Water softener hookup kit

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To find out whether your water is hard, you can buy a water test kit online. Though several types of salt-free water softeners are available, a salt-based ion exchange softener is the most popular. Please see the Water Softeners Buying Guide for more information on hard water and choosing a water softener. Though most homeowners choose to buy and maintain their own water softener, a viable option is to rent one. Over the long run, renting will cost more than buying, but it costs much less up front and can save you the trouble of installing, maintaining, and repairing a system.

If your home has an older water softener that you wish to replace with a new one, plan to put the new unit in the same location. If there is no existing water softener in your home, consider the following advice for locating your new softener. For starters, a new water softener should be located out of the way but where it is easy to tie it into the plumbing system—in most cases, this is in a basement, garage, or utility room, often near the water heater. Allow enough space around the equipment for easy servicing.

Do not put the softener in an area where freezing might occur; this can cause permanent damage and void your warranty. If temperatures are expected to drop below 40 degrees F 4 degrees C , protect the equipment by relieving the pressure and draining the system.

How To: Water Softener Installation, The Easy Way | Trusted E Blogs

A water softener will need a drain such as a floor drain or utility sink. Where to connect to pipes.


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In households where sodium in the drinking water may cause a health risk, it may be necessary to bypass certain faucets used for drinking water such as the kitchen sink or, in some cases, soften only the hot water side of the water supply system. Be aware that your entire cold water system will lose all of the benefits of water softening if you do this. Another option is to opt for a salt-free water softening system see Salt Free Water Softeners. Most water softeners come with a bypass valve that you must assemble and attach to the unit.

In addition, some local plumbing codes require that you install shutoff valves to the pipes that lead to and from this valve so the water to and from the softener can be turned off easily. Position the water softener where it belongs so you can easily measure for the connecting pipes. Then open a couple of bottom-floor faucets or hose bibbs to drain the water from the pipes. Again, pay attention to orientation: If you want an outlet, such as a hose bibb, to carry hard water, install a T fitting prior to the softener and run it to the outlet.

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The above diagram shows you just how simple a water softener installation can be, that is except for running the plumbing, of course. The cold water line is shown in blue and the hot water line is red. I will be explained in more detail further on. The first thing you have to do is to decide on the location for your new water softener. It should be within access of your water supply line. There should be a drain somewhere nearby, or you can run a line to the drain if it's not really close to your installation.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Installation

You will also need access to the drain for your overflow line. There are a number of accepted ways of doing this. As shown, you can connect the copper lines directly to the water softener. However, this does make it a little more difficult should you want to remove or change the water softener at some future time.

A good idea would be to install a couple of unions in the line to make the connections easier. In order to hook up the water lines you will need to use a pipe cutter to cut into the water supply line, close to the to the water source. Don't forget to run a bypass line to the outside of your home, for watering lawns and gardens. The images below, show a number of different ways, a water softener can be hooked up, to a water supply line.

Just as long as you can connect, the incoming water line, to the softener, and have it flow to the rest of the house.

How to Install a Water Softener

Different pumps and tank size will have different types of hook up, but will follow the same general principle. You can also see one thing we have not talked about before and that is a ground wire and clamps , going from the inlet side copper only pipe to the outlet side of the water softener.


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Grounding is necessary whenever two copper or metal pipes in the same system are broken up by some kind of appliance hook up or other means that prevents the continuous flow of an electrical charge through the pipes. This happens when a water softener is installed or when a water heater is installed.

DIY Water Softener Installation - Difficulty Level

The pipes coming in and out of a water softener must have some type of metal connection, that allows the transfer of an electrical current from one side of the pipe to the other. Same goes for a water heater, the cold water line going into the water heater needs to be connected to the hot water line coming out of the water heater by some king of external metal wire or clamp connection.

In this image the water softener is hooked up using flexible stainless steel lines that are equipped with unions on both ends, making it fast and easy to install or remove from the unit. The drain must be an indirect drain , also known as an "Air Gap Drain" , that is, it should not allow water to be siphoned back into the household water supply.

A waste pipe that does not, connect directly with the drainage system, but that discharges into the drainage system, through an air break or air gap into a trap, fixture, receptor or interceptor.

How To: Water Softener Installation, The Easy Way

Waste Receptor - Concord, NH www. The overflow tube is usually installed on the outside of the salt storage tank or brine tank. See your manufacturer's instructions manual for more details. There you have it, you should now be able to follow your manufacturer's installation manual, as well as understand the process involved, in installing a water softener. What's important is that the water flows in and out and that it has a proper place to drain.

If you keep this in mind you should have no trouble installing your new water softener.