How do you locate the main water line entering your home in order to install an electric water conditioner for whole

John G
by John G
house? ( The kind that you wrap the pipe with covered wire)
  12 answers
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Aug 01, 2011
    Somewhere in your home there should be a main shut off valve. This valve should be accessible. Trace backward from your water heater, this could be behind an access panel, located in the corner of your basement or in some crawlspace. Some city lines have water meters that are installed down stream from this valve, this is another clue that may help, some cities have the meter installed in a service "pit" outside between the city main and your house.
  • Most are located in the front of the house, however if you live on a slab or crawl space that can be a whole different issue. Follow the pipes, is the best answer to your question. Oftentimes supply pipes entering into homes will not have a meter connected visually. As KMS said they can be located outside in meter pits, or somewhere else. Check for mains inside of cabinets, such as kitchens, or baths, check where the water drains out as well. Typically the mains are located next to or near the drains as this is the shortest distance to the city supply in most cases.
  • Walter Reeves Walter Reeves on Aug 01, 2011
    Tell me more about a water conditioner where you "wrap the pipe with covered wire". I'm not familiar with this system.
  • These water softeners use electro magnetic waves to break down the hard water. Two wires are wrapped on opposite directions on water main and then connected to a device that sends these waves to the pipe. As the water runs through the main these magnetic waves are delivered to water doing their job.
  • How cool is that.....I have never heard of such a thing..... I wondered "How do it do that?". Here's one website I found that explains it for those also interested. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/electromagnetic-water-softener.html
  • John G John G on Aug 01, 2011
    Thanks for the answers, but I'm still hoping for more ideas. This is a hard water treatment devise. You wrap insolated wires around the inlet of the main water line leading into your home. Then the devise is plugged into an electical outlet.
  • Walter Reeves Walter Reeves on Aug 02, 2011
    I'm not an expert in this field but I URGE you to do lots of research before purchasing this system. There are commercial applications of magnetic technology to prevent scale on heat exchangers and boilers. But if it is claimed that wires wrapped around a pipe or small magnets installed on the pipe going into a home will change the hardness of water that is zipping past at many feet per second........I have strong doubts this will work. Anecdotes and money-saving claims by a promoter do not make something true.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Aug 02, 2011
    I'm also in Walter's camp about the "effectiveness" of this Non-chemical or ionic exchange method to "treat" water. Magnets, radio waves, and cosmic thought energy will never remove the calcium, sodium or iron ion from your water. When I worked in the pharmaceutical industry, we had to make some very pure water. One of our water types was called WFI (water for injection) This water is so pure you can inject it into your body. To make water "better" a physical process is needed not hokus pocus. Reverse osmosis, ion exchange, filtration, distillation. Each of these methods can do certain things, and target a contaminate or component. Having your water tested to find out what is in it is where you want to start...with that information you can proceed using science based technologies to get to where you want to be. Whether it is a pH shift, hardness removal or organics and heavy metals there are targeted treatment plans to make it happen.
  • As far as I understand these units do their job. Although I am in the same camp as KMS and Walter as well. From what I understand the system alters the minerals so they do not form as a white film. I have heard about hundreds of people that are using this system and they have had no complaints. I assume it depends on the quality of the device.
  • John G John G on Aug 08, 2011
    Thanks for the answers, but I'm still hoping for more ideas.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Aug 08, 2011
    John...more ideas on locating the water main or the conditioner?
  • If you have a slab house, check in closets, under stairs, under cabinets. If the meter is located outside and you know where that is, typically its a straight line into the house from there. So look in that general area. Attached garage? check it there as well. If you have a crawl space or basement, you only have four walls and the pipe must be coming into one of them. Look for a 1" approx size pipe entering through this area. If the basement is finished, then you need to look for access panels if indeed you have the main shut off in the house and not outside in a meter pit. If that is the case, most likely the water feed pipe that enters into the house has been covered up by someone finishing the basement. Another way to find the main is to follow the pipe. Start at your hot water heater where the cold water enters, and follow that pipe back. Typically the hot water heater is not that far from the main pipe.