Locally owned & operated — Jacksonville · Tampa Bay · Orlando Free in-home water test · (904) 897-2493
Jacksonville · Tampa Bay · Orlando

Florida water is hard.Yours doesn't have to be.

Across most of the state, tap water comes out of limestone and arrives loaded with dissolved calcium and magnesium. That's what scales your pipes, wears out your water heater early, and leaves film on everything you own. We fix it where the water enters the house.

Find out what's really in my water Get a Quote Call (904) 897-2493
No cost, no obligation Results in 20 minutes Same-week appointments
Hardness where you live
Utility-reported averages
Hard to Very Hard
7–15grains per gallon
0
5
10
15
Soft Mod. Hard Very hard
Jacksonville — JEA15 gpg average
Tampa — City of Tampa10.8 gpg average
Orlando — OUC7 gpg average
Considered “soft”Under 1 gpg
Your homeTest it free
Licensed & insured in FL
5-year warranty
Financing available
Florida owned & operated
Fleck 5600 metered valve
Before and after

Six signs of hard water
and the solution

Nothing on the left is exotic. It's the ordinary background noise of living in Florida — and every one of it has the same cause and the same fix.

The problem

White crust on every faucet

Chalky scale on spouts, shower doors and glassware that returns days after you scrub it off.

A faucet aerator packed solid with mineral scale beside the same aerator clean and clear
Hard waterSoftened
With a softener

Fixtures that stay shiny

No hardness minerals in the water means nothing left behind to dry into scale. Wipe once, and it stays clean.

The problem

Soap that will not lather

Minerals bind to soap instead of letting it foam, so you use more shampoo and more detergent for the same result.

A bathtub dulled by soap scum film beside the same bathtub scrubbed white and glossy
Hard waterSoftened
With a softener

Full lather from half the soap

In controlled testing, softened water cut the detergent needed for the same clean by up to half in laundry and up to 70% in dishwashing.

The problem

Dry, itchy skin

Soap curd and mineral residue stay behind on your skin after every rinse, which is why lotion feels compulsory here.

A close-up of dry, flaking skin beside the same skin smooth and evenly textured
Hard waterSoftened
With a softener

Showers that rinse clean

Nothing left on your skin but water. This is the change most customers mention first, usually within the first week.

The problem

Chlorine taste and smell

The disinfectant that keeps municipal water safe is also what you taste in your coffee and smell in the shower.

A glass of untreated water beside a glass of clear filtered water in a kitchen
Hard waterSoftened
With the Pro Plus

Water that tastes like nothing

Stage two runs the softened water through activated coconut shell carbon, which is what removes chlorine taste and odour.

The problem

A water heater that dies early

Scale settles on the tank floor and the burner surface. Gas heaters measurably lose efficiency as it accumulates.

A cutaway water heater with its element buried in scale on one side and clean in softened water on the other
Hard waterSoftened
With a softener

A tank that stays clean inside

The same lab study measured 1.16 lb of scale a year in a gas heater on hard water — and 0.02 lb on softened water. Effectively none.

The problem

Hair that never rinses clean

Shampoo and hard water make a curd that stays in your hair instead of going down the drain. It builds up as a dull film, and no amount of rinsing shifts it.

The same head of long hair shown twice, rough and dull on one side and smooth with visible shine on the other
Hard waterSoftened
With a softener

Hair that feels like hair again

Nothing dissolved in the water means nothing left in your hair. Shampoo rinses out completely, so hair feels soft rather than coated and holds its shine between washes.

Illustrative photography, licensed stock. For the real thing — scale our own technicians pulled out of Florida homes — see our hard water page.

Read: problems with hard water
Solutions

One system does the heavy lifting

A whole-home conditioner is the fix for hardness, and it's where nearly every customer starts. A drinking water system is the upgrade for taste and purity at the kitchen sink.

Start here
Otter Pro Plus water conditioner and brine tank
Whole-home conditioner

Otter Pro Plus

Three units in one tank. Water is softened through cation resin, refined through activated coconut shell carbon, then polished through a silica filter bed — every drop, every tap.

  • 30,000 grain capacity, 10" × 54" mineral tank
  • Fleck 5600 metered valve — regenerates on use, not a timer
  • 5-year warranty on tanks, media and valves
Explore the Pro Plus
Optional add-on

RO Drinking Water

A reverse osmosis unit under the kitchen sink for the water you drink and cook with. The softener handles the whole house; RO gives you one tap of near-pure water.

  • Multi-stage filtration, dedicated faucet
  • Reduces dissolved solids a softener isn't built to remove
  • Optional line to the refrigerator ice maker
  • Ends the bottled water habit for good
See the RO system
Where we work

Family owned, serving North and Central Florida

Three metros, three different water problems. Jacksonville and Orlando both pull from the Floridan aquifer. Tampa is the outlier — its water comes mostly from the Hillsborough River and is treated with chloramine rather than chlorine. The right system depends on which one you're on.

Jacksonville Duval · St. Johns · Clay Orlando Orange · Seminole Tampa Bay Hillsborough · Pinellas

Three metros, expanding across Florida from here.

Northeast Florida
Greater Jacksonville
Duval · St. Johns · Clay · Nassau
JacksonvilleJacksonville BeachPonte VedraNocateeOrange ParkFleming IslandSt. AugustineFernandina BeachYulee
Jacksonville water facts
West Central Florida
Tampa Bay
Hillsborough · Pinellas · Pasco · Manatee
TampaBrandonRiverviewLutzWesley ChapelClearwaterSt. PetersburgPalm HarborBradenton
Tampa water facts
Central Florida
Greater Orlando
Orange · Seminole · Osceola · Lake
OrlandoWinter ParkLake NonaWindermereWinter GardenApopkaAltamonte SpringsKissimmeeClermont
Orlando water facts

Not sure whether you're in range? Enter your ZIP with your test request below and we'll tell you straight away.

UDI Water headquarters and service center in Jacksonville, Florida
UDI Water headquarters and service center — Jacksonville, FL
About us

Since 1979, home water treatment is all we do

Otter Soft Water is part of the UDI family, alongside UDI Water and United Hydro. The people installing your system and answering your service call in year eight have been treating water across the Southeast for forty-seven years — more than 75,000 families, A+ rated by the BBB, and named “Tops in Treatment” in America by Water Technology magazine.

1979
Serving the Southeast since
75,000+
Families served
100+
National awards
A+
BBB rated
Read our story
Why Otter

Three ways to solve this

Otter Pro PlusBig-box DIY unitNational franchise
Installed price$2,600 — published, flat$600–$1,500 plus your own install$6,000–$10,000, quoted after an in-home visit
Water tested first✓ Free, in your home— You guess at sizing✓ Often free
FunctionsSoftens, refines & filtersSoftens onlyUsually softens only
Control valveFleck 5600, meteredOften timer-basedProprietary — parts only from them
Tank constructionABS inner, fiberglass-wound outer, UV coverSingle-wall, variesVaries by franchise
Warranty5 years incl. tanks, media & valves1–5 years, parts onlyVaries by franchise
Who services it laterSame local team, same phone numberNobodyCall center routing
See the full comparison, including Culligan and Kinetico
Free water test

Find out what's really in your water

A technician comes out, tests your water at the tap, and shows you the results on the spot. It takes about twenty minutes and costs nothing. If you don't want a system afterward, that's a perfectly fine outcome.

No cost, no obligation Same-week appointments Evening & Saturday slots

Find out what's really in your water

Book your free in-home water test. Takes under a minute; we'll confirm by text.

We can still help — but we'll need your landlord. A softener connects to the home's main water line, so the property owner has to authorize the installation. Send us your details anyway and we'll give you what you need to make the case, or talk to them directly if you'd rather we did.

We'll only use your details to arrange your water test. We don't sell your information. [Consent language is a draft — have counsel review before public launch.]

Questions

The things people actually ask

Is the water test really free?

Yes. A technician tests your water at the tap, explains the results, and leaves. There's no fee and no requirement to buy anything. We do it because most people have no idea how hard their water is until they see the number.

Do I need a softener if I'm on city water?

Usually, yes. Municipal utilities treat water for safety — bacteria, contaminants, disinfection. Hardness isn't a health issue, so it generally isn't removed. That's why city water in Florida still leaves scale on your fixtures. JEA, the City of Tampa and OUC all publish their own hardness numbers, and all three are in the hard or very hard range.

What's the difference between a softener and reverse osmosis?

A softener treats the whole house and removes the calcium and magnesium that cause scale, film and appliance wear. Reverse osmosis treats one tap — usually the kitchen sink — and improves taste and purity for drinking and cooking. They solve different problems and work well together.

How much does a system cost?

It depends on your water, the size of your home, and whether you add drinking water. We won't quote a number sight unseen, and we won't make you sit through a presentation to get one — you get a written price after the test. Financing is available.

How long does installation take?

Most whole-home installs are completed in a single visit, typically about half a day. Adding an under-sink RO system usually adds an hour or two.

Do you serve renters?

Installation requires the property owner's authorization, since the system connects to the home's main water line. If you rent, we're glad to talk to your landlord.

Sources for figures on this page

  1. Jacksonville hardness — JEA, Water Hardness Levels. JEA publishes a reading for each of its 41 ZIP codes, ranging from 120 to 372 mg/L (7–22 gpg), and labels 37 of them “very hard.” The 15 gpg shown here is the average of those published ZIP readings; your own ZIP may be considerably higher or lower, which is why we test at the tap. See the Jacksonville page for readings by ZIP.
  2. Tampa hardness — City of Tampa 2024 Water Quality Report: “The average total hardness of our finished water was 185 mg/L or 10.8 grains/gallon.” Seasonal range from the City of Tampa “Understanding Water Hardness” fact sheet.
  3. Orlando hardness — Orlando Utilities Commission, Water Services FAQ: “The average hardness of OUC water is 129 ppm or 7 gpg.”
  4. Hardness classification — U.S. Geological Survey. Soft-water definition (under 1 grain per gallon) per NSF/ANSI 44 and NSF/ANSI 330.
  5. Water heater efficiency and low-flow fixture clogging — Water Quality Research Foundation / Battelle Memorial Institute, Softened Water Benefits Study, 2009.
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