Can you set a water softener to deliver a specific water hardness?

[Tom Sawyer]

Personally, I wouldn't bother to do anything. Regardless of the manufacturers recommendations, believe me, if it fails it won't be because of hard water.

 

[Bannerman]

Further to Dittohead's comment regarding unattainable warranty perimeters, I understand through a friend who owns a building products manufacturing company, company's often hire lawyers to write product warrantees to ensure there can be no valid warranty claims on the company's products.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[MrStop]

Personally, I wouldn't bother to do anything. Regardless of the manufacturers recommendations, believe me, if it fails it won't be because of hard water.

Don't do anything because my water isn't hard enough (11 gpg) and I won't see other benefit? Or don't let the water heater make my decision alone?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

If it were me I'd ask myself a couple questions. Is your water so hard that it's spotting glasses, building mineral deposits on your faucets and fixtures or just generally tastes bad and, how much money do you want to put into this? If you don't mind the water then do nothing. If you want soft water than install a softener but no matter what you do, it ain't going to make any difference at all with the warranty of the water heater because no matter what you do they will find a way to not honor it.

 

[ditttohead]

Totally agree, any company that writes a warranty like that is doing it by design. Years ago I would write warranties for companies, they are long complex documents that are specifically designed to eliminate any warranty while giving the illusion of a warranty.

 

[IsopureWater]

Personally, I'd recommend keeping that pressure between 60-75 (Max) psi. If it was my regulator, I'd set it at 60 psi. It's a good pressure and well below the max operating pressure of most appliances including softeners and reverse osmosis systems.

As far as bypassing, you are on the right track. Just bypass the outdoor spigots and irrigation and you are good. Everything else inside will actually benefit from the soft water.