When plumber Jake Johnson worked in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he never had the urge to learn the ins and outs of water conditioning. There was no need, since natural spring water served the community.
But after Johnson made the move to Tampa, Florida, about five years ago, the realities of hard water finally made their way into his work. He primarily installed and serviced traditional water softeners, until he discovered an alternative option — the HALO 5 water filtration and conditioning system.
“I’ve been using it since it came to our region. It’s still somewhat of a newer thing in our area,” says Johnson, who currently works for Sample Plumbing in Tampa. “I’m finding that customers love it.”
THE DETAILS
The HALO 5 provides a five-stage filtration and conditioning process. It starts with granular activated carbon that provides the general removal of chlorine, chloramines, gases, dyes, fuels, heavy metals, human-made pollutants, disinfectants, pesticides, TTHM, sodium hypochlorite, undesirable odors and taste, and volatile organic contaminants.
From there, the water is filtered through high activity carbon, Filter-AG Plus (an all-natural, environmentally safe media with a large surface area and microporous structure), and high density garnet filter media (filters down to the 10-20 micron range). In the final stage, the HALO ION 2.0 in-line water conditioner uses magnetic fields to alter the molecular structure of positively and negatively charged ions of dissolved calcium and magnesium. This keeps hard water minerals suspended instead of attacking pipes and appliances and causing limescale.
MAINTENANCE-FREE SOLUTION
Prior to introducing the HALO 5 into his work, Johnson only had experience with traditional water softeners for addressing hard water issues. During that time, he estimates he would have about a dozen water softener calls a month between installs and service. So one of the features he says he likes best about the HALO 5 is that it is maintenance-free. Once installed, he has yet to have a customer who has had any problems. Plus, it doesn’t need the salt that traditional water softeners require.
“It’s a completely self-sufficient unit. I haven’t had any flaws with it that I know of,” Johnson says. “It’s all alkaline water coming out of the faucets, every fixture. It’s just a much cleaner water. Across the board, it’s a better product in my opinion. When I’ve been back to recent installs and asked customers how they like their HALO 5, it’s nothing but great things.”
Johnson recalls one customer who was having a skin reaction from the water coming through a traditional water softener. He installed a HALO 5 for her, and problem solved.
“I’ve gone back multiple times for different reasons and each time I’ve asked how her HALO 5 is doing and she doesn’t shut up about it,” Johnson says. “She loves the taste of the water. Her skin is a lot better and all her glass shower doors don’t have that hard water stain. Faucets and shower heads don’t have that white buildup anymore.”
EDUCATING CUSTOMERS
Johnson is proactive about educating customers on the benefits of the HALO 5, though he still deals some with traditional water softeners.
“I’ll push what I think they’re wanting or needing, but if they love everything about a traditional water softener, by all means I’ll put it in,” says Johnson. “But if they don’t want to worry about the maintenance, and that is a key thing especially with the elderly generation, I’ll recommend the HALO 5.”
Even if he still has customers on traditional water softeners, Johnson says his work is trending more toward the HALO 5. He will perform water tests for customers to show them exactly what they’re getting in different scenarios.
“First it’s a test to see if their softener is working, and if it is working, how well it is working,” Johnson says. “Then a complete neutral setting with the softener not active, just water running straight from the utility. Then they can see how hard that is and what chemicals are being brought in. Then you’re turning on the softener again and letting that go through and pulling a test on that. You’re seeing what the softener is actually producing.
“As soon as they have the info about the HALO 5, know the details, they’re often within about 30 days of getting one installed.”
EASY INSTALLATION
As far as the actual plumbing work goes, installation is easy, according to Johnson.
“The startup process takes a little bit longer than a traditional water softener,” he says. “It takes about an hour and a half.”
But that extra time required to do a few regenerations and system flushing during installation more than pays off later.
“Once it’s set up, you don’t have to worry about it at all,” Johnson says. “I’ve had no callbacks on the HALO 5.”
