About Water Science

With water softeners, you get what you pay for. However, this doesn’t mean that water softeners should be outrageously expensive. At Water Science, we strive to provide high-quality products and services with accessible pricing.

You will certainly find water softeners that cost less than the products we sell, and still, others that cost a lot more. The price you pay correlates with what you are getting for your money. We have, on occasion, lost a bid because the customer chose a company offering a lower price. Sadly, our price would have been hundreds of dollars less for the exact same product and model the customer purchased from the other company. We didn’t bid that softener in the first place because it was not the best choice for the customer. We know from 30 years of experience that the wrong softener will create problems for the customer. Worse yet, service can be very expensive once a short-term warranty expires. There is a difference between up front price and long-term cost.

Sometimes we get the question, “How much does your 48,000 grain water softener cost?” It depends as not all 48,000 grain water softeners are the same. The capacity of a softener tells you nothing about the quality or features of the system. Better comparisons are the efficiency, flow rates, warranty, and certification by NSF or WQA. Even more important is the dealer’s reputation, expertise and professionalism of the service both before and after the sale.

We can sell you cheap equipment and beat everyone’s price. But we prefer to sell high quality water softeners with features that were added to overcome the most frustrating problems with standard water softeners. These features add long-range value and benefits that are well worth the extra cost.

Water described as “hard” is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water is not a health risk, but it is a nuisance because of mineral buildup on fixtures and its interference with almost every cleaning task in your home.

Water softeners use an ion-exchange process that extracts metal and mineral ions out of the water. Those metal and mineral ions are then replaced with sodium or potassium ions, depending on what kind of salt you use. Refer to the Products Page for information about each water softener we sell and what metal and mineral ions they extract from your water.

The minerals in city water are typically inorganic minerals. These minerals take more time to be processed by the human body. The human body prefers organic minerals. City water operates within the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines. Although the city treats the water prior to consuming the water, the water still contains chlorine, hardness minerals, heavy metals, and other contaminants. The removal of such contaminants will create a healthier quality of water in your home.

All the homeowner needs to do is to make sure to keep salt or potassium in the brine tank. Water Science High Efficiency systems use much less salt and water compared to standard water softeners.

The manufacturer recommends that your softener be professionally serviced to include a resin cleaning at least annually. At the same time, our technicians can test the water and check the softener settings to ensure your system is working as efficiently as possible. Why? Your water supply may contain high amounts of ferric iron and other sediment that can foul the resin beads inside your water softener. These contaminants are not completely removed during normal regeneration and will accumulate over time. Without regular resin cleanings the water softener will not work as efficiently. Additionally, clogged components reduce the lifespan of your system.

Water Science will service your water softener every 6 to 12 months depending on the schedule that we discuss with you and that best suits your needs. Refer to the Services Page for more information.

Your Reverse Osmosis needs to be serviced every 6 to 12 months depending on use. In addition, the system should be sanitized once per year according to the procedure in the manufacturer manual. The water quality monitor button that some units have tests only the reverse osmosis membrane and not the sediment and carbon filters. Even though the light is still green you still must change the sediment and carbon filters every 6 to 12 months. Refer to the Services Page for more information.

We still highly recommend at least annual service on all water treatment equipment to ensure your system is working properly and efficiently as possible. In addition to proper function, it is also important simply to check for and prevent potential problems.

Assuming a standard automatic water softener regenerates every 3 days and consumes 18 pounds of salt per regeneration, you will use 2,190 pounds of salt per year, over 1 ton of salt or 54 bags! Compare that to a Water Science High Efficiency Water Softener, which uses only 6 pounds of salt regenerating once per week. You will use only 320 pounds of salt or only 8 bags of salt per year. This is a savings of $230 per year or $1,150 every 5 years not to mention the convenience of not having to add salt all the time. You will also be saving a significant amount of water.

The water quality produced by the Contaminant Removal System is very high quality. In fact, the system is very similar to the popular Brita® water filters except on your whole house.

A reverse osmosis system will remove the salt or potassium added by the water-softening phase and provides the best quality water possible for drinking. In addition, the reverse osmosis water can be used instead of distilled water in most applications.

However, if you like drinking mineral water, then you will prefer the taste of the contaminant removal system. If you like purified water like Aquafina® or Dasani®, then you will like the taste of reverse osmosis water. Moreover, reverse osmosis water makes the best quality ice and brewed beverages such as coffee or tea.

First, remember that the Water Guard Contaminant Removal System is not an ordinary water softener. Compared to the national brand version of the Contaminant Removal System, the Contaminant Removal System is a bargain.

Yes! Now to answer the question, like a lot of things, it depends. The Water Guard Contaminant Removal System is not for everyone, but you get so much more from the system than you get from an ordinary water softener that many people agree that it is worth the extra cost. Moreover, if you were to buy the individual components such as a whole house sediment filter, water softener, and carbon filter, you would pay twice as much as the Water Guard Contaminant Removal System, which performs the same functions.

Your water supply may contain high amounts of ferric iron and sediment that can foul the resin beads inside your water softener. These contaminants are not completely removed during normal regeneration and will accumulate over time. Without regular resin cleanings, the water softener will not work as efficiently. Additionally, clogged components reduce the lifespan of your system.

There is a lot of well-founded concern about chlorine. When chlorine is added to our water, it combines with other natural compounds to form Trihalomethanes (chlorination byproducts), or THMs.

One concern is the harmful exposure to chlorine from inhalation of steam and skin absorption while showering. Chlorine in shower water also has a very negative cosmetic effect of drying out your skin and hair. Aside from all the health risks related to chlorine in our water, it is the primary cause of bad taste and odor in drinking water.

The good news is that chlorine is one of the easiest substances to remove from our water. For that reason, chlorine should serve its purpose of keeping our water free from harmful bacteria and waterborne diseases right up to the time of consumption, at which point it should be removed by quality home filtration.