The CareSoft Series® is the WaterCare softener line Absolute Water Solutions installs across Spicewood, the Lake Travis districts and the Hill Country. It comes in four configurations, CareSoft Elite®, CareSoft Elite RC®, CareSoft Pro® and CareSoft Pro RC®, and the right way to pick between them is not the brochure. It is the hardness number and the disinfectant reading from your own tap.
What the CareSoft Series is
All four are ion-exchange softeners built around a metered controller that watches how much water the household actually runs and regenerates on that basis, not on a calendar. The clock-driven softener that recharged on a fixed night whether anyone was home or not is what these replace. Elite and Pro both come as a single-tank unit, as a compact cabinet unit for a laundry closet or a tight garage corner, or as a twin unit with two mineral tanks, so one is in service while the other regenerates and the house is never handed hard water in between.
Elite and Pro: what separates them
CareSoft Elite® is the top of the line. WaterCare gives it high-performance resin media that also knocks down unwanted taste and odor, a patented disinfection feature that treats the system at each regeneration, and a controller with enough adjustment for us to fine-tune reserve and salt dose to your measured water. It self-adjusts as your use changes, whether that is a summer of house guests or a winter with the irrigation off.
CareSoft Pro® is the simpler sibling. It runs WaterCare's patented IQ2 technology, which monitors and learns your water habits, and we program it to your household's numbers at install. Same cabinet and twin options, same low salt and water draw. Both Elite and Pro accept W.E.T.™, the Water Efficient Technology feature set that scales salt and rinse water to the resin actually used.
RC: carbon and resin in one tank
Add RC and the mineral tank is split into two chambers: activated carbon in one, high-capacity softening resin in the other. Water passes through the carbon first, which takes out chlorine and the tastes and odors that ride along with a treated supply, then through the resin, which removes the hardness. One tank instead of two also means less pressure loss across the system.
Where that fits in our area: the small Spicewood utilities we have checked, the Lake Travis surface plants and the Trinity well fields alike, disinfect with free chlorine, which is exactly what the RC's carbon chamber is for. Austin Water and the Lakeway, Cedar Park and Leander utilities use chloramine instead, and chloramine is harder on standard carbon. On those supplies we test, and we say plainly whether an RC is enough or whether a catalytic carbon stage ahead of a standard CareSoft is the better build.
Which one your water test points to
Every CareSoft quote begins with testing your water: grains per gallon of hardness, iron, pH, TDS, and which disinfectant is present. The lake districts that do not lime-soften report about 11 gpg; Austin Water is lower but leaves its water at a high, scale-forming pH; Ellenburger and Trinity wells can run far harder. That number, with the people and bathrooms in the house, sets capacity and flow rate. The disinfectant reading decides RC or not. Iron decides whether a CareSoft is the right tool at all: a well with iron needs the iron taken out upstream, or a different media altogether, and we say so rather than sell a softener that will foul.
Installation and upkeep
Our own crew installs every CareSoft under TCEQ water treatment license WT001370, no subcontractors, as we have done since 2003. We connect at the pre-plumbed loop where the house has one, otherwise at the main with a full bypass, plumb the drain and the brine line, enter your hardness number in the controller, and put the unit through its initial regeneration while we are still on site. On a septic lot the metered controller satisfies Texas's demand-initiated regeneration rule; the water softener service page covers that law and Austin's permit rule in detail. Afterwards, upkeep is mostly salt in the brine tank. We show you where the bypass is and how to read the salt level, and because manufacturer warranties differ from unit to unit, we go over what yours carries.
Ready for a number?
If the glass is spotting and the faucets are crusting again, ask for a free estimate or phone (512) 587-8188 on a weekday between 8am and 5pm. We test first, then quote the CareSoft that fits.