For many Sonoma County households, hard water is a common problem. For starters, hardness can cause unsightly effects like soap scum and limescale buildup. Additionally, hard water can damage pipes, plumbing, and water-using appliances. After showering with hard water, your skin may be irritated and your hair might seem flat.
Water softeners can help treat your water to address these concerns. In order to make sure that you get the most suitable appliance for your needs, you’ll have to determine which size water softener is best for you. Working with your local water treatment expert will be the easiest and best way to ensure you get the right solution for your home, but it helps to understand the factors that go into this recommendation.
What Factors Do You Need To Consider Before Choosing a Water Softener Size?
To help determine the appropriate size for your water softener, you’ll want to assess:
Together with factors like flow rate, you’ll be able to make sure you look for the appropriate size water softener.
Keep in mind that these steps will help you get a sense of the right water softener size, but you should still consult with your local water expert before you complete your purchase. By conferring with a professional who can test your water and make a custom recommendation, you’ll be able to find the solution that works best for your household.
Hard water is caused by the presence of high levels of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium in your water. Water hardness is measured in grains per gallon (gpg), parts per million (ppm) or milligrams per liter (mg/L). These rates indicate how many units of calcium carbonate or calcium carbonate equivalents are found in a given volume of water.
Testing can help you discover the current hardness level of your home water supply. Home testing conducted by a water treatment company is recommended to produce the most reliable results, helping you decide what steps to take next.
Once you know the gpg level for your hard water, you’ll be able to start thinking about the relative grain capacity that you may require from a softener.
What Does Grain Capacity Mean When It Comes to Choosing a Water Softener?
Grain capacity refers to the total amount of water hardness minerals, measured in grains, that a softener can remove before regeneration is required. In ion-exchange softeners, which are most common, regeneration is necessary when small resin beads in the appliance become fully saturated with hardness ions. The resin beads are then rinsed with a brine solution, which allows them to keep working smoothly.
While some alternative types of water conditioners don’t require the use of salt, most water softeners do need salt for the regeneration process.
Your water’s hardness and your Sonoma County home’s water usage are the two key factors you need to understand to help you decide the appropriate size of your water softener.
The harder your water is, or the more of it you use, the more frequently your softener will have to regenerate. Water softeners that regenerate more often will require a greater amount of water and salt.
Take a look at your water bill and average it out to figure out how much water you use on most days. If you don’t have that information, a good rule of thumb is to estimate about 50-75 gallons per person per day. This information can help you figure out a suitable grain capacity based on your usage patterns and the hardness level of your water in grains per gallon.
To explore how these factors work together to impact which size water softener is right for your household, let’s use an example. Say you have five people in your household, and each person uses 65 gallons. In this scenario, your daily water usage totals 325 gallons.
Now, let’s assume your water has 11 grains per gallon of hardness. This would be considered very hard. When you multiply 11 by 325, you get the total number of grains of hardness minerals that need to be treated in your water each day: 3,575.
Next, take a look at the grain capacity of the water softener that you’re considering. Let’s say it’s 32,000, which is a typical capacity for a home water softener. Divide this number by 4,510 to find out how often your softener will need to regenerate based on rated salt efficiency, which will impact the amount of salt you use.
How Does Regeneration Relate to Softener Capacity
Softener capacity refers to how much the system can handle before regeneration is necessary. The capacity impacts how much salt is required over time to make sure that the device can continue to treat water hardness.
The Impact of Flow Rate
Your water softener will also need to be able to handle the requirements for flow rates in your household. Typically, the more people in a home, the greater the probability that multiple taps may be running at the same time. Long showers or added appliances such as hot tubs also may increase household flow rates. If your softener can’t handle the flow, the device may not be able to adequately treat hardness for the household, and it could affect overall water pressure throughout the home.
Ultimately, getting the right size water softener is necessary for ensuring that your water is adequately treated for hardness without requiring constant regeneration. Without sufficient grain capacity, the softener will have to regenerate more often, using extra salt and adding strain to the appliance.
Is an Oversized Water Softener Bad?
While an oversized water softener will certainly have the capacity needed to make sure that every gallon of water you use is appropriately treated for hardness, going too big can result in channeling, which can be less effective and efficient at low flow rates. Because regeneration occurs less frequently with a larger softener, you may use less salt in the long run. However, getting an appliance that’s far too big for your needs may be more costly upfront, and you should still use a size that requires regular regeneration.
Why Should I Buy an Efficient Water Softener?
Efficient water softeners can be designed to adjust to the specific water conditions in your household, allowing you to treat hard water without wasting extra salt or money in the process. For example, some water softeners use technology designed to optimize salt, water, and electricity usage, decreasing your operating costs.
The process of selecting the best water softener for your needs doesn’t have to be a complex decision; it just takes a little planning. Working with a professional can be a convenient way to find the correct size for your household. Getting it right is important for ensuring water quality and optimal efficiency based on your hardness levels and usage patterns. Find out what features you should be looking for in a new water softener today.
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