What is a High Flow Water Softener?

A high flow water softener has been designed to work with high flow, pressurised or direct feed, plumbing systems, to ensure that a property benefits from softened water 24/7 without their water flow being disrupted. 

What is a High Flow Rate?

In order to understand the importance of a high flow water softener, it’s important to know about the different water flow rates within UK homes.

Your home’s flow rate is the volume of fluid that passes through a pipe or channel within a given period of time, normally a minute or an hour.

Low Flow Rates

Low flow rates are characteristic of the older, indirect plumbing systems, which store water in a large tank in the roof and feed it into the property’s pipes and appliances via gravity. Water flow in these homes will not be affected by a water softener as pressure is determined by the height of the water tank.

High Flow Rates

High flow rates are now required by a growing number of UK household plumbing systems in order to maintain direct feed systems to appliances such as combi boilers, and this high flow rate is achieved by using larger pipes in the property’s plumbing system. Most common in larger homes, these systems are dependent on the pressure of the incoming water supply, which can be altered as it passes through a water softener.

Benefits of a High Flow Water Softener

You and your home will benefit from using a water softener that is designed for your property, be that low flow or high flow. By choosing a water softener that has been manufactured to be compatible with your home and its specific water flow rate, you will make sure that you don’t experience a reduction in your property’s water flow rate after installation.

Different Types of Water Softeners

Manufacturers have designed different types of water softener to suit the range of different homes across the UK. It’s important that a water softener is compatible with a property’s plumbing system in order for it to efficiently produce softened water 24/7.

Some water softeners do not create the water flow required by a larger, high flow rate household and the efficiency of the ion-exchange process within the water softener can be less effective.

Which Water Softener is Best for Me? 

The great news is that the Harvey Water Softener is designed to work in both high and low flow areas: no matter where you live in the UK, if you suffer from hard water, the Harvey Water Softener will prevent limescale and appliance efficiency around your home, save you money and alleviate any skin irritations for you and your family.

Test Whether You Have High or Low Flow

While the Harvey Water Softener is compatible with both low flow and high flow systems, having a good knowledge of your property’s plumbing is an important step in making sure that your water softener and other household appliances are working at maximum efficiency.

A member of the Harvey’s team will be able to advise you on this during a free, no obligation demonstration at your home, as well as demonstrating the benefits of softened water first hand.

We’ve been designing water softeners that make a difference to people’s lives for over 50 years. Find out exactly how our water softeners work and discover the science behind their outstanding performance and reliability.

Discover how a water softener works – find out more!