Softened water and drinking water - what is the difference?

Here at Fountain Softeners, almost on a daily basis we are asked whether water from a water softener systems and water from a filtered drinking water system are the same thing – and the answer is no, they are not.

Water Softener systems operate by removing the elements that cause limescale, predominantly calcium and magnesium and do this very effectively. These are installed somewhere near where the water comes into the property in order to ensure that the maximum benefit is gained from the softener throughout the property - but are only designed to soften the water, not filter it. Once you remove the calcium and magnesium from your water, your soft water will protect your appliances from scale, you will use less detergent and your shower door and kitchen / bathroom taps will be gleaming!

Drinking water filters on the other hand tend to be installed near the point of use, i.e. to feed a single tap, and generally are designed to make your drinking water taste better by removing elements, mainly chlorine, which can give mains water a lot of its nasty taste. All drinking water through your mains supply will have chlorine present to prevent the colonisation of bacteria within the water pipes.

There are various filters available with varying degrees of filtration, from the single taste and odour filter to the 5-stage Reverse Osmosis drinking water system.  This is one our most popular systems if you want 99% pure water. As the name implies, it has 5-stages of filtration and as with all filters, allows you to have control over the quality of your drinking water.
Whatever your size requirements and budget, there is a filter to suit you. There are also filters to remove particular things that may be of concern - hardness, nitrates, hormones, heavy metals - the list is endless!

The boom of bottled water also triggered a huge influx of plastic bottles being dumped into our environment, which allows chemicals to leech into the ground and water supplies. So don’t buy expensive bottled water – filter you own!

At Fountain we stock a wide range of water softener systems, water softener salt, drinking water systems, water filters and domestic UV equipment.

See our ecommerce web site selling to customers all over the UK and Europe. Or call us for a chat on on 0845 10 80 685 (local call rate) or 01306 889090 and one of our friendly staff will gladly talk you through your options.