Installing a Water Softener

For many years, we didn't have a water softener, and saw no need to add one.  After we bought our first lake home - a condo where all the water supplied to the unit was soft - we noticed how much cleaner clothes, dishes, etc. were with soft water.

Because we weren't sure if we'd like it at our home, we leased a unit for a few years, paying just under $30 per month for its use.  After a few years, we decided it was foolish to rent, when the purchase of a new unit would pay for itself in less than two years.  Since we already had the unit installed, putting the new one in was an easy do-it-yourself project.

When we decided to make our move, we included the softener with our old home.  Since the new house had never had soft water, the installation would be just a little bit more complicated (but still a task easily accomplished by a reasonably competent homeowner).

Before you tackle a softener installation, there's a few things you need to verify:

• How much capacity do you need?   In our old home, we had a large whirlpool tub, 50 gallon water heater, and a home that would very likely be used to raise a family at some point in the future.  Even though Theresa and I were "empty nesters", it made sense to size the softener for a family.  We bought a unit that would be adequate for up to 5 people (keep in mind, a smaller unit may still work, it would just cycle more frequently).  The new home is smaller, and, being a town home, is most likely to be occupied by folks like ourselves, so we got the next size smaller unit.  The more closely you match the capacity of your softener to your needs, the more efficient it will be.
• How hard is your water?  This goes directly back to capacity, since extremely hard water will take more conditioning.  I was able to look up Lincoln's water quality on the county's web site, but you may have to get a test kit if you don't have the data, or if you are on a private well.  In our case, Lincoln's water is "moderately hard" - probably similar to most other communities in our area.
• Do you have a good spot to install the softener?  If your basement is completely finished, it may be difficult to make your connections.  You'll also need room to locate the unit, with electrical power and access to a drain available.  It is easiest if you can put the softener right by the water supply, but not absolutely necessary.
• Is your plumbing in good enough condition to make a do-it-yourself installation feasible?  If your incoming water supply pipe is old galvanized pipe, it may be difficult or impossible for you to get it apart - or, if you do, to re-assemble it.  If you have ancient pipes, a real plumber is much better equipped to handle the issues when things start to fall apart. 

So, assuming you're still reading this, let's talk about how you actually get it done.  For the sake of this discussion, let's assume you've got rigid copper supply pipes - probably 3/4" - and plenty of room to work.  If your water lines are plastic or pex, the process is a little easier, since  you won't have to solder any pipes. 

If you, like most of us, have copper plumbing, you'll need a few tools and supplies:

• A small propane torch.
• Emery cloth, or brushes to clean inside of fittings and outside of pipe.
• Solder (Lead Free!).
• Tubing Cutter.
• Flux & application brush.
• Copper pipe and fittings as required.
• Flexible tubes for installation (not absolutely necessary, but makes your job easier).
• 2 - 12" crescent wrenches (or 1 wrench and a small pipe wrench)
• Utility knife, screwdriver, pliers, pipe clamps, and other tools and supplies based on your application.

Most softeners targeted towards homeowner installation have a built-in bypass valve (a valve so you can bypass the softener, taking it out of the plumbing system).  If your softener doesn't have this, you'll need to install one, so you can still have water service if something goes wrong with the softener.

Now, we're ready to install the softener.

Turn off the water supply to the house, and drain the pipes by opening a faucet at the highest and lowest levels of the home. 

Locate the incoming water supply pipe, and determine where to cut the pipe for the softener.  There's a right place and a wrong place to cut the pipe.  Since you don't want soft water for outside faucets, sprinklers, etc., you should locate the input for the softener AFTER the branch for outside water.  In most cases, the outside water is pulled off right after the meter, so it's no problem.  If yours is different, you may have a little bigger job.  I wanted soft water to every indoor area - if you want hard water for drinking, you may have to run a supply to your drinking faucet.  

Once you figure out where to cut your line, use the tubing cutter and cut out a section.  You'll run from the supply side to the inlet of your softener, the connect back up to the plumbing from the softener outlet.

Many of the new softeners use plastic fitting on the unit to make your connections.  These are fine, but some care is needed when hooking up your pipes.  If you use the flexible connectors, you should be able to hook it up without putting any stress on your softener.  If not, you can still do it, you just need to make sure everything lines up.  In any case, you must NOT apply heat to solder pipes without isolating the copper from the plastic fittings - the melting point for plastic is much lower than for solder!  Even if you're soldering a fitting on the other end of a copper pipe, you need to keep the end hooked up to the plastic cool while soldering by wrapping a wet rag around it.  In most cases, you're better off getting your soldering done before hooking up any of the plastic fittings.

The rest of the job is easy, you just have to apply heat to the fittings and solder them.  To get a good solder joint, you need clean connections, heat, and solder.

• You need to mechanically clean the pipes and fittings - even brand new ones.  The easiest way to do this is to use a special set of brushes made for the task, and sized for the size of pipe you're using.  If you don't have that, you can use emery cloth, or a wire brush to take a little off the surface.  When you're done with that, apply some paste flux to both fitting and pipe - that will complete the cleaning and give you a good surface for soldering.
• When you apply heat, you want to heat the pipe and fitting up - not just melt the solder.  you can tell if this is working by watching what the solder does - if the fitting is hot, the solder will be pulled into the fitting, filling the area between the pipe and the fitting.  If it isn't hot, the solder will ball up and just fall off.  I apply heat to one side of the pipe, and touch the solder to the other side.
• You don't need a lot of solder for a good joint.  If you have extra, it will just drip down the pipe and look ugly (the first joints you do will have too much solder).  Your joints don't have to look good, but you'll like them better if they do.

I've never had a soldered joint leak or come apart (although I do have some ugly ones, with way too much solder).  The most common cause of solder joint failure is a cold joint - heating up the solder instead of the pipe.  Practice on a couple of scrap pieces first, and you'll see how easy it is.

After soldering your connections, it's time to hook up the softener, connect the drain tubes, and turn the water back on.  Check for leaks, program your softener, add salt, and you're ready to go!