For hygiene reasons, we recommend replacing the filter no later than 12 months after installation.

The actual maintenance interval may vary depending on the size of the home, water hardness, water consumption, plumbing system, and usage patterns. Based on this information, we will let you know the optimal replacement time on a case-by-case basis.

soft-home guarantees a term of 12 months, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

The replacement filter for the soft-home costs 399 EUR.

Upon request, maintenance can be performed by one of our service technicians. The service call costs an additional 200 EUR.

Unlike salt-based water softeners, where the garantie is often valid only if the manufacturer performs regular service, the Dropvital garantie remains valid regardless of whether service is performed.

The soft-home comes with a 20-year manufacturer's warranty.

You can easily perform maintenance yourself. With each cartridge, you'll receive a QR code that links to maintenance instructions in your preferred language, as well as a clear, step-by-step video.

In the soft-home cartridge, calcium and magnesium ions in the water bind to malic acid. This process forms stable organic complexes, particularly calcium malate and magnesium malate. This complexation fundamentally alters the chemical state of the minerals.

Because they are bound to malic acid, the minerals are no longer present as freely available calcium carbonate. As a result, they can no longer crystallize into conventional lime (CaCO₃) and deposit on pipes, faucets, or surfaces.

The minerals remain in the water, but they are chemically bound.

Under normal operating and household conditions, these organically bound minerals do not break free from their bonds, so no new limescale is formed. This remains true even when the water is heated, since the calcium ions are no longer present in the free form required for limescale formation.

The key difference from physical conversion systems is that the calcium carbonate is not merely altered in its crystalline form, but is chemically bound. The soft-home therefore does not rely on impfkristalls, magnetization, or turbulence, but rather on the targeted organic complexation of the lime-forming ions.

Important:

The minerals are not removed, but are permanently bound. The water composition remains unchanged, while limescale buildup is reliably prevented.

Conventional salt-based water softeners, on the other hand, operate on the principle of ion exchange. In this process, calcium and magnesium ions are completely removed from the water—regardless of their function—and replaced with sodium ions. Consequently, it is technically impossible for salt-based systems to selectively distinguish between scale-forming ions and mineral components.

Unlike traditional salt-based water softeners, which replace calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions, the soft-home operates without ion exchange and without salt. The natural minerals remain entirely in the water.

Instead, calcium and magnesium ions are organically chelated by malic acid. This results in stable mineral-malate complexes, particularly calcium malate and magnesium malate. These organically bound minerals are up to 100 times more water-soluble than conventional calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and are therefore no longer available to form limescale deposits.

Through this complexation process, the minerals remain dissolved in the water but can no longer settle as hard scale on pipes, faucets, or appliances. In practice, the water behaves like soft water, even though its mineral composition remains unchanged.

Even when heated—for example, during hot-water operation or while cooking—the minerals remain predominantly in their organically bound form. This effectively prevents the reaction with carbonate ions that is necessary for limescale formation.

Interpretation of the Measurement Values

Conventional test strips or simple hardness measurements continue to indicate the original water hardness, as they only measure the total amount of dissolved mineral ions. They do not distinguish between freely available hardness components and organically complexed minerals. Consequently, the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) value also remains unchanged.

What matters is not the reading from cheap test strips that are designed solely to react to mineral ions, but rather the chemical behavior of the minerals in the water:

• The minerals are bound, highly water-soluble, and lime-inactive—this prevents lime deposits from forming without the need to remove minerals or add sodium.
• When minerals bind with malic acid, magnesium malate and calcium malate are formed.
• No magnesium citrate, no magnesium sulfate, and no magnesium oxide.

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No. The soft-home does not change the pH level of the water.

Water treatment is performed without ion exchange and without chemically altering the pH. The natural pH of the source water remains unchanged.