Tim,
I may be new to this industry, but not to the water purification industry. I used to work for a water softening company and later for a precision plastics extrusion company that HAD to have clean water.
What I can tell you is the following:
1) The filter you choose will have a great deal to do with how effective it is. The filter media is generally rated in microns - (generally anywhere from 3 to 100) which will trap particles larger than what the media is designed for. Example: a 10 micron filter will stop contaminates that are 10 microns or larger. Anything smaller will pass through. Unfortunately, lime and rust will generally pass through even a 3 or 5 micron filter which is about as small as you can go with these types. Further, depending on how hard your water is, the smaller the micron filter you use, the faster it will clog. I have seen them clog so bad that almost no water will pass through! This could be a bad thing to happen on the job site if you don't have a replacement filter handy. Another trick would be to install a by-pass valve which would allow you to redirect the flow of water around the filter in case of a failure.
2) Now a water softener has a much greater capacity for removing calcium salts, lime, rust and most other crud found in the water. The only probelm I see here is that residual salt needed to recharge and clean a softener can never really be totally removed from the system. It will, however, boost the cleaning power of your chems. It may, though, still leave spots on windows but would undoubtedly help keep the crud out of your machine. This would be my choice. I would install it in my house and use my house water to fill the tank - this would make it easier to recharge as well as I would benefit from having it in the house as well. Obviously if you use water on site, this would not be an option and you would need to mount it to your rig
3) The best and most effective system is the "RO" or reverse osmosis system. These use a membrane type filter that virtually removes all hardness out of the water. Though probobly the most effective, they are also the most expensive.
My two sense - hope it helps!
Tim
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