What Is the Best Water Filtration System for Your Home?
Thinking about a water filtration system for your home? There’s actually a lot to think about in choosing the best water filtration system for your home. Fortunately, we here at Ongaro & Sons can help. Let’s take a look at the key considerations to determine the best water filtration system for your home:
- Why do you need water filtration?
- What are your options for water filtration?
- Why whole-house filtration is often the best filtration for your home
- The difference between water filtration and water softeners
Why Do You Need Water Filtration?
Experiencing any of the following?
- Discolored, orange, or red water, or stains
- Blue, yellow or green water, or stains
- Sediment, minerals, or other debris such as salts or micro rocks
- Rotten egg smell or other unusual smells
- Metallic taste
- Clogged pipelines
- Rust on faucets or drains, and/or bathroom floors and toilet
But doesn’t the public water utility treat water so that it doesn’t have any of these contaminants? Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean your water can’t still get contaminated with particulate matter you really don’t want to consume. Here’s why. The water that comes out of your tap is drawn from surface water (reservoirs, streams, lakes, rivers) and groundwater (underground aquifers). As you might expect, this water comes contaminated with bacteria, viruses, minerals, sediment, animal feces (yuck!) and other particulates. The problem with an aging water piping infrastructure is that these contaminants sometimes enter the system through leaky pipes after the water leaves the treatment facility and heads to your home faucet.
Another issue is that water treatment itself can cause a problem. That’s because almost all public water systems rely on chlorine as a disinfectant. While effective at killing bacteria, chlorine can cause byproducts such as Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) which alter the taste of water and can make your skin dry.
What Are Your Options for Water Filtration?
The best water filtration system for your home depends in large part on what kind of water issue you are having. In most cases, a whole-house water filtration system is preferable to placing a filter on each and every one of your individual taps. A whole-house filter installed at your home’s main water line removes minerals and contaminants from water before it runs through your plumbing and out of your faucets.
For example, if you have discolored water, but aren’t experiencing dry skin after showering, probably the best water filtration system for you is a cartridge water filter that captures the sediments causing the discoloration. If your water tastes funny and your skin dries out after a shower, but the water is crystal clear coming out of the faucet, you probably need a water softener rather than a water filtration system.
Another consideration is how many faucets are in your home and the overall size of your plumbing system. That’s because water filters have different flow rates, indicated by a gallons-per-minute (GPM) rating that corresponds to the average water usage of your home.
Types of water filters include:
- Cartridge
- Chemical
- Sediment
- Stainless steel (for high-heat and increased pressure)
- Backwashing
- Sulfur removal
- Iron removal
- pH neutralization
Determining which filters are best for your situation is potentially confusing. A whole house water filter rated at 50 microns means it can filter something as small as a strand of human hair. That’s good, right? Well, that depends. If the sediment in your water supply measures smaller than 50 microns, a filter with that rating isn’t going to do the job. That’s why whole house filtration rated at 5 microns – the kind we can install – is ideal.
To make sure you have a correctly sized water filter that is best for your home, it’s best to consult a professional plumber.
The Difference Between Water Filtration and Water Softeners
Water filters remove impurities by trapping them. Water softeners remove minerals that make water hard using a process called ion exchange to replace calcium and manganese ions in your water with sodium ions. Some water softeners are also designed to remove chlorine and ammonia using activated carbon.
While hard water is not a health risk, it can taste and smell bad. Hard water also degrades the performance of your water-based appliances – reducing their lifespan by a third. Water softeners can help you get better-tasting water while also helping your water-based appliances last longer. How do you know for sure if you have hard water? Ongaro & Sons can perform the necessary tests. We can also inspect your home’s piping system to see if any other problems are contributing to hard water issues. Once we have identified the issue(s), we can recommend the best water softener or the best water filtration system for your home.
Ongaro & Sons, for the Best Water Filtration System for Your Home
The best water filtration system for your home ensures that your water is pure and free of contaminants, safe, and healthy. Water filtration not only reduces contaminants and removes odors to improve the taste and overall quality of your drinking water, but also protects your appliances and helps the environment. Water filtration also saves money over the long term if you are buying a lot of bottled drinking water because you don’t like the taste of your tap water.
Ongaro & Sons can test the water in your home for mineral concentration and chlorine. We can also inspect your home’s piping system to see if any other problems are contributing to possible water issues. Once the issues are identified, we can recommend the best water filtration system for your home.
Our technicians are highly knowledgeable about water contamination problems and how to resolve them. We specialize in city water, municipal wells, and private well water systems.
With the help of our plumbing professionals, your water filtration system renders household water as pure and palatable as possible. A water filtration system provides peace of mind that your water is not only clean, but good for you. Even better, water filtration is affordable.
Contact Ongaro & Sons today to schedule your water quality consultation with one of our water filtration specialists.