Water Softeners in Austin, TX

It depends on two numbers: how hard your water is and how much of it your household uses. We measure the first at your tap, because it varies between Austin city water, the aquifer blends in the northern suburbs and Hill Country wells. The second comes from the number of people and bathrooms. From those we choose a grain capacity that lets the unit regenerate on a sensible schedule, often every several days rather than nightly, which uses less salt and water and keeps the resin healthy. An undersized unit regenerates constantly; an oversized one wastes money and can let the resin go stale between cycles. We would rather size it right than sell the biggest one.

Almost always the garage, near where the main water line enters the house. Many Austin-area homes built in the last twenty years, especially in Leander, Hutto, Kyle and Round Rock, already have a softener loop there: two capped pipes on the garage wall that route the whole house through the unit while leaving the hose bibs on hard water. If there is no loop, we cut one in at the main. The unit also needs a drain for its regeneration cycle and an electrical outlet. In an older central Austin house the main may enter at a crawl space or an exterior wall, and we will find the spot that keeps the plumbing short and the unit accessible for salt.

They do different jobs, and we will be straight about it. A true softener removes the hardness minerals, so scale stops forming and soap lathers. A salt-free conditioner leaves the minerals in the water but changes their form so they are less likely to stick to surfaces. Conditioners reduce scale in pipes and water heaters and need no salt or drain, but they do not give the soft-water feel, do not stop spotting on glass and are less effective as hardness climbs, which matters in Austin. For a house where salt is a concern, a conditioner is a reasonable compromise. For a house that wants the full effect on fixtures, laundry and skin, a softener is the answer.

Softened water is not salty in the way people imagine. The softener swaps hardness minerals for a small amount of sodium, proportional to how hard the water was; in Austin that amount is noticeable to some people and not to others, but it is a fraction of what is in most foods. If anyone in the house is on a sodium-restricted diet, potassium chloride can be used in place of salt, or a reverse osmosis system at the kitchen tap removes it from the water you drink and cook with. Many Austin homes run exactly that pair: a softener for the house and reverse osmosis at the sink. Our reverse osmosis page covers the second half.