What's the Buzz About Whole House Water Filters?

Whole house water filters are a good idea for many of us, but don't be fooled by advertising hype. Before you buy a whole house water filter, do your homework. That way, you'll know the water in you home is safe, but you won't spend more than you need to. We've done some of the leg work for you. Here's what we learned.

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There are only a few good whole house water filters on the market. They range in price from just under 00 to almost 00 and this is not a case of "you get what you pay for". The least expensive and the most expensive do basically the same job. The ones in the middle (SKW and Life Source) are a little more questionable.

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There are certain things that you want your whole house water filter to do. If your water comes from a water treatment facility, then you need to remove the chlorine.

Water treatment facilities use chlorine to disinfect the water. Originally, it was thought that the level of chlorine in tap water was probably safe for human consumption. But, more and more scientific reports are telling us otherwise. Even the FDA has admitted that showering in chlorinated water releases chlorine into the air in the form of chloroform gas, and that chloroform gas can be found at detectable levels within the majority of homes across the country.

Whole house water filters should resolve the chlorine problem, but the manufacturer should be able to produce certified documentation to prove this claim. Underwriter's Laboratory (UL), evaluates whole house water filters, if the manufacture requests certification. The SKW whole house water filter does not have UL certification, neither does the Life Source brand. Then there's Reverse Osmosis (RO).

Reverse osmosis systems are not designed to remove chlorine, neither do they claim to, in most cases. The systems are extremely expensive, exceeding ,000 for the least expensive models and are best when used in an industrial setting. For home use, a reverse osmosis system should have an accompanying filtration system to remove all the microscopic contaminants that the RO system leaves in the water.

Reverse osmosis whole house water filters are only beneficial if you have brine or brackish well water. In other words, if your water tastes like salt water. And, they are still not the best choices for drinking water. RO removes too many minerals from the water. Additionally, it's a very slow process and uses about 5 gallons of water to produce one gallon of potable water.

There are many other disadvantages to reverse osmosis systems, but the list is long and what you are actually looking for is the best whole house water filter. Suffice to say that RO is not it.

Whole house water filters should remove "particulates" from the water. Particulates may be organic or inorganic, but they are microscopic in size. The Life Source whole house water filter does not remove particulates. It does not have a micron filtration stage, yet the cost for the system is over 00. It requires electricity for operation and back flushing by hand. Somewhat of a hands-on system.

The SKW whole house water filter blocks particulates larger than 10 microns. The Wellness MG, which is the most expensive system that we mentioned above, costs nearly 00, and blocks particulates larger than 5 microns.

In our opinion, the best system is the least expensive one. These whole house water filters by Aquasana block particulates larger than 5 microns, more than 99% of chlorine, requires no electricity, is UL certified and does not require back flushing. It rhymes with the name of an African animal...

Now it's time to put what you have learned to work and improve the quality of your water.

What's the Buzz About Whole House Water Filters?

WATER SOFTENER