I work for a small plumbing contractor for newly built homes. We have a homeowner that had his water tested and two of his fixtures are testing hard after he had a water softener installed. They are in completely different bathrooms and one is a sink and the other is a shower. He said the water smells and leaves rust colored stains. They are also on a well. Our tech has been out and followed the lines in the crawl to make sure it is plumbed correctly and it is. I am thinking it could be the anode rod because we have had other homes in the past having the smell/staining issues after the water softener was installed and after changing out the anode rod it went away but I don't think the anode rod would only affect the water at two faucets. Both fixtures are on the opposite side of the home as the softener and I was told distance can affect the level of hardness. Our tech says he thinks the softener may be too small for the home. Could that be the issue? He has been in the home a year and water softener added a few months ago. Could hard water/scale be hanging on enough to still be causing it to test as hard water? Please help me help this guy out! 
