I have a 3 stage whole home water filter by Express coupled with a ScaleBlaster (an electronic water conditioner). The filter is identical to the one sold by Nova, other than it has 3 separate pressure gauges (one for each filter) as opposed to one for the Nova. They use the same replacement filters. You can buy it online for $399, and it takes an afternoon to plumb it in.
The ScaleBlaster is not a water softener... but our water is not really hard, it just has a lot of calcium in it, and many folks think of this as hard water. In our area, it's only around 150ppm.
A water softener will remove the calcium. However, calcium is not bad for you - in fact it's a good mineral. The real issue is that all that calcium will leave stains on your fixtures and will build up in appliances (refrigerators, coffee makers, etc) over time. The ScaleBlaster uses current to ionize the calcium particles in the water and this causes the small particles to bond into larger particles. You still get the benefit of drinking calcium, but it reduces the waters ability to stain and cause build up tremendously.
The best part is - no salt or chemicals. Just install the ScaleBlaster, plug it in and let it run! I've been using it for 2 years now, and I love it!.
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