Installing a water treatment system in your home can provide many important benefits. By ensuring your water is clean and pure, you won’t have to rely as much on bottled water. You’ll also be able to ensure that your water is free from contaminants so that it’s safe to drink and tastes better. In this article, we’ll explain why a water treatment system is a great investment and also what your different treatment options are.
Why Your Home’s Water May Not Be as Clean as You Think
Municipal water systems always treat and purify the water they supply using chlorine and various other methods. Adding chlorine to the water is completely safe, but it does tend to result in the water having at least a slight smell and taste of chlorine that many people find off-putting. The bigger issue is that even though the water is mostly clean when it leaves the treatment plant, it can become contaminated as it flows through the municipal system on the way to your home. Tiny leaks in water mains can allow contaminants to get inside. This includes bacteria, viruses, heavy metals and more. Older municipal water systems often also have aging pipes that can end up leaching various chemicals and contributing to water contamination.
Another issue is that municipal water treatment systems can’t remove all contaminants. Research has shown that the water supply in some places contains at least trace amounts of pharmaceuticals or estrogen. Some places also have various other contaminants with a bioaccumulative effect. In this case, the concentration continually builds up in the body over time and may eventually lead to health problems.
Understanding the Different Types of Water Treatment Systems
Several different water treatment options can ensure your drinking water is pure and clean. Choosing a water treatment system that has an activated carbon filter is great for eliminating chlorine and certain other contaminants and getting rid of any odors. However, a carbon filter on its own isn’t sufficient for removing all contaminants. That’s why you’re generally better off choosing a multi-stage filtration system where the water entering your house flows through several different types of filters.
Most multi-stage systems have a pre-filter that primarily removes larger particles like silt, sand and sediment, all of which can end up clogging your faucets and other plumbing fixtures or damaging appliances like your dishwasher and washing machine. The water then flows into the primary filter that works to eliminate heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and other contaminants. Choosing a system that has UV filtration also helps since the ultraviolet rays will destroy or deactivate any bacteria or viruses in the water. Most systems have a carbon filter to improve the smell and taste of the water and a post-filter that helps with any remaining contaminants.
Reverse osmosis filtration is also extremely effective at removing almost all contaminants in your drinking water. This type of filtration uses a semi-permeable membrane that allows the water to flow straight through. However, the pores in the membrane are so small that any suspended particles are trapped and filtered out. There are also some drawbacks to reverse osmosis though. One is that water flows through the membrane quite slowly. That means you either need to have a tank to store the filtered water or a pump to force the water through the filter fast enough that you don’t have a decrease in pressure and flow rate.
Whole-Home vs. Point-of-Use Water Treatment
If you want to add a water treatment system to your home’s plumbing, the first thing to decide is whether you want a whole-home system or a point-of-use system. A whole-home system is installed near where the main supply line enters the house. It is typically installed just past where the pipe that supplies the home’s water heater branches off from the main supply line since there is generally no need to filter your hot water.
A point-of-use system is instead typically installed somewhere in the kitchen or bathroom. That means it only treats and purifies the water you drink and use for cooking or the water coming out of the bathroom sink that you use for brushing your teeth and possibly also for drinking.
Most point-of-use systems use reverse osmosis, whereas most whole-home water treatment systems offer multi-stage filtration. You can find whole-home reverse osmosis filtration systems, but they aren’t that common since they are fairly impractical. If you have a multi-stage system that uses a reverse osmosis filter for one of the stages, you need to have an electric pump to move water through the filter. If you just have a system that only uses reverse osmosis, you need a large storage tank. The other issue with whole-home reverse osmosis filters is that they waste huge amounts of water since the filter needs to be frequently flushed to get rid of all of the particles trapped in it.
Water Filtration/Purification vs. Water Softening/Conditioning
In terms of water treatment, it’s important to understand that a filtration or purification system generally won’t tackle issues associated with hard water, such as mineral deposits. Reverse osmosis is the only type of filtration that can remove the calcium and magnesium particles in hard water. The issue is that these minerals will result in a reverse osmosis filter wasting even more water since they cause the filter to clog up far more quickly. These systems need to be flushed more often. Hard water also greatly shortens the lifespan of a reverse osmosis filter, which is why you should always install a water softener in line before an RO filtration system.
The water in the Denver area is quite hard. Because of this, you could probably benefit from installing either a water softener or a water conditioner in addition to a filtration system. The difference between water softening and water conditioning is that only a water softener removes hard water minerals. The softener uses special resin beads that attract and hold onto the hard water minerals as water flows down through the softener tank. The tank is then occasionally flushed with a brine solution that causes the beads to let go of the minerals so that they can be washed out of the tank and into the home’s sewer system.
Water conditioners work differently and don’t remove the minerals. Instead, they just change the composition of the water so that the majority of minerals remain suspended and can’t precipitate out of the water and get left behind as limescale. A water softener will help protect your plumbing and appliances while improving the taste of your water. If you choose a water conditioner, your water may still have a mineral taste.
Our Experts Can Help
The experienced professionals at High 5 Plumbing, Heating & Cooling are ready to take care of all of your plumbing and water treatment needs. We’re also the company to turn to if you need any heating or air conditioning services in the Denver Metro area. For more information on your different water treatment options or plumbing repair or maintenance, contact us today.
