No, you should never get your water tested - you might find out that something in there is bad for you or you might learn how to treat it properly and who wants to do that? What are you - Crazy? Treating your water should be hit and miss proposition. What good is it to do it scientifically and get it right? Just mess around with it... try this... try that.... maybe it will work... maybe it won't. After all - it's just your water and only sustains your life. Who cares how you treat it?

That was written " tongue-in-cheek," but sadly, I think some people really feel that way. They will spend $200 to $300 a month on a cable bill but are angry when they have to spend $89.95 for a one-time water test! What a misplaced set of priorities! Water IS life! Water can affect or effect nearly everything in your life. If you want to make sure your water is safe and healthy for your family as well as your plumbing and appliances, then you already likely understand that testing your water is a necessary step in proper treatment. You wouldn't go to the Doctor and expect him to guess what is wrong with you would you? I mean, you would probably be livid if a doctor tried to treat you without doing proper tests - x-rays, CAT scans, MRI's, blood tests, etc. So why would you not expect a doctor of water to also perform tests on your water, so that it can be treated properly? So, you may say " Hey my local water dealer will give me a FREE water test." Yeah, that sounds really good - maybe he can perform emergency brain surgery too! What if your doctor said "I'll give you a free blood test?" Most doctors use reputable laboratories for those tests and I would encourage you to get a water test from a reputable laboratory as well, not from water softener salesman who has a portable test kit that tests for a few contaminants... and not very accurately at that! You should only trust a test from a lab who does testing according to US EPA and standard methods, and that is exactly what our tests are. A water dealer is going to test your water for just a few things, like hardness, iron, pH and TDS... that's probably it. In reality, it is important to know a lot me about your water than that, especially if you are on well water. If you have municipal or city water, we have access to many water reports in your part of the country and can generally have the information we need to treat your water very effectively. However, if you are on well water, your water can vary dramatically from house-to-house. That's when we need a good detailed analysis. There are a few tests that we recommend, most of them are from labs but there are a couple that you have to do yourself:

• Comprehensive Lab Water Test - This is our most economical and popular test... mostly because it gives you a lot of bang for the buck. It tests for 38 of the most important contaminants. On that same page, you can choose a BART Iron and/or Sulfur Reducing Bacteria Tests - This is the best way to definitively determine whether or not your water contains iron and/or sulfur reducing bacteria which is very detrimental to most water treatment equipment and has to be treated properly. Each test can be purchased individually ( Iron and Sulfur ) if you are sure you don't need one or the other. I usually recommend you do both... just to be sure. If you have rotten-egg odor you will want to do a Hydrogen Sulfide Test - Sulfur gas, which is that nasty rotten-egg odor dissipates quickly and the best method to test for it is immediately after the water is drawn. In this test, you simply break off the ends of the glass tube and put it in a glass of fresh-drawn water and wait three (3) minutes for the results. That test is on the same page as the Comprehensive Lab Water Test.


• The Complete RO Screen Lab Test - This test is when you have severe water problems that may require a whole-house Reverse Osmosis System or for a business that may need a Commercial or Industrial RO system.

It all falls under the category of MEASURE TWICE - CUT ONCE!