Questions · Water treatment
How hard is the water where I live?
Your city publishes it. Every water provider in the Valley puts out an annual water quality report with a hardness figure, and that is the number to use rather than an estimate. Hardness varies by provider and even by which source is feeding your area that season, so read the one for your address.
Finding your number
- 01
Find out who actually bills you for water, because the city you live in is not always your water provider
- 02
Search that provider's site for its annual water quality report or consumer confidence report
- 03
Look for hardness, given in grains per gallon or in parts per million
- 04
If it is given in parts per million, divide by about 17 to get grains per gallon
- 05
Note the range as well as the average, because the source can change through the year
Why it varies across the Valley
Valley providers blend water from different sources, and those sources do not carry the same mineral load. Two houses a few miles apart can sit on different supply, and the same house can see the blend shift between seasons.
That is why we would rather read the report for your address than quote a Valley wide number. It also explains why a neighbor's softener settings are a starting point and not an answer.
What your own house tells you
- White crust on shower glass that returns within days of cleaning
- Aerators and shower heads that block up regularly
- Spotting on dishes straight out of the dishwasher
- A water heater that rumbles, or that failed earlier than it should have
- Soap that will not lather the way it did somewhere else
From the job log
Work we’ve done
Answers
Can you test my water?
The honest first step is free: your provider's published report gives you a real figure for your area. From there, what your own fixtures and heater look like tells us how the house has been living with it.
Does a filter on the fridge deal with hardness?
No. Those are for taste and particles at one faucet. Hardness is a whole house matter, because it acts on every pipe, heater and fixture the water passes through.
Is softened water the same as filtered water?
No. Softening targets the hardness mineral. Filtration and reverse osmosis target other things, including taste. They are different jobs and often done by different equipment.
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.
In-home estimate
Rather have someone look at it? Tell us what's going on
We come out, look at the problem and explain what it needs before any work starts. For something urgent, calling is fastest.
Rather talk? Call or text (602) 833-4133.