Well water softener guides
Well water softeners fail for predictable reasons: they’re sized by guesswork, iron coats the resin, or the hardness setting ignores the iron in the water. These guides cover each one with the numbers to check.
If you have a hardness test, the sizing calculator on the home page gives a grain capacity and the matching softener size.
- Do you need a water softener for well water?Not every well needs a softener. How to decide from your hardness and iron numbers, when softening pays off, and what to fix before you buy one.
- Water hardness levelsWater hardness chart in grains per gallon and mg/L, with both the WQA and USGS scales, a conversion table, and how to read hardness on a well test.
- How to size a water softenerThe method our sizing calculator uses: people times daily water use times compensated hardness, over days between regenerations, with worked examples.
- Iron and water softenersWhat a softener can and can't do with iron: ferrous vs ferric iron, resin fouling, manganese, published limits, and when an iron filter must go first.
- Iron filter vs water softenerAn iron filter removes iron, a softener removes hardness. How to tell which one your well test calls for, when you need both, and which goes first.
- Salt-free vs salt water softenersSalt-free conditioners don't remove hardness, and most need iron-free water. When a salt-free unit can work on a well, and when only a salt softener fits.
- Well water filter and softener comboWhen a well needs both an iron filter and a softener: install order, what each tank needs, how to size the pair from your test, and upkeep.
- Water softeners and septic systemsCan softener brine go into a septic system? What university, EPA and industry-funded studies found, who paid for them, and how to protect your tank.
- Sodium in softened waterA salt softener adds about 8 mg/L of sodium for each grain of hardness removed. How to work out your number, who should care, and the alternatives.
- Water softener settingsHow to set a softener on well water: the hardness number to enter, the iron allowance, salt dose, regeneration time, reserve and day override.
- How to clean iron out of softener resinSigns your softener resin is iron-fouled, how resin cleaners and brine tank cleaning work, when resin needs replacing, and how to stop iron coming back.
- Water softeners for tanninsA standard softener won't remove tannins. How to tell tannins from iron, how anion exchange tannin units work, and what to check before buying one.
- What a water softener costs on a wellTypical water softener price ranges as of 2026, how to work out yearly salt and water costs from your hardness, and what can raise or cut the total.