Water softener installation in Las Vegas and Clark County

Las Vegas has some of the hardest municipal water in the United States, and a water softener is the equipment that deals with it. This is not a luxury item here in the way it is in a soft water city. It is the difference between fixtures and appliances reaching their rated life or falling well short of it.

A softener works by ion exchange: hard water passes through a resin bed that swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium, then periodically regenerates itself with brine from the salt tank.

How hard the water actually is

These are the published figures, not our estimate, and you can check them yourself.

• Las Vegas tap water is published at 280 parts per million as calcium carbonate, which works out to about 16 grains per gallon. (Las Vegas Valley Water District, Water Quality Summary)
• The water district FAQ page lists a slightly different figure, 291 parts per million or 17 grains per gallon, so two official numbers are in circulation at once. Either way the answer is the same: very hard. (Las Vegas Valley Water District, Water Quality FAQs)
• The US Geological Survey classes water above 180 milligrams per litre as very hard. Las Vegas runs at roughly 1.6 times that threshold. (USGS, Hardness of Water)
• Colorado River water starts as Rocky Mountain snowmelt and picks up calcium and magnesium as it travels, which is what leaves the valley with hard water at the tap. (Las Vegas Valley Water District)
• Calcium and magnesium are the two minerals behind hard water, and the water district is clear that neither is a health risk. Hard water is an equipment and fixture problem, not a safety problem. (Las Vegas Valley Water District, Water Quality FAQs)

What hard water is doing in your house

• Scale on water heater elements and tank bottoms, which wastes energy and shortens life
• Scale inside tankless heat exchangers, the leading cause of early tankless failure here
• Seized angle stops, stiff shower cartridges and dripping valves
• White crust on fixtures, glass and shower doors that comes back within days
• Spotted dishes and cloudy glassware straight out of the dishwasher
• More soap, shampoo and detergent needed for the same result
• Stiff laundry and faded fabric
• Dry skin and hair that never quite rinses clean

• Water heater testing run for the Water Quality Research Foundation found storage heaters on hard water lost efficiency as scale built on the elements, while the same heaters on softened water held close to their rated efficiency across the test. (Water Quality Association, research summaries)

Sizing it for this valley

Softener capacity is measured in grains of hardness removed between regenerations. Sizing multiplies the number of people in the home by typical daily water use by the hardness in grains per gallon.

At roughly 16 grains per gallon, a valley home needs meaningfully more capacity than the same house in a soft water region. An undersized unit regenerates constantly, burns through salt, wears its resin out early and still lets hard water through. Getting the size right at installation is most of the job.

• Sixteen grains per gallon is the figure to dial into a water softener for most of the valley. (Las Vegas Valley Water District, Water Quality Summary)

Types worth knowing about

A conventional ion exchange softener with a salt tank is the standard, and it is the only common type that genuinely removes hardness minerals.

Dual tank systems provide softened water continuously, including during regeneration, which suits larger households.

Salt free conditioners do not remove calcium and magnesium. They alter how the minerals crystallise so they are less prone to sticking. They can help with scale in some situations, but they do not soften water and will not give you the feel, the soap performance or the spot-free results of a real softener. Anyone selling one as a softener is selling you something else.

Potassium chloride can replace sodium chloride for households that want to avoid adding sodium. It costs more per bag.

Installation and permits

A softener installs on the main line where water enters the house, after the meter and typically before the water heater, with a bypass valve so the system can be isolated for service. It needs a drain for the regeneration discharge and a power outlet for the control head.

This is permitted work in unincorporated Clark County, and the county issues water softener permits online.

• Installing a water conditioning system in unincorporated Clark County requires a permit and an inspection, whether a homeowner does the work or a company does. (Clark County Department of Building and Fire Prevention)
• Plumbing permits for unincorporated Clark County, which covers Paradise, Spring Valley, Sunrise Manor, Enterprise, Winchester, Whitney and Summerlin South, are issued by the Clark County Department of Building and Fire Prevention. (Clark County Department of Building and Fire Prevention)

All makes and models

Plumbers in our network install and service softeners across all makes and models. We are not an authorised dealer for any manufacturer and do not claim a factory relationship with one. If you have already bought a unit, it can be installed. If you have not, you will get a recommendation based on your household size and the hardness figure above.