The water softener and water filter, Both sound like the same thing, right? They are not. If we are to put it into simple words, a water filter is equipment that removes the contaminants from the water, and a water softener is an equipment that removes minerals from the water.
Now, the good thing is that you can install both of these equipment together in your house. You must be wondering why would you want to install both of them together; what’s the need for it? We have prepared this article in answer to those questions.
Before we get into learning the difference between water softeners and water filters, let’s understand few questions first,
Table of Contents
What is hard water?
If the water has a high amount of calcium, magnesium, and other minerals, the water is hardened. When these minerals naturally react to the scale or other particles in the water, it makes the water more contagious. If you notice spots on your bathroom floor, sinks, or even in the glasses, you have high concentrated minerals in your water.
Generally, a Water softener is used to remove these minerals.
What are water contaminants?
Water contaminants are different from water minerals. These contaminants can be anything including different chemicals, radiological substances, TDS, etc. Some of these contaminants are hazardous to our health. The water that comes from the municipal might also have chlorine, rust, and even some amount of sand in it. You require a water filter to remove these contaminants from the water.
You can install water softeners and water filters in one water purification system. The water softener removes minerals from the water, and the water filter removes the contaminants from the water. However, there are different kinds of filters and softeners available for you to choose from.
It’s time that we learned about water softener and water filters in little detail,
How do the water softeners work?
The most common type of water softeners follows an ion exchange process to remove calcium and magnesium from the water. The water softener has salt to promote this ion exchange process, and the resins of the system prevent the ionized minerals from going forward in the line. The softeners also send these minerals down the drain from the tank. If maintained properly, the softener lasts for a few years. You only just need to replace the salt and resins of the system.
The water softeners come in different types as well, and mainly there are two types of softeners; salt-based and salt-free softeners. The huge difference between these two is that salt-free water softeners are extremely low maintenance. Now, you must be wondering if the softeners follow an ion exchange process how the softener will work without the salt? Salt-free softeners use resins to remove the minerals from the water, and they are wildly popular as water conditioners.
Advantages of installing a water softener in your house
- You get healthier hair and skin by installing a water softener in your house. Like we learned that the water softeners remove the hard minerals from the water, some softeners even remove iron as well. A 15-minute shower is equivalent to drinking a glass of water. Now imagine all those minerals clogging on your skin. When the water is softened, it makes your skin and hair healthier.
- You do not have to worry about dull laundry even, minerals that jam themselves in your clothes and make them lose their shine if you have a softener installed in your house. Your laundry will be extra cleaned and will make your clothes look as good as new.
- If the hard minerals have such an effect on your health and clothes, imagine the effect they will have on the appliances. The hard minerals in the water cause scaling and rust in the water lines. When appliances like dishwashers, washing machines use hard water, it significantly decreases the life of the appliances. Soft water increases the life of the appliances that use water.
- The most important part of the water softeners is that it also lengthens the life of your plumbing lines.
How do water filters work?
If we look directly at the components of the filters, they have a filter cartridge or a membrane that stops the particles that have larger molecules than the water. Different systems have different types of cartridges to stop the contaminants from going further. The filters have pores as small as 0.0005 microns, and the water molecule is 0.000282 microns when the water passes through the filters and only lets the water molecule pass-through the system.
The different filter cartridges focus on removing different contaminants and issues in the water. For example, the activated carbon block removes any bad taste or smell from the water. In a broad range, you can get a countertop water filter, or you can even get a whole house water filtration system.
Advantages of having water filters installed in your house
- Purified drinking water any time you want. The water filter removes the harmful contaminants from the water, making it perfectly pure for you to consume.
- If you install the water filters in your house, you also save the expenses on purchasing bottled water.
It is known worldwide that so many diseases are waterborne; the filter removes the contaminants or cysts carrying the disease, saving you from waterborne diseases. - Too tired of drinking water that tastes or smells bad? The water filter makes your water taste better and eliminates smell from the water.
- There are whole house water filter systems available that you can get for your house and get filtered water in every tap of your house.
- If the water is cleaned from the contaminants, you get extra clean laundry because the soap does not get to react with the contaminants.
- There are several benefits like better health of health and skin, cost-saving, the system being eco-friendly, highly purified water, etc., depending on the type of system that you get.
What’s the difference between a water filter and a water softener?
Now that we have learned a bit about water filters, water softeners, and their disadvantages, let’s dive into the differences between them. To make it easy, we have put these differences with different features of both,
1.Way of function
Most of the water softener does not require any kind of electricity to operate, whereas some water filters require connection to the electricity. It all depends on the kind of filtration system that you get. Both of these have one common way or type, you may call it, in which you have to install the water softener or water filter at the point of entry in your house, and the flow of the water will work the system.
2.What it removes
Water softeners remove the hard minerals from the water, and these hard minerals may include,
- Calcium,
- Magnesium,
- Bicarbonates,
- Chloride,
- Sulfate and many more chemicals make the water hard.
Some of the advanced softeners also remove iron from the water.
Water filters remove contaminants, chemicals, and many other pollutants from the water. This includes,
Metals like iron, copper, mercury, etc.
- Pesticides, cysts, algae,
- Large sediments like rust, dust, etc.,
- Chlorine,
- Foul smell or taste.
The water filter removes more contaminants than mentioned above. There are water filter systems that remove 99.99% of contaminants from the water.
3. Cost
The cost of the water softeners and the water filters depends on the size, features, capacities, etc. It also depends on the type of system you get. After some extensive research, we have a list of different range of price for different types of softeners and filters,
Cost range of water softener
| Type of water softener | Cost range |
|---|---|
| Salt-based water softener | $400 – $2000 |
| Salt-free water softener | $500 – $4000 |
| Water distiller | $50 – $2500 |
| Reverse Osmosis | $100 – $3000 |
Reverse Osmosis systems and water distiller technically filters the water and softens the water. Both of these systems are very well known for providing highly purified water that is free from contaminants and hard minerals.
Cost range of water filters
| Type of water softener | Cost range |
|---|---|
| Sediment filtration | $80 – $1000 |
| Activated Carbon Block Filtration (ACB) | $50 – $600 |
| Granular Activated Carbon Block Filtration (GAC) | $50 – $600 |
| Ultraviolet light filtration (UV) | $200 – $1000 |
| Ultrafiltration (UF) | $2000 – $9000 |
| Ionization | $75 – $5000 |
| Activated Alumina filtration (AA) | $50 – $500 |
You can always get a whole house filter system for well water, one thing we like about the water filter is that you can replace the filter cartridges when the need arises, so it doesn’t cost you as much every time.
4. Installation
The installation of water softeners and water filters is extremely easy, but it still depends on the type of systems you are getting. If we look into the most common installation method for water softeners and water filters is that if the system is for the whole house, it should be installed in your main water line, and most of them do not require any plumbing services.
5. Maintenance
Whether it is a water softener or water filter, you will need to maintain them on a regular basis. There are few things you will have to check for your system to last for a good amount of time.
1. Water Softener
Different type of water softeners needs different kinds of maintenance,
- Salt-based water softeners require constant maintenance. You will need to change the salt in the tank after some specific duration.
- Salt-free softeners require a little maintenance to no maintenance at all. Some salt-free systems have resins in them that you might need to replace after a long period of time.
- Magnetic softeners are known for being really easy to install and not requiring any maintenance at all.
2. Water Filter
Although there are a few different filtration systems available for you to choose from, almost all the systems require the same type of maintenance,
- One thing that is common in all water filters is, you will need to change the water filter cartridge on a timely basis. You will get information about when and how to change the filter cartridge for your system.
- Countertop water filters will require to be washed and cleaned on a regular basis. The standard time that is suggested by almost every provider is 2-3 months.
- Water filters do not require any extensive maintenance. Once you get the water filter system in your house, you will just need to keep track of the filter cartridges. Some water filter systems even come with a meter or stickers to help you keep track without worry.
Whole House Softener Vs Whole House Water Filter System – Which one is better?
Like we saw earlier that the purpose of water softeners and water filters is different from each other. Water softeners are used to remove hard minerals from the water, whereas water filters remove contaminants from the water.
Now the main question is whether you should get a whole-house softener system or a whole house filtration system. The answer to that question entirely depends on the water quality and your need for quantity. There are few things you can think about before deciding on which one to get for your house,
The first thing ever from this list is your priority of what you want to remove from the water. Do you want to remove the hard minerals like calcium and magnesium from the water in order to make it soft, or do you want to remove the contaminants like chloride, fluoride, iron, rust, etc., from the water? If you have figured that out, your decision is easy.
Whole house systems get you purified or softened water in every water outlet of your house. If you are wondering which one is better whole-house softeners or whole house filters, it entirely depends on the water quantity and consumer preferences.
The wisest answer to this question is that you can get both of these systems installed in your house. Now you must be wondering how that works,
- The filters are supposed to be installed before you install the softeners. Some softeners even come with pre-installed filters.
- The water passes through the filters that remove the contaminants from the water. After that, the water will pass through the water softener, which will remove the harsh minerals like calcium, magnesium, etc., from the water.
With the combination of both systems installed for your whole house, you get extremely purified water in your kitchen faucets, shower, etc.
Conclusion
The water filters remove the contaminants from the water, and water softeners remove hard minerals from the water. The wisest choice is to get the combination of both the systems in your house to ensure that you get highly purified soft water anywhere in your house. Before you choose a combined system, make sure that you get the water report and see what kind of hard minerals or contaminants are there in the water, and you can get the most suitable system for your house.
