Water Softener & Whole-Home Water Conditioner in Virginia Beach, VA

Do I have hard water in Virginia Beach?

That term, hard water, really ranges so much with who's the one experiencing the water. If you've come from so many different areas that have what we call crazy hard water, and you're familiar with grains per gallon, the way they measure hardness in water, we hear of places on the West Coast that have 40 grains per gallon. That's not even imaginable. I've been in the industry for 20 years and I've never seen 40 grains in my life.

However, you'll have people that have been on well water and had really soft water, and they can move into Virginia Beach where you have typically anywhere from 4 to 6 grains per gallon, which is usually about what we're testing at in most places in Virginia Beach. This is city water that we're talking about here. They've had soft water, and they think their water is atrocious. They think it is super hard.

For me, the way I look at hardness in water, once you have soft water—zero grains per gallon—any hardness is more hardness than I would like to have coming through my appliances and all the many benefits that you get from soft water. So, if I had one grain or even two grains per gallon, that's 200% more hardness than I would like to have in my water. Obviously, when you're getting to 4 to 6 grains per gallon, that's 400 to 600% more hardness than what I want.

But does that mean that you have the hardest water on the planet? No. Do you still have spots all over your glasses? Absolutely. Do you still get soap scum buildup in the tubs? Sure. Do you still have lots of wasted money in detergents and cleaners? When you get in the shower, you can really tell real quick when you put that shampoo together how fast the suds go away. Yes, you're still going to experience everything that someone with crazy hard water would experience, just at a lower level, and a 100% different experience than someone who has soft water. Then we get into eczema, skin, and things like that.

Strictly speaking on the hardness in the water, Virginia Beach doesn't have the hardest water. There are still well water areas that have extremely hard water, but you're kind of right in the middle with the Virginia Beach water. I can't sit here and tell you that you don't have hard water when you know what you're experiencing and why you're probably watching this video in the first place.

Yes, I would rather have zero grains per gallon.

Check out some of our other videos, too. There are lots of other benefits when you're looking into these whole-home systems. When you're on city water, if you're not from this area—we have a lot of military families and people that move into this area—check out our videos on chlorine and chloramines in your water. That's a big one that may be giving you some of the experience that you may be looking at as just hard water, but you may actually be experiencing the effects of those disinfectants as well, and not just the hard water.

Thank you. Hopefully, this helps.