Using test kit for water hardness

[rlanthony@excite.com]

Richard ,
Thanks for your reply.
In that I have city water, not well or spring water would the 1.4 calculation still hold true? Would it be good enough to do a rough estimate, then oversize the softener?
Rick

[chem geek]

Perhaps, but if you have a water quality report from your city (check online; they often post them there) then you can probably find both Calcium Hardness and Total Hardness listed separately and usually if only one is listed it's Total Hardness. I have found from my own testing that the numbers in the water quality report match what I measure at the tap.

With something as important as properly sizing the water softener, I would either use the water quality report data or get a real Total Hardness test. The factor of 1.4 is a nice rough estimate, but it could be totally off depending on your specific water situation since it's dependent on the kind of rocks the water has filtered through.

Richard

[rlanthony@excite.com]

Thanks Richard,
I looked in the City web site and found drinking water report. Ca hardness 41.5 ppm, Mg hardness 8.8ppm and Ca/Mg hardness 140. They also gave a Total Hardness as CaCo3 of 168. I am assuming I should use the Ca/Mg Figure for determining the size of the H20 softerner? I promise this is the last time I will bother you about this.
Rick

[chem geek]

I don't know how your water softener is spec'd so I can't answer that question. That is, I don't know if they measure their capacity in calcium carbonate (CaCO3) equivalent. If they do, then 168 ppm (mg/l) would be the number to use, but be careful since the water softener spec might use a different scale such as "grains" for hardness.

Richard