Benefits of Water Softener Systems

  • Save Money

    You’ll use fewer detergents and cleaners and still have better cleaning results. Scale, soap scum, and hard water stains are a thing of the past.

  • Protect Your Plumbing

    With soft water flowing throughout your home’s plumbing pipes and fixtures, you’ll eliminate scale build-up and save money on costly repairs and replacements.

  • Eliminate Water Spots

    Hard water spots are gone when dishes, glasses, and silverware are washed in soft water.

  • Smoother Skin & Hair

    Bathing with soft water is like bathing in a luxurious spa. No more itchy, dry skin or hair. You will feel the difference the very first time you experience it!

  • Protect Appliances

    Clean, soft water extends the life of your washer, dishwasher, water heater, coffee pot, refrigerator, and any appliance that uses water and prevents scale buildup.

  • Whiter Brighter Clothes

    Detergents work better in soft water. Not only will you use less detergent, but your laundry will be brighter and whiter than ever before.

Why Should You Choose a Kinetico Water Softener System?

water softeners
  • On-Demand Generation: Kinetico Softeners automatically regenerate, only when soft water is needed- not at preset intervals.
  • Unmatched Efficiency: Kinetico water softener systems are 100% non-electric and use less salt than any other system because they only regenerate when soft water is needed.
  • Tailored Solutions: Water hardness and water quality vary widely across our region. We start with a comprehensive water analysis to determine your needs. You may find other water problems that need to be addressed, and Kinetico can treat all of them.
  • Dual Tank Systems: You’ll never be without soft water- even when your system is regenerating.
What's Your Water Score?

Kinetico Water Softener Options

powerline series water treatment system

Powerline
Series
  • Best for City Water
  • High Capacity
  • Good Water Flow Rate
  • 5 Year Warranty

Product Brochure

water softener

Kinetico Premier Series
  • City or Well Water
  • Highest Capacity
  • Max Water Flow Rate
  • 10 Year Warranty

Product Brochure

Water Softener Buyer’s Guide

Purchasing a water softener is a critical—and sometimes confusing—process for homeowners. This guide will help answer the most pressing questions people have when starting on their water softener journey.


Your water may look clear. But all water contains at least some dissolved minerals, including calcium and magnesium. “Hard” water has high concentrations of these minerals. They leave a residue on your skin after bathing, create cloudiness on glassware and shower doors, and require more soap and detergent when washing skin, dishes and laundry.

Our water system professionals can test your water to understand your water’s hardness. As a general rule, water with zero to 3.5 Grains per Gallon (gpg) is considered soft. Water with 3.5 to 7 gpg is moderately hard, water with 7 to 10.5 gpg is hard, and anything above 10.5 gpg is very hard.


Water softening strictly applies to the dissolved minerals found in your water. Water purification focuses on impurities, including bacteria, chemicals, and sediment. Many homeowners rely on both types of systems, working in tandem, for optimal water quality.


A water softener system makes hard water soft by lowering concentrations of dissolved minerals, addressing the problems noted above. Water enters a home from a municipality or a well system. It travels first to a water softener tank containing resin beads that pull out the hard minerals. The system employs a second tank with a mix of water and salt that is used to clean the resin beads on a regular (often daily) basis when the system cycles through a regeneration process, described below.


Water softeners are not complex, so features typically come down to mechanical processes:

  • On-demand regeneration: The water softener regenerates through an ion exchange that cleanses the resin beads. On some systems, this is done on a timed schedule. In more advanced systems, the regeneration occurs when a sensor detects that the soft water reservoir is depleted. This helps reduce the water used in the regeneration process as well as energy consumption.
  • Alternating tanks: Larger systems will often use multiple tanks for softening and regeneration, helping ensure the supply of soft water, particularly at peak-use times.
  • Non-electric operation: Many budget softeners run on household electricity. Higher-quality systems, such as Kinetico, are non-electric and operate via the kinetic energy of the water flowing through the system.


“You get what you pay for” applies to water softeners. While budget-oriented basic models sell for less than $1,000, it’s important to consider a water softener’s impact on a homeowner’s quality of life. Budget systems can require extensive and expensive maintenance and parts replacement while never providing the performance to consistently deliver soft water.

Buyers should approach a purchase knowing they are investing 10 to 20 years, rather than shorter durations. A home’s water quality is essential for an enhanced quality of life.

Check out our water softener comparison blog!


The required size of a system varies, based on many variables, with water consumption at the top of the list. Consumption depends on the number of people in a house, the number of bathrooms, tubs, and showers, the frequency of use, and the capacity of the home’s plumbing. A qualified water softener professional can work with a homeowner to determine the optimal system capacity and configuration.


Softener systems are relatively inexpensive to operate. The homeowner or a service provider needs to replenish the softener salt needed for regeneration. Home centers and hardware stores sell salt by the bag. Service providers such as Aquarius Home Services can also deliver it and replenish the water softener. Since Kinetico systems do not run on household electricity, there is no cost to power the system. In addition, Aquarius Home Services offers maintenance plans to visit your home regularly to service equipment, including addressing warranty issues covered by Kinetico’s five- to 10-year warranties, with the duration based on the model purchased.


This is the rate at which water flows through the system. It depends on the incoming water flow, the appliances the softener feeds within the home, and the type of softener used. Flow rate helps our water softener experts recommend the right softener for your home.


Water use varies, depending on a variety of factors, including: hardness of water from the source, frequency of softener maintenance (maintaining optimal salt levels for regeneration), and overall water usage. Kinetico systems are efficient and are designed to help reduce the amount of water needed for softening.


Grains per gallon is a common metric for defining water hardness. Similar to the mg/L noted earlier, grains per gallon rates water as follows: below three grains per gallon is considered soft water, between three and seven grains per gallon is moderately hard water, seven to 10 grains per gallon is hard water, and more than 10 grains per gallon is very hard water.


We don’t recommend this. Having anyone other than a qualified water softener installation technician do this work can void product warranties, and many insurance companies may not cover damage caused by improper installation. In addition, a qualified water softener installation technician can help ensure that certain zones of a plumbing system that don’t need soft water, such as outdoor water spigots and irrigation systems, are not wasting softened water.

Protect your investment, and leave installation to a professional.

Contact Aquarius Home Services today. Our experts can answer your questions and help identify the best water softener system for your whole home.

company icon

Installing Water Softeners In A Community That’s Near You!

If you don’t see your community, call us!

office locations map
Alexandria

Ashby
Elbow Lake
Evansville
Fergus Falls
Glenwood
Long Prairie
Osakis
Parker’s Prairie
Sauk Centre
Starbuck
Bemidji
Bagley
Bemidji
Cass Lake
Leech Lake
Red Lake
Walker

Detroit Lakes

Detroit Lakes
Frazee
Hawley
Park Rapids
Perham
Wadena

Mora

Chisago City
Hinckley
Isle
Isanti
Lindstrom
Milaca
Rush City

Hayward

Cable
Hayward
Minong
Solon Springs

Brainerd

Aitkin
Baxter
Brainerd
Cross Lake
Little Falls
Nisswa
Pequot Lakes
North Branch
Pine City

Appleton

Appleton
Kaukana
Manitowoc
Neenah
Menasha
New London
Oshkosh

DePere

Allouez
Ashwaubenon
Bellevue
Green Bay
Sturgeon Bay
Suamico

Eau Claire

Chippewa Falls
Eau Claire
Menominie

Siren

Danbury
Grantsburg
Osceola
Rice Lake
Spooner
St. Croix Falls
Turtle Lake

Twin Cities
Afton
Andover
Anoka
Apple Valley
Arden Hills
Baldwin
Bayport
Blaine
Bloomington
Brooklyn Center
Burnsville
Champlin
Chanhassen
Cambridge
Chaska
Circle Pines
Cottage Grove
Columbia Heights
Crystal
Eagan
Eden Prairie
Edina
Elk River
Excelsior
Falcon Heights
Farmington
Forest Lake
Fridley
Gem Lake
Golden Valley
Hampton
Hastings
Hopkins
Hudson
Hugo
Inver Grove Heights
Lake Elmo
Lakeland
Lakeville
Mahtomedi
Maple Grove
Maplewood
Marine on the St. Croix
Minnetonka
Minneapolis
Mounds View
New Brighton
New Hope
New Richmond
North Oaks
North St. Paul
Oakdale
Orono
Pine Springs
Plymouth
Princeton
Richfield
River Falls
Robbinsdale
Rogers
Rosemount
Roseville
Saint Anthony
Saint Paul
Scandia
Shakopee
Shoreview
Spring Lake Park
South St. Paul
St. Louis Park
Stillwater
Vadnais Heights
Wayzata
White Bear Lake
Woodbury