We had our water tested and it showed 20 grams per gallon hardness. Will the water filtration and softners at Lowe's or Home Depot work to cure this problem or do we have to get one of the expensive kinds from somewhere else.

Does it have iron? Iron is a special case.

The iron and Ph balance checked out OK.

The iron and ph balance checked out OK

We are on well water.

What I am going to do is supply you with a link. Understanding Water Conditioners (http://www.aquatechnology.net/conditionerswork.html)

I think this might be enough to get you started. A water softener is not a "toaster". You did the firsy step in getting your water analyzed and you don't have to worry about iron.

What you also have to think about as to what water you want to have softened. Outdoor taps usually are not. You might not want to do a laundry sink either.

Softening costs money, so generally you don't soften everything.

Your family size, water usage, space available will pay a role somewhat. So will capacity as in the ability to neutralize. Your gram figure is proabably grains of hardness. 20 grams is a lot. That's like the weight of 20 ml of water.
20 grams is the weight of about 1.4 tablespoons of water.

20 grains is about the weight of 0.26 TEASPONS

Big difference.

I used onlineconversion.com, and used a relationship that 1 CC (Cubic centimeter) = 1 ml (millileter) = 1 gram of pure water. This is true because water has a density of 1gram/CC.

Since your on well water, you probably don't know how much water you use.

See what you come up with.

You can estimate requirements, by filling buckets. SHower, dishes. Clothes might be harder, but not really. Collect the amont of water at each level.

Outdoor watering will be the toughest.

You might be able to get an idea of the max flow and the usage rates by estimating with a few bucket fills and a stop watch.

One of the main reasons we are looking into putting a water softner on our house is because of the fact that our hot water heater keeps getting stopped up with scales and lime and when we turn the hot water faucet on we get no hot water. What would be a good system to keep the scales and lime out of our water heater and pipes. And I'm sorry it is 20 grains not grams.

Are you draining the bottom of your hot water tank monthly until it's clear?

Most of the drain valves [expetive deleted]. I always change to a commercial boiler drain valve and put a cap on it. They generally have bigger ports and are easily turned off.

Speedball1 does his monthly and makes his water heater last forever.

I do it yearly and get 12-13 years out of the tank.

This isn't a recommendation, but I gives the selection process based on a bit of creiteria:

http://www.discountwatersofteners.com/Premier-Performance-On-Demand-Water-Softeners-s/88.htm

We have only been in our house for 6 years and hadn't had problems until about 2 months ago. My husband has drained the heater 4 times since then. So whe need to drain it about every month or so. My husband is still thinking about putting the water softerner on.

4 probably isn't enough. As I said the valve usually installed doesn't work properly in most heaters.

You don't have to "drain the heater". You just have to remove some water and sediment until it runs clear with no sediment.

Yes, you need to drain it more often. Settle on a frequency based on once per month. If you find it's every two, go for it.

You can place a strainer on the hot water.

Softening is a good thing becauee it goes after the problem at it's source: Hard water

There are a couple of boiler drains here:
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNPDFF?PMPAGE=3910&PARTPG=N2DRVSH&PMT4NO=0&PMITEM=65177412&PMCTLG=00&PMT4TP=*LTIP

I just wanted to add my two cents to this question. How old is you water heater? One thing you need to consider is that 20 grains hard is not going to drop so much hard water in your water heater to stop flow in just a couple of months. You might need to consider sediment that is coming into your house. When you checked out the water did they give you dissolved solid reading and sediment amounts as well? When you run water in your sink, do you get any sand or anything in your sink.

If it is just the hard water then absolutely a softener will take care of that without a problem and the Lowe's/Home depot brand will work good for a few years. The more expensive ones are more expensive simply because they work better for longer, so you need to weigh the options and see which would be a better investment right now and 10 years down the road.

If your problem is more than the hard water you will need to consider a filtration system before it hits your softener and water heater. They are not that expensive and it will save you headaches down the road so you don't have to start repairing leaking pipes from corrosion. Trust me, not a good site