A new water softener yields immediate benefits, delivering cleaner dishes and softer skin
After one too many faded sweaters and extra dishwasher rinse cycles to combat hard water residue, you’re ready to install a water softener system. Learning how to install a water softener yourself is a bit challenging, but the trade-offs are often worth the expense. Cleaner dishes, brighter clothing, and softer skin? Yes, please!
Before you take on the expense of a new water softener installation, test the water hardness to ensure you need one. You can use a DIY water testing kit or have a plumber near you test the water for you. If you use city-supplied water, the city may be able to tell you the hardness level of the water. According to the United States Geological Survey, water hardness levels can be determined by the following amounts of hard minerals per liter:
Soft water: 0–60 milligrams per liter
Moderately hard water: 61–120 milligrams per liter
Hard water: 120–180 milligrams per lit
Water softeners require precise placement to operate and drain correctly. When choosing a location for installing your water softener system, make sure you install it on flat terrain, within several feet of an electrical outlet, and within 30 feet of a drain.
Choose a location close to your main water line—just before the main line reaches your water heater. Running soft water through the water heater ensures you wash, clean, and cook with soft water. For homes with a basement, this is often the ideal location, but homes that don’t have a basement may find that a dedicated storage closet may be the right choice.
Do not place the softener between the area where the main water line enters the home and or branches off to service outdoor faucets. Soft water used for outdoor purposes could inhibit plant and lawn growth.
When you are ready to install your water softener setup, turn off the valve that supplies water to your home. Then double-check that the water supply is off before you start any plumbing project. If you want to triple-check it, we won’t argue.
Your main water valve is near your water meter or at the point where the water line enters your home. If you own an older home or are on a well, it may be outside your home.
Next, bleed the water from the lines. Open the faucets throughout your home and let the water drain completely before closing them again.
Carry the water softener to the installation site you chose. A water softener can weigh almost 100 pounds when empty, so you might want to grab a buddy to help. Make sure you’ve correctly aligned your water softener so that it can efficiently connect to the supply lines.
Cut a section of the main water supply line where the softener will connect. You’ll need to cut a section that will accommodate the water softener’s bypass valve, which is usually between 6 and 12 inches in length, but the actual length depends on the model of water softener you purchased.
The type of piping can impact how you cut the supply line. For copper piping, use a pipe cutter or hacksaw. If you have PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) tubing, use a specialized PEX cutting tool. Then, sand off any rough edges before proceeding.
To connect the applicable plumbing, start by attaching adapters on two ends of the cuts in the water supply line. (You may need to solder these adapters to the existing line, although some adapters simply slide on before you clamp them in place.)
Then, connect the flexible lines to the adapters. Tighten these fittings with a wrench or pliers, but do not over-tighten them.
To complete the flex line installation, you’ll need to connect the opposite ends of the flexible lines back to the water softener. At the softener’s input connector, attach the flex line to the portion of the water supply line coming from the main line. At the softener’s output connector, attach the flex line to the water line portion that goes to the water heater and the home’s indoor faucets.
If your water softener has a separate brine tank—the tank that holds the salt solution—connect it to the main softener unit. The softener should ship with the required tubes and hose clamps.
If the softener has a mineral tank that you must connect separately, hook it up after the brine tank. Again, the softener should contain the tubing and clamps needed.
Finally, connect drain tubes to the water softener so it can discharge regularly. This discharge is part of the water softener regeneration cycle and often consists of a large amount of water, so the floor drain, standpipe, or utility sink must be able to handle significant water.
The first drain tube connects to the softener’s control valve and goes to the floor drain or standpipe. Some softeners have a second drain tube that connects to the brine tank and serves as an overflow tube. Do not connect these two drain tubes, as they have different tasks.
Once all tubes are secured tightly, you’re ready to turn on the main water supply. Also, turn on one of your inside taps to help air pressure escape as the water refills the pipes.
As the water goes back into the supply, ensure no leaks are coming from your cuts and connections. (A second set of eyes might help you here!). If leaks are present, turn off the water supply immediately and tighten your connections.
Barring any leaks, turn on your remaining household taps to remove air from all the pipes and allow water to refill them. Continue watching for leaks around the installation site.
Follow the manufacturer's instructions for starting your water softener unit, including determining how to program the softener. Typically, you’ll plug in the unit and then set the clock on the softener, as well as the desired hardness level for the water.
Add water softener salt per manufacturer guidelines.
Most manufacturers will have you run a regeneration cycle, or backwash cycle, after adding the salt. Check with the instructions for the softener to determine whether you need to perform this step.
Finally, check all the water levels in the various tanks on the water softener unit to be sure they are within manufacturer recommendations.
Choosing to install a water softener is a big decision, making it essential that you know what you’re doing when installing one. Some of the biggest considerations when installing a water softener include your budget, the type of water softener, the size, the salt type, and whether you have well or city water. Here’s what you need to know.
Your budget can affect which water softener you choose. With water softener costs ranging from $200 to $5,000 without labor, it’s important to budget accordingly. Magnetic water softeners, ion-exchange softeners, and salt-free softeners are some of the cheapest water softeners, while dual-tank, reverse osmosis, and water distillers can feel like a major hit on your bank account.
And don’t forget the maintenance costs. Some water softeners require more upkeep than others, which can increase your costs. Ion-exchange water softeners, for instance, require a drain line and, in most cases, salt. The recharge cycle also increases your water bills ever so slightly and may require more water softener repairs if the unit were to go on the fritz.
There are many types of water softeners on the market, but most homes use ion-exchange water softeners that utilize salt or potassium to swap out hard minerals for softer ones. In fact, some “water softeners” aren’t really water softeners at all. Instead, they’re water softener alternatives—called water conditioners—that keep the hard minerals in your water lines but prevent the minerals from attaching to surfaces.
You’ll also want to consider the proper size of water softener to purchase for your home. To calculate your daily softening requirement, multiply your daily water use by the water hardness level that you tested for while preparing to install your water softener. Each water softener's capacity is determined by the measurement of grains per gallon that the unit can handle before replenishment.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, water softeners in the small range have capacities of 16,000, 24,000, and 32,000 grains. Small softeners are ideal for small households. Medium-sized water softeners that are ideal for medium to large households have grain capacities of 40,000, 48,000, or 64,000. Large water softeners with grain capacities between 80,000 and 100,000 are recommended for households with above-average water usage.
When most people think of salt, they probably think that there is only one type used in a salt-based water softener. In reality, four types of water softener salt may go into the brine tank of your water softener:
Sodium chloride: Available in pellet, crystal, and block-salt form, sodium chloride is widely available and cost-friendly, but it does add more sodium to your water.
Rock salt: As the cheapest option, rock salt is cost-friendly but may come with unwanted minerals due to the extraction process.
Solar salt: Though not as affordable as rock salt, solar salt is far purer and recommended by plumbers for avoiding blockages in your water softener or supply lines.
Evaporated salt: The most expensive type of sodium chloride is evaporated salt, but it’s also the purest form and provides more efficiency while promoting a long life span for your water softener.
If your home has well water, a dual-tank water softener that has two salt-based resin tanks is often suggested by plumbers. Dual-tank softeners are recommended over other options for wells because this design is more capable of filtering heavy minerals. While a dual-tank softener functions like a single-tank softener, this option has an alternate tank at work when the other is in the regeneration cycle. This means that your home will never run out of softened water.
City water is more forgiving in terms of which water softener you use. Unlike well water, which is prone to heavier concentrations of hard minerals, homes connected to a public water system can get by using a single-tank water softener.
You may want to hire a plumber when considering how to install a water softener. Actually, it’s probably wise to do so. Aside from being an extremely heavy unit, the installation process is challenging without the right tools and experience—and plumbing mistakes can be quite costly.
Expect a professional plumber to complete the job in two or three hours. Budget between $150 and $1,000 extra to have a professional do the work.
The chemicals in a water softener can wear down the anode rod in the heater and shorten its life span. However, for most people, the benefits of the softener outweigh this potential drawback.
Have a plumber inspect the anode rod annually for damage, as replacing the anode rod is far less expensive than replacing the entire water heater.
Some people prefer to try a water descaler, which uses chemistry to alter the mineral ions in the water to make them less harmful. When it comes to a water descaler versus a water softener, a descaler is not as efficient for addressing severe hard water issues.
Water from a water softener is safe to drink, but some people dislike the taste. The extra salt in the soft water can be detrimental to your health over the years as well. Most people add a reverse-osmosis filter to remove the sodium before drinking it.
A water softener should last anywhere from 10 to 25 years. Most systems last 15 years on average. Just how long your water softener lasts depends on how well you maintain your water softener and how often it needs to regenerate due to your water’s hardness level. High levels of hard water will wear your system down faster as it works harder to filter out the minerals.
