plumbingwater
What kind of pipe is used to hook house water pipes up to the city water meter?
I have a blue flexible hose between the meter and my 3/4 inch galvanized piping to the house.
The blue flex hose is prone to leaks, primarily at the connecting ends.
What kind of pipe should I replace it with, and what kind of adapters should I use?
No, a sediment filter will not remove calcium -- the only thing that will is a water softener. These use a media that only needs to be replaced every 10 years, and a brine tank with salt, which you have to refill periodically depending on water usage and hardness levels: anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months. There's really no other regular maintenance that normally needs to be done on a softener.
Softeners substitute hardness (calcium carbonate) as well as some heavy metals, lead, manganese and low levels of iron with sodium ions (salt). The drawback to this is that increases the sodium levels in the water, which can be a concern for people on low-sodium diets. The amount of sodium added is entirely dependent on the amount of hardness removed.
For this reason, people often run a bypass to the kitchen cold water tap so it gets hard water, as well as outside taps used for watering the lawn and garden.
Before you purchase, you should test your water for hardness. The easiest and cheapest way is to buy a hardness test strip kit: you dip it in the water, match the colors and it tells you the hardness level. This will help you sizing the softener to buy. It's also good to periodically check so you can ensure the softener is set correctly. You're on city water, but depending on where they get the water from the hardness could change seasonally.
It is a long time ago since you posted your comment, but I will answer anyway, as I believe it can help many people. I live in Brazil, and here we have had many issues like you described, due to changes in the pressure of water supply company. It makes that much air comes into the piping, and when this trapped air comes to the home meters, it is registered as a normal water flow, and you pay for it. Some small companies here have developed a kind of a valve that blocks this air, and keeps it trapped before your meter, while permitting the water to pass. This is reducing the water bill for almost 50% in some cases.
Please look for "bloqueador de ar". I did not find nothing like in english language.
Hope it helps, and good look! Paulo
Best Answer
You should be able to replace the flex pipe with a 3/4" PVC pipe using a threaded 3/4" connector. For a easier installation use a 3/4" union fitting at the meter. You could also install a shutoff valve at the same time.