Matched to your water
Ultima offers several USA-assembled options in every category. Once we know your water and your home, we match you to the right one. Here's what each category actually does.
Whole-house softener
Signs you need it: spotting on dishes and glass, soap that won't rinse off, dry skin and hair, scale building up around faucets and shower heads, a water heater that's crusting over.
How it works, plainly: hard water passes through a resin bed that swaps out the calcium and magnesium, then the resin periodically flushes and recharges itself — so soft water keeps coming without you doing anything.
What we size it by: your water's hardness, household size, and daily water use — sized to regenerate on a normal schedule, not constantly.
Upkeep: keep the tank stocked with salt (or potassium) and refill it periodically; the valve and resin do the rest.
Get recommendationWhole-house carbon / filtration
Signs you need it: chlorine smell at the tap or in the shower, water that tastes off, or a general sense the water isn't as clean as it should be.
How it works, plainly: water passes through activated carbon media that binds chlorine and chloramine before it reaches your tap, treating every fixture in the house from the kitchen sink to the shower.
What we size it by: your water source, whether it's chlorine or chloramine (chloramine needs more contact time), household size and flow rate.
Upkeep: the media has a service life and gets changed on a schedule — we tell you what to expect when we quote.
Get recommendationSoftener + carbon combo
Signs you need it: both hardness and chlorine or chloramine taste show up in your water — the usual case for city water here.
How it works, plainly: a softening stage and a carbon stage share one footprint, so hardness and taste get handled in a single system instead of two.
What we size it by: the same inputs as the individual systems — hardness, household size, flow — sized together so neither stage is a bottleneck.
Upkeep: salt for the softener side; carbon media changed on its own schedule.
Get recommendationReverse-osmosis drinking water
Signs you need it: tap water doesn't taste clean enough to drink or cook with, even after whole-house treatment.
How it works, plainly: water is pushed through several stages of pre-filtration and then a membrane that removes what's left, landing at a dedicated tap just for drinking and cooking.
What we size it by: household size, how your kitchen is set up, and what's already been treated upstream — an RO membrane lasts longer with proper pre-filtration.
Upkeep: pre-filters are changed on a schedule; the membrane lasts longer when the water reaching it is already treated.
Get recommendationWell water / iron systems
Signs you need it: rust-colored stains on fixtures and laundry, a rotten-egg smell, sediment in the water, or water quality that changes from week to week.
How it works, plainly: built around what your well's water test actually shows — iron, sulfur, sediment and hardness all need different treatment, so this category starts with the test, not a guess.
What we size it by: your water test results, well flow, and household size — never guessed.
Upkeep: depends on what the test shows; we walk you through it when we quote.
Get recommendationNot sure which one fits?
Take the 2-minute water quiz, or just call — we'll ask a few questions and point you the right way.