Hard water problems in glendale, arizona (Sun City: buying a house, water heater, buying)

[srinivas.k]

Hiee all,
I will be doing my masters in management from Thunderbird university , glendale this fall. I have heard and read certain reviews that water is extremely hard in Arizona part of US.
Please can some native or currently put up in Glendale, tell me how you people there cope with the water problems ie. hard water issues. Are there methods people use to make water soft and useable? Are these methods economical?
Franks replies if possible. thanks.

[sablebaby]

We don't do anything to our water. But we certainly don't drink it, we only drink bottled water. I remember growing up in Phx we had a soft water purifier (something like that) and we didn't like it.

[srinivas.k]

hieee sable,
I am sorry to bother you. Actually here in some areas we have hard water and it is extremely difficult to manage since there is little lather while washing, stains remain on clothes,there is scaling and sliminess in the washrooms, choking of basins etc.

I know there is hard water in most parts of US. I am used to soft water for drinking and washing purposes since long. Just wanted to ask coz there must be many other people like me there. Do people use RO, ion exchangers etc. in their homes to tackle this problem? Are these means economical if at all one plans to install them.

again sorry but would be nice if u could answer.
thanks...

[arizonanative]

We have a water softener in the garage. Many of the newer houses are offering the plumbing now. Also have a Reverse Osmosis under the sink too.

At our last house, we didn't have the water softener. The only time I really noticed it is when I cleaned, it would be harder to remove the residue and build up. I think you get used to it though... I grew up about a mile from T-bird campus and never had any softeners...

[brittZ]

Unless you are buying a house, you are subject to whatever system your landlord uses on the rental. If you buy your own house, I suggest getting a water softener system installed. After 26 years I put one in what used to be my parent's house and couldnt believe the differences. I will never drink tap water unless I am dying and want to speed the process up but for showers/bathing, laundry, dishes etc. . . it made a huge reduction in calcium deposits in the shower and on dishes and made the laundry much softer. The single biggest visable difference was in the water heater. i replaced the heating element which was about 2 years old and had roughly 3 inches of deposits on it for a new one after I installed the water softener system and three years later there are practically no signs of deposits on the new heating element.

The system we had installed uses rock salt to soften the water for the entire house and is plumbed into the main line in the garage. Including installation and the actual unit, I want to say it was about 1200 roughly for the highest flowing unit avaible where we made our purchase. My grandmother has a similar setup in her home in Sun City which uses a large canister partially filled with rock salt to soften the water. I personally dont think an RO system is worth it, but that is because I prefer to drink bottled water as i find it more conveinent when I'm on the go.

[srinivas.k]

Actually, I will be stayin on campus of Thunderbird university, glendale and so I dont know if such a facility is installed there. I mean installing the softner ( i even dont know how it looks like) in the main system is not within my reach but are there options wherein I can just attach some device(water softner) to the sink faucet or washroom faucet?
I dont mind drinking hard water but only for washing purposes i would like to use soft water(if possible) which would reduce lot of problems and also reduce
water wastage.

thanks sir... actually i am new to this site and since I will be going to glendale for my higher studies so while surfing came across this site and found it extremely informative.

kudos and cheers!!
srinivas

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by srinivas.k

Actually, I will be stayin on campus of Thunderbird university, glendale and so I dont know if such a facility is installed there. I mean installing the softner ( i even dont know how it looks like) in the main system is not within my reach but are there options wherein I can just attach some device(water softner) to the sink faucet or washroom faucet?
I dont mind drinking hard water but only for washing purposes i would like to use soft water(if possible) which would reduce lot of problems and also reduce
water wastage.

thanks sir... actually i am new to this site and since I will be going to glendale for my higher studies so while surfing came across this site and found it extremely informative.

kudos and cheers!!
srinivas

There are water softeners for recreational vehicles. They have a garden hose type attachment which you might be able to attach to a shower or other faucet if you know about tools and fittings. These are portable and will process about 300 gallons between charges. Cost is around 200 dollars, I think.

[jco]

I would that that if you're willing to install a water softner (under 2k), a landlord would be very excited to let you do it. You've just upgraded their investment, so why not? The water is hard. We have a water softener, and it helps a lot. We also have a reverse osmosis system so that we are able to drink out of the faucet.

Before we had a softener, we bought bottle water and used a softener in our dishwasher. I believe they now make detergent for hard water, don't they?