How hard is the water in Franklin County, TX?
7.7 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Franklin County, TX is 132 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 7.7 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 78 samples at 1 sites between 1990 and 2007, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 7.7 and 7.7 gpg. The whole middle of that range gives the same answer, so a test of your own tap is unlikely to change it. Confidence in the county figure: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 7.7 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 7.7 to 7.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Franklin County was 131.5 mg/L and the hardest 131.5 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 7.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 7.7 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 168 lb of salt a year (5 bags of 40 lb, about $30), and roughly 2,346 gallons of regeneration water. Installed, most units run $1,000 to $4,500; spread over 15 years with salt, that is about $130 a year.
Sizing at 7.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 462 | 24,000 | 56 lb |
| 2 | 924 | 24,000 | 112 lb |
| 4 | 1,848 | 24,000 | 225 lb |
| 6 | 2,772 | 24,000 | 337 lb |
Franklin County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Franklin County is number 157 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 41% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Franklin County: Kaufman County (7.8), Grayson County (7.8), Collin County (7.9).