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How Hard is Your Water?
Home » Plumbing » Water Softeners » How Hard is Your Water?It may be easy to tell if you are having trouble with hard water, but it's a good idea to find out exactly how hard it is. If you are serviced by a municipal water company, you can call the Superintendent of Water and ask for the test results. They will give you the results in the form of various minerals in parts per million (PPM). You can convert this number to grains per gallon (GPG) by dividing the quantity of PPM by 17.1. If your water is supplied privately, you'll have to have it tested yourself. You can call the county health department to see if they offer testing, or you can enlist an independent water-testing lab or water conditioning company. Some water softener companies will offer free testing by mail if you send them a sample, or they may send you a test strip kit to do it yourself. Testing your water is a good idea, not just for hardness, but also for safety. Depending on your water source, you should check it at least once for mineral content and once or twice a year for bacteria and nitrates. Your water utility company or the state health department should be able to recommend you to independent water testers, or you can look under "Laboratories" in the yellow pages. An affordable option would be to contact a mail-order Laboratory, such as National Testing Labs (800-458-3330), which offers a 77-item check for $137.00.
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