Do you know the difference between a water filter and a water softener?

Several years ago I moved to a new house located in a rural area that was not served by the nearest municipal water system. My source of fresh water was a borehole. The water is of very good quality but it is very hard water. I didn’t really fully understand the term “hard water” for a number of years, but I have finally come to grips with the problems associated with hard water.

I have been using a Culligan produced water conditioning system since I moved into my home. I thought it was a water softener. Everyone called it a water softener and that’s what I called it. I got a bit discouraged with the performance of the system and began to consider a change. The Culligan system required the addition of peroxide to function properly and was using almost 10 gallons per month. My water was still showing some iron and the system pressure was dropping considerably.

I started researching water softeners. To my surprise, a water softener was not operating. It was just a fancy “water filter.” The water passed through a bed of media which filtered the water but did not soften it. At that point I realized that two completely different processes were involved in proper conditioning of the water.

For optimal water quality, the water must be filtered and then “softened.” I found that the softening process removed dissolved minerals that a filter would let through. That accounted for mineral buildup on my appliances like the electric kettle and china fixtures etc. Even the iron system is present in different forms. In fact, some of the iron dissolves in the water and passes through a filter. However, it will solidify when not in circulation. Contributes to very large buildup inside hot water heaters.

I settled on a simple but high quality cartridge filter and water softener that required salt granules for consistent optimal softening. The salt used by the softener does not actually enter your water supply. I found out that its sole purpose was to remove a bed of special media that has special physical qualities that attract minerals like a magnet. Many people have the mistaken belief that salt goes into usable water, but this is not the case.

The media bed requires washing at regular intervals to continue working at peak performance. The system will shut down at predetermined times and be disconnected from your water supply. It then carries the salt water to the media bed. This will cause any accumulated minerals to be released from the medium. It all discharges into your wastewater system through a separate plumbing connection. Once this cleaning cycle is complete, the system reopens and sends fresh, conditioned water back to your water supply.

This is the point where I discovered “soft water”. He was impressed. After installing my new filter and conditioner, it took about 2 days to completely displace all the old water from the water heater and storage system. Now when I shower, the difference is absolutely amazing. After several years of “hard water” the water now felt really soft and slippery. This is soft water. Soap lathers much better and laundry detergent can be reduced considerably but with better results.

This was my education regarding softening and filtering water. There is a considerable difference between the two processes. Hope this helps someone still lucky enough to use fresh groundwater.