Can a Water Softener Increase Your Water Bill?

While more and more household are starting to use a water softener, some people are still skeptic and wants an answer to this question, “Can a water softener increase your water bill?”.

If you install a water softener in your home, you can expect a bigger water bill because your water softener will need to use a large amount of water to flush out the calcium and magnesium build-up in its filter from time to time.

This is necessary because your water softener removes the calcium and magnesium contained in hard water by exchanging them with sodium, meaning that too much calcium and magnesium build-up can impair its intended function.

How Can You Calculate the Effect of Your Water Softener on Your Water Bill?

Generally speaking, the harder the water that passes through your water softener, the more frequently that it will have to flush.

As a result, the higher the concentration of calcium and magnesium in your water, the bigger the water bill that you can expect at the end of the month.

However, if you are interested in figuring out exactly how much your water softener will cost you when it comes to your water bill, you can come up with a relatively reliable estimate so long as you know four things.

First, you need to know the hardness of the water expressed as the number of grains that can be found in a gallon of water, which you should be able to get from the supplier of your water.

Second, you need to know the rating of your water softener expressed as the number of grains that its filter can handle before it needs to be flushed, which you should be able to get from the manufacturer of your water softener.

Third, you need to know the gallons of water that will be needed to flush the filter of your water softener, which you should be able to get from its manufacturer as well.

Finally, you need to know the gallons of water that you use in an average month.

Once you know these things, coming up with an estimate for the effect of your water softener on your water bill is a simple and straightforward process.

You start by dividing the rating of your water softener by the number of grains that can be found in each gallon of your water, which will tell you the gallons of water that it can handle before its filter needs to be flushed.

Then, you divide the gallons of water that you use in an average month by that figure, which will tell you the number of times that you can expect your water softener to flush over the course of an average month.

Once you have done so, you can multiply that figure by the gallons of water that your water softener needs for each flush to produce a relatively reliable estimate for the gallons of water that you will be using each month because of it.

Is a Water Softener Worth It?

Even though your water softener will increase your water bill, you might gain enough elsewhere to make up for that additional cost.

After all, hard water can leave build-up in your pipes, meaning that you will have to pay for repairs and replacements sooner than if you had installed a water softener.

Similarly, hard water can increase the strain on your water heater, causing it to break down faster while also forcing it to use more power to provide the same results.

As a result, determining whether your water softener is worth its cost or not is more complicated than just looking at its effect on your water bill.