Water softeners · Bernalillo
Arsenic treatment isn't softening. Here's the difference.
Bernalillo's town utility runs its well water through ferric chloride pressure filters to remove naturally occurring arsenic, then disinfects it. That's an important job. Pulling out calcium and magnesium just isn't part of it.
So the minerals that leave scale on faucets and inside water heaters can still arrive at your house. A softener is the piece of equipment made to deal with them. Our free test shows whether your Bernalillo address actually needs one.
What changes after a softener goes in
These are the effects of removing hardness. Nothing more, nothing less.
Cleaner fixtures
New scale stops forming on faucets, showerheads and tile grout.
Longer heater life
Tank and tankless heaters stay free of the mineral crust that slows them down.
Easier on skin
Soap rinses off cleanly, which helps in the dry valley air.
Less detergent
Soft water lathers easily, so you need less of everything.
What a softener won't do for Bernalillo water
We'd rather say this plainly than have you find out later. An ion-exchange softener doesn't remove arsenic, nitrate, chlorine or bacteria. On town water, arsenic is the utility's job, and its annual water quality report is where you'll find the official results. If you'd like an extra layer at the kitchen sink anyway, that's what reverse osmosis is for. If the chlorine smell from the town's hypochlorite disinfection bothers you, carbon filtration is the fix.
A softener can handle small amounts of iron. That rarely matters on town water, but it can matter if you're outside town limits on your own well.
What we test at your sink
- Hardness, to size the resin bed and program the valve
- Total dissolved solids
- pH
- Chlorine left over from town disinfection
- Iron and manganese
- Sulfur
On a private well, we also help you arrange lab testing for bacteria, nitrate and arsenic.
Where the softener goes in a Bernalillo house
It depends a lot on the age of the home. In the older neighborhoods around Camino del Pueblo, the main water line may come in on the side of the house and the water heater may live in a closet or a small utility room, so we look at clearances, the nearest drain and whether there's room to lift a bag of salt in. In newer homes, the garage is usually the obvious spot.
Wherever it ends up, the softener goes on the main line ahead of the water heater, gets a bypass valve so you can isolate it, and drains to code. Our own installers handle it, usually in about half a day. The standard system is Soft Water Essentials, a 48,000-grain softener with a digital metered valve, at $2,495 installed with a lifetime warranty. Financing starts at $59/mo. You can compare it with the combined softener-and-carbon option on the packages page, or read up on the technology on our main water softeners page.
Want the bigger picture first? Start with our Bernalillo water overview.
Bernalillo softener FAQs
Doesn't the town's arsenic treatment already soften the water?
No. The pressure-filter process is designed to remove arsenic, and the hypochlorite step disinfects. Neither is built to remove calcium and magnesium, which is what softening means.
Will a softener remove arsenic from my Bernalillo water?
No. Softeners remove hardness. For arsenic, the town treats at the source, and reverse osmosis is the usual point-of-use option if you want additional treatment at the kitchen sink.
Can you fit a softener in an older Bernalillo home without a garage?
Usually, yes. We look for a spot on the main line with a drain nearby, often a utility room or closet, and we'll tell you exactly what's involved during the test visit.
How often will I add salt?
It depends on your hardness and how much water you use. The metered valve regenerates only when needed, which keeps salt use reasonable.
Find out exactly what's in your water — free.
A 15-minute on-site test with results in real time, a plain-English report, and an honest recommendation. No pressure, no obligation.