The following will go over the basic water softeners available on the market in our area (The Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri) and our recommended use of each water softener.  

Timed water softeners are the dinosaurs of water conditioning.

Timed meaning-regeneration determined by time a pre set number of days

Things to consider before installing a timed unit - they are very wasteful if you don't use any water they would still regenerate wasting salt, water and electric. If you use a lot of water the softener wouldn't regenerate until the pre-set time to regenerate, leaving you on hard water until regeneration.

Our recommendation: Replace existing units when in need of repair. We don't recommend installing a timed unit.

Demand single tank water softeners are very similar to the timed unit however the demand feature allows the softener to regenerate based on the number of gallons used. Our single tank system is a smart demand unit, which adjusts automatically to the customer's usage.

Things to consider: Single Tank Demand and Timed Water Softeners are only capable of producing a set number of gallons between regeneration. A properly sized water softener should give the customer a 2 to 3 day supply of soft water before regeneration. Both Single Tank Demand and Timed Water Softeners, regenerate in the middle of the night (delayed regeneration), when the system assumes you won't be using any water.  This leaves the customer on hard water during regeneration. On days of unusually high water usage the customer could run out of soft water until the delayed regeneration takes place.

Vacation Homeowners: When a vacation homeowner turns off their water after a weekend of use, they often end up with no soft water at all.  The homeowner arrives at the lake and uses water all weekend.  If the softener is due for regeneration the day the owner leaves the lake and the water is shut off, the softener will go through the cycle without water.  The softener will think that it has regenerated but without water it hasn't.   This can go on for months before the vacation home-owner even notices a problem.

Our recommendation: The single tank demand is recommend for small house holds (1-3 people) with consistent water usage. We do not recommend this system for working families that tend to do a lot of laundry and cleaning on their day off from work. We also don't recommend this system for our vacation homeowners, do to the difficulty in operation (missed regeneration cycles) especially for those that shut off their water all the time.

The twin tank demand water softener has solved most of the problems associated with the single tank systems. The twin tank system works under the principle of having a spare tank in reserve. With two tanks the system can regenerate any time during the day or evening giving you soft water 24 hours a day. With a properly sized system under normal household usage, the system would regenerate every 2-3 days. The system also regenerates with soft water protecting your investment. However with two tanks on those days when your home or vacation home is filled with friends and family this system could regenerate several times a day, keeping up with extra loads of dishes, laundry and all those showers.  And when you're not home the system waits for water use, doing nothing.  This is a true demand system. 

Vacation Homeowners:  We offer our Vacation home owners a special upgrade we've designed for our customers that do turn off their water when they leave. We can install an Automatic Vacation Switch that will shut down the softener even if it's in a regeneration cycle when you leave and turn off the water. This will prevent missed regeneration and insure 100% soft water 100% of the time.

Things to consider: The Twin Tank Demand System is a true demand system, it only regenerates when the full capacity of the system used.  With two tanks the system will switch to the other tank when needed, eliminating the delayed regeneration. With no clocks or timers to reset.  The unit is simple to operate.  The homeowner only needs to put salt or potassium in the system. It's that easy and if the you'd like we can add you to our Salt Route and monitor the system for you.

Our recommendation: The twin tank demand system is recommended for all households. With a properly sized unit you will enjoy easy operations with minimal salt usage and ease of operation. 

The Sanitizer is the only thing better than our twin tank demand system. The Sanitizer  system is for well water and problem water users. This system not only softens your water it also removes iron and manganese, and it automatically disinfects itself during the regeneration cycle. The system also combats odors and problems caused by iron and sulfur bacteria.  Virtually eliminating sulfur reducing bacteria odor. The Sanitizer is available in single and twin demand systems.

Things to consider: The Sanitizer single and twin tank systems have the same advantages and disadvantages as our standard water softeners.

Our recommendation: We recommend this system for anyone on well water, vacation homeowners or anyone with problem water-iron, manganese, ammonia, and sulfur problems.