Choosing a water softener can be a confusing and time-consuming task. We're here to simplify the process for you, so you can confidently decide what to buy, and where to buy it. We take the mystery out of water softener sizing by stepping you through the science. We explore the brands available for sale in Canada and allow you to find the make and model that suits your needs and budget. Read below to get started or jump right to our side-by-side comparison of the top water softener makes and models in Canada.
Water softeners are designed to remove hardness minerals from water. That's how they were designed originally, and it's still how they are made today. Despite this fact, there's lots of misinformation all over the internet and even from water treatment dealers claiming that water softeners will do lots more. While it's true that a softener can be built to remove modest amounts of iron and manganese, softeners are made first and foremost to remove hardness minerals.
Water softeners are made to soften water
There are lots of water softeners on the market that are advertised to improve your water quality in lots of other ways too. Some of these claims are legitimate and others are questionable. Let's have a look at what a softener can and can't do:
* A water softener may remove more than this but it's very hard to predict, and is dependent on other water conditions such as pH, resin type, and flow rate. Water softeners will only remove dissolved iron which is also called ferrous iron, or clear water iron. Looking for a water softener that will maximize iron removal? Click here to learn more.
Water softeners of every brand, make, and model share some common and important parts. Knowing the names and basic functions of these parts will make it easier for you to understand the differences between water softeners, and to figure out which system is best suited to your needs and budget.
Untreated raw water contains the mineral content you're trying to remove: calcium, magnesium, and sometimes iron and manganese.
It's the brain and mechanical hub. All of the moving parts reside here. It's where you input your water conditions also. The control valve monitors your water use, and initiates regeneration when necessary.
Hooray - your water is soft! Off to the rest of your home.
Salt is added to brine tank and is used when the softener recharges itself - a process called regeneration.
Water and salt mix at the bottom of the brine tank to create a saturated brine solution. During regeneration, the brine is sucked up and pulled through the softening tank.
This is where the magic happens. Small beads called resin grab onto the hardness minerals in your water. Eventually the resin gets saturated and needs to be regenerated.
The now-softened water travels up through the riser tube for distribution to your home.
An under bed - usually made of quartz gravel - is used to support the softener resin above. It also helps to ensure even water flow through the softener.
In order to compare the different softeners on the market in Canada, you really need to understand how water softeners are built. Water softeners are comprised of three main components: The control valve (the 'head'), the softening tank, and the brine tank. Look below to learn more about each part.
It's the brains of the operation. All of the mechanical and electronic components reside here. The control valve directs all of the water softener regeneration stages and it's also the place where you interact with the softener to program it to you local conditions. Choosing the right control valve is critical to your softener success!
This is where the magic happens. The softening tank contains the resin that grabs onto the hardness minerals as they float past. Once the resin becomes saturated, the control valve initiates a regeneration and salt brine is flushed through the tank to recharge it. Softener resin usually lasts somewhere between 10 and 15 years.
The brine tank holds the salt that your softener needs to regenerate the resin when it becomes saturated with hardness. A single line connects the brine tank to the softener control valve. At different stages of the regeneration, brine solution is sucked out of the tank, and at other times fresh water is pumped into the tank.
Once you've decided that you'd like to purchase a softener, one of the next steps is deciding which brand to buy. Check out our comparison chart for a quick look at how the brands stack up. Like every other product you buy, some brands deliver excellent value while others do not. So what water softener brands offer the best features for the best price? Unfortunately this isn't quite as straightforward as you might think. Lots of softener dealers and consumers get mixed up about what a water softener brand actually is.
In the softener industry many of the recognizable brand names refer to softener components rather than complete softeners. For a complete and detailed run-down of almost every brand of softener sold in Canada have a look here. To learn the basics of softener brands in Canada, read on!
You can't do softener research without coming across at least one of these popular and well made brands. But these are not water softener brands! These brand names refer to water softener control valves only. As an example, Clack® doesn't make a complete water softener - they just make the control valve. So why is this important? It's important for many reasons.
Because of the excellent track record of these control valves, they are used by lots of other water softener companies to make their 'own' water softener. For instance, these companies take a Fleck® control valve and build it onto a softener using a variety of different components. They slap a sticker on the softener tank, and perhaps even one on the control valve cover, and give the system a snazzy name. Voila - they've got their own brand! This is done usually for one simple reason - so these companies can create the illusion of uniqueness and charge more for their product.
This creates confusion with consumers and can make it really hard to compare apples to apples. You can visit our brand page where we look 'under the hood' of some popular brands in Canada and tell you what they're using. Understanding this will allow you to compare some prominent Canadian brands to much cheaper but but high quality 'generic' brands that use the exact same (or even better) components. Knowledge is the power to save money!
Remember also, that just because a softener is built with one of these three high-quality control valves, doesn't automatically make it a great softener. While the control valve is certainly important, there are many other components of the softener that are equally important. Also - the control valve must be configured by the retailer to work properly with the rest of the components used. This underscores the importance of buying a softener from a reputable dealer who shows a strong technical understanding of the products they sell.
True Brands in Canada:
There are a number of recognizable brands in Canada that are 'true' brands - that is, they make their own unique equipment and sell it through a network of authorized dealers, corporate stores, or franchises. Examples are Kinetico®, Culligan®, and EcoWater®. Typically, these products are expensive and cater to customers looking for a full-service experience. These companies usually want to sell the equipment plus installation and usually some sort of service contract. Some offer equipment rentals also. These types of brands are generally good quality but as stated above, the total cost of ownership is usually quite high for a number of reasons that you can read about here.
They sell everything else, so why not pick up a water softener at Home Depot®, Lowes®, or Sears®? It may very well be a good choice for some consumers, but make sure you know what you're getting. You can have a look at this page to get the details on these softeners, but without exception, the water softeners sold in big box stores are a 'consumer' grade product. This is true of the Kenmore®, GE®, and other brands you'll see. Consumer grade products aren't manufactured to last very long, and aren't usually designed to allow easy repair. Most of them are a cabinet design where the brine (salt) tank is built around the softening tank. This can seem like a space saver (it's not actually), but it makes repairing these systems a nightmare and makes cleaning out the brine tank almost impossible.
Also, the cabinet style softeners sold in Big Box stores usually have a really small door to add the salt, making this chore very inconvenient. While the sticker price on these products might be enticing, the performance of these systems will often leave a lot to be desired, and if you consider that the whole system may need replacing after 5 or 6 years, the total cost of ownership can be much higher than the purchase price suggests.
