/>Hi, I'm Randy B. I live in Arizona. Craig "The Water Guy" Phillips asked me to share my homeowner experience with the local tap water from the city and the SoftPro® Elite HE Water Softener for City Water (Industry's Best Softener & Filter Combo) I purchased. This is how my adventures played out. I hope this helps you in your decision.
Did you know that Arizona has some of the hardest water in the entire United States?
Living here for over fifteen years, I thought the white crusty buildup on my faucets and the way my skin felt like sandpaper after every shower was just "normal." My wife constantly complained about how quickly our clothes looked dingy, and our dishwasher had developed this persistent film that made our glassware look cloudy no matter what detergent we used. The breaking point came last spring when our coffee maker died – the third one in two years – and the repair technician bluntly told us that mineral buildup had destroyed the internal components. That's when I realized we had a serious hard water problem that was costing us real money.
The Wake-Up Call: Understanding Our Arizona Water Problem
Before diving into my experience with the SoftPro Elite HE, I need to share just how bad our water situation had become. Arizona municipalities source water from the Colorado River and underground aquifers, both of which pick up massive amounts of dissolved minerals as they travel through limestone and other mineral-rich geological formations.
I decided to test our water after that coffee maker incident. Using a TDS meter I picked up from the hardware store, I measured our incoming water at 420 parts per million of total dissolved solids. To put that in perspective, the EPA considers anything over 300 PPM to be "very hard" water. Our local water utility confirmed we were dealing with 24 grains per gallon hardness – that's incredibly hard water that was literally destroying our appliances and making daily life frustrating.
The mineral content breakdown was eye-opening: high levels of calcium carbonate, magnesium sulfate, and traces of iron that were leaving reddish stains in our toilets and shower. Beyond the aesthetic issues, I calculated we were spending an extra $40 per month on bottled water because our tap water tasted so metallic and unpleasant.
Our skin and hair problems were getting worse too. My wife has sensitive skin, and the hard water was stripping away natural oils, leaving her with constant dryness and irritation. Our teenage daughter complained that her hair felt "crunchy" and looked dull no matter what expensive shampoos we tried. Even our dog seemed to prefer drinking from puddles outside rather than his water bowl filled from the tap.
The appliance damage was becoming expensive. Our tankless water heater was making strange noises, and when the technician cleaned it during annual maintenance, he showed me chunks of mineral scale that had built up inside the heat exchanger. He warned that without addressing the hard water, we'd need a full replacement within a few years instead of the 15-20 year lifespan we expected.
Research Phase: Why I Chose the SoftPro Elite HE System
>Once I committed to solving our water problem, I spent three months researching different approaches. I quickly learned that not all water softeners are created equal, especially for Arizona's extreme water conditions.
Traditional salt-based ion exchange systems seemed like the obvious choice, but I discovered that basic models struggle with water as hard as ours. The regeneration cycles would be so frequent that we'd go through massive amounts of salt, and the brine discharge would be substantial. Given Arizona's water conservation concerns, I wanted something more efficient.
Salt-free water conditioners initially appealed to me because they don't discharge brine or require ongoing salt purchases. However, after speaking with three different water treatment professionals, I learned that these systems don't actually remove hardness minerals – they just change their structure to reduce scale formation. For our extreme hardness levels, conditioning wouldn't provide the comprehensive solution we needed.
The SoftPro Elite HE caught my attention because it combines traditional ion exchange softening with advanced filtration in a single system. What sold me was the high-efficiency upflow regeneration design, which uses 75% less salt and 64% less water than conventional downflow systems. For a family of four in the desert, those efficiency numbers were crucial.
The system is NSF certified for both hardness removal and chlorine reduction, meeting standards NSF/ANSI 44 and NSF/ANSI 42. This dual certification meant I wouldn't need separate systems for softening and basic filtration. The fine mesh resin and precision-engineered valve promised consistent performance even with heavily mineralized water like ours.
I also appreciated that SoftPro designed this specific model for city water applications. It includes activated carbon filtration to address chlorine taste and odor issues that are common with municipal water treatment. The carbon component would tackle the metallic taste we'd grown accustomed to, while the softening resin would eliminate the mineral problems.
After requesting quotes from five local dealers, the pricing was competitive with separate softener and filter systems, but the SoftPro offered the convenience of a single unit with coordinated maintenance schedules.
Unboxing and First Impressions of the SoftPro Elite
The SoftPro Elite HE arrived on a Tuesday morning via freight delivery, properly secured on a pallet. The packaging was impressive – heavy-duty cardboard with plenty of protective foam, clearly designed for a product that weighs over 200 pounds when fully loaded with resin.
My first impression was that this system feels substantial and well-built. The control valve housing is constructed from thick, UV-resistant polymer that doesn't feel cheap or flimsy like some residential water treatment equipment I've encountered. The resin tank is a professional-grade fiberglass vessel with a smooth, non-porous interior finish.
The documentation package was thorough – installation manual, operation guide, warranty information, and a surprisingly detailed troubleshooting guide. The installation manual included specific plumbing diagrams for different household configurations, which gave me confidence that SoftPro had thought through real-world installation challenges.
Inside the box, I found all necessary fittings, bypass valve assembly, drain line tubing, and mounting hardware. The quality of these components matched the main unit – no cheap plastic fittings or https://www.trustpilot.com/review/softprowatersystems.com undersized tubing that might fail under normal operating pressure.
One detail that impressed me was the pre-loaded premium resin. Many systems ship empty and require dealers to add resin on-site, but SoftPro loads their high-capacity fine mesh resin at the factory under controlled conditions. This ensures optimal performance from day one and eliminates the possibility of contamination during field loading.
The control head features a clear LCD display with intuitive navigation buttons. Even before installation, I could see this would be much easier to program and monitor than the basic timer-based systems I'd seen at big box stores.
Installation Experience: Professional Setup Pays Off
> Although SoftPro offers detailed DIY installation instructions, I decided to hire a certified installer given the complexity of integrating this system with our existing plumbing. Our house has a pressure tank system for our well backup, plus we needed to install the unit in our garage where space was limited.
The installation took about four hours with two technicians. They needed to install a dedicated 110V outlet for the control valve, run new drain lines to our floor drain, and modify our main water line to accommodate the bypass valve system. The technicians were impressed with the quality of the SoftPro components, mentioning that the valve assembly was much more robust than typical residential units.
One challenge we encountered was positioning the unit to allow adequate clearance for the top-mounted valve while keeping it accessible for maintenance. The SoftPro Elite HE is taller than basic softener tanks due to the upflow design, but the technicians worked with me to find an optimal location that maintained the required 36-inch service clearance.
The initial programming was straightforward. We set the system for our measured 24 grains per gallon hardness and programmed regeneration for 2 AM when water usage is minimal. The technician explained that the Elite HE's demand-initiated regeneration would automatically adjust frequency based on actual water usage rather than running on a fixed schedule like older systems.
After installation, we ran the initial regeneration cycle and system sanitization. The first backwash water was slightly cloudy as expected with new resin, but cleared quickly. By evening, we were ready to test our first softened water.
The total installation cost was $380, which included all labor, materials, and system startup. Given the complexity of our plumbing situation and the need for electrical work, I felt this was reasonable for professional installation that came with warranty coverage.
Performance Analysis: Real-World Results After 18 Months
> The transformation in our water quality was immediately noticeable, but the full benefits became apparent over several weeks of use. Within 72 hours, I tested our softened water at less than 1 grain per gallon hardness – essentially complete removal of calcium and magnesium minerals.
The most dramatic change was in our skin and hair quality. My wife noticed softer, less irritated skin within a week, and our daughter's hair regained its natural shine and manageability. The "slippery" feeling of softened water took some adjustment – we initially used too much soap and shampoo because we were accustomed to hard water's poor lathering.
Our appliance performance improvements exceeded my expectations. The dishwasher now produces spotless glassware without rinse aids or special detergents. Our washing machine requires 40% less detergent to achieve better cleaning results, and our white clothes stay bright instead of developing that grayish tinge we'd accepted as normal.
The chlorine filtration component addressed taste and odor issues we'd grown accustomed to. Our tap water now tastes clean and neutral – we stopped buying bottled water within two weeks of installation. The activated carbon filter effectively removes the chemical taste that's common with heavily chlorinated municipal water.
What surprised me most was the efficiency of the regeneration system.
Despite our extremely hard water, the Elite HE only regenerates every 4-5 days for our family of four. We use approximately one 40-pound bag of salt per month, which costs about $6 at our local home improvement store. The water usage for regeneration averages 45 gallons per cycle – significantly less than the 80-120 gallons I'd read about with conventional downflow systems.
I've measured consistent performance over 18 months with no degradation in softening capacity. Monthly TDS testing shows our treated water maintaining 95-98% mineral removal efficiency. The system automatically adjusts regeneration timing based on actual water usage, so it runs more frequently during summer months when irrigation and pool filling increase our consumption.
The carbon filtration component requires more frequent attention than the softening resin. I replace the carbon pre-filter every 6 months, which costs about $25 per replacement. This maintenance schedule keeps chlorine removal at optimal levels and protects the downstream resin from chlorine damage that can reduce its lifespan.
