Soft Water

I have never really liked soft water.  I mostly don't like the slick/slimy feeling that I get in a hotel shower that has water that is too soft.  I like the taste of hard water better than the taste of soft water.

I also understand the benefits of having soft water.  Finally, the needs we have for soft water have outweighed my aversion to the soft water.

This brings up the other thing I hate about soft water:  I hate the whole process of having someone come to my house and test the water to discover its hardness.  I hate having them try to sell me whole home filtering systems, furnace air sanitizers, and other such things to go along with my soft water.  I hate having to make an appointment with a company representative who will show up late, track dirt in on my carpet, complain that I've picked an inconvenient location for the water softener, and stay longer than expected, grumbling and sweating the whole time.  And don't even get me STARTED on the infamous plumber bum.

So I took matters into my own hands.

First, I looked up the hardness of my water online.  Municipal water supplies are tested on a regular basis and the hardness of the water in grains per gallon is a statistic that should be publicly available.  It turns out that the water at our old house in the "Mud Hole" neighborhood has a hardness of 17.5 grains per gallon and the water at our new house has a hardness of 28.7 grains per gallon.  We're dealing with water that is 64% harder than we used to.  Maybe THAT'S why I was finally ready to get a water softener.

With this information, I was able to find a water heater that would meet the needs of my household.  Such a water heater was for sale at Costco!  Neato!

Yesterday, I bought it.  I spent some time researching the parts and tools I would need to install it, and found out that it would take a $150 crimping tool to do the plumbing part of the job.  I figured it would be worth $200 in parts to do it myself rather than paying someone else $200 to do it for me because in the end, I would at least have the crimping tool.

This morning, I went to my friendly neighborhood Home Depot and found out that I could RENT the tool for only about $8.  About 4 hours later, I had the softener installed EXACTLY where I wanted it installed and it was running its first recharge cycle.

The cold water in my house is now soft and the hot water will be soft soon.  I can control the hardness/softness myself anytime I like, and I did it all on MY terms.

Nice.