I have a 4 1/2 bath home with one garden tub that gets used occasionally. Most of my water use is actually outside to a sprinkler system, a pool and separate hot tub. My wife and I are the only ones home (empty nest) except for occasional family.

our in-home water use was 200 gallons last month.

My test results are as follows:

PH: 8.1
TDS: 308 mg/L
Hardness: 45.40 mg/L
Alkalinity: 80 mg/L
Iron: <1.0 ug/L
Manganese: <1.00 ug/L
Sulfates: 77.9 mg/L
Chlorine: Total Residual Chlorine <1.0 mg/L

All water was taken from my kitchen tap.

What needs adjusting, and how to go about it?

Thanks in advance.

This started for me because the 4 year old faucet that I installed in my kitchen can barely turn for all the buildup in it. Clearly the city water I use tends to leave deposits.

Could someone please give me an opinion about how to start treating the water that comes into my home?

Did this start on another thread? If so, could you copy your test results into that thread or copy that info into this thread, please? It works best to keep everything together so all of the relevant information is together.

Heres the thread that got me headed down this road: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/plumbing/msg1011324913880.html

I live in a two story home, concrete slab with city water, 4 1/2 baths with a garden tub. Last months water usage in the home was 200 gallons. Just the wife and I at home but occasionally have family. The vast majority of water useage, as I live in Texas, is for outside. Lawn, plants, pool and separate jacuzzi.

I just dont know how to go about separating the system...inside vs. outside and where my service enters the house.

If there is a dependable commercial alternative that isnt snake oil I would be willing to look into that option also.

Thanks in advance.

The smallest practical softener would be 0.75 cubic feet. If your water usage is truly tiny, that is as small as I would go to ensure you still get adequate flow into your home. However, since you have a larger home and jacuzzi tub, it would be better to account for the possibility of using more than one bathroom at a time or using other water when the tub is filling - a one cubic foot softener would fit your home. The initial expense is not substantially different between the two, but the larger softener would use about 6 more pounds of salt per month.

When you call around looking for a softener:
1. Try some locals - that way you have service after the sale. See who your neighbors use.
2. If you are handy, you can also order online, but then you are the service tech.
3. A gravel under-bed is required
4. A top distribution basket is a good idea.
5. Noryl bypass is required.
6. 10% crosslinked resin is required for good life with chlorine in the water.
7. Plumb the softener with an extra bypass around it so that it may be removed entirely, if necessary, without disrupting water flow to your home.
8. Use a Fleck or equivalent softener. Plumbing size of 1" or larger, go with a Fleck 7000sxt, 3/4" go with a Fleck 5600sxt.
9. I recommend avoiding softener companies with "proprietary" valves and equipment - these are just more expensive to repair and parts are more difficult to obtain when necessary.

Can you fill the hot tub and/or pool with softened water? It would make the treatment of those easier, particularly the hot tub. If this is possible and desirable for you, then I need to know the flow rate at which you can fill them. Timing how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket will do nicely. You answer to this question could change the above recommendation.

So where, physically, do I set this up?

Can I assume that the water line to my water heaters is directly off the main water line?

Water treatment should be set up as close to the water pipe entrance to your home as possible, before the water branches out to any fixtures, and plumbed such that outdoor spigots used for watering lawn/plants are not softened.

I am wondering where this is typically set up. Clearly I am ignorant of the plumbing arrangement in my home. I live in the Dallas area and have a home built in the early 90's, on a concrete slab with city service extended from the meter which is at the front of my home at the curb/sidewalk. Where would I configure this filtration/treatment system?

How is the main water line to my home branched, or is it branched? I'm guessing that there are branches that run to my outside faucets and another branch that runs to my home, but where the branch that services my home comes through the slab for me to access, I know not.