Short answer
It does not damage them so much as wear them faster. Mineral content leaves scale on heating elements, water valves and ice makers, and over years that scale is what turns into a repair. It is one of the most common things we find outside the towns.
Where this matters in our service area
A large share of properties in rural Scott, Cedar, Mercer, Henry and Whiteside counties are on wells rather than municipal supply. Walcott, Donahue, Dixon, Illinois City, Colona and the acreages around them come up repeatedly.
When we diagnose an appliance at a rural address we check for scale and mineral buildup as a matter of course, before assuming a component has failed. It changes the answer often enough to be worth doing every time.
What it affects first
Ice makers, because they run water through a small fill tube that scale narrows and eventually blocks. Dishwasher heating elements and spray arms, because scale coats them and kills performance long before anything breaks. Water inlet valves on both, because scale stops them seating properly and they start weeping.
Washers are affected less, though detergent works noticeably worse in hard water and people compensate by overdosing, which brings its own problems.
What actually helps
Softening or filtering at the supply is the real fix if it is practical for you. Short of that, periodic descaling of the dishwasher, a detergent suited to hard water, and having us clear the ice maker fill tube when it starts slowing rather than waiting for it to stop entirely.
Still not sure how this applies to your machine? Call and ask — we would rather answer a question over the phone than have you guess. We cover Rock Island, the Quad Cities and every community within 50 miles.
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