how do you know what size water softener to buy
If y'all're getting rest on your plates, lather scum in your sink, and dry out skin after a shower, there's a good chance yous've got hard water. But you're not lonely. Around 85% of American households utilise hard water for their everyday needs.
Unfortunately, difficult water can cause problems around your home and touch the efficiency of your water appliances – which is why people turn to water softeners.
Non but can they improve the quality of your drinking water, but they tin too preclude mineral build-up in your showerheads, kettles, and taps. This means that dishes, clothes, and peel will feel softer and cleaner – and you won't demand to upgrade your pipes all the time!
Merely in that location are a lot of water softeners out at that place and information technology'due south difficult to know what the difference is. Why do they come in different sizes? Is bigger amend? In this commodity, we explain what a water softener does and why hardness and consumption are critical to finding the correct size for your household needs. Permit's get stuck in!
What is a Water Softener?
A water softener is a filtration system that removes dissolved minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, from your water supply. These minerals, which occur naturally in our oceans and soils, have a trend to bond with metals, which is why you lot get difficult deposits in pipes and showerheads – hence the name "hard water."
Luckily, magnesium and calcium don't pose any wellness risks – unless you accept a history of kidney stones, in which instance you lot could become recurrences.
The most common bug, still, are difficulty with lathering up your hair or achieving a balance-free terminate on plates or cutlery. At worst, the mineral build-up can obstruct water menstruation, reduce pressure level, and corrode your pipes over time – leading to expensive repairs or replacement.
That'south where water softeners come in.
These handy units utilise negatively charged resin chaplet to attract the positively charged minerals and remove them from the water. The demineralised h2o so flows through your pipes and out of your tap. This process continues until the resin chaplet reach maximum capacity.
When this happens, the unit is flushed with table salt or potassium chloride from the alkali tank. This washes the minerals from the resin beads and discharges them through a hose. The arrangement then reverts to its softening function once more and the cycle continues.
How Big Should My H2o Softener Be?
The size of your water softener depends on two key factors: the hardness of your h2o and daily consumption. Let'south find a closer look.
Hardness
The get-go affair y'all need to do is find out how difficult your h2o is. Depending on where you live, your water supply will incorporate a range of different minerals. The most compound is calcium carbonate, which is ordinarily constitute in marble, limestone, and chalk.
This isn't surprising. Calcium carbonate formed over millions of years from the sedimentation of shells and coral – and information technology now comprises four percent of the earth'southward crust. However, the amount in your soil or water is not compatible. If yous await at the map beneath, you'll run across how concentrations of calcium carbonate vary from state to state in the US.
Other minerals like magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc tin be present in your supply also. It all depends on the quality of the soil where you live, as well as run-off from pelting and floods.
To measure your water'due south hardness, you can purchase a water-testing kit, request a quality written report from your water supplier, or employ an independent laboratory to test a h2o sample. The results are measured in milligrams per liter (mgL) or grains per gallon (gpg). You can find both measurements in the chart beneath.
| mgL | gpg | |
| soft | 0–60 | 0–iii |
| slightly difficult | 61–120 | 3–7 |
| hard | 121–180 | 7–xi |
| very hard | 180+ | eleven+ |
Once yous accept your hardness value, information technology'll give you an indication of whether your water is hard, soft, or somewhere in between. Go on this value handy equally you'll need it when nosotros use the water softener calculator later on.
Consumption
The next step is to calculate how much water you use. Analyse your water bill for the final few months and make a note of the total gallons used. There may be fluctuations between seasons, then find an boilerplate you lot tin can work with.
If yous don't have access to this information, utilize an estimate. According to USGS, the average person consumes 80–100 gallons of h2o per twenty-four hour period. Use this figure and multiply it past the number of people in your home. Note: If yous take brusk showers and don't water the garden, go with fourscore gallons; if you think your consumption is college, become with 100 gallons.
So, if you have a four-person household that averages 80 gallons each, your daily consumption total is 320 gallons.
Water Softener Figurer
At present that you have the hardness number and your consumption in gallons, you're ready to apply the water softener computer. The formula is pretty simple. You multiply the hardness number by the gallons per day.
For example, if you have four people using 320 gallons in total and the hardness is eight, the total would exist two,560. This ways that your water softener would need to remove ii,560 grains each twenty-four hours.
Hardness value x Total gallons per 24-hour interval = Grains to be removed per day
Case: 8 gpg x 320 gallons = 2,560 grains per twenty-four hours
If your water has a lot of iron, increase the total hardness value past 3 gpg per one mg of atomic number 26, and so make your calculation. If these figures are making your head spin, just utilize this like shooting fish in a barrel h2o softener sizing calculator.
How Exercise I Choose the Right Water Softener?
Grain Capacity
H2o softeners are sized to indicate how many grains are removed before regeneration. On average, this happens every seven days. Common sizes are 24,000, 32,000, 48,000, 56,000, and 64,000 grain capacity. Nevertheless, it'southward wise to choose 1 that exceeds your weekly consumption by nearly thirty percent to let for excess usage.
For case, if you were using 2,560 grains per day, this would full 17,920 grains per week. In that instance, a 24,000-grain chapters softener would be suitable.
Most homes use a 32,000-grain capacity, but if your h2o is very hard and you've got a big family, you may demand to buy a softener on the college end of the calibration.
Cost
This depends on the size, make, and features, simply it can vary between $300 and $4000. Expect for models that let you know when salt needs to be added, or that regenerate at night when water consumption is low.
Y'all can also get a salt-free model to comply with local regulations (some states ban salt water softening systems) and reduce salt content in drinking h2o – just prepare to pay more.
If y'all want on-need soft water, y'all tin can fifty-fifty get a twin tank where one tank goes offline while it regenerates and the 2nd tank provides softened h2o. But keep in listen that these units are expensive to run and need to regenerate more frequently.
Can a Water Softener Be Too Big?
Mostly, you should get a water softener that's slightly bigger for your needs – only not too big.
If a water softener is too large for your household, it won't regenerate often enough, which tin impairment the resin chaplet and promote bacterial growth in the tank. Also, big tanks, swallow more than h2o and toll more upfront.
Just don't undersize your h2o softener, either. This could consequence in insufficient soft h2o for your household and frequent regenerations. This can apply more salt and shorten the life of your resin chaplet – and your water softener.
What is a Good Number for Water Hardness?
When you await at our chart, anything betwixt 0–3 gpg is ideal for water. If you gear up your water softener to the current hardness value of your water, it will remove grains to achieve this optimal range.
When it does, water volition feel silkier and plates will look shinier. Information technology can fifty-fifty make your meals or drinks gustatory modality improve. That's because the high concentration of minerals won't interfere with other flavors. Having said that, water will nonetheless contain traces of these minerals afterward softening.
That's non necessarily a bad affair. According to WHO, drinking h2o can be a beneficial source of calcium and magnesium for people who lack these minerals in their diets.
Tin can Y'all Install Your Own Water Softener?
If you're replacing an former water softener with a new 1, chances are y'all've got all the fittings in place. All you have to do is switch out the old softener for the new i. This should exist a relatively piece of cake DIY job that can be completed in a couple of hours.
For those who've never had a h2o softener, installation will involve some pipe cutting and soldering. You'll besides need to exist familiar with local plumbing codes to ensure that your work is compliant. For instance, some states require you to fit close-off valves in instance of emergency.
If you're eager to take on the challenge, meet the video below for stride-past-footstep instructions.
Of course, non everyone volition have the conviction or skills to undertake this kind of piece of work. If that's you, notice an installer and they'll do the job quickly and professionally. The cost could be anywhere between $300 and $1500, depending on the size of the unit, where it's located, your state, and the complexity of the job.
Terminal Thoughts
Buying the right-sized water softener tin can improve the quality of your drinking water and the efficiency of your water appliances. All yous need are 2 simple values: water hardness and daily consumption. Then, using the calculation provided above, you tin can work out how many grains per gallon need to be removed on a weekly basis – and which size can help you accomplish this.
While getting a unit that's 30 percentage larger volition cover yous during loftier-usage periods, annihilation bigger than this will result in infrequent regeneration that tin can impairment your resin beads and breed leaner. You'll likewise pay more for a much larger unit. Instead, effort to stick to the guidelines we've given you. It'll prove toll-constructive in the long run, and ensure the longevity and efficiency of your water softener.
We promise this article has answered your questions about how water softeners work and why size matters! Check out the articles below for more household guides and hacks.
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Source: https://applianceanalysts.com/what-size-water-softener/
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