Do I need $6,000 water softener for 12 to 14 grains of calcium in well water?

We've stayed at a Villa in Italy a couple of times where there is a lot of limestone and very had water. If you let the clear water stand you will see solids after an hour or so.

If it is actual sand as you say, a filter should be in the line before the softener.

Yep, that can happen even if the pump is not too low, if there is incoming water ABOVE the pump (which is quite normal). After checking on the pump, I'd suggest a filter, even without a softner. That's a small expense compared to the softener.

If you don't spend $6,000 on a water softener, then you don't really care about your family.

The only advantages I see to an expensive Kinetico are that you'll have soft water 24 hours a day, as opposed to 22 hours a day with other softeners, and the thing will work even during electrical blackouts.

Get the 2nd cheapest type of conventional softer sold by Home Depot, Sears, or Lowe's, about $400-600, which will be a demand regulated, timer delayed model. The very cheapest type of softeners don't have demand regulation.

When it comes to purifying hard water, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Whether or not a $6,000 water softener is necessary depends on your individual circumstances and the extent of hardness in your well water.

The grains per gallon (GPG) of calcium present in your well will determine how difficult it will be to remove all the dissolved minerals that make up this hardness. The higher the GPG rating, the more difficult it will be for a single unit to effectively reduce or remove all the calcium from your well water. Anything under 7 GPG can usually be treated with a standard ion exchange softener without too much trouble, but anything above that can require multiple units or even something like reverse osmosis for really high levels of hardness (over 14 GPG).

So if you’re looking at 12 to 14 GPG of Calcium in your well water then you may need more than one unit. A good rule of thumb is: start off with an upper capacity filter/softener and add an extra filter/softener as needed until achieving desired results. However, just because you have 12 to 14 GPG doesn't necessarily mean you’ll need $6,000 worth of equipment - some more affordable options are available depending on your budget and needs.

Overall, when dealing with hard water meaning at least 7+GPG ions such as magnesium and calcium carbonates (calcite), sulfates etc., then indeed investing into better solutions such as multi tank systems would be prudent - but only if necessary after testing has been done properly by a certified professional from EPA approved lab(s).

Quinn