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The original was posted on /r/offgrid by /u/ponga2112 on 2024-09-04 16:24:11+00:00.

Options for REALLY Hard Water? Any advice from a fellow off-gridder who’s “solved” for really hard water… please, I could really use your wisdom!

Problem: I’m in southern NM and the water from my well here is crazy hard, > 25gpg. I need soft water not only for consumption, but so that my appliances don’t get wrecked, nevermind the small fortune I’m spending on Lime-Away / CLR. So, because it seemed like the best option at the time, I purchased a whole home salt-free system (NuvoH2O) and well… turns out that it’s trash and a waste of money - maybe it works in some situations, but certainly not in mine, I’m still > 20gpg after 3 months use :(

I need a real solution. The problem with “real” solutions is that most of them (to my knowledge) are incredibly wasteful (like, waste water in backwashing and electricity in all the extra water that needs to be pumped for, well… wastewater) – that waste is not terribly kind for an off grid situation. Additionally, a traditional salt system sounds less than fun (replenishing salt all the time and not being able to water plants with it, not to mention, the waste.)

Any Advice? I think I am resigned to either a whole home salt water softener or RO system. Both incredibly wasteful, both come with their own truckload of downsides, but like… I need (want) soft water. So for those of you who have dealt with this before, what do you think? What is my best option in your opinion??

Postscript: FYI, my needs are modest: Household consumption and some light irrigation, like 300ga/day, never above 15ga/min flow. Well water (deep) is the only option here, and the water is in fact very clean and free of metals or other contaminants, it’s just hard as all hell and had a lot of sediments. Oh and also, because I’m stupid, I’m installing this system after the fact (I should have considered hard water when building the house. Oops.) – TIA!!