What’s the Best Water Filter System?

“What’s the best water filter system?”

That is the question that goes through your mind when you move into your new home. Water is life, and you want your drinking water at home to be clean and healthy. There are numerous water filtration systems on the market today, and looking for the best one for your home might be difficult.

There are several important elements to consider when choosing a water filter system for your home. Our H2O heroes at The Water Filter Warehouse have put together this short guide to assist you in selecting the best water filter system for your home.

How Water Filters Work?

Water filters remove sediment, taste and odor, hardness, and pathogens, resulting in higher-quality water. The size of the gaps in the filter barrier or membrane will determine the speed of the water flow. A tiny filter with the tiniest holes will cause water to flow more slowly; a blocked filter will also reduce the flow of water.

Before purchasing a water filter, you should carefully examine the amount of water necessary and the time it takes to filter. Water filters with a higher water flow rate are usually more expensive. Whatever the design, water filters have a plastic or stainless steel housing. Filter media also degrade over time, and must be replaced on a regular basis.

5 TYPES OF FILTERS AVAILABLE

Because there are so many different technologies used in water filters of all shapes and sizes, it’s vital to know which contaminants you want to filter out before choosing a solution. The technologies listed below can help decrease and remove contaminants from your household tap water.

1. Mechanical Filters

Mechanical filtration works by physically removing sediment, debris, and other particles from water through a barrier. Mechanical filters can range from a simple mesh to a ceramic filter with a highly sophisticated pore structure that permits dangerous organisms to be filtered ultra-finely.

2. Absorption Filters

Carbon is commonly employed in water filters for absorption because it is very good at absorbing water-borne contaminants. Carbon has a large internal surface that is packed with nooks and crannies that can trap chemical impurities like chlorine, which is why it absorbs toxins so readily.

3. Sequestration Filters

Chemically isolating a substance is known as sequestration. Food-grade polyphosphate is commonly used in extremely modest levels in scale-inhibiting filters to trap the calcium and magnesium minerals that cause limescale and corrosion. However, the polyphosphate in the filters doesn’t eliminate the scale.

4. Ion Exchange Filters

Ion exchange softens hard water by substituting sodium or hydrogen ions for magnesium and calcium ions. Ion exchange is usually done with an ion exchange resin, which is usually in the form of tiny beads. The resin in a water softener consumes sodium ions, which must be replaced on a regular basis to keep the resin from becoming useless.

5. Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis (RO) is the method of eliminating dissolved inorganic particles (such as magnesium and calcium ions) from water by forcing it through a semipermeable membrane under pressure so that the water flows through but most of the pollutants are left behind. In order to return water with minimal pollutants, the RO system is frequently paired with a variety of different filters such as a mechanical (sediment) filter and an absorption (activated carbon) filter.

COMBINING FILTERS

Because each filtration method has limitations in terms of what it can remove, most water filters or filtration systems employ a combination of techniques to attain a desired level of water purity.

Household water jug filters, for example, will typically utilize mechanical, absorption, and ion-exchange, whereas inline filters will use mechanical and absorption, with the possibility of sequestration if the filter is built to prevent scaling. Depending on how many stages the RO system has, mechanical, absorption, and, of course, reverse osmosis can be used.