I get an unreal amount of requests from customers all over Utah who are interested in a salt free water softener. Usually it is because the homeowner either cannot haul the salt or because the homeowner has a very inefficient water softener that uses a lot of salt. Whatever the reason may be, I think it worth my time to explain the difference between salt free systems and salt systems here.
Simply put – Salt Free Water Softener Systems only give you a single benefit and that is scale prevention. Look at all the websites advocating them and you will find their first claim to fame is scale prevention and the protecting of your plumbing and appliances. All other claims you will find to be very minimal. We install a lot of salt free systems and have hundreds of happy customers that own them but we sold them a salt free system for exactly what it was. Salt Free Conditioners are not a Water Softener, they never will be because they do not actually remove the hardness from the water, all they can do is change that hardness in the water and leave it there.
So, who are they types of people that really like salt free conditioners? They are our customers that meet 4 criteria:
1. They hate the slippery feel of soft water
2. They can’t, won’t, or don’t haul salt
3. Their plumbing will not allow a standard water softener
4. The only reason they want a water softener / conditioner is to preserve the investment they have in their home. They fully understand that they will still get water spots on dishes, soap scum on shower walls, dry, itchy skin will be unaffected, the softness of their laundry will be unchanged, hard water toilet rings will still be there. All of these benefits that water softeners have given families for years will not be realized with a salt free system.
The major reasons why people want a salt free system is because they either are far enough along in years that they cannot physically haul salt or they already have a salt based water softener that was installed by one of our competitors who did not know what they were doing and the water softener is going through A LOT of salt. In either one of these cases it is an inefficient salt based system that is the underlying reason of why people look to Salt Free Systems. Once we explain to them that once they install one of our highly efficient salt systems and they can get all the benefits of soft water that they have always enjoyed and only have to haul salt less than half as often, we find that homeowners will almost always choose an efficient salt based system over a salt free system.
Yes, there is a market out there for Salt Free Softener/Conditioning Systems and we at Royal Water Systems have proved it. I realized in selling and installing water softeners that there are a group of people who just will not have a water softener in their home – they just hate them. So I took the approach, “How can I help these people out that just are not going to have a water softener, but they are also losing their investment in their home because of the ill effects of hard water?” A salt free conditioner has been the answer.
The truth is that I, myself would NEVER own a Salt Free System because I love all the benefits of soft water. But I also realize that it’s not my job to push my ideas of soft water on to my customers. My job is to educate my customers and then once they are educated and can make an educated decision let them choose what they want their water to be. I have found that if I do that I will always have happy customers and I won’t be removing systems that should never have been installed in the first place.
Let us know what we can do to help you with your Utah hard water problems. We have helped thousands of families out and we’d love to help you out too.
Sam Nielsen | Royal Water Systems – www.rwatersystems.com | 801-850-1839