[jrref]

Water treatment systems in general are overpriced. People move to the Villages and tend to get all crazy about water and fall "hook-line-and-sinker" for the water person's sales pitch. The residential water treatment systems all basically use the same process for filtration and softening but you tend to pay way more for systems like Pelican. I'm not saying that their systems are not good, they are very good but you are paying more and may not be getting any better water.

I have the Nova filter and water softener installed now for almost 3 years and have had zero problems. I test my water and all is good. No matter what company you go with, here is what you need to know. Here in the Villages our domestic water supply is very good. No heavy metals or other dangerous contaminants at levels that we need to worry about. But we do get a lot of sediment and the water treatment folks use a LOT of chlorine in the water and it varies day to day and week to week. That said, you first want a three stage water filter system to remove the sediment and chlorine in the water. Nova and other systems use sediment and carbon block filters to accomplish this. If you are a DIY'r you can get an Express Water filter from Amazon for example but if you are not handy, call a professional like Nova.

Since our water is slightly hard, you may want in addition to get a water softener. Salt systems are mostly used but there are other more exotic systems that you can get that don't use salt. Either way, you can get a water softener in a single unit or in what I call separates where you have separate resin and brine tanks. They both work the same, just different physical setup. So you might say what's the difference? The difference is price, installation, reliability, and responsiveness of the company you use. Nova and Pelican have been installing systems in the Villages for many years. Are there installation and or maintenance problems from time to time, yes, but that's just the way it is. I've heard of people with single unit water softeners having the embedded carbon filter go bad, the resin going bad, all kinds of failures over time. I've heard of people claiming their water filtration system leaked but only to find out their hot water expansion tank went bad and the pressure in the house went way above normal causing the problem. The point is, there are lots of "stories and experiences" but we often don't hear about all the background and just assume. At the end of the day there is no "perfect" system. Everything installed in your home needs to be monitored and maintained from time to time.

What I can tell you from experience is the owner of Nova lives here in the Villages and has done research to customize their system to our water to get the most efficiency out of the system. They are also very responsive in my experience and easy to just call them to do the work and you are done. They can also come out once a year and replace your filters and they are reasonibly priced. For a Villager they provide a good service that's easy to use which is why many in the Villages use them. When they come to do the install they will also check your hot water expansion tank and pressures if you have one to make sure it's working as well. Their system also has easy to read pressure gauges that you can check from time to time to make sure the water pressure in your home is normal.

You can also go to Home Depot, Lowes, online or Amazon and get a system but it needs to be installed by a plumber and you are then responsible to deal with the water softener company and the plumber if something goes wrong.

I tend to perfer a system configured in "separates" like Nova installs vs the single unit that Pelican and other's install because of ease of maintenance. Also, what most don't know is in a single unit, on most systems there is a embedded carbon filter in the softener. Chlorine damages the resin so you want to filter that out first. These manufactureds say the carbon filter will last so there is no need to change it but in reality, I'm not sure that's true and you would need to test your water for chlorine at least once a year to verify this. This is why I like the three stage filtration system ahead of the softener. Every year to 18 months you just change the filter cartridges, (you can do this yourself), and you know you have a fresh new filter media and there is no guessing on what's going on.

Water filtration and softening is not "rocket science" and anyone coming in you home and testing your water and telling you it's really bad here in the Villages is not being truthful. So I hope all this information helps you make a more informed decision on how to proceed with water filtration and softening here in the Villages.