- The choices between water softeners vs water filters depend upon the purposes of the user.
- Water softeners are used to reduce the hardness of water and water filters remove water impurities.
Are you looking for a water softener or a water filter? Is there a difference, or are they interchangeable? This question must be bothering you as you decide which is best suited for you.
Though both of these appliances aim to provide you with better water quality, the question remains, how can they achieve this?
The simple answer is that they are not interchangeable. Softeners and filters are designed for different purposes, which are further elaborated on in detail.
Table of Contents
Water Softeners
Water softeners are designed to reduce hard minerals in your water supply. These systems are designed to remove scale and protect you from the negative consequences of hard water. Before moving forward, we need to understand what forms hard water.
What is Hard Water?
Hard water refers to water that contains chemical impurities. The most common of these impurities are calcium and magnesium. However, they can also include iron, rust, limescale, sulfide, chlorine, etc. Despite this, hard water does not pose a high health risk.
The hard minerals can essentially react with your soap, leaving a soap film on your hands and deposits on your glassware. This water can also cause dryness to your skin or hair and damage your water appliances. So the primary purpose of softening hard water is to prevent any limescale build-up and prolong the life of your plumbing system.
The water softening procedure provides economic benefits to supplies, households, industries, and organizations as it protects apparatus from potential damage due to water hardiness.
How do Water Softeners Work?
A water softener helps turn your hard water into soft water. This process can be better simplified if you think of a chemical magnet. The water supply is pressurized through a system that is equipped with beads. These beads are generally full of positively charged sodium ions.
The calcium, as well as other mineral ions present in your hard water, reacts with these sodium ions. In the end, the water softener works by replacing the negative ions with sodium ions. However, this process does not remove any contaminants but targets the minerals that cause the hardness in the water. Some of the best examples of water softeners include Nuvo H2O water softener, GE water boss’s water softener, Water softener for Well Water with Iron, etc.
Benefits of Water Softeners
Water softeners come with the following benefits:
- Complete removing calcium, magnesium, and other hard materials from your water supply.
- Prolong life as well as increase the efficiency of your plumbing system.
- No more soap deposits on your glass and silverware.
- Makes soap more effective and helps you save on soap, detergent, and shampoo costs
- Save on maintenance and replacement costs for water appliances like water heaters, dishwaters, coffee machines, etc.
- Makes clothes brighter and longer-lasting.
Water Filters
A water filtration system aims to remove the impurities present in the water, deliver pure water, and prevent waterborne diseases. The water filtration system can also remove the hardness of water to some extent. These are available in many forms, such as under-sink, countertop, or whole house water filters. You can select which will best suit you depending on your needs and the impurities in your water system.
How do Water Filters Work?
Water filters work in two forms physical filtration and chemical filtration. Physical filtration helps target the larger sediments, whereas chemical filtration targets more minor impurities. Most water filters combine both these methods to deliver pure water.
There are two main methods by which water filtration can take place. They are reverse osmosis and activated carbon filters. Reverse osmosis removes 99% of contaminants using a semipermeable membrane. Similarly, activated carbon filters are one of the most common water filtration methods. It utilizes the highly porous properties of carbon to remove impurities.
Water filters are designed to remove a wide range of impurities. This feature means that they offer a variety of filters for you to choose from, depending on which contaminants are your top concerns. These filters include sediment, carbon, iron, sulfur, and fluoride.
These days water filters have become very efficient. They can effectively remove or reduce contaminants such as lead, copper, chlorine, iron, fluoride, mercury, etc. They can also prevent the growth of harmful microorganisms to a certain extent. However, if it is a more considerable concern, then you should look into adding a water purifier.
Benefits of Water Filters
Water filters come with the following benefits:
- Eliminates most impurities
- Reduces harmful components like arsenic and fluoride
- Removes all bad-odor
- Prevents diseases caused by contaminated water
- Good for the environment by reducing bottled water usage
Water Softeners Vs Water Filters: What suits you?
A water filter works much harder than a water softener. A water softener provides you with soft water that has many benefits for your skin, laundry, and wallet. However, this water is no safer for consumption than tap water. A whole house water filter, in turn, provides you with pure water that is free from a large variety of contaminants.
It depends on your purpose if you are debating which of these appliances would best suit your household. A water softener should be enough if you want calcium and magnesium-free soft water without any filtration concerns. It is important to remember that each appliance aims to target different water issues.
Comparison Table
| Functionality | Water Softeners | Water Filters |
| Remove Hard Mineral Like Magnesium and Calcium | ✔ | ✘ |
| Increase efficiency of Pipes | ✔ | ✘ |
| Provide quality water | ✔ | ✔ |
| Makes soap more effective | ✔ | ✘ |
| Good for the environment by reducing bottled water usage | ✘ | ✔ |
| Remove soap deposits from utensils | ✔ | ✘ |
| Eliminates water impurities | ✘ | ✔ |
| Removes bad odor | ✘ | ✔ |
| Save maintenance cost of water appliances | ✔ | ✘ |
| Prevent waterborne disease | ✘ | ✔ |
| Brighter and long-lasting clothes | ✔ | ✘ |
| Arsenic and Fluoride Remover | ✘ | ✔ |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How often should we change the water filter?
It is best recommended to change your water filters every 12 months.
How can we clean water filters?
The most effective way to clean our filter is to soak it in a bleach and water solution.
What are the best water softeners?
Based on our research, the best choice for a water softener is Fleck 9100SXT Dual Tank Water Softener. We have reviewed the best water softeners in the next article of Earth and Human.
https://earthandhuman.org/best-water-softeners/
What states in the USA have banned water softeners?
Water softeners are banned in three states of the USA, namely Texas, California, and Massachusetts. The reasons behind them are to toughen environmental standards and to secure municipal water facilities.
How do salt-free water softeners work?
Actually, the softener is not completely salt-free. The appliance uses potassium instead of sodium to soften water.
Generally, water softeners and water filters are used together to deliver clean and soft water. You can decide on one or the other depending on your water supply. If you only want to prevent scale build-up, a water softener should be more than sufficient. However, if your problems include iron stains, excessive chlorine, or other water supply pollutants, you must purchase a water filter.
