Questions about water treatment in west Broward

Yes. There's no charge for the visit or the test, and no obligation to buy anything.

It depends on your supply. City water and private wells raise different questions, so the test covers what matters for your house, and we explain each result.

We'll tell you what the readings mean and what we'd recommend. Sometimes the recommendation is that you don't need much, and we'll say so.

We come to your home, test the water at the tap, and explain what the results mean for your house. It's free and there's no obligation. Sometimes the answer is that you don't need much.

No. We'll tell you what the results mean and what we'd recommend, and the decision is yours. Getting another quote before a decision this size is reasonable.

Strips give you rough hardness and not much else. They won't reliably read chloramine, iron or dissolved solids, and they won't tell you anything about bacteria. They're a decent way to confirm you have a problem, and not enough to size equipment from.

Weston, Davie, Southwest Ranches, Miramar and Pembroke Pines are our core area, and we also cover Sunrise, Plantation, Cooper City and Parkland.

Hard, and in most places hard enough to matter. Broward sits on the Biscayne Aquifer, a shallow limestone formation, and water moving through limestone picks up calcium and magnesium. Above 7 grains per gallon is classed as hard. What we cannot tell you from a desk is your number: hardness is not federally regulated, so no utility here publishes it, and several treat with softening, nanofiltration or reverse osmosis that leave very different figures at the tap. That is what the free test measures.

Most Broward utilities disinfect with chloramine instead of free chlorine. Sunrise reports 3.4 parts per million, Davie 3.2, Pembroke Pines 2.8. Chloramine is far more stable than chlorine, which is good for keeping the pipes safe and bad for taste, and it means an ordinary carbon filter struggles with it. Two exceptions in our area: Miramar and Cooper City use plain chlorine, which standard carbon removes easily.

Yes. On a well there's no utility treating anything, so iron, hydrogen sulfide and bacteria are yours to deal with. Most of Southwest Ranches runs on wells, along with western Davie, Plantation Acres and the acreage around Parkland. There's no annual city report to read, so a water test is the only way to size a system.

They solve different problems. A softener takes out the calcium and magnesium that scale your water heater and leave spots on the glasses. A carbon filter takes out the chloramine taste and smell. Most Broward homes on city water want both, and a test tells us how to size them.

It depends on your hardness and how much water the household uses. A unit going through salt much faster than expected is usually undersized or regenerating on a bad schedule.

Yes, though it does add a small amount of sodium. The exchange swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium, and the amount depends on your starting hardness. If anyone in the house is on a sodium-restricted diet, the kitchen cold tap can be plumbed around the softener, or reverse osmosis added for drinking water.

Ten to fifteen years with maintenance. Resin degrades slowly, and the control valve is what usually fails first. Skipping maintenance shortens it.

A softener removes hardness minerals through ion exchange. A conditioner leaves the minerals in the water and changes their form so they're less likely to stick as scale. Conditioners use no salt and no drain line, and they don't give you the slick lathering feel people associate with soft water. We install softeners, because they are the option that removes hardness.

Several years. How long depends on the chloramine level and how much water the household uses, so the media should be checked rather than replaced on a fixed schedule.

No. Carbon removes taste, odor and chloramine, and it leaves calcium and magnesium untouched. Hardness needs a softener. Most homes here on city water want the two together.

Partially, and not reliably enough to count on. For PFAS the right tool is reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap. A whole-house carbon filter handles the taste and odor across the house, and an under-sink RO handles what you drink.

Not if it's sized correctly. Pressure drop is a sizing failure, and it shows up when a tank is too small for the number of fixtures running at once. A correctly sized system accounts for how many fixtures can run at once.

Pre-filters every six to twelve months, membrane every two to five years. The pre-filters matter most: a clogged carbon stage lets chloramine reach the membrane and ruin it, which turns a routine filter change into a membrane replacement.

Older systems sent three or four gallons to drain per gallon produced. Modern units run closer to one to one. Since it's only treating drinking and cooking water, the household total stays small either way.

They do different jobs. RO treats the water you drink. Whole-house filtration treats the water you shower in, wash clothes in and run through the ice maker. Most Broward homes want both, and the whole-house carbon also protects the RO membrane by removing chloramine upstream.

Almost always. A standard four-stage system with tank takes roughly the space of a small bin. Tight cabinets or a garbage disposal can complicate it, and the cabinet should be checked before install day.

Hydrogen sulfide gas, produced by sulfur bacteria in the groundwater. If the smell is worse from the hot tap, the water heater's anode rod is reacting with sulfates and making more of it. Both are fixable, and the fix differs depending on which is the main source.

Annually at minimum, and after any flooding. Broward gets heavy wet seasons and a compromised well casing can let surface water in. Bacteria is the test that matters most, because it's the one with no taste or smell to warn you.

Mostly no. The Town's own website says it is mostly served by individual water wells and septic systems, with only a small portion receiving potable water from Sunrise, Pembroke Pines or Cooper City Utilities. If you're unsure which you're on, check whether you get a water bill.

Not on a well with iron. Iron fouls softener resin and the unit stops working within months. Iron comes out first, then hardness. Get the order wrong and the resin has to be replaced.

West Broward. Weston, Davie, Southwest Ranches, Miramar and Pembroke Pines are our core, and we also cover Sunrise, Plantation, Cooper City and Parkland.