Premium Whole House Water Softener Comparison Guide

The thought of buying a whole house water softener can be overwhelming when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. Picking the best system for your family takes time and research. Contemplate the cost, it’s efficiency, and what level of protection your family really needs.

WATER SOFTENERS

A water softener is a specific type of water conditioner that works to reduce water hardness. Hard water occurs when dissolved ions of calcium or magnesium are present in a home's tap water. If you’re curious if your home has hard water then examine your clothes, dishes, and bathtub. If you’ve noticed stiff, dingy looking clothing, spots on your dishes, and soap scum around your bathtub, then you may have hard water.

Benefits

There are two different kinds of water softeners, salt-based and salt free. Salt-based water softeners contain a resin bed which filters the water through, exchanging those hardness minerals for sodium particles. Salt-free water softeners use a physical process called Template Assisted Crystallization (TAC). The minerals’ form is changed to a hardness crystal that does not adhere to surfaces. Each are beneficial to reducing the hardness of your water but there are advantages and disadvantages to each.

A whole house water softeners provide many benefits for your day to day life. Hard water can wreak havoc on your hair, scalp, and skin by drying each component out. The hard water also impacts your appliances. The minerals in hard water create a build up that clog your appliances which long term this will wear them down and limit their length of use. By installing the whole house water softener you can fix all of these day to day problems.

WATER REFINERS

If you think a water softener sounds beneficial to your home, then think about adding another element. A water refiner is bringing together the efficiency and quality of a water filter and a water softener. This system uses a four step process to remove foul tastes and odors as well as the hardness from your entire home’s water supply. This four step process uses four different resin, or media, types to combat your water problems:

• Ion Exchange Media – removes iron and hardness-causing minerals.
• High Microporosity Granular Activated Carbon Filter – reduces chlorine, unpleasant taste, and color.
• Bacteriostat 55 – inhibits bacteria growth and reduces heavy metals.
• Garnet Filtration Media – provides sediment filtration and even distribution of water flow.

Benefits

A water refiner tackles the issues of water quality and hardness by combining the benefits of a water softener and a water filter. The water refiner will remove certain chemicals that are dissolved in water by trapping those chemicals. This removes objectionable odors or tastes, such as sulfur in well water or chlorine in city water, from your drinking and cooking water. Implementing a water refiner can help cut costs and your environmental footprint. By installing the water refiner you can cut down on plastic water bottles, saving money and plastic waste. You’ll cut down on cleaning supplies because the lack of water hardness helps the products to soap up more. You’ll also save money on your electricity bill, and any money you spend on filters.