Phoenix Water Hardness: How Hard It Really Is

Your tap water is a blend of three sources. The CAP canal brings Colorado River water across the state. The Salt and Verde rivers supply much of the rest.

Some parts of town also mix in groundwater from local wells. Well water is often the hardest of the three.

Water above 10 grains per gallon is rated very hard. Most Phoenix homes sit well past that mark.

Your own number moves through the year. Plants blend sources by season, so a summer sample can differ from a winter one.

Every city puts out a water report each year, and it lists hardness by area. That's a good start. A test at your own tap is the exact answer, since two homes a mile apart can differ.

Heating water drives the minerals out of it. They settle on the bottom of the tank as a hard crust called scale.

The burner then has to heat through that crust. Your gas bill creeps up, and the water still takes longer to get hot.

Scale traps heat against the steel too. That stress cuts the life of the tank.

A heater that should last 10 to 12 years can quit at 7 or 8 in hard water. Draining the tank once a year helps. It doesn't stop the supply of minerals.

Tankless heaters aren't safe from it either. Their passages are narrow, so scale chokes them sooner, and most makers want a yearly descale.

White crust on a faucet is the same mineral, dried out. On a shower head it plugs the spray holes and kills your pressure.

Glass shower doors cloud over. Toilets grow a ring you can scrub weekly and never win.

Soap has to fight the minerals before it can clean. You end up using more detergent and more shampoo for the same result.

Laundry comes out stiff and dull. Dishes come out spotted even in a good dishwasher.

Plenty of people here blame the dry air for itchy skin. Part of it is the soap film hard water leaves behind.

Machines wear out sooner as well. Dishwashers and ice makers run mineral-rich water through small parts.

The same crust forms inside your water lines. It builds slowly, a little each year.

In copper it shrinks the opening and drops your pressure. In old galvanized steel it mixes with rust and can close a line to a trickle.

Phoenix has tens of thousands of homes built before 1990 on original galvanized pipe. Hard water has been working on them the whole time.

You feel it first in the shower when someone starts the laundry. Weak pressure at one tap is usually a clog. Weak pressure at every tap points at the pipes.

A softener won't clear pipe that's already choked. It does stop the next twenty years of buildup, which is why it pays to put one in early.

These two get mixed up all the time. A carbon filter pulls out chlorine taste and smell, so the water tastes better.

It does nothing about hardness. The minerals go straight through it.

A softener works by swapping. Calcium and magnesium come out, and a small amount of sodium goes in.

That swap is what saves your heater, your faucets, your washer, and your dishwasher. It's also why soap suds up the way it should.

Salt-free units are a different animal. They change how the minerals behave so they stick less, but the hardness stays in the water.

Lots of Phoenix homes run both. The softener guards the plumbing, and the carbon filter handles taste.

We build our softeners in our own shop and size each one to the house. A family of six needs far more capacity than a couple in a condo.

Start with a number, not a sales pitch. Pull your city's yearly report, or have us test the water at your kitchen tap.

Once you know the grains, the rest is math. You can weigh salt and service against a heater that lasts years longer.

We'll show you that math before you spend a dollar. If a softener isn't worth it in your house, we'll tell you so.

Call (602) 743-9591 for a free water test anywhere in the Valley. We answer day or night, in English or Spanish.