Hard water

Just curious what others who live here might be doing about "hard" water that comes from the city. Mineral builds up everywhere and we use vinegar to periodically clean things like our shower heads. However, we recently had a problem with our washing machine that appears to be related to mineral build up in internal parts. I know there are systems for treating water and I am just curious what experience some of you might have with specific equipment, installers, etc.

Gracias adelantado!

When I lived in St. Croix it was exactly the opposite. Like most homes on the island, our cistern was used to capture rainwater, and that was all the water we had. Soap went a long way because rainwater is notoriously soft. Perhaps if you also captured rainwater in your cistern the effects of mineral buildup would be greatly reduced.