It's a personal choice. I'm happy with the tap water

Water filter
 

We installed a water softener immediately due to the hard water. Always have had one. Love it.

Yep. These are our filters after our last yearly replacements (Jan 2021) which reminds me we need to change them now. One of the NEW ones is obviously in the front.

Get both..........softener takes out some impurities the water doesn't.......Nova Filters best, they may have softeners as well. Very reasonable and competent. Without softener water taste a little off, plastic, get both.......

Yes the softeners are $995 installed.

Always upfront pricing

Water Softeners | Residential Water Softening Systems

We have a Nova system for the past year. We make pitchers of iced tea all the time and found lots of floaties on top of the pitcher of water. Probably not going to kill us but...

After the first year, the white white filters they pulled out were the color of the brown mulch around my house. I'm going to say I'm glad I did it... plus no need for the expensive refrigerator filters.

Buy both a softener and a filter
 

Buy both a softener and a canister filter. Don't waste money listening to a salesperson and buying one of the "premium" system which cost thousands of $. Just go to Home Depot or Lowe's and order a basic softener which uses salt and a separate iSpring carbon filter. The water in TV is relatively hard and, worse, it is heavily chlorinated. The carbon filter removes the chlorine and the softener will improve the efficiency of your dishwasher and washing machine, eliminate the build-up of scale on your faucets, and provide for a better shower.

If you are used to a softener, you will be very disappointed in TV if you do not have one.

As to a whole house water filter, there are sets with one, two, and three filters. The first in line will be for sediment. I have it, but feel it is not really necessary. The second in line will be for lead and heavy metals-manganese etc. There is no need for this filter. The third is for chlorine, which is the one you want and need.

Canister filters come in 10 and 20 inch sizes. In general, the manufacturers of these systems advise to change the 10" filters every 6 months and the 20" every year. I changed my 20" filters after the first year and learned that they could, probably, been used another 6 months. As most homes in TV house only two people, water use is not particularly heavy. It's not like when we had three kids running around the house with multiple showers every day along with multiple loads of wash and dishes. In fact, the salt usage of our water softener is so low that I was shocked at the length of time I could go before having to add a bag of salt.

Consider buying the canister carbon filter in the 10" size instead of the 20", even though you may have to change the 10" twice as often. These filters and the plastic canister in which they sit, are heavy! This is particularly so when changing filters as the canister and filter are filled with water. I can handle the 20", but would prefer the 10". I'm certain my wife would not be able to handle the 20".

Finally, I highly recommend the iSpring brand of filters. Last month, I tried to save a few dollars and bought the Anchor brand when changing filters. The Anchor brand appeared identical in all respects to the iSpring and was 2/3rds the price. Big mistake! For reasons I cannot explain, the Anchor brand carbon filter did not remove the chlorine smell. Frankly, I was shocked when I first turned on the faucet that evening to brush my teeth, had my head directly over the sink, and thought I was being "gassed". After two weeks of trying the Anchor filter, I gave up and replaced it with an iSpring. The chlorine smell immediately disappeared. I have no explanation why the Anchor filter did not work. I just know it did not and the iSpring did.

Salt at your door
 

Stop the clock!

Soft Water Systems delivers and installs into your receptacle.
Using them 6 years. Honest & dependable.
Last time they charged $8 per bag!!

Call Skip or Jeff.
352-454-2992.

And really expensive in comparison to the Nova system that does a fantastic job also. We have had the Nova filters and softener system for 4 years and our water is great.

We also have the Pegasus system. It came with the house, so cost is not a factor. All I do is add Potassium (which I'm probably due to do when I come down this weekend...)

The yearly check-up is cheap, and it seems to do the job it's designed to do...

Yup, just picked up my yearly Nova replacement filters today and put them in. Who says water is "clean" here? They are pure white when they go in. Or maybe Amelia is just a "dirty Village" ? :D There are 2 others. One of them isn't quite as bad because it follows this one and the 3rd you can't tell because it's carbon for smell and taste. Just 2 of us in a 2/2 Colony.

Wow!!
Who says you don’t need filtration? All that dirt / sediment is going in your drinking and cooking water not to mention your bathing in it. Plus the Coconut Shell Carbon is removing all the chemicals. Softeners are great but without proper filtration your only softening.
Thanks Ed

And clogging the resin used in the softener causes it to become less efficient and/or fail completely. Softeners are not designed to remove sediment but do so only because the resin acts sort of as a filter.

I find just the opposite actually, When I'm on a cruise ship, the water is filtered and there is no hardness to it. That is when my hair is much more "limp" and is devoid of "body". I don't mind the hard water. I don't care for the really silky feel of water that has the hardness removed. I'm probably in the minority and I know that.

My GE fridge filter makes our water taste fantastic. Our fridge filtered water tastes as good, of not better than Fuji bottled water. There are not many bottled waters that I like and Fuji is what I like.

I don't smell any chlorine from our tap water and I know what pool water smells like. Maybe it's me but even the tap water in Mallory tastes fine to me but my fridge filtered water tastes better, that's for sure.