How to Choose the Right Water Filtration System for Your Home

A water filtration system can fill the gap between local water quality standards and your own more selective criteria. Is the water delivered to your home by a municipal water utility safe? Probably. Is it optimum in terms of health, purity and taste? Not necessarily. Once municipal water meets local and federal standards, however, raising water quality to the next level is up to the individual homeowner. A qualified plumbing professional can discuss options for installing a cost-effective water filtration system.

When the status quo just isn’t acceptable, there are two general categories of enhanced filtration.

Point-of-Use Water Filtration

Individual fixtures like a single kitchen sink may be served by point-of-use filtration. These filters are usually installed in the under-sink cabinet, and they may incorporate a dedicated faucet that dispenses filtered water for cooking and consumption, while the existing faucet supplies standard municipal water for washing and other purposes.

Point-of-use filtration ranges from basic cartridge filters that simply remove sediment to activated carbon filters to extract organic pollutants that cause odors and affect taste to the more complex reverse osmosis systems that take out chemicals like chlorine and sulfates.

Whole-House, Point-of-Entry Filtration

Also known as whole-house water filtration, point-of-entry systems incorporate large capacity filtration. This type of system connects to the main water supply line where it enters the house, filtering all water to all fixtures in the home. Most point-of-entry filters are multi-stage. Multiple canisters customize filtration to address particular purity and taste preferences, and they can incorporate an array of different filter media.

A water-softening ion exchange stage to eliminate mineral content and reverse osmosis to extract chemical pollutants are available on a whole-house basis, without restricting treated water to dedicated fixtures only. To target certain quality issues, filtration options can include specialized equipment such as UV light generation technology that sterilizes water by killing viruses and bacteria.

At Sobieski Services, Inc., our goal is to help our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey learn more about energy and home comfort issues – especially HVAC and plumbing issues – so that they can save money and live in healthier, more comfortable homes.

Photo Credit: Ingrid Taylar via Compfight cc