It’s safe to say the majority of homeowners are well aware of the various components of a household plumbing system, right? Whether it be the water heater, faucets, toilets, garbage disposal or anything else, there’s also no denying that the average household plumbing system can be fairly complex as well! For those that have followed along on our weekly blog posts in the past, you likely are familiar with some of the content we post. Generally speaking, we like to treat this blog as a platform to educate homeowners on their plumbing systems. Even if you don’t live in the Kansas City area, these various blogs should help you understand what to expect the next time you need a plumber!
Having said that, this week we are going to take a look at a popular misconception we hear from clients occasionally throughout the year. That misconception is assuming water softeners and water filtration systems are the same thing. Yes, they are both beneficial in improving the quality of your water, but they each have their own unique advantages as well! If you follow us on social media, you’ve likely come across plenty of water softener photos or videos, as they are certainly one of our more popular installation services. In addition, we’re also proud to offer whole-house water filtration systems as well. In any case, today’s blog will break down the difference between the two and help you decide if you could use either (or both) at your home!
What’s the Difference Between Water Softeners and Water Filtration Systems?
What is a water softener?
In order to differentiate the two products, it’s important to understand the purpose of each. Have you heard of hard water before? Well, as you might guess, water softeners are designed to soften hard water. As we’ve mentioned before on prior blogs, hard water affects just about the entire United States, especially those here in Kansas City. Even though it’s safe to wash and drink with, there are downsides to it. To provide a brief description, hard water has higher mineral counts, particularly in terms of calcium and magnesium. When it’s present, you might see fading of clothes, dry skin, soap scum and so on. Not necessarily the end of the world, but also matters that can become annoying for homeowners.
That’s where water softeners come into play. No matter if you go with a traditional salt-based water softener (like North Star) or a citrus-based alternative (like NuvoH2O), you’re able to remove these excess minerals and have softer water. To sum it up, a water softener will make many aspects of your daily life much easier. From softer skin, cleaner clothes, less soap used for routine activities, not as much scale build-up on appliances and even saving you money, there’s a reason why water softeners are so popular! Now that we’ve discussed the purpose of water softeners and why homeowners opt to have them installed, let’s now discuss what they sometimes get confused with.
What is a water filtration system?
While water softeners are a little more defined, there’s a wide range of products that fall under the “water filter” category. You can have whole-house systems, ones that go directly on a faucet, built-in refrigerator models and even ones installed in a pitcher. Even though each of these may look different and come at varying price points, they all serve the same purpose. It removes small particles, chemicals or other contaminants that are not wanted in the drinking water. And as you could probably guess, the stronger (and typically more expensive) systems can be more effective at doing so. Along with lowering your risk of drinking water with harmful contaminants, water filtration systems should result in cleaner and better tasting water.
Maintenance involved
If there’s one thing most homeowners would agree on, it’s that owning a home can be filled with its fair share of maintenance. Some of this is done to simply make your home look nicer, while other times it’s completed to avoid having to replace things earlier than expected. Your plumbing system is not immune to maintenance either. When discussing water softeners and water filtration systems, the maintenance aspect is going to look a little different.
For water softeners, there is going to be some maintenance tasks involved. To make matters easy, we’ll discuss the primary brands we install here at Stine-Nichols. The primary maintenance task associated with our salt-based option (North Star) involves restocking the salt for regenerating the resin beads in the unit. Meanwhile, with the citrus-based option (NuvoH2O), you simply have to purchase new cartridges that are twisted onto the unit. On the flipside, while every water filtration system can have it’s own unique qualities, there generally isn’t much maintenance involved!
Can you have both units installed?
By now, you’ve probably realized that water softeners and water filtration systems are two separate products. In other words, if you have a water filtration system installed, that doesn’t mean you don’t need a water softener and vice versa. If you’re looking for a solution that takes care of all water issues, then you’re actually probably going to want to have both installed.
However, keep in mind that there are some products out there that offer the best of both worlds, thus taking care of hard water and any unwanted contaminants as well. A good example of this is NuvoH2O’s Manor Duo System. This product has their traditional Manor Softener System that we’ve installed plenty of times, in addition to their 20” Taste System. As stated on their website, the taste system “uses a 10-micron carbon filter to improve taste and water quality by removing sediment and chemicals including 95% of Chlorine, 95% of VOC, inorganic chemicals, and turbidity. The resulting water is soft and healthy for all of your household uses, including drinking, bathing, washing, and lawn and plant watering.”
Again, as with most plumbing components, you’ll likely notice there’s no shortage of brands and manufacturers to pick from. In all honesty, sifting through the various available options can sometimes be one of the more overwhelming aspects of household plumbing. From water softeners and water filtration systems to water heaters, faucets and more, your friends at Stine-Nichols Plumbing always have you covered with recommendations.
Which of the two do you need?
As alluded to in the section above, you can certainly have both installed at your own home. However, if you’re trying to decide between one or the other, it’s fairly simple to arrive at the perfect answer. Does your water taste a little weird or even have a strange smell to it? If so, you’ve likely got some contamination in the drinking water that needs to be removed. In this case, a water filtration system would probably be the smartest move.
Do your dishes seem to have weird spots on them? Do you find yourself using more soap for basic cleaning activities? How about your skin or hair, does it seem dry? If you answer yes to those questions, then you’re likely dealing with the adverse effects of hard water. In these instances, a water softener is going to make the most sense.
Call The Water Experts of Kansas City!
Is it finally time you had a water softener or a water filtration system installed at your home? Having installed plenty of them over the years, our team feels confident in their ability to not only create cleaner water, but also help eliminate some of the frustrating aspects of hard water. I hope this blog helped outline the purpose and benefits of each to help you determine if either would make sense for your household.
If you live in the Kansas City area or any of the surrounding cities and are looking to get a free quote to have either installed, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (816) 348-3481. We look forward to working with you!