Choosing a Home Water Softener

With the number of providers available it may seem difficult to select a water softener for your home. There are actually some important factors that you should consider when you select a water softener system. Most importantly, you should select a system that addresses your needs. To discover what type of home water softener you need for your home, you will first need to have your water tested. You can have a plumber or other water professional perform the test or you can purchase a test kit from any home building store and perform the test yourself.

A water test kit can tell you two important pieces of information: the contents of your water and the amount of hardness. Water can contain iron, chlorine, nitrates, copper and other elements. While some of these elements may offer benefits to humans, they can have an unpleasant effect on water. Knowing the contents will determine if you need a water softener that also treats the water.

The results of your water test will also indicate your water’s level of hardness. This is important in your selection of a equipment to lower the water hardness because the amount of water that is softened varies from system to system. If you select a water softener for the household that is incapable of handling the amount of grains of hardness in your water, you will not experience soft water.

In general, each person in a household is estimated at using 80 gallons of water each day. The basic formula used to calculate the amount of grains of hardness a household is required to remove is to multiply the total number of people in the household by 80. You would then take that number and multiply it by 1.5. Since there are 10 grains of hardness per gallon, you would multiply the total gallons per household by 10. So, a family of three would require an average of 3600 grains of hardness removed each day.

Of course, you want to make sure that the water softener utility you select complies with general plumbing standards and is certified by a reputable organization. Many systems include an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) label. You should be careful when you come across systems with this label only. The EPA does not make any decisions related to standards of water softeners. Certification labels, such as those provided by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), specify the exact elements that a system handles.

Other factors to consider when purchasing home water softeners include repair and warranty information, as well as costs related to installation, operation, and maintenance. Some systems, for example, require that you add purified salt on a regular basis. You will need to consider this cost when you compare water softeners.

Choosing a Home Water Softener

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