Do I need a water softener?

[jakester]

HI guys!

So I had my water tested and my water hardness is at 20 gpg. My question do I need a water softener or am I fine without one? Am I doing any damage to my plumbing, washer and water heater not using a water softener?

Also what brands are recommended for a water softener?

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Have you seen any hard water stains? Did he test for anything else? Do you see white flakey build up on your faucets? Take one of your aerators off and see if there is any residue in the screen.

 

[gjxj]

our city water is reported to be 17gpg and that made a mess of the plumbing. About every valve in the system is frozen. One valve I personally installed new was frozen stuck after only about 4 years (Thats when I said time for a softener) I was replacing faucet aerators seems like once a year btw.

 

[speedbump]

20 Grains is a lot of hardness. Yes you dd need a softener. If you use a lot of water (large family etc) you might want to look into a twin tank unit where one unit is backwashing while your using the other one.

There are a gazillion names out there. What's important is the name of the backwash head. Stay with Fleck, Clack or Autotrol. A twin tank unit would look like this:
http://www.clackcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2985_ws1ei_twin_valve.pdf