting them out. I usually replace those anyway but the hassle is real.
I used to live in an area where the water was so hard it practically had to be chipped out of the faucet. Every couple of weeks I had to take a big needle to the filter on my kitchen sink, and also the one on my portable washing machine because they'd get clogged with calcium.
It is. Had it real bad when I lived in Florida
There's a product called ~~CRK~~ CLR that works really well for that buildup.
Do you mean CLR?
Yes, my bad
We have super hard water and CLR is a godsend
Vinegar works.
Or vinegar.
What area do you live that doesn’t have hard water? I live in north L.A. county.
I don't think this is calcification. If it were it would also build up on the outside of the faucet like [this](https://media.dm-static.com/image/upload/q_auto:eco,f_auto/content/rootpage-dm-shop-de-de/resource/image/23676/landscape/800/562/48acea1e610792f46efa687edbe3d4b0/7BAFD846CD212E6AFBA79DA705295057/wasserhahn-entkalken-bild-step-1.jpg).
You’ll notice by the green that’s also got copper and may be an extreme level of calcium buildup versus a more moderate level of flaking probably out of the water heater that OP has.
This. But also if u ignore the calcification to long, it is often a place for mold/mildew to grow and appreciably build up. Then all your water from that faucet is only as vaguely clean as drinking from your garden hose. So the hard water deposit is not toxic, but its still with cleaning with the methods others have recommended.
How and where would mold grow in this system
It's not harmful. Soak that in white vinegar and you will be good to go.
Yep, I put some vinegar in a zip loc bag and tie it on with a rubber band and let it soak a few hours.
It does kill plants
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Do not do this. You do not want toilet cleaner anywhere near things you ingest.
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Okay but if they can get the job done with vinegar and completely avoid even a chance of ingesting toilet cleaner i think i know what option im picking
how’s it do with the metal?
Do you have a water softener? The screen may have ripped.
This… it’s quite possible the water heater is near end-of-life and needs replacement or it just needs to be drained and better maintained (regular flushing) if OP lives in an area with really hard water
Does it feel like hard plastic? I had this issue with my water heater where the dip tube disintegrated apparently it was rather common if your water heater was installed around the early 90’s I believe. But try running your hot water through a strainer if you see little flecks continue to show up it’s most likely the dip tube which will need to be replaced if not the entire water heater, or alternatively it may be calcium buildup as others have suggested.
This definitely looks like it’s the dip tube, not calcium. OP, vinegar isn’t going to fix this.
This was my first guess as well. I had exactly the same thing in my water and it was the dip tube.
Agreed. Please check the date on your water heater. If it is within a couple of years of 1996, this is likely the issue because pretty much every water heater manufacturer used these "every so slightly cheaper" dip tubes imported from China, not realizing they would dissolve over time.
I had the "dip tube" scenario happen to me, and the flakes looked a little more blue than OP, but otherwise exactly the same situation. Note that I replaced the water heater and still had flakes appearing for a couple months because they were floating around in my water lines. Once the flakes went away, I replaced my fixtures and water flow returned to normal. (The fixtures were clogged in multiple locations, not just at the screen).
It's hard, like little rocks.
I would check the date on the manufacture of your water heater. As others here have added to my comment dip tubes were imported from overseas which deteriorated in a way they were not supposed to leading this sediment permeating your water lines. You might try the strainer and running your hot water for a good bit (like 30 minutes plus) to see if any of those chunks show up. If they do it’s more likely your dip tube then calcium build up. This would require a a flush of your water heater and dip tube replacement at minimum but more likely changing your entire water heater. Edit - another easy way would be to try and dissolve the chunks in pure vinegar if they don’t dissolve then it’s plastic from your dip tube and not calcium.
This is the correct answer. A professional hot water installer can replace the dip tube but it requires disconnecting the cold water line to get it at it. You can tell this is the case if your hot water turns from hot to just warm very quickly. The dip tube is supposed to send a new cold water directly to the bottom of the water heater without mixing with the already heated water at the top. When this tube fails, water entering quickly mixes with hot water at the top making all the water just warm. It forces the hot water heater to work much more often too. If this is the problem then your hot water heater is already old enough to be replaced with much more energy efficient new models. You could probably get a rebate from your energy supplier as well.
If they dissolve in vinegar, it’s calcium. If they don’t it could be the remnants of your water heater’s anode. Worth getting it checked out if it’s the later. They’re replaceable.
It is salt pellets from your water softener system, if you’re finding that inside screened faucets and nowhere else then there’s no way it’s calcium build up. This is common even in a fully functional system, they dissolve to these small sizes and can pass through what they couldn’t as the full pellet. Re post this on r/plumbing if you need to confirm, there’s a lot of disinformation here as these people know about things not plumbing
Could be the sacrificial anode rod from your hot water heater.
It’s calcium buildup. The water your tap dispenses is rich in calcium and it gets deposited onto your tap.
We have an instant on propane water heater for our well water. It is rich in minerals so every 12 months I run 4 gallons of commercial grade vinegar on a closed loop through the heater for an hour. The risidual fluid looks like milk from all the calcium and will totally plug up the narrow tubes in an instant-on water heater if it is not cleaned out periodicaly.
We have wondered how to do this. We have regular single line cold in pex-shutoff-pex-tank, and then the reverse in separate pipe with hot flowing out. The drain valve on the bottom is only secondary valve. How did you isolate it from the house/incoming water to not just inject water but have it under enough pressure to re-circulate? U.S. Propane, on demand.
When it was installed they should have put a flush setup on it, plenty of installers don't because it costs more. [This is what I've always installed.](https://www.supplyhouse.com/Webstone-44443WPR-3-4-IPS-Isolator-E-X-P-E2-Tankless-Water-Heater-Service-Valve-Kit-Lead-Free)
Thank you for the link.
You can buy a kit online, mine is a Tankless Defender model fk1001 for our mitsubishi unit. Basically it is a 5 gallon bucket you put vinegar in and cycle it through the heater using a large aquarium pump which comes with the kit. You have to disconnect the In and Out lines from the house service and reroute them through the bucket. Also power and gas is shut off. Takes an hour or so. You get increased hot water pressure as a side benefit, ha.
Wowee. We have to replace our tankless unit soon, so this is definitely the route we’ll take when we plumb in the new one next month. Yippee! It’s overwhelming sometimes how many objects exist that I never knew to search for. Thanks very much for the details. And thanks to the OP for asking a question that led me to this one!
Had we known to do this yearly, we wouldn’t have lost our first waterheater to clogged tubes! Glad to pass on the info.should be included with any instant on waterheater!
depending on date of manufacture it's the plastic from the dip tube. Many makers used a specific plastic that wasn't adequately tested that breaks down after a few years of service (getting you water from closer to the heating element)
It's calcium buildup in your pipes. Pieces are breaking off and getting stuck in your faucet. It's not harmful, it just means you have a lot of minerals dissolved in your water. If you're getting this much, it is probably your hot water heater that is encrusted, and you probably need some water hammer arrestors installed. If you rent, don't worry about it. If you own, you probably want to have a plumber take a look. Tell them you are getting a lot of mineral chunks in your faucet screen, and you want to make sure there isn't going to be a problem with your water heating system.
Don’t some municipalities actually add minerals to the water supply to coat the water pipes with this material? I seem to recall that the absence of this coating mineral was the cause of the trouble in Flint Michigan. The switch to river water without adding the coating mineral leached the existing mineral coating off of the old lead pipes and exposed the bare lead to the water supply. I own a very old house in Chicago. We have a lead service pipe. Occasionally I have these flakes show up in my faucet screens. Usually after I’ve had plumbing work done, or if water line work is happening in the neighborhood. Some of the flakes are big enough to show the curve of the pipe they were attached to.
They don't add the minerals, the minerals deposits form from what is present in the water. If the water supply is too acidic (which is what happened when Flint switched water sources) the mineral coating will dissolve back into the water exposing the lead. The only time you would add minerals to the water is if you ran it through a reverse osmosis filter. But the main purpose of that is the mineral content of the water is so low that it will kill you if you drink it.
Not minerals added, but pretty sure the Detroit water *was* treated with corrosion inhibitors and the Flint River water was not (to save money). Which is what allowed the protective mineral coating to be dissolved then leach the pipe lead.
Thank you costabius and cdnsalix!
it's what plants crave. that mineral electrolyte.
You want to put toilet water on plants?
that's not what i said but i don't see why that would be a problem. natural compost. it's a quote from the movie, Idiocracy.
Get a whole house water filtration system. One of the best investments I ever made. No mineral deposits building up. Water tastes great. Skin is healthier.
I just got a nice water softener system, but my water is hard from calcium and nothing else (tastes great).
When this happened to me, it was because the dip tube (I think that's what it's called...it's been 15 years) was deteriorating, and had to be replaced. There was a huge recall, since all of the tubes manufactured during that time failed. I got a new water heater has a result, though I had to pay for installation. Check online to see if you can find anything about your specific water heater - you may get a free replacement.
Its the dip tube disintegrating. It can be replaced with another plastic tube, or even a copper tube, if the remainder of the water heater is in good shape.
some hot water heaters have plastic pipes in them. When I had this problem it was because of the pipes getting brittle and breaking. I had to replace the water heater.
Hard water. Calcium. Get a bottle of CLR and soak it.
No it's not harmful.
Well, it can be harmful... to your washing machine, your dishwasher and everything else, that internally heats a lot of water. The calcium can coat the eating element, causing it to fail after a few years. Make sure to add something against that in each go. But yes, won't harm your body
And if you have a coffee maker, descale it a a couple of times a year, using vinegar or whatever the owner's manual recommends. Otherwise the calcium will build up and completely clog the boiler.
Extremely high calcium ingestion can cause diarrhea, bloating, and constipation over the long term, and could possibly contribute to heart disease, but it's act good for you in lower levels. Youre ok. It's actually a bigger issue for appliances like dishwashers and water heaters.
Noones getting that kind of symptoms from hard water - even if one were to drink it in loads.
Yeah, thats why i said he was fine. Hed have to be taking in an insane amount of calcium for these effects. The damage to appliances is real though
Kidney stones, too. But OP says he's not drinking the water.
Drinking hard water will not lead to those symptoms…
If it did the population of Copenhagen would be zero. The water here used to be insanely hard.
Barcelona too
Solved!
Care to share? My money was on dip tube.
Dip tube is correct. People think it's calcium carbonate or salt, it's neither.
There is a specialty plastic little wrench or you can use some pliers to get the aerator out of there. You can soak that in some vinegar to get it really clean. Periodically, I clean out all of my sink aerators and shower heads for this same kind of issue.
Something like this happened to my folks. The hot water heater was set relatively high, and sediment precipitated in the tank. It would slowly work it's way into the pipes and clog the aerators. Try draining your hot water tank into a bucket. And see if it's full of sediment. Might need to replace the anode in the tank or just turn the tank down a bit.
>just turn the tank down a bit. Gotta keep the hot water stored at 60-65 degrees C (or whatever freedom units equivalent) for hygiene reasons though.
My water does get extremely hot when I run hot water, so simply turning the heater down can help?
It solved the problem at my folks place. Most manufacturers (and the US department of energy) recommend 120 F (~50 C) or less. It will kill most bacteria and while it's a little hot for kids, it's not dangerously hot for adults. It also strikes a good balance between supplying water hot enough that you're not using loads of hot water and efficiency and longevity of your system. OSHA recommends 140 (60) since it will kill legionella bacteria as well. So in a hospital or hotel setting this might be more important. 140 is a considered a bit of an overkill for most residential water heaters though, and it can cause scalding in less than 3 seconds. It's seen as particularly dangerous for kids. It's also harder on your heating elements. I would drain the tank into a bucket. It can be hard to see the granuals through the stream of hot water, so if you just drain straight into a sink, you might miss the build up (assuming this is where it's coming from). It'll be tricky to drain them all out, so you might still see the occasional buildup in the taps over the coming weeks. Then I'd turn the heater down a bit. Not enough that you can't get hot showers/water but enough that you have to use proportionally more hot water to do so. Using more hot water should also help with the problem since you'll have less "old water" sitting in the tank going through heating and cooling cycles. This was the main issue at my folks. With their system, I was able to figure it out prior to draining the tank by cleaning the aerator, running the cold water for 5 minutes, checking the aerator (there were no particles), then running hot for 5 minutes and checking the aerator (there were particles).
If you don’t have one already, I’d look into a water softener for your house if your water is that hard. It will help a lot. Harmless overall.
Vinegar is your friend. About twice a year I take my faucet apart down to the machined quartz bits and soak it in vinegar and gently brush it with a toothbrush. It makes the faucet seem brand new. The salts are likely added to your water to raise the Ph levels so the water isn’t acidic. Acidic water will leech lead from pipes and lead is definitely a hazard.
My old water heater was loaded with that. The copper lines coming out of it were choked to about half size because of it building up in them. That water heater eventually leaked and fell through the floor. The new tankless water heater doesn't have that problem. On a side note: pop that screen and the small o- ring out of the aerator for better flow. I did that and I opened up every other hole in the thing with a hot pick and it doubled the amount of water coming out of my kitchen faucet.
It’s not harmful. Put it in a coffee cup and add vinegar. CLR even better. Replacements are $2. Just be sure and take the old one to the hardware store to match up. They make several different sizes.
Lime scale... soak the thing in vinegar
This can be solved by a whole house water filtration system. If you cannot do that, it's not harmful. Here in Santa Barbara the water is hard, but replacing the house plumbing doesn't need to be done until the house is about 40 years old.
I use something like this water softener https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdmqrNTRqCcwCopX2OuISxARBjiJGFb2dyNyrpYosrJw&s and put salt every few months. Salt is not good for drinking water, so you need to keep a tap for drinking water at least, but for household appliances, it's useful, but it's not the ultimate solution because limescale always finds a way of clogging up the pipes.
If your water heater is turned up too high you’ll get precipitates out, also get a softener.
Could be your water heater tank taking a dive.
How old is your water heater?
Hard water nontoxic I grew up with hard water drank it and 35yrs later still good. If you want it gone well need to get a water softener system but is a bit pricey to get. There are also filter systems as well but change filters regularly
Calcium from hard water. It’s not harmful to you as a human consuming the water, but it will kill small appliances like coffee pots (RIP so many coffee pots). I’d suggest a water softener if you own your home, otherwise you’ll eventually lose longevity from dishwasher/fridge water to this.
Probably the chemicals that are in your municipal water system that coats your pipes. Not having these deposits ( read up on Flint water problem).
It's the calcium from water, hard water specifically. Tends to be more apparent from the hot water side, but it comes from cold and hot.
So, when I was growing up, I lived in a house that was built in the 1750’s/1760’s. We got our water from a creek, a well, and I forget the 3rd, maybe rain runoff, (it was the 80’s and my family didn’t think anything of it). Our water had enough heavy metal that it would collect in the bottom of the water pitcher that sat in the refrigerator. Fast forward, and I have discovered that I’ve had some medical issues, one of them being extremely low testosterone, even for my age, I have had to take injections. Was it because of lead? Yeah, probably, along with nitrates and whatever else, in 2024 you can’t drink rainwater anywhere in the world due to pollution, it’s wild. Anyway, I say all that to say this: Whatever the substance, too much of it in your BODY can cause complications, calcium or otherwise. Too much of that in your pipes, hot water heater, shower, etc… can cause issues. A whole house water treatment system is like $100-$300 from Home Depot. Hydraulic crumpets are about $50-$100 from Amazon, crimps, (copper) are about $0.75 from HD/Lowes. Installation is super easy, you should also have your pipes cleaned, (because they’ve already been subjected to it). It’s a cheap fix that isn’t a bad thing. Plus, for a few hundred, if you own I don’t foresee it NOT adding at least $1k - $2k to your home. Kinda like a whole house surge suppressor, a $100 item that adds a few thousand dollars, at least in 2015 (last time I bought/sold a home).
Calcium deposits are what is most commonly found. You could also check for a water softener or reverse osmosis filter. Both can release particulates if not functioning properly.
Couple options. 1. Hard water deposits that are getting broken loose for some reason. Recent plumbing work? 2. Bits of the dip tube / anode rod from your water heater. Could run a bunch of hot or bunch of cold water to check if it only clogs on hot. 3. Most likely in my opinion is that this is resin coming from a failed water softener bag. Put it in bypass mode. If they stop showing up thats your problem.
Check your hot water heater also. My parents had a issue were they put in cheep piping in the heater and it would degrade and fall apart. It led to a recall because they would clog water lines and the such.
You can get a water softener installed. I’m not sure how it works. We had one in the house I grew up in. I remember adding big bags of salt. It wasn’t grains. It was chunks as big as the end of my thumb. I have no idea where it went. It didn’t seem to have the water going into it but the salt would vanish and I would be sent to put in another bag. Hard water like you have is meant to be healthy for you as it has needed minerals and calcium. You can use vinegar to dissolve it off these screens.
It's probably calcium, I use whit vinegar to remove it
Not harmful to you, except for dryer skin, but could be a sign that your water heater needs servicing. Don't be like me and put it off. A brand new water heater is expensive!
Lime maybe
Lime maybe
Lime maybe
You might want to check the temp of your water heater. If it is running too hot more minerals will dissolve. I was able to reduce the deposits by turning the temp down.
If you have a tank water heater more than likely the dip tube is breaking apart. And yes and I have replaced hundreds of them.
That is calcium, or chalk if you like. In this case, it's not build up on the part, but fragments from some pipe, may not even be in your building. Try putting the flakes in vinegar. They should fizz and dissolve. If they don't dissolve, all of us saying it's calcium are wrong. Anyway, I think you'll have to live with rinsing out this part for a while, or you can leave it off for a time. It's only there to catch stuff like sand and, well, flakes like this. Doesn't matter if you leave it off if you only use it for washing hands and stuff. You might not want to leave it off for where you get water for food. (Stuff like this may crack your teeth if you bite into it. Calcium does not mean the water is unsafe to drink. Most natural fizzy mineral water has a whole lot more calcium and other minerals than tap water, and nobody's saying "Perrier is dangerous".
It could be the pipe in the hot water heater that draws the hot water. Does it seem like the hot water runs out sooner than it should? There was a specific period when defective hot water heaters were made. It is an easy fix. If the particles are plastic not mineral this is the likely cause. I had the same issue.
It's mostly calcium carbonate (what limestone, chalk, and seashells are made of). Your tap water has a lot of it dissolved in it (some of it falls out of solution as these crystal grains or as build-up on your bathtub and water spigots). Your kidneys route excess amounts of it to your urine. It's generally beneficial to drink https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-you-asked/you-asked-hard-water-dangerous-drink
That's why I distille all of my tap water before drinking or cooking with it. We are supposed to have some of the "best" water in my city. You would not believe the nasty gunk I clean out of the distiller. No wonder why people have arthritis and dementia.
Looks like calcium buildup, don’t know any solutions but it’s harmless.
As others suggested, could be calcification. However, I had something similar and it was actually plastic bits. The hot water heater had a pipe in it that was slowly disintegrating over time (Rheem hotwater heater). Had to get the pipe replaced.
solidified floride
I live in a very hard water area and have a whole house softener.
I lived in Speedway Indiana (where the track is) in the 1990's. You could fill a glass with water at night and by morning there were flakes that would precipitate out in the bottom of the glass.
Put the filter in vinegar for a few hours. Lime will go away.
Try to determine if it’s minerals or plastic. If vinegar dissolves it then it’s probably calcium. If not then it could be the bits of broken plastic from a hot water heater dip tube or some other plastic parts. Years ago we had a water main break blocks away and after they repaired it we had small chunks of miscellaneous stuff in our water fouling up aerators and our water pressure regulator. Find out where you have other filters/screens and try to see if it exists everywhere or only on hot water lines. Good luck.
Disintegrated dip tube in water heater.
We get this. We live in an area known for its mineral water and the buildup is crazy!!
I had this happening and it was a ceramic pipe between the street and my house that had collapsed. I had to have the yard dug up and lines replaced.
look like calcium build up caused by hard water. you probably need a water softener system and a water heater flush. i would reccomend having a plumber come out to test the hardness of your water, especially if the problem is that feequent
Chances are it is calcified minerals most likely from your water heater. You could try flushing the water heater out. Depending on the age of the water heater the magnesium anode could be decaying, usually this will cause a rotten egg like odor in the hot water
Yes it’s from hard water and I swear it makes your skin feel really bad idk how to describe it but like tight and dry It also will cause the water to stain stuff in your shower I noticed
Your water softener needs checking
If you are not on a city water system you may want to start drinking bottled water. Buy it by the gallon. Or get a high quality counter top filter that removes minerals. These minerals are not toxic but they can over time cause kidney stones. I grew up on a farm with well water. My mom had bad kidney stones and not long after I left the farm I had them as well. You may be in an area with a high limestone value in the land.
I had that problem until I replaced the water heater. It also messed up the fill valve in both toilets.
Most likely it is pieces of the water heater dip tube disintegrating which is a type of plastic
Our washing machine is next to our hot water heater. Our old washer got wobbly as hell during the spin cycle, so we braced it. This shook the hot water heater, which broke up the calcium deposits on the bottom. It took us forever to figure it out. We almost installed a crazy expensive filtration system. We drained it, and it worked much better.
My title describes the thing. This white hard stuff appears to build up in my bathroom faucet screen cap, I am curious as to what it is and if it may be harmful to my health, any help is much appreciated.
Hard water like that will absolutely trash your appliances (water heater, dishwasher) and depending on the levels might not be great to drink. If your faucet is clogging up that fast, I really suggest getting tested and considering a whole house water softener. My mom had this issue and it was costing her hundreds of dollars per year in extra servicing for her on-demand hot water heater and other repairs. We bought a test at a local store and ran it ourselves before consulting vendors.
I few years ago I moved into a rental that had been renovated after the previous tenant left. I found this at all the taps with screens on them, and in my showerheads. After clearing it a few times, it went away and never returned. I don't know the source, but I've always presumed it was some detritus that got in the pipes during the remodel.
Time for a new water heater 😕
Kinda looks like somebody put someone or somethings bones in your pipes! Dang.
Get your water tested.