We installed & lab tested the Softpro Elite water softener on well water source in Colorado. It is easy to DIY, holds official performance certifications, provided exceptional performance and is good value for the money.
What We Like
What We Don’t Like
We recently had the opportunity to test this SoftPro system ourselves with a private well in a rural community, Milner, Colorado. We wanted to know how effectively it could soften this water, which, with a total hardness measurement of 120 PPM, falls into the “hard” category.
In our testing, the SoftPro Elite Water Softener eliminated virtually all hardness minerals. It has a simple design with a digital control head, a relatively easy DIY install, and the same basic maintenance requirements as any other cation exchange water softener.
Table of Contents
▶️ Video Review
🪨 Hardness Reduction
There are two key factors that influence a water softener’s ability to do well in our “hardness reduction” testing category:
- Our own water quality lab testing (we use SimpleLab Tap Score)
- Official testing data from the NSF, IAPMO, or the WQA, if the system has been performance certified to NSF/ANSI 44.
See our observations in both categories below.
Our Performance Testing
Our performance testing process focused on analyzing the SoftPro Elite Water Softener’s ability to soften our water. There are two clear signs that we look for to prove that a cation exchange water softener is working as expected:
- The removal or significant reduction of calcium and magnesium, as well as a reduction in total hardness (calcium and magnesium combined).
- The increase in sodium (or potassium, if you’re using a potassium-loaded system).
We installed the SoftPro Elite Water Softener system at the main water line into the property, downstream of two sediment filters and a UV purifier.*
Before the installation, we took a sample of our water from a cold water faucet. Then, after installing the system and putting it into operation, we took another water sample from the same faucet. Both of these were shipped to our testing company’s laboratory for water quality analysis.
Calcium, Magnesium, & Total Hardness
Before installing the SoftPro system, our test water was classed as “hard” on the water hardness scale, with a total hardness reading of 120 PPM.
Pre-softening, 30.41 PPM of calcium was detected, along with 10.22 PPM of magnesium.
After the water had been softened, calcium had been decreased by 99.99% (to 0.00319 PPM) and magnesium by 99.98% (to 0.002 PPM)—essentially a total elimination.
Water hardness was also reduced significantly, down to 0.052 PPM (a 99.96% reduction). That’s exactly the outcome we had expected.
Sodium & Taste Effects
Since the cation exchange process involves the introduction of sodium into the water, we also wanted to assess the sodium concentrations in our test well water as a measure of the effectiveness of this process.
The sodium in the water increased by 635%, from 7.26 PPM to 53.42 PPM. The amount of sodium added depends on the initial hardness of the water, and our results were in line with our expectations based on the recorded initial water hardness.
How does this concentration of sodium compare to the legal limits imposed in the US?
Since the health risks of sodium in drinking water are generally low, there’s no national EPA-imposed Maximum Contaminant Level in water, and different regions have set their own standards based on the taste effects of excess sodium.
The EPA recommends that sodium concentrations in drinking water don’t exceed 30 to 60 mg/L, again, due to taste effects. With just over 53 PPM of sodium in the test water, it’s still within this range, and there was no noticeable salty taste.
Other Impurities Addressed
While cation exchange water softeners are primarily installed to address calcium and magnesium minerals, they also target other positively charged impurities in the water, including some heavy metals, iron*, and manganese.
In our testing, the SoftPro Elite Softener also addressed barium and strontium, two contaminants detected in the untreated well water.
100% of barium was reduced, from 0.057 PPM to 0 PPM. Strontium was also reduced by 100%, from 0.179 PPM down to undetectable levels.
While removing these impurities wasn’t our main intended outcome, it was a nice bonus result.
Water Quality Effects
Given these improvements to our test water quality, what changes were noticed after installing the SoftPro system?
The homeowner saw an immediate difference in the “feel” of their water, particularly when washing with soap (dishes, their hair, etc). They noted that they no longer felt the “tight, dry feeling” after washing in hard water.
The homeowner also commented that there were no new limescale deposits around their fixtures and in their water-using appliances (expected given that all the limescale-causing minerals had been removed).
In the long term, if the SoftPro system continues to perform as it has so far, the homeowner should enjoy benefits including extended appliance lifespan, reduced cleaning, no more skin or hair issues associated with hard water, and even reduced heating bills.
📌 Performance Certifications
Manufacturers of cation exchange water softeners can apply for an NSF/ANSI 44 performance certification.
While this isn’t a legal obligation, it can be a good selling point because it provides customers with peace of mind that the product performs as claimed (i.e., is effective at removing water hardness) and meets safety standards.
There’s a generic claim of “Industry Leadership Certifications” on the SoftPro Elite Water Softener product page, with images of the NSF, IAPMO, and WQA to make things look a bit more impressive. However, this tells us nothing about whether or not the system is actually NSF 44 certified, and a Google search brought up nothing.
We reached out to SoftPro’s customer service to ask about certifications for this model, and here’s what they said:
This is correct—we were able to find Canature Water Group (a Chinese company that manufacturers SoftPro’s products) on the NSF directory for Performance Standard 44, for cation exchange water softeners.
SoftPro definitely needs to be clearer about the exact certifications that the Elite Water Softener has on the product page, so customers can use this information to make an informed buying decision.
Maybe they’re quiet about it because they don’t want customers knowing that they’re outsourcing manufacturing to a Chinese company (although this is pretty common in the water treatment systems market).
🔁 Flow Rate
The SoftPro Elite Water Softener is available in three different sizes based on your well pump flow rate. SoftPro outlines how to measure your pump’s flow rate with both a table on the product page and a video, both of which are pretty helpful.
We went for the system for the 6-7 GPM well pump, and there was no noticeable decrease in water pressure or flow rate after it was installed.
📐Design
Cation exchange water softeners all have the same basic design, but the quality of their components and their added features can vary quite a bit. That’s why design is another important factor that we assess when we’re testing softeners ourselves.
The SoftPro Elite Water Softener has a simple design, with two tanks: a tall resin tank and a shorter, wider sodium tank. Both tanks are equipped with safety features, including an internal guard inside the brine tank to prevent overflows.
It also has a digital control head, with a display that lets you set the date and time, as well as your water hardness (required for accurate regeneration). You can also change the salt mode, set a manual regeneration, put the system into vacation mode, change the refill rate, and more. It’s well worth having a play around with these settings—they all help you to minimize how much you spend on water and salt.
The grain capacity ranges from 32,000 to 64,000 (the higher the grain capacity, the higher the price). This is important to get right—if the grain capacity is too low for your water hardness, it’ll regenerate too frequently. We chose the smallest 32,000-grain model.
Need help sizing a water softener? We’ve written a guide that should help you. You can view it here.
Component Quality
The SoftPro Well Water Softener feels sturdy and solid. The resin tank is made from fiberglass and contains 10% crosslink resin (superior to the 8% resin that’s sometimes used by other manufacturers and has a much shorter lifespan). We couldn’t find information on the material used to make the sodium tank, but it feels like a thick plastic.
The resin tank comes with a neoprene jacket, which prevents condensation during regeneration and protects the resin from humidity and cold temperatures.
None of the components are super high-tech, but they do the job and feel like they’re built to last, which is important for a point-of-entry system dealing with high flow rates like this one.
Regeneration Type
A big part of a cation exchange water softener’s design is how it regenerates.
All conventional water softeners have to regenerate. This process involves flushing out the accumulated hardness minerals from the resin and re-saturating the resin with sodium, ready to begin the softening process again.
A water softener’s regeneration type has a big impact on its efficiency, with some systems regenerating when they don’t need to due to their inefficient setup.
The good news is that the SoftPro Elite Softener has the most efficient regeneration process: demand-initiated regeneration, which is based on water hardness and usage rather than a timer.
Essentially, this means that the softener regenerates only once a certain amount of water has been softened. And because it also works off your specific water hardness, this allows for the most accurate regeneration schedule (only regenerating when sodium levels are almost completely depleted).
If you want to save money and waste as little water and salt as possible, go for a demand-initiated regen system like this SoftPro model.
Certifications
Water softener manufacturers can also obtain certifications for their system designs. The main one here is NSF 372, for lead-free design.
SoftPro makes claims about “3rd Party Certified Systems & Components”, so it’s good to see that the tank and control valve have an IAPMO materials safety certification within the NSF 44 performance certification. The resin is also IAPMO certified to NSF 61 for materials safety only.
Again, these certifications were awarded to the Canature Water Group (the company that manufactured the softener) rather than SoftPro (the brand name).
⚙️ Setup
When you’re installing a system at your main water line, like a water softener, there tends to be more complex processes involved, as well as more risk if you do something wrong (potentially impacting the flow of water throughout your home).
In the case of our testing, the homeowner hired a plumber to install the system, and you may prefer to do the same if you want the peace of mind of an expert installation.
But that definitely isn’t necessary. Installing the SoftPro Softener can be relatively easy if you’re handy and have basic plumbing skills. It’s a time-consuming job (around 4 hours total), and you’ll need a pipe cutter and other tools, but there are only a few components, and the instructions are pretty straightforward.
Speaking of instructions, you can either follow the written install guide (you should also receive a paper copy of this) or the install video, which is particularly helpful in showing you exactly what to do at every stage of the process. There’s also a separate video that walks you through programming the control valve.
The resin tank comes pre-loaded, so you’ll just need to add salt to the brine tank before you can put the system into operation.
🔧 Maintenance
Because this SoftPro model regenerates automatically, there’s not much that’s needed in the way of maintenance.
You’ll just have to check the salt tank around once a month and top up the salt levels to the fill line when necessary. Like all cation exchange softeners, the system can’t soften your water without salt, so this is a really important maintenance task.
The system comes with a low salt sensor, so you’ll be alerted if the salt levels drop past a certain point.
Aside from salt top-ups, you may also need to replace your sediment pre-filter, if you bought one separately (no filters are included with the system). These typically last around 6-12 months.
🏢 Company
With all the discussion on product testing out of the way, we like to finish our reviews with an assessment of the companies behind the products themselves.
SoftPro Water Systems is a company known for its whole-house water treatment systems that focus on efficiency and design quality. All SoftPro Elite Water softeners have:
- A lifetime warranty on the tanks
- A limited lifetime warranty on the control valve (excluding wear parts such as the circuit board and piston)
- A 7-year warranty on the circuit board
The resin has a 10-year warranty, but only in the city water softener. It has no warranty at all when it’s used in SoftPro’s well water systems.
The company also backs all its products with a 6-month money-back guarantee, which sounds great in theory, but you don’t actually get all your money back if you return your unit within this time—you’ll have to pay for returns shipping, and SoftPro takes a 25% restocking fee.
SoftPro has a pretty decent shipping policy: it’s free on orders over $75 to all US regions, apart from Alaska and Hawaii. The company does still ship to these two states, but at a custom-quoted fee.
💰 Value For Money
So, off the back of our testing, do we think the SoftPro Elite Well Water Softener is good value for money? The answer is yes.
In our testing, it addressed water hardness extremely well, as well as a couple of other impurities, and it looks and feels like it’s built to offer years of good performance without letting you down.
It might not be the cheapest water softener you can buy, but it’s not the most expensive, either. You’re paying for component quality and performance, as well as the certifications for performance and materials safety.
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