Water Softener Installation Starts With a Hardness Figure
Find out whether a water softener is worth it at your address. We name the utility serving your town and whether it draws ground or surface water.
Free to homeowners — the contractor pays us for the introduction, you never do.
The short version
Whether a softener is worth installing turns on your hardness figure, and for most addresses that figure is already published by the utility. Hardness is reported in milligrams per liter while softeners are sized in grains per gallon, so the first step is a conversion.
Go straight to the one that sounds like yours:
- Where SoftenWell Routes CallsThe states and towns we route water softener calls in, with the ground and surface water split for each state.
- Grains Per Gallon, and Why Your Water Report Uses a Different NumberYour utility publishes hardness in mg/L.
- How to Size a Water Softener, With the Arithmetic ShownGrains per day is people times gallons times hardness.
- Salt-Free Water Conditioners: What They Do and Do Not DoA salt-free conditioner does not remove hardness.
- You are never chargedContractors pay us when we route them a call. There is no cost to the homeowner, ever.
- Every figure names its sourceThe numbers on this site come from public data and the page says which, so you can check them.
- We say where we coverCalls are routed by ZIP code to independent contractors.See the coverage
- We say when not to callIf the fix is a few minutes of your own time, this site tells you that instead of selling you a visit.
Almost every page about water softeners is written by someone selling them. This one starts from your utility and the published hardness figure, and tells you when the answer is no.
What this site is
SoftenWell is a referral service, not an installer. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We install nothing, we sell no equipment, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.Start with your supplyGround water or surface water
Water that has spent years in an aquifer dissolves calcium and magnesium out of the rock around it. Water taken from a river or reservoir has not. That single distinction predicts more about hardness at your tap than anything else you can know for free, and it is a matter of public record.
We hold it for 2,102 towns across 38 states — 925 supplied by ground water and 1,177 by surface water. Find yours on the coverage page.
Source: US Geological Survey, Hardness of Water.
Then the numberHardness, in the units that matter
Your utility publishes hardness every year in milligrams per liter. Softener capacity is quoted in grains per gallon. One grain is about 17 mg/L, and confusing the two is how households end up paying for twice the equipment they need.
Source: Penn State Extension, Water Softening.
Then the arithmeticSizing is one multiplication
Water used per person per day, times hardness in grains per gallon, times the number of people. That is the whole calculation, and doing it yourself turns a quote into something you can check.
When the answer is noWe will say so
If your water is soft, a softener will not repay you, and a salt-free conditioner does not remove hardness at all whatever the marketing says. We would rather lose the call than route a household that does not need the work.
Where we route calls
Tap your state for the towns and ZIP codes we route in, and the figures behind them.
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this site is public and attributed. You can go and check any of them.
- WaterUS Environmental Protection AgencyFederal drinking-water and plumbing rules, and the public water-system records behind the coverage pages.
- Water useUS Geological SurveyCounty water-use estimates, used for what normal household consumption looks like where you live.
What happens when you call
No form, no quote tool, no waiting for an email.
- You tell us what the water is doingOne short conversation. If it turns out to be something you can fix in five minutes, we will say so.
- We route the callWe match your ZIP code to an independent contractor who already covers your area — not a call center three states away.
- They quote, you decideWe do not set prices and we never charge you. The contractor pays us for the introduction.
- 2,102towns with a page of their own
- 38states we route calls in
- $0what a homeowner ever pays us
What to do first
Four things worth doing first. They cost nothing and they can keep a small problem small.
- Shut off the water closest to the problemUnder a sink or behind a toilet there is usually a small valve on the supply line. Turning it clockwise stops that fixture without shutting off the rest of the house.
- If you cannot find it, use the mainUsually where the supply enters the building — a basement wall, a crawl space, or a covered box near the street. Then open the lowest tap in the house, which drains the standing water out of the pipes instead of out of the leak.
- Water and electricity: stay out of the roomIf water has reached an outlet, a panel or an appliance, switch that circuit off at the breaker before going near it. If you cannot do that safely, do not go in, and say so when you call.
- Photograph it before anything is movedInsurers ask for it, and a contractor can tell more from a photograph of the leak than from a description of it.
And one case where the answer is not to call us. If the water is surfacing on the street side of your meter, that is the utility's line and not yours. Report it to your water utility — they do not charge a homeowner to repair their own main.
If the water is leaving marks, the question is how hard it actually is.That is a measurement, not a guess, and it decides whether equipment is worth buying at all. We connect you with somebody who can test it. You are never charged and we sell nothing. We are a softener site by name; the line is broader.
Call (866) 862-2620
