Dual Tank (Softener + Catalytic Carbon)

It comes down to how much water you use and what is in it. Our Single Tank puts softening resin and catalytic carbon together in one mixed bed, which suits most city homes with up to three bathrooms, and the Single Tank XL is the same build sized for four or more. A dual tank gives each media its own tank — a softener tank plus a catalytic carbon tank on city water, or on a well, a softener tank plus an iron and sulfur tank. Continuous demand and harder problems push you toward dual. We size it off your test and your household, not your square footage.

Different jobs. A softener uses resin and salt to remove calcium and magnesium — the minerals that cause scale, spotting and that film on your skin. A filter uses carbon or specialty media to remove chlorine, taste, odor and other contaminants. Softening doesn’t clean your water; filtering doesn’t soften it. Most Triangle city homes need filtering more than softening. Well homes often need both, plus more.

For a typical Triangle household on a properly sized softener, figure on a bag every two to three months. It depends on your hardness level and how much water you use. If you’re going through salt much faster than that, something is set wrong.

A properly sized system, no. An undersized one, yes — which is the most common installation mistake in this industry. Our systems are sized on service flow rate against your household’s peak demand. If someone quotes you a system without asking how many bathrooms you have, that’s a red flag.