Pelican Water Systems was acquired by Pentair, one of the world's largest water treatment companies. Here's what that means for product quality, support, and whether Pelican is still worth buying.
Pentair acquired Pelican Water Systems, bringing significant engineering resources and distribution to the brand. The core product lineup — whole house carbon filters, salt-free conditioners, UV systems — remains largely the same. Pentair's backing improves parts availability and long-term support prospects.
| PC600 Whole House Filter | 6-stage carbon filtration, 600,000 gallons, for city water primarily |
| PC1000 Whole House Filter | 1,000,000 gallons, larger homes |
| NaturSoft Salt-Free Softener | Template Assisted Crystallization (TAC) — conditions water without salt |
| Combo systems | Filter + salt-free conditioner in one system |
| UV system | Add-on for bacteria and virus elimination |
| Well water system | Whole house filter + UV specifically for well water |
Pelican's standard whole house carbon filters are designed primarily for city water — chlorine, chloramine, VOC removal. For well water users, the key products are:
Important limitation: like Springwell's CF1, Pelican's standard carbon filter does not remove iron, manganese, or sulfur. Well water with these issues needs a dedicated iron filter upstream.
Springwell wins on media life and annual cost. Pelican wins on NSF system certification and slightly higher flow rate on some models. Both are excellent — the choice often comes down to whether full system NSF certification is a priority.
Springwell CF1 — Compare Price →Pelican's NaturSoft uses Template Assisted Crystallization (TAC) to convert hardness minerals into microscopic crystals that won't adhere to surfaces. This prevents scale buildup but does NOT remove hardness from water — hardness minerals remain in the water, just in a form that doesn't stick.
For most scale-prevention purposes, TAC works well. For applications where actual soft water is needed (skin, hair, laundry, appliance longevity), a traditional ion exchange softener (Fleck 5600SXT) is more effective.