Every system we install.
Nothing we don’t.

An independent lab tested that exact model against an NSF/ANSI standard — 42 for taste and odor, 44 for softening, 53 for health contaminants like lead and PFOA/PFOS, 58 for reverse osmosis, 372 for lead-free materials — and lists it by name on wqa.org. Certification costs the manufacturer money and time per model, so many brands skip it and use words like “tested” or “meets standards” instead. Every certification we print is a listing you can look up yourself.

A softener removes the calcium and magnesium that make water hard, so spots, scale and dry skin go away. A salt-free “conditioner” changes how the minerals behave so they scale less; it does not remove them, and the water still tests hard. Both have a place. We will tell you which one fits your house and your water, and we won’t call a conditioner a softener.

On city water here, one tank does both — the Hydronex and Defender iGen C carry chloramine-rated media ahead of the softening resin, which handles the “pool” smell and the hardness together. On a well it depends on what the test finds; iron and sulfur usually need their own stage before any softener.

Completely. City water in our area is hard and disinfected with chloramine, and the utility publishes what’s in it every year. A private well is tested by nobody but you, and the usual problems are iron, sulfur, tannins and pH — none of which a city-water system is built for. That’s why the free test comes first.

Both are under-sink reverse osmosis systems certified under NSF/ANSI 42, 58 and 372. The 7000 is the everyday pick — taste, TDS, lead, arsenic, nitrates — on city or well water, at a better price. The 8500 adds certification under NSF/ANSI 53 and 401 for PFOA/PFOS, VOCs and pharmaceuticals; it’s the one we recommend when a PFAS result is your reason.

RO sends some water to the drain while it works — a few gallons per gallon made on older units, less on modern ones — and it does reduce dissolved minerals along with everything else. For the drinking tap that’s the point: it’s the same technology bottled water is made with. Your diet, not your tap, is where minerals come from. RO water comes out slightly acidic — carbon dioxide slips through the membrane and there is no alkalinity left to buffer it. If you want that corrected and the mineral taste back, we can add an alkaline stage: a carbon/calcite cartridge that polishes through coconut-shell carbon, then passes the water over calcite, which puts calcium back and brings the pH up above 9 — we test it at installation and again on service calls. Water off it tastes smoother and slightly sweeter. It is a taste upgrade, not a health one, and we will say so. The cartridge is a consumable — the calcite dissolves as it does its job, so it gets changed every three to six months depending on your water and how much you drink. We check the pH at every service visit. One cartridge we pulled after a full year, well past its interval, still read 8.5. Mention it and we’ll add it.

Puronics systems carry the manufacturer’s limited lifetime warranty, registered in your name inside the registration window — it’s written by Puronics, not by us, so it doesn’t depend on our company existing. Media carries its own gallon-rated warranty. Skipping required maintenance or running water the system isn’t rated for is what voids one. We show you the document at the test.

Because every well is different and a package guesses. Clack valves are US-made, programmable to your water, and the parts are sold openly — so any tech, not just us, can service the system in ten years. That’s the honest reason we also can’t fix some proprietary systems: the maker won’t sell the parts.

It depends on your hardness and how much water the house uses; a properly sized, demand-regenerating softener uses far less than an old timer valve that regenerates on a schedule whether it needs to or not. Most homes add a couple of bags a month. If you’d rather not carry salt, we deliver.

Then we tell you that and leave you our number. Moderate hardness, no complaints, water heater under warranty — plenty of homes hear exactly that. We’d rather be the company you call later than the one that sold you something you didn’t need.