Questions · Water treatment
Do I need a water softener in the Valley?
Valley water is hard, so a softener is less about comfort and more about what the mineral is doing to everything it passes through. If you are replacing heaters early, fighting scale on fixtures and glass, and watching appliances fail, the water is telling you. Start by reading your city's water quality report.
What hard water is doing meanwhile
- Scale in the bottom of the water heater, which shortens its life
- Scale on a tankless heat exchanger, which costs you output
- White crust on faucets, shower glass and the dishwasher
- Aerators and shower heads that block up and need cleaning
- More soap and detergent for the same result
How to decide, in order
- 01
Look up your city's published water quality report and find the hardness figure
- 02
Look at your own house: the heater's age and history, the glass, the aerators
- 03
Decide what you want treated, because a softener and a drinking water filter answer different questions
- 04
Check whether the house already has a softener loop in the garage, because that changes the install
- 05
Get the install looked at in person, since the loop, the drain and the power all decide what fits
What a softener does not do
It is not a drinking water filter. Softening exchanges the hardness mineral for sodium or potassium; it does not target taste, chlorine or the things a reverse osmosis system is for. Plenty of Valley houses end up with a softener for the plumbing and a small drinking water system at the kitchen sink, because each is doing its own job.
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Answers
Is a softener worth it if we are only here part of the year?
It still protects the water heater and the fixtures whenever water moves. If the house sits empty for months, how it is shut down and started up again matters as much as the softener itself.
Will a softener make the water taste salty?
Softened water is not salty water. The exchange happens in tiny amounts relative to what you taste, and the salt in the brine tank is regenerating the resin, not going into your glass. If taste is the concern, that is what a drinking water system is for.
Can you install one if the house has no loop?
Usually yes, it just becomes more of a plumbing job. Where the loop exists, the install is far simpler, which is worth knowing before you compare quotes.
If you need this done
- Water softenersValley water is some of the hardest in the country. A softener removes the minerals that scale fixtures, spot glass and shorten a water heater's life.
- Whole-home water filtrationCuts sediment, chlorine and taste at every faucet, installed with a bypass so it's easy to service.
- Reverse osmosisAn under-sink system for cleaner, better-tasting drinking water, installed neatly with the faucet and drain done properly.
- Where we workEvery town and ZIP across the Valley we cover.
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