Choosing a Softener for City Water

Why city water can still be hard

Municipal suppliers treat water before it reaches your home, and that treatment is governed by the Safe Drinking Water Act. What the treatment does not do, in most cases, is change the level of calcium and magnesium that makes water hard. Penn State's water softening guide describes hard water as water carrying dissolved calcium and magnesium, minerals that build up on contact surfaces when the water is heated.

Scale is the word you will see in listing descriptions and in water treatment writing. Penn State describes hard water as causing gray or white deposits when water is heated. Those deposits, called scale, are the reason a homeowner compares softener listings.

Hardness is a comfort and maintenance concern, not a contaminant concern. Penn State notes that water softeners will not necessarily address the more serious drinking water contamination problems, so a softener listing is a different product from a filter listing. The EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act page in the sources gives the context for treated city water.

What to check before buying

The first check is your supplier's annual water quality report. The EPA's drinking water pages list annual water quality reports among their basics topics. The report states the hardness of your water in grains per gallon, parts per million, or both, as Penn State's guide explains.

The report gives you two useful things for shopping: the hardness figure and whether iron is named. Iron is less common in city supplies than in private wells, but if the report names iron, look at listings that state iron treatment in the title or description. The water softener for iron article explains that shopping question.

With the hardness figure noted, compare listings by the stated details: type, grain capacity, flow rate, and regeneration control. This site's guides compare those stated details and nothing else.

• Read the supplier's annual water quality report
• Note the hardness figure and any iron named in the report
• Compare listings by stated type, grains, flow rate, and regeneration
• Read the maker's page for the model you shortlist

Salt-based or salt-free as listing words

The first words of a listing usually name the type. A salt-based softener is an ion exchange unit. Penn State describes the ion exchange process as water flowing through resin that trades sodium ions for the calcium and magnesium ions that make water hard.

A salt-free unit is a different product, usually called a conditioner. The salt-based vs salt-free article explains how to read those words on a listing. The salt-based buying guide and the salt-free buying guide compare the stated details for each type separately.

This site compares the stated details on listings, including the type words. What the site cannot do is claim that one type works where another does not.

Metered or timed regeneration as listing words

Penn State's guide describes two kinds of ion exchange softeners. Timed models regenerate on a predetermined schedule. Demand-control models, which listings call metered or on-demand, regenerate after a volume of water has been softened. The site's metered guide compares listings that state metered regeneration.

Read the regeneration word on the listing and on the maker's page for the same model, because the control is part of the stated details. The metered vs timed article goes further into reading those terms.

The regeneration section of the maker's manual describes the cycle in detail, including how the control decides when to regenerate. Read that section before you compare the regeneration words on listings.

What the grain figure means on a listing

The grain figure in a listing title is the seller's label for the resin capacity, shown as a number such as 32,000, 40,000, 48,000 or 64,000 grains. Maker pages, including the DuraWater page in the sources, name models by these figures.

The grain figure is not the hardness of your city water. It is the amount of hardness the resin can exchange between regenerations, as labeled by the seller. The grain capacity article explains how to compare two listings by the stated grains, and the sizing article covers the sizing question.

Flow rate in GPM is another stated detail on listings. The flow rate article explains how to read that figure, which is a seller's label for the unit's throughput. The maker's page for the model often repeats the grain figure in the model name, which makes it easy to confirm the listed capacity.

City water versus well water as a shopping question

City water and well water lead to different shopping questions. For a well, read the EPA's private wells page, linked in the sources, before comparing softeners. For city water, the supplier's report is the source of the hardness figure.

The well water article covers the shopping differences, and the city vs well comparison is a separate learn page. For a rental on city water, a portable unit may fit the situation; the apartment article explains that choice.

What to pick for your situation

Questions

Why is city water still hard after treatment?

Municipal treatment is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but the treatment does not target the calcium and magnesium that make water hard. Your supplier's annual water quality report states the hardness figure.

How do I read the hardness figure in a water report?

Penn State's guide in the sources explains the two measurement units, grains per gallon and parts per million, and classifies water from soft to very hard.

What does the grain number on a softener listing mean?

It is the seller's label for the resin capacity between regenerations. It is not a hardness measurement of your water.

Should I choose salt-based or salt-free for city water?

Both types appear in listings. The choice is a product type preference. This site's salt-based and salt-free guides compare the stated details of each type.

What does metered regeneration mean on a listing?

A metered listing regenerates after a volume of water has been softened. Penn State calls these demand-control models, as opposed to timed models that follow a schedule.