The nasty results of hard water can be seen everywhere around your home. This is especially true if you do not have a water softener. It will result in horrible deposits on all of your fixtures, clothes will get wrecked faster and even appliances will have diminished capabilities. It is very important that you have a water softener to not only help keep your home clean but stave off the costly price of repairs and replacement appliances. Once you have purchased a water softener you need to make sure you have it set correctly or the hard water will continue to persist.
What Can Happen If My Water Softener Is Not Set Correctly?
When your water softener is not set correctly there are two things that can happen. If it is set too high for the hardness level, it will regenerate more often than it needs to and thus make your salt disappear faster. In essence, you will spend more money. If you set it too low, the water in your home will still continue to present as hard. This will make you spend even more money, but on different things like soap, shampoo and cleaning supplies as well as the above mentioned costly repairs. If it is set too low, it certainly needs to be adjusted to an acceptable level.
What Level Should My Softener Be Set At?
Basic water softeners are simple to set, you just need to know the hardness level of your water. So, to settle the question – ‘what hardness should I set my water softener to?’, you just need to learn a few things. Once you understand exactly what the hardness level is, you will want to set the softener in accordance with the level. For instance, if your hardness is running at a 25, you would set it to 25 on the unit. Most of the time this is done by turning a dial or programming an electric head unit. Both are simple just follow the instructions that came with the unit.
Where Do I Find Out My Hardness Level?
There are a couple of ways you can go about finding out the hardness level of your water. The first is to purchase test strips. These can be found at any hardware store or water filtration specialty shop. It is a simple test where you take and dip the strip into the water and then match the colors up to the proper guide. It will tell you the hardness level of your water. Be sure to test the water at the source. The water does get tested at the treatment facility if you are in town, but it can change based on what it picks up on the way to your home. You can also call a professional who can come out and test it for you. At times, this is no charge, but be prepared for a sales pitch.
Once you know your hardness level you will be able to set your water softener correctly. Soon you will be on your way to saving money because soft water is truly the key to doing just that. Should you have any more questions contact your local water treatment specialist who would be happy to assist.
9 Responses
Our water is 8.24 grains of hardness. Iron content is .039 ppm (according to our water company). What is the ideal hardness setting for our GE GXSH40V water softener? It was set to 95. I read you set it higher when using Potassium Chloride instead of Sodium Chloride, so I set it to 100 hardness, to start with.
If you set the hardness value higher, it recharges more frequently, but, what if you’re not getting the full softening value out of the resin tank (it’s getting recharged before it NEEDS to be (i.e. it still has softening capacity remaining)? Do you set the value lower so the tank goes longer before recharging?
We have a Eco water softener and don’t know how to set it our water is very hard we set it on 50 does that sound ok
We have one too and it’s complete crap.
I have a Kennmore water softener. It’s fairly small because my home is small. I can’t find the manual! I keep every manual from my 4 year old TV to my brand new washer & dryer. The softner has a digital setting display when you set it for the time, then the time you’d like it it to regenerate then the level if salt THEN it just says “hardness” it can go from 25 to 70. I have no idea what to set it on. The last time we put salt in it my son put two bags of red out in it. I NEVER hear it regenerate but a couple of days ago it was blinking &about of salt. I couldn’t afford any salt until yesterday & my fixtures & bathtub were really nasty. I don’t know what to set it at? It just says hardness so I set it to 70 to see what would happen. Any suggestions as to what to set it at with HARDNESS being my only clue?
I have same one. I keep it at 45. And works well. Keeping at 70 you will be running out of salt very fast. I think that setting is for extremely hard water area.
shantupat@Yahoo.com
lowe’s water softener factory set for 25gpg hardness. my water is very
hard what should i set at.
We have a brand new AO Smith water softener with well water. I tested the water and it is 250 PPM. This is a vacation home and therefore we’re not here on a daily basis. I am wondering what I should put my water softener level at.
we just moved into our new house, the water softener is using Ncal salt and the water
is so slippery it seems you cannot rinse clean. The hardness is set at 25 to make it less
slippery should the hardness number be set lower? or is something else the problem?
Reduce the setting on your softener to reduce its softening effect.