Softening Systems
Softening Systems | Water Purification | Plumbing | Lenoir City
Living in Lenoir City shouldn’t mean settling for water that leaves spots on dishes, film on shower doors, or scale inside your appliances. HEP’s plumbers pair cutting-edge softening systems with advanced filtration to strip away excess minerals, chlorine, and unpleasant tastes, delivering crisp, clear water to every tap. From the moment we arrive, our local team treats your home like our own, tailoring a solution that fits your family’s consumption, budget, and schedule.
This complete approach to water purification safeguards your plumbing, extends the life of water-using devices, and even helps soaps lather better so you can use less. Count on HEP for:
• Professional in-home testing and honest recommendations
• Seamless installation and maintenance by licensed technicians
• Friendly, 24/7 support backed by decades of community trust
Choose a hassle-free path to healthier water—call or click today and taste the HEP difference throughout Lenoir City.
FAQs
Why do homes in Lenoir City need a water softener?
Municipal and well-water tests in Lenoir City regularly show hardness levels between 8–12 grains per gallon—high enough to create scale on fixtures, shorten appliance life, and leave laundry and skin feeling rough. A properly sized water-softening system exchanges hardness minerals (calcium and magnesium) for harmless sodium or potassium ions, preventing scale build-up and improving overall water quality throughout your home.
How does a water-softening system actually work?
Inside the softener’s resin tank, thousands of tiny beads are charged with sodium (or potassium). As hard water passes through, calcium and magnesium ions are attracted to the beads and swapped out for the sodium ions. When the resin becomes saturated, the control valve triggers a regeneration cycle, flushing the hardness minerals to drain and recharging the beads with a brine solution from the brine tank. The result is consistently softened water delivered to every tap.
What size softener do I need for my household?
Sizing depends on two factors: 1) your home’s daily water usage, and 2) the hardness level in your incoming water. Multiply the number of people in the home by 75 gallons (average daily use per person) to estimate daily consumption, then multiply that figure by your water hardness (grains per gallon). For example, a family of four using 300 gal/day with 10 gpg hardness needs 3,000 grains of capacity per day. We select a unit that can supply that capacity for 7–10 days between regenerations—typically a 32,000- or 40,000-grain softener. Our technicians will test your water on-site and recommend the precise model.
How much maintenance is required—do I just add salt?
Modern metered softeners are mostly hands-off. You’ll need to keep the brine tank at least one-third full of salt or potassium pellets and check it monthly. The control valve automatically regenerates only when the calculated capacity is exhausted, conserving salt and water. Annually, we recommend a quick system inspection, a resin bed sanitizer, and a settings check—services our team can perform in about 30 minutes.
Will a softener remove iron, chlorine, or other contaminants?
Standard ion-exchange softeners target hardness minerals only. If your water has iron, sulfur, chlorine, sediment, or emerging contaminants (PFOA/PFOS), we pair the softener with dedicated filters: aeration/oxidation for iron and sulfur, carbon filtration for chlorine and taste/odor, and specialty media or reverse osmosis for dissolved solids and PFAS. During your free water test we identify every issue and design a treatment train that gives you comprehensive purification, not just softening.
What happens during installation and how long does it take?
Most residential installations take 3–4 hours. We locate the main water line and a nearby 110 V outlet and drain, then cut the plumbing to route water through the softener. Bypass valves are installed for easy servicing, and the control head is programmed to your water hardness and family size. After plumbing, we sanitize the system, initiate the first regeneration, and test hardness at the taps to confirm zero-grain soft water. You’ll receive a brief tutorial on adding salt, adjusting settings, and using the bypass in an emergency.