Measuring a softener and considering its salt effectiveness will guarantee you buy a softener that never comes up short on delicate water additionally utilizes a minimal.
Water softener grains needed.
To determine the appropriate water softener size for your home multiply the number of people in your home by the gallons of water they use each day 80 gallons per person is the average.
Traditional water softeners have a resin bed that can trap minerals and divert them from your water supply.
Most four person households use a 33 000 grain water softener.
This means that with 8 3 lbs of salt it could be possible to regenerate up to 27 600 grains.
Because most softeners available on the market have standardized sizes our family will be looking for softener with a capacity of 48 000 grains.
High grain water softeners cost more money and on over sized softener means wasted money.
The productivity of your water softener directs the amount of salt you need to purchase the amount of salt you need to drag and the amount of salt gets released to nature.
A softener is usually sized to regenerate about once per week.
Knowing your water and usage is vital to purchasing the correct water softener.
In the example above the softener will be removing 3000 grains per day.
So a 32 000 grain capacity water softener should be able to remove 32 000 grains of hardness before you need to regenerate it again but this isn t strictly true.
A similar model of water softener will require at least 2 6 lbs of salt to regenerate 13 000 grains.
Water softener regeneration considerations.
If your daily water softening requirement is 3000 grains you will need a water softener with a capacity of 21 000 grains 3000 x 7 days.
Larger family 6 or more larger house 4000sq ft and or very hard water over 15 grains.
There are conditions that would create a need for a larger unit.
4 people x 75 gallons per day 300 gallons per day.
Daily softening requirement 10 grains per gallon x 300 gallons per day 3000 grains per day.
A water softener that is too small will not be able to keep up with your needs and will wear it down faster.
Ideally a water softener should be sized so that it does not regenerate any more often that every three days wastes water and salt nor goes longer than 14 days before regenerating.
Multiply that number by the grains of hardness in your water to figure out how many grains need to be removed each day.
If tested under lab conditions the softener will indeed remove this amount and that s because things like water pressure flow and temperature are monitored closely.
Usually softeners with a bigger capacity are also able to handle those daily spikes in water usage but just be sure to check it with the manufacturer.
If you start searching for what size water softener you need you will see most sellers have 24 000 32 000 48 000 and 64 000 grains.
When the resin beads get coated they need to be regenerated using water softener salt and your water supply.