Explore your options before buying whole-house water treatment systems. A home water treatment system is an absolute necessity, these days, but if you make the wrong choice, you won’t be protecting your family. And, if you don’t shop carefully, you could spend a lot more than necessary.
The choices for whole-house water treatment systems include reverse osmosis, carbon granule filtration, micron or sediment filtration and multi-stage designs. How do you choose? You have to know what contaminants you are faced with.
You have to decide if a whole home water treatment system is a better choice than multiple units around the house. You also have to decide which manufacturer is the best and how much money you can afford to spend for purchasing, installation, maintenance and replacement filters.
Hopefully, I can help you make those decisions. First, let’s look at the most common contaminants and their health threats.
Chlorine
It’s bad for your hair and skin. It causes dryness, itching and irritation. It’s bad for your digestion, because it is still active when it enters your body and kills the good bacteria that inhabit your digestive tract.
It can cause diarrhea or constipation, acid reflux and heartburn. In order to remove chlorine, whole-house water treatment systems must include granulated carbon.
Cysts
They are very young microbes that are resistant to public disinfection methods. Once ingested, they infect the gastrointestinal system causing illness that can kill. People with dysfunctional immune systems should avoid any source of exposure.
Exposure can occur through drinking, brushing one’s teeth or cleaning fruits and vegetables. Only a submicron particle filtration home water treatment system can remove them. Since most whole-house water treatment systems only remove particles larger than five microns, you may need a separate system for the kitchen and bathroom faucets.
Cost
The reverse osmosis home water treatment system is the most expensive. Without additional steps, the unit will not protect your health or safety. They are unnecessary for most homeowners and the most effective units cost around $10,000.
They create wastewater and use additional electricity. The most effective RO units create the most wastewater. In addition, they strip electrolytes which are necessary for proper hydration.
I looked at the top five best selling whole-house water treatment systems and the price ranged from $999 to $5950. Except for one, they all did about the same job. A $3800 model did not remove particulates at all. There was no micron filtration, only carbon granule filtration. That’s a lot of money to spend on carbon granules.
The most expensive home water treatments system doesn’t do anything that the least expensive one cannot do. So, in this particular situation, you can safely go with the bargain. As long as the product is UL certified to remove 99% of chlorine, you’re covered.
Other Considerations
If the system uses electricity, your electric bills will go up. If the system requires back flushing, you are wasting water and your water bill will go up. If back flushing is required, then installation will involve adding a drain pipe.
Some of the whole-house water treatment systems are as big as water-heaters, so they take up extra space that you may not have. There are likely other things to consider that I have overlooked, but the information here should point you in the right direction.
Tags: fruits and vegetables, gastrointestinal system, good bacteria, home water treatment, home water treatment system, particle filtration, submicron particle, water treatment system, water treatment systems, whole house water treatment