Most of the time, you can tell something is wrong with your tap water because of the color. This can be caused by changing the water resources, rust, or sediments in the pipe. However, visible contaminants aren’t the only impurities you should be worried about. Regardless of where you live, your water could contain contaminants or impurities that you can’t smell, taste, or even see. Even if the local or state government regulates your water, it doesn’t make it safe for drinking. Many people think that purchasing bottled water solves the safety issue, but it doesn’t. This is because bottled water’s safety standards are on the same level as your tap water.
It might interest you to know that most bottled water companies do not even test their water like most municipal facilities do, making their water even more unsafe. For this reason, you need to get a water filtration system in your home to keep your water clean and eliminate any harmful toxins, minerals, and any other contaminants. However, finding the right water filtration system isn’t always such an easy task. This is because there are so many water filtration systems in the market, and all of them have different strengths when it comes to removing certain contaminants. The following are some tips that can guide you in finding the top water filtration system for your home.
Identify What is in Your Water
This might sound like such a basic task, but it’s not always the case. Most people tend to ignore it when choosing a water filtration system for their homes, which can be costly.
When you determine the chemical makeup of the water you consume daily, you’ll be in a better position to decide which water filtration system would be best for your home. If you’re using water from a city like New York, it might interest you to know that it is chemically treated using fluorine and chlorine and then sent directly to your home.
Even though these chemicals are meant to remove any dangerous pathogens in the water, it doesn’t make it entirely safe for drinking. Both chlorine and fluorine are commonly known to react to the organic and organic substances found in water to produce harmful by-products.
This makes it all-important to test your water to identify all these substances before purchasing that water filter.
If your home depends on well water, chemical substances aren’t the main thing you should be worried about. Since the water comes from the underground, you need to worry about things like bacteria, arsenic, excessive iron, microorganisms, rotten egg smell, hardness, pharmaceutical residues, fertilizers, and industrial pollution.
If your well water is extremely hard, it is likely to form deposits on all your water appliances and pipes. It could also leave a residue in your bathtubs and sinks or end up clogging your showerheads.
Due to the unpredictable nature of well water, it’s advisable you get a water testing kit to identify its specific composition.
Make Personalized Goals
Based on the findings from your water testing, you have to come up with personalized goals about the filter for your domestic water. You can decide to filter the drinking and bathing water; you can opt to decrease the burden on your plumbing systems or simply have safer water at every point in your home.
None of these options is wrong, which means that you’re free to go either way. This is because different people have different budgets and different living conditions. You have to pick what works best for you and your household. The following are the two most common filtration products to choose from;
- Point-of-Use (POU) water filtration system
These are basically standalone devices that are designed for each separate room of the house. You can have a POU system as a pitcher on your refrigerator to filter the water for use in your kitchen.
You can also have a POU water filter in the shower to get rid of any traces of chlorine or fluorine from your bath or shower water. POU water filters usually vary in their abilities to filter water. For example, the pitchers used in most kitchens are small in size and have a very limited lifespan.
These water filters can only be used to get rid of the chlorine taste and odor in your water and nothing more. However, large multi-stage POU water filters are capable of removing a variety of contaminants, including fluoride, chlorine, bad odor, bad taste, microorganisms, sediment, metals, parasites, and chloramines.
These filtration systems can remove any contaminants in your water, but you’ll have to get multiple of them if you’d like to filter water in more than one faucet.
- Point-of-Entry (POE) water filtration systems
These water filtration systems are usually installed at the point where water first enters your home. For this reason, they’re capable of cleaning water throughout your home.
As a result, POE water filtration systems are ideal for people who would like to filter water for all uses in their homes. However, it’s important to note that these filtration systems often cost more than POU systems, and they also last longer while having lower maintenance than the latter.
Choose the Best-Sized Water Filtration System that Suits Your Household Needs
Before settling for a particular water filtration system, it’s important to consider how much water is used in your home daily. When you have this rough estimate, you’ll be better informed on the size of water filtration your home actually needs.
Getting the best-sized water filtration system in your home is also important because it helps you calculate how much you’ll need to spend on servicing it. The best thing about water filtration systems is that they all have a given capacity of water they can clean at a go.
To ensure that your water filtration system works efficiently, ensure that this capacity matches or is slightly higher than your household’s daily use.
Using the above tips, you’ll be able to choose the best-sized water filtration system for your home. It’s important to note that having the best-sized system will ensure that your household has adequate, safe, and clean water for all uses, including drinking, cooking, bathing, laundry, cooking, among many others.
Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash
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