If you’ve ever moved into your own home, you understand the importance of
water softener systems. Without them, buildup occurs in your pipes that
become incredibly scaly, hard, crusty and gross, like your great aunt’s
arteries after decades of eating McDonalds and Klondike Bars, but luckily
the best home water softeners break all that gunk down like a wrecking
ball to the Empire State Building.
Installing water softeners isn’t the question – it’s how much do you want
to pay and what kind of quality do you want to receive? The best water
softener will work for years without giving you any trouble, because if
it did, it might take you a long time to notice. One of the first things
to understand is what exactly hard water is anyway.
Even if you don’t have a water softener maintenance program in place,
hard water is mostly harmless, meaning drinking it won’t hurt you unless
you already have health problems, but hard water does contain tons and
tons of minerals, most notably calcium and magnesium. These things get in
the water when groundwater absorbs it just by dissolving surrounding soil
and rocks in the ground. Why do you want those things, right? Without a
water softening system, you will have these problems:Those deposits of finely dissolved magnesium and even calcium do this hing called “precipitation” and without softener services, it will build up on practically everything from tea kettles, water heaters, pipes
(whether they’re in the ground or not) and yes, even coffee makers and
industrial machines. This reduces the efficiency of your pipes, heating
and can eventually become so clogged it’ll give your plumbing system a
Another downside to neglecting a best water softener is soap doesn’t work
as well. Isn’t that weird? Everything you clean will stay dirty, including you in the shower if you don’t have water filtration systems for home. You can however measure the hardness of your water easily.The industry will measure your home water softener service or hardness in terms of grains per gallon (GPG) or milligrams per liter (mg/L). A grain is defined as 64.8 milligrams of calcium carbonate according to the lucrative Business Dictionary. If your water tests at 1 GPG (17.1 mg/L) or less, then you have probably have soft water. Congratulations!Unfortunately, water around 1-3.5 GPG (17.1-60 mg/L) occupies a gray zone between soft and slightly hard water and 3.5-7 GPG (60-120 mg/L) is moderately hard. Hard water is around 7-10.5 GPG (120 - 180 mg/L), and
very hard water is above that according to the intelligent minds behind the Water Quality Association.