Water Softener for City Water: What You Need to Know
Number copied. Text it from your phone: 443-277-2204.
If your city water is about 7 grains per gallon of hardness or more, a softener is worth it; under that, you can skip it. What city water adds is chlorine or chloramine, and chlorine shortens the life of softener resin. So on city water I put a carbon tank in first and the softener second.
Caller "It's gonna be city water. It's 2 people."
Aidan "I'm on city water. The way I have it set up is I have a non-backwashing carbon filter first and then a 48,000 grain Fleck."
A caller in Texas in January, shopping for a treatment system and softener for a 2-person house. This page is the long version: when a softener is worth it on city water, how to find your number, and why the carbon goes first.
Quick Answer
You need a softener on city water when the hardness is about 7 grains per gallon or more. Because city water carries chlorine or chloramine, put a carbon tank in first so the chlorine never reaches the softener resin.
- Find your hardness number. Look for it in your utility's annual water quality report; if it's given in mg/L, divide by 17.1 to get grains per gallon. If it isn't listed, test at your tap. See How hard is your city water?
- Pick carbon, softener or both. Under about 7 grains with a chlorine taste or smell, the carbon tank alone. At 7 grains or more, carbon first, then the softener. See the decision table.
- Chlorine shortens resin life. It wears down standard 8% crosslink resin; the 10% grade is made to resist it. See Does chlorine hurt softener resin?
- Size by people and hardness. 1 to 4 people up to about 15 grains: the 48,000 grain. 5 or 6 people: the 64,000. See What to buy for city water.
For 1 to 4 people on city water up to about 15 grains, I recommend the Fleck 5600SXT 48,000 grain with 10% crosslink resin, $1,995. With a carbon tank in front of it, it's the $3,195 carbon and softener package.
What's in This Guide
Do you need a softener on city water?
You need a softener on city water when your hardness is about 7 grains per gallon or more. That's the level where I recommend one to protect your plumbing and the appliances that use water. Below it, a softener isn't worth the salt. Whether you also need a carbon tank depends on the chlorine, not the hardness. Find your row:
| Your city water | What you need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under about 7 grains, chlorine taste or smell bothers you | The carbon tank alone | The hardness isn't high enough to need a softener. The carbon takes out the chlorine. |
| 7 grains or more, with chlorine or chloramine | A carbon tank first, then the softener | The carbon removes the chlorine before it reaches the softener resin. |
| 7 grains or more, no chlorine, chloramine, taste or smell problem | The softener alone | Hardness is the only problem, so one tank does it. Ours use 10% crosslink resin, which holds up better if chlorine ever reaches it. |
| Under about 7 grains, no taste or smell problem | Nothing for hardness | Your water is soft enough. Save the money. |
Before you buy anything, get your numbers. In this video I answer the questions city callers ask me before they buy: whether you need both, when the carbon tank alone is enough, which package fits your house, and one tank or two.
On camera I say the bigger city package pairs the 2.5 cu ft carbon tank with a 48,000 grain softener. The package we sell today pairs it with the 64,000 grain, and the table below has the current sizes.
How hard is your city water?
Check your utility's annual water quality report for hardness; if it's in mg/L, divide by 17.1 to get grains per gallon. Every community water system has to send that report, the Consumer Confidence Report, to its customers each year by July 1. If you can't find yours, ask the utility or use EPA's Consumer Confidence Report page to look it up. For help reading it, see how to read your water quality report.
A caller in Pennsylvania replacing an old softener read me 120 mg/L. Divided by 17.1, that's a little over 7 grains: right at the line where I recommend a softener. The USGS scale puts it this way:
| USGS rating | mg/L | Grains per gallon | What I tell people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft | 0 to 60 | 0 to 3.5 | No softener |
| Moderately hard | 61 to 120 | 3.6 to 7 | No softener below about 7 gpg; 120 mg/L is right at that line. Carbon alone if the chlorine bothers you |
| Hard | 121 to 180 | 7.1 to 10.5 | A softener is worth it |
| Very hard | Over 180 | Over 10.5 | A softener is worth it |
Hard water shows itself, too. The USGS lists the signs: soap leaves a film on your hands, you need more soap for your hair and laundry, glasses come out of the dishwasher spotted, and scale builds up when the water is heated in your water heater.
If the report doesn't list hardness, or you want the number at your own tap, our water hardness test kit ($99) gets it from a certified lab in both mg/L and grains per gallon. The city water test kit ($179) includes hardness too, along with other city water results. It doesn't test chlorine; for that, use a chlorine test kit or strips at home (see how to test for chlorine in tap water).
Text Aidan your city water report
Send the hardness number and how many people live in the house. Aidan will tell you whether you need a softener, a carbon tank or both, and which size.
8 AM to 5 PM Eastern, seven days a week. A real person, not a call center.Does chlorine hurt softener resin?
Yes. Chlorine shortens the life of softener resin, and it has an adverse effect on standard 8% crosslink resin. People call and tell me their old city water softener died after 10 years and ask if the chlorine did it. If it had 8% resin, chlorine had an adverse effect on it and shortened its life.
The fix on the softener side is 10% crosslink resin. The resin maker's data sheet says the 10% grade has "high resistance to both thermal and chemical oxidation" and "greatly increased life where resin degradation due to oxidative effects are anticipated." Every softener we sell, alone or in a package, uses 10% crosslink resin. How long it lasts depends on the water, and chlorine shortens it (my service-work numbers are in the FAQ below). I can't give you an honest number of years for your city, so I protect the resin with carbon instead. More on resin grades in water softener resin.
What if your city uses chloramine?
Chloramine is usually made by adding ammonia to chlorine. It lasts longer as the water moves through the pipes, and the EPA says more than one in five Americans drink water treated with it. Some utilities switched to it to meet the rules on disinfection byproducts. The carbon we use, Centaur catalytic carbon, takes out chloramine as well as chlorine, so the setup is the same either way.
Why the carbon tank goes first
On city water the carbon tank goes first and the softener second, so the chlorine is gone before the water reaches the resin. Put the softener first and the resin takes the chlorine every day while the carbon behind it does nothing to protect it.
The carbon tank we recommend on city water doesn't backwash. There's no reason for it to: it's just absorbing the chlorine and the chlorine byproducts, and there's no dirt in city water. Backwashing on city water is a waste of water and energy. So the carbon tank needs no drain and no electricity. Every 4 to 5 years you dump the old carbon and put in new; a bigger tank in a smaller house can go 6 or 7 years.
The carbon also reduces chlorine byproducts, pesticides, herbicides and PFAS, so it's doing more than protecting the softener. For the full picture of running the two together, see carbon filter and water softener.
What to buy for city water
For 1 to 4 people on water up to about 15 grains per gallon of hardness, the 48,000 grain softener is the right size, alone or behind a 1.5 cu ft carbon tank. Size by how many people live in the house and your hardness. Prices include shipping:
| Setup | Who it fits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Clack 1.5 cu ft carbon + Fleck 48,000 grain package | 1 to 4 people up to about 15 grains, or 1 or 2 people up to about 30 | $3,195 |
| Clack 2.5 cu ft carbon + Fleck 64,000 grain package | 5 or 6 people up to about 15 grains, 4 people at 16 to 20, or 3 people at 16 to 30 | $3,795 |
| Fleck 5600SXT 48,000 grain softener alone | 1 to 4 people up to about 15 grains, or 1 or 2 people up to about 30 | $1,995 |
| Fleck 5600SXT 64,000 grain softener alone | 5 or 6 people up to about 15 grains | $2,195 |
| Clack 1.5 cu ft carbon tank alone | 2 to 4 people under about 7 grains | $1,495 |
| Clack 2.5 cu ft carbon tank alone | 4 or more people under about 7 grains | $1,995 |
Over about 30 grains, or 7 or more people, text me and I'll size it. We also sell a 32,000 grain softener ($1,495), but even for a 2-person home I steer people to the 48,000: it runs more efficiently and gives you better flow. For the full sizing math, see what size water softener you need.
People ask if the All In One ($2,195), carbon on top and resin below in one dual-chamber tank, is better than two separate tanks. It's not. It's for very small homes, maybe one person with very little water use. It's always better to have one tank for the carbon and one for the softening.
Installing a city water softener
We recommend having a plumber install it: about 3 to 4 hours for the carbon tank and softener together. Plumbing them in is an inlet and an outlet on each; the part that takes planning is the softener's 1/2 inch drain line to a floor drain, standpipe or utility sink, with an air gap, and an outlet for the valve. The carbon tank needs no drain and no electricity. By my estimate a plumber charges about $700 to $1,000 for the pair. The softener alone is 2 to 3 hours, and a carbon tank alone is about an hour and a half.
What ships: both tanks ship empty. The resin comes in separate bags and the carbon in boxes, and they're loaded into the tanks at install through the fill funnel. The bypass valve comes pre-installed on the softener valve, and both tanks are Vortech tanks. Drain tubing, pipe fittings and salt are not included; every house is different, so your plumber supplies the fittings and 1/2 inch drain tubing from any hardware store.
I'm a phone call away for your plumber at 800-460-5810. If you'd rather do it yourself, text me at 443-277-2204 with any questions. Setting the softener is three numbers (time of day, your hardness and the capacity), and I'll give you or your plumber those.
What buyers wrote
These are verified purchases from our review system, newest first.
| Buyer | Bought | What they wrote |
|---|---|---|
| Jackie M., Nov 2026 Verified buyer | Fleck 5600SXT 48,000 grain softener | "Just got my system set up yesterday, so I can't really tell you the overall experience. I can tell you that working with Mid Atlantic has left a positive impression about the company!" |
| Kevin T., Jan 2025 Verified buyer | Clack 2.5 cu ft carbon + Fleck 64,000 grain package | "Mid Atlantic was helpful in identifying the right system for my home. The products came well packaged, the price was right and service fantastic." |
Frequently asked questions
Will a water softener remove chlorine?
No. A softener takes out hardness; the chlorine goes right through it and wears on the resin while it does. If you want the chlorine taste and smell gone, a carbon tank goes in front of the softener.
How often should you replace the resin in a water softener?
It depends on what's in the water. In my service work, 10% crosslink resin on water protected from iron and chlorine has lasted 30 to 40 years; iron and chlorine shorten it. If you ever need it, replacement 10% crosslink resin is $295 per cubic foot, and the 48,000 grain holds 1.5 cubic feet.
What are the downsides of having a water softener?
Salt and a drain. You refill the salt tank: for 2 people at about 7 grains, that's about 1 bag every 30 to 45 days. The valve needs an outlet and a 1/2 inch drain line, and a softener does nothing for chlorine taste or smell.
Is city water hard on your hair?
Only if it's hard. The USGS notes that hard water takes more soap to get your hands, hair and laundry clean, and leaves a film after you wash. Soft city water won't do that; check your report's hardness number first.
Aidan Walsh
Co-owner & Residential Water Treatment Specialist, Mid Atlantic WaterAidan Walsh has spent 32 years in residential water treatment, the first stretch of it installing and servicing well systems before Mid Atlantic Water became an online supplier. Mid Atlantic Water is a family company; every recommendation on this site is based on what actually failed in the field and what fixed it. If you have a question this page did not answer, call 800-460-5810 or text him at 443-277-2204.
Aidan answers calls and texts 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern, every day.Number copied. Text it from your phone: 443-277-2204.