The Differences Between Water Softening and Filtering

Water Softening & Filtering/Conditioning

Are you less than satisfied with the quality of water in your home? If so, you’re like many Texas homeowners who have gripes about the water they use for drinking and bathing. Whether you’re dealing with water clarity issues, poor tasting water, hard water deposits or a combination of these problems, having less than ideal water running through your home’s pipes can both frustrating, costly and potentially harmful to your family’s health.

Is The Problem Hard Water?

When you talk to homeowners, one of their most common plumbing complaints is hard water. How do you know if you have hard water? Telltale signs include:

• Water spots or soap scum that often build up on shower doors, drinking glasses, and sides of aquariums

• A less than sudsy bath

• Dingy-looking cloths

• Scaling showing up on shower heads and taps

Hard water is the result of mineral deposits which include calcium, magnesium and iron. A large percentage of Texas has hard water with varying degree of hardness that depends upon the source of water. Over time, minerals your water picks up can collect on pipes causing a loss of water pressure, water spots, and even pipe damage.

Fortunately, there are highly effective product that can treat hard water and prevent damage to your pipes. In other words, you don’t want to ignore signs of scaling, corrosion or even water spots. There are even some potential health risks to drinking water that has a higher than normal percentage of heavy metals.

Home water softeners extract minerals from the water supply to mitigate hard water deposits on pipes, water-using appliances and fixtures. They are a type of water filter and can also help minimize long-term damage to your pipes. Softeners work by using several small filters to reduce mineral content by replacing it with salt. The result is water than is softer than normal.

With a quality water softener in your home, you’ll immediately enjoy water that feels better, increases the lifespan of your water-reliant household appliances, and has far fewer scaly deposits on water-reliant household appliances, taps, pipes, glasses and shower doors.

Learn more about how a water softener works.

But My Water Doesn’t Taste, Smell, or Look Right!

While mineral deposits can be an irritating situation for any homeowner, they don’t cause the same level of concern as water that doesn’t taste, smell or look right. Whether your water looks cloudy, smells off-putting or has an unusual aftertaste, this water quality issue can become a household-wide problem that requires an immediate solution.

When we’re all told to drink more water for our health, it’s counter-intuitive to overlook water quality issues. Yes, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets drinking water standards for public water supplies, but with highly publicized problems such as those in Flint, Michigan and elsewhere, skepticism over water quality has spread nationwide. In a 2009 analysis of U.S. tap water by the non-profit research organization, Environmental Working Group, 315 pollutants were found in U.S tap water, including pesticides and arsenic.

Are you concerned about the quality of the water in your home? The first step is having your water tested. By simply calling the EPA’s Safe Water Hotline, you can get the latest information on water quality in your area, as well as details on how to have your tap water inspected.

The good news is that a water filter can greatly improve the quality of your water. It’s important to note that not all water filters are created equal. You will want to choose one that is certified by either NSF International or the Water Quality Association. Water filters, like softeners, use micro filters or resins to attract specific molecules or organisms to resins to pull them out of the water flowing through the unit.

However, unlike water softeners, filters do not target specifically magnesium and calcium.

Types Of Home Water Filters

UV filters target small microorganisms with UV light to kill them. RO filters push water through a microfilter to make distilled water. With RO filters, the microfilter only lets molecules, as small as water, pass through them. This type of filter is particularly beneficial for filtering out very large amounts of contaminants. The downside is the waste water. Horizon’s RO systems waste water in gallons at a 1:1 ratio. This is considered to be highly efficient when you compare them to others on the market that have a ratio upwards of 1:5.

Activated carbon filters, such as PUR and Brita, filter out a small percentage of the contaminants. These widely-available, point-of-use filters, use gravity to filter out molecules or organisms, and can be helpful in eliminating the bad taste in water. Yet, they require regular replacement and are not highly effective.

TAC filters have been proven to reduce the amount of contaminants by 90 percent. This type of filter attracts calcium and magnesium, among other contaminants, to a small hole in a filter, and makes crystalized molecules that easily get trapped in a micro filter. Molecules also can’t grip the insides of a pipe, making them the only type of filter that simultaneously filters and softens water.

Are you ready for cleaner, healthier water that doesn’t leave your shower doors and glasses loaded with spots and residue? It’s time to contact the experts – Horizon Plumbing. We’re here to help guide you through the process of obtaining the best quality of water for your home. When water is life, there’s no better option than Horizon Plumbing. Call us today at (817)-790-9595.

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