Hard Water and Water Softeners in La Vernia and San Antonio

How hard is the water around here?

SAWS defines hardness as calcium and magnesium in water, stated as calcium carbonate, says it occurs naturally in the Edwards and Trinity aquifers, and notes hard water is not a health hazard. Its latest annual report (2025 data) gives no hardness figure, so test a cold tap with a hardness kit for your own number. The U.S. Geological Survey calls anything above 180 mg/L very hard, and dividing mg/L by 17.1 gives grains per gallon.

Common signs:

• White crust on fixtures and shower glass, and aerators that keep losing flow.
• Soap that barely lathers; USGS notes calcium turns soap into scum.
• A tank heater that pops or rumbles as it heats.
• A tankless unit flashing a scale code or running lukewarm.

Sediment in tank heaters, and flushing it out

Heating hard water drops calcium carbonate out of it. In a tank, that settles into a gritty bottom layer that causes the popping noise, buries the lower element on electric models and can clog the drain valve.

1. Turn the heater off at its breaker or control, then close the cold supply valve.
2. Open a hot faucet, run a hose from the drain valve to a drain or outdoors, open the valve (it comes out scalding), let the tank empty, then crack the cold supply to stir out sediment until the water clears.
3. Close the drain and refill until that faucet flows steadily; only then turn the heat back on.

Never flushed, or an old plastic drain valve? Let us do it; a valve that won't reseal becomes a leak. Flushing is part of our maintenance and repairs work; for failed parts, see water heater repair (or boilers, if that's your word). Tank already leaking and you can't stop it? Call at any hour; we send our on-call plumber right away.

Descaling a tankless water heater

Hard water lines a tankless heat exchanger with scale until flow drops and a service code appears. The plumber shuts the unit off, closes the isolation valves, connects a pump to the service ports and circulates descaling solution for the manual's specified time, then rinses the unit, cleans the inlet screen and reopens the valves. No isolation valves on yours? We can add them. On hard water, use the short end of the manual's interval. Going tankless? Gas models usually need a bigger supply line (see tankless gas line), and the swap is under installation and replacement.

What a softener installation involves

A softener swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium inside a resin tank, then recharges with brine from a salt tank. Whatever the model, the plumbing is similar:

• The loop: inlet and outlet lines cut into the main where it enters the house, often in the garage, past the hose bib branch so the lawn isn't softened. Many newer homes have one stubbed out; older homes need it added.
• A bypass valve: built into the control head or made of three valves, it sends water around the unit for service without shutting off the house.
• The drain: regeneration water goes to a standpipe or other approved drain through an air gap so it can't siphon back, and the brine tank overflow gets its own line.
• Power: an outlet near the control head.

Then we enter your hardness reading, run a regeneration and check every joint. Already bought a unit? We can plumb it in.

Softener permits in La Vernia

Inside La Vernia city limits, the city's residential permit packet requires a permit and inspection for adding a water softener, and the plumber doing the work pulls the permit. A La Vernia mailing address isn't always inside the city, and San Antonio and other towns set their own rules; for county land, we check your address first.

Septic, salt and well water

Septic: every regeneration sends salty rinse water to the drain. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension suggests owners with a softener consider routing that flushwater around the septic tank, straight to the drain field or other dispersal area. Ask your septic provider and county permitting office first; tank and field work belongs to TCEQ-licensed septic companies, not us. A softener stuck in regeneration drains nonstop, and AgriLife warns that constant extra flow, like a leaking toilet, can overload a septic system; put it in bypass and call.

Salt: keep the brine tank stocked and break up any salt bridge, a crust over a hollow pocket that looks full but makes no brine.

Wells: well water varies by property and may carry hardness, sand or iron. Test it before choosing equipment, and put a sediment filter ahead of the softener. Pump work goes to a well company. If a softener line bursts, close the main and switch off the well pump breaker.

Hard water questions

Call about hard water

Tell us: city water or well, sewer or septic, and whether a softener loop exists. A new water heater installation gets $150 off, repairs carry a $0 dispatch fee, new customers get $50 off, and seniors, military, first responders and healthcare workers save 10%; terms are on the coupons page. More hot-water help is on our water heaters page.