American Fork tells its residents to set their water softeners to 12.38 gpg. That one number explains most of what a tankless owner needs to know here: it’s a little over the limit Navien and Noritz print in their manuals, and well over Takagi’s. Without a softener in front of the heater, plan on a professional flush at least once a year.
What the city’s softener setting tells you
The figure comes from American Fork City’s own water FAQ, which answers the question “How hard is the water in American Fork?” by giving a softener setting. It’s not a lab result, but softener settings are meant to match the incoming water, so it is a fair stand-in for hardness at the tap.
Here is how it lines up against four common brands:
- Navien: the NPE-2 manual sets 12 gpg as the maximum and says that water above 12 gpg requires a softener or PeakFlow. American Fork is just over that line.
- Noritz: the EZ owner’s guide treats 12 gpg as the point where water should be treated to keep full warranty coverage.
- Takagi: the single-family limit is 7 gpg, so untreated American Fork water is well past it.
- Rinnai: the SENSEI manual lists 200 ppm and says in hard-water areas the water must be treated and may require a more frequent flushing schedule.
In practice, that means two choices for an untreated heater in American Fork. Either add treatment and keep a yearly flush, or skip treatment and flush more often. HomeGuide suggests every 6 to 9 months for hard water.
Canyon springs and deep wells
American Fork City runs its own system. Its supply comes from American Fork City springs and deep wells. The 2025 water quality report names two springs and five wells, with the two springs called Power House and Timp Cave Camp.
The city says its five deep source wells can pump an average of 13,300 gallons per minute, and the system serves 11,200 service connections. The same report lists total dissolved solids of 344–348 mg/L. TDS counts every dissolved mineral, not only the calcium and magnesium that cause scale, so it isn’t a hardness reading. What stands out is how narrow the range is. It suggests the springs and wells are similar, which fits the city giving one softener setting for everyone.
That consistency is useful. A flush schedule that works for one American Fork home is a reasonable starting point for the next, which isn’t true in every city on the Wasatch Front.
If your house already has a softener
If you already run a softener, check two things. First, confirm the heater’s cold-water line actually runs through the softener; some installs feed the water heater before the softener tee. Second, check that the softener is set to the city’s number and still has salt. A softener that ran dry for a few months lets hard water through, and the heater won’t tell you until scale has built up.
Softened water doesn’t end maintenance. Takagi still recommends a check once a year, and the inlet filter on most units collects grit regardless of hardness. A technician can look at the heat exchanger and decide whether a full descale is needed or whether a filter cleaning and inspection will do.
Help for an American Fork tankless
Each of these pages explains the work in detail. The technician serving your area confirms the price when you book.
- For scale, start with a tankless flush and descale. On water just past the Navien and Noritz limit, it is the routine job.
- If you want one visit a year that covers the flush, filter and a general check, see annual tankless maintenance.
- An E016 on a Navien, LC on a Rinnai or C1# on a Noritz points toward tankless repair and a flush.
- Replacing a worn unit? Read about tankless installation, including the ThermWise rebate.
- Since the city already publishes a softener setting, scale prevention is the obvious next step for many homes.
As a rough guide, Angi’s 2026 data puts a tankless flush at $150–$250, with an average of $200.
Pleasant Grove
Pleasant Grove, American Fork’s neighbor to the southeast, runs its own system too. The newest report we could read is the city’s 2022 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, via an Internet Archive copy, and it says all of Pleasant Grove’s sources are groundwater. It names springs such as Battle Creek and Blue Creek Springs plus city wells, with Lost and Hangman Springs and the Anderson and Monson Wells also on the list. In short, the supply is Pleasant Grove City springs and wells.
That report doesn’t publish a hardness figure. It lists average total dissolved solids of 240 mg/L, which is lower than American Fork’s range, but TDS isn’t hardness, so it can’t tell you whether Pleasant Grove water is above your heater’s limit. A hardness test strip at the kitchen tap will. Pleasant Grove homeowners can request a technician through this page.