Salt-Free Water Softener Alternatives

Salt-free water softeners! Sounds like a great idea right? No one likes buying 40 and 50lb bags of salt dragging them into your car, out of your car and into your home every few months. If you could eliminate that process from your life it would be great right? There’s just one problem. There is no such thing as a “salt free water softener” There’s no such thing as a salt free conditioner. Or “salt based water softener alternative”. Systems that are touted as these salt free solutions simply do not do what they claim in real life application. Claims of keeping hardness ions in suspension, citrus feed, or even magnets simply do not soften water. The Water Quality Association (WQA) defines soft water as water containing 1 grain per gallon of hardness or less in the water. None of the “salt free water softeners” are capable of reducing the hardness to 1 grain per gallon or less. These systems are simply just not water softeners. They are not even conditioners. They simply do nothing from a softening stand point.

Some “salt free” systems are called conditioners or salt based softener alternatives. Basically this is just fancy wording to skate around the “salt free water softener” claim. These type of systems will not reduce hardness that leads to spotting on fixture, shower doors, dishes, etc. They also do not reduce the amount of cleaning chemicals needed to clean off the buildup. Most importantly they also do not protect critical equipment in your home like water heaters or dishwashers. These expensive appliances will still see scale build up that will lead to great reductions in efficiency and cause premature replacement costs. Some system claims state they protect the piping in your home from scale build up. Hard water alone does not simply build up scale in your pipes on its own. Another catalyst is needed such as heat, evaporation or other impurities to bond with to actually form scale. A regular water pipe in a home will not see hardness buildup just because hardness is present in the water. The pipes, in most all cases, do not even need “protection” from hardness. These claims just add up to false information for the sake of marketing a product that will supposedly make life easier. In the end it just leads to disappointing results.

If you want to fully protect your whole home from hard water problems, then you will need a salt-based water softener. These real water softeners use scientifically proven ion exchange technology that removes both magnesium and calcium hardness from your water with the use of sodium. Removing these minerals is the only effective way to avoid hard water in your home.

Instead of falling for a no salt water softener, invest in a high efficiency water softener that will deliver the best water throughout your household using as little salt and water as possible. Our Genesis 2 high efficiency water softeners are ideal as they do not use nearly as much salt as traditional non high efficiency softeners and will actually provide true soft water to protect your critical appliances, reduce spotting and the use of chemical cleaners. All while using less salt and water. A real water softener solution with real results.

Not sure which type of water softener you need? Take our quiz or request a free water test kit.