Culligan Water Softeners
in Warren, MI

No. A properly functioning water softener will never make your water taste salty. The small amount of sodium added to the water will never create a salty taste.

Hard water usually manifests itself in several ways. It leaves white residue behind wherever water evaporates. When hardness reacts with soaps and detergents, it leaves a sticky soap scum behind, and in hot water heating systems it leaves behind a hard scale. With Warren’s water averaging 105 ppm, the most common signs are spotty glasses out of the dishwasher, crusty showerheads and a tank water heater that gets noisier as scale settles on the bottom.

Warren’s report shows an average of 105 ppm, with tap samples between 96 and 120 ppm. That narrow range is a good starting point, but the right setting also depends on how many people live in the home and how much water you use. Culligan tests the water at your own tap, then sizes and programs the softener to match it, so it regenerates only as often as it needs to.

A water softener works through a process known as “ion exchange,” which means that as it removes calcium and magnesium (elements that make water “hard”), it replaces those ions on a one for one basis, usually with sodium. This means that the amount of sodium added to the water is directly proportional to how hard your water is. In most instances the amount being added is so small that it is not a significant contributor to the amount of sodium in your diet.

Very little to start. Warren’s most recent report lists sodium at 5.3 ppm. A softener adds sodium in proportion to the hardness it removes, and at roughly 105 ppm of hardness that addition stays modest. If you are limiting sodium, a softener can run on potassium chloride instead of salt, and a reverse osmosis system at the kitchen sink removes most sodium from drinking and cooking water.

It can be. Much of Warren’s housing was built in the decades after World War II, and many of those homes still have original water lines, older fixtures or a water heater that has seen years of hard water. Scale narrows pipes and coats heating elements, which makes appliances work harder. A softener stops new buildup and slowly reduces what is already there.

Yes, if your hard water has been building up scale in your appliances, once you install a softener it will begin to remove that built-up scale. It will take a long time to remove it, but it will remove it.

Unfortunately, no. A water softener is designed to remove hardness (calcium and magnesium) from water. They can sometimes remove a limited amount of iron and manganese if you happen to have these problems as well. But if you are looking for great water for drinking and cooking, you should probably consider a reverse osmosis system for that purpose.

Other than salt or potassium chloride, there are no other chemicals that a water softener uses. On the contrary, using a water softener reduces the amount of cleaning supplies and detergents that you need to put down the drain trying to keep your home and family clean. Using a water softener is very environmentally friendly.

Once a softener is installed, it will begin to soften your water immediately, However, if you have a tank-type hot water heater, it may take a few days to use up that hard water, until you feel the full effects of soft water.

Most good softeners today, recharge based on how many gallons of water you use, and how hard your water is to start with. However, most of our customers today are adding salt once or twice a year, on average.

Yes. Culligan offers water softener rental in Warren, with installation, maintenance and service handled by our local team. It is an easy option if you rent your home, just moved in, or would rather not buy a system up front.