Quote:
Originally Posted by bbnetworking
I measured the hardness of the water using this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
it says I have 7 PGP, which's considered hard, but not very hard, not sure if a softener is really necessary, my plumber quoted me $1200 to have it installed. I think that's a great deal.
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Hmmm.....that one reads in mg/l (or ppm), so if it said 7, you really have NO need for a water softener, since that's less that 1 gpg (grain per gallon). There are three different ways of expressing hardness:
PPM or MG/L - the actual amount of CaCO3 in the water.
GPG - the amount of hardness expressed in grains. One grain = 17.1 ppm (mg/l)
From there, pH comes into play. Lower pH's generally mean less issues with hardness, but you can run into corrosion issues, especially with copper lines - "lower" meaning under about 7.0. Higher pH's tend to accentuate hardness effects - especially over about 7.8.
0-5 gpg - not much to worry about
5-10 gpg - room for SOME concern
10 - 15 gpg - a softener would be worth considering
15+ gpg - soften it
Again - a grain of hardness = 17.1 mg/l CaCO3, so 10 grains is 171 mg/l (ppm).
Hope that helps!