FAQs

What does soft water mean?

Hard water is water that has a high mineral content. It’s a natural result of minerals like calcium and magnesium accumulating during the water cycle, and it can happen with well water and even city water.  The more calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water, the harder the water becomes.  This is why certain cities and counties within the same state can have varying degrees of water hardness.

A water softener system treats your water at the point it enters the home. It removes these hardness impurities before the water travels through your pipes and into your water-using appliances, and before you draw water from the taps of your bathrooms and kitchen.  Soft water is less than 1 gpg, whereas hard water is anything above 7gpg.  Over 85% of households live in hard water areas.

EcoWater’s whole home filtration systems offers you a water softener system and reverse osmosis drinking water system, creating the healthiest water for all uses.


Why does soft water make my skin feel slippery

An EcoWater water softener system removes the impurities in your water so your skin is rinsed without hard water minerals left behind. There is no residue on your skin to trap traces of soap, dead skin cells and other particles. And no residue left behind that dries your skin. Your body’s natural oils can lubricate your skin. The slippery, softness you feel is exactly how clean skin is supposed to feel.

The same way that soft water eliminates water spots that dry onto your glassware and silverware, it allows your bath soaps to lather better and rinse off completely.  Soaps will lather better and you’ll be able to use half as much.


Can I use a water softener with a septic system?

A study released at WQA Aquatech USA indicates “that the use of efficiently operated water softeners improves septic tank performance, while the use of very inefficiently operated water softeners may have a negative effect on solids discharge to the drain field and the level of impact will depend on the level of hardness in the water, whether the regeneration waste is discharged to the septic tank, and the amount of excess sodium present in regeneration waste.”

The Water Quality research Foundation commissioned Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to conduct this independent study in 2012 which resulted in an official report, “Changes in Septic Tank Effluent Due to Water Softener Use.”  Two different approaches were taken to conduct this study; one in a laboratory setting and the other looked at case studies conducted in the field.


How does a water softener work?

One of the biggest misconceptions about water softeners is that the salt is what softens your water.  What actually softens the water are the thousands of resin beads inside your softener that filter our hard water minerals.

  • Water softeners use a negatively charged ion exchange resin to collect the impurities from your water. The resin becomes charged when it mixes with a sodium or potassium solution. The salt in the water softener isn’t what softens the water; it is what enables the resin to collect and remove the hardness from your water.
  • The EcoWater refiner softens your water, and also removes the chlorine taste and odor, which is often a result of water treated by cities and municipalities.
  • Regeneration is the term for when the resin is being cleaned and recharged in the sodium solution.

What is Reverse Osmosis?

If you have come across one of the various technical explanations available (Here’s a pretty good one) , most people find the explanations too scientific and frankly don’t read them.

Ecowater Reverse Osmosis System

I’d like to simplify what a reverse osmosis system (I’m going to shorten it to  RO for the rest of this article) does, and while it may not be 100% technically accurate, I’m hoping it will give you a clearer idea. 

When it comes to home systems, the RO unit will be part of a complete water treatment system.

The first stage is prefiltration that will remove dirt, particles, sediment etc. that is 15 times finer than a human hair. Prefiltration also removes chlorine and some organic substances. As well as improving your water, this helps to protect the RO membrane.

The next step is the RO membrane. It separates the water into 2 streams – good high quality drinking water in 1 stream and everything else in the other. This waste water is directed down the drain (or back into your plumbing system if you have a zero waste option). The good water is stored in a holding tank.


Before the water reaches the tap, it passes through a polishing filter. Then to your glass – great tasting, high quality drinking water.

 For More Information on Our Drinking Water Systems Click Here!



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