A Simple Guide to Choosing the Best Home Purifier Water System For You

Have you read about this recently, that pharmaceutical drugs we take on a daily basis are ending up in our water supply? Pharmaceutical chemicals are just the newest addition to the many contaminants that are left in our water even after it is treated by the local water treatment facility. Once we understand the uncertainties of tap water and bottled water, a home water purification system clearly becomes the best choice. How do we know which home water purifier produces the healthiest water, though?

The key to choosing a home purifier water system is comparing each product's performance to other alternatives. Compare the following for each product to easily and simply determine which water purifier system best fits your needs:

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Contaminant reduction capability System cost Ongoing cost per gallon
The Six Most Popular Home Water Purifier System Technologies

Reverse Osmosis (R.O.)

Reverse Osmosis is a technology from the 1950's that was designed to separate the salt from sea water by passing water molecules through a membrane. Beneficial minerals, like calcium and magnesium are stripped from your drinking water during Reverse Osmosis. The R.O. system is ineffective in removing synthetic chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides because they are smaller than the water molecule and therefore pass through the membrane. The R.O. system should be used along with a carbon filter.

Reverse Osmosis systems also waste approximately three gallons of water for every one gallon they purify and costs about 18 to 24 cents per gallon.

Distillation

Distillation is a process that passes water over a heated coil, causing the water to vaporize and become gaseous. The process separates water from inorganic compounds like lead, calcium, magnesium, etc. Distillation also destroys bacteria. Distillation is not very effective at removing organic chemicals, since they usually vaporize at a lower temperature than water. For this reason, a distiller should be used in conjunction with a carbon filter. The distillation home water purifier system produces at a very slow rate and at a per-gallon cost of about 20 to 26 cents a gallon.

Pitchers and Carafe-Style Filters

In recent years these types of filters (not to be confused with a home water purifier system) have emerged as low-cost alternatives to tap water and bottled water. Keeping in mind that any filter is better than no filter, these products are by far the least effective and the most costly to use. The average pitcher sells for around and includes a 30 gallon cartridge. Because of the small size of these cartridges, they have very limited effectiveness and a low capacity.

Carbon Block and Granular Carbon Filters

Carbon filtration systems are the most common type of countertop or under-the-counter water filtration system. The water is passed through specially treated carbon to remove contaminants. Activated carbon is recognized by the U.S. EPA as the best available technology for filtering Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Trihalomethanes (THM).

Multimedia block filters utilize the benefits of activated carbon with several added advantages. A blended media is extruded or compressed into a solid form with a sub-micron pore structure to filter out sediment and cysts like Cryptosporidium and Giardia. This configuration also prevents water from channeling around the filter media as with the granular carbon filters. The costs per gallon vary with the home water purifier system.

Ultra Violet Light

Ultra Violet Light is used to kill bacteria and viruses found in drinking water, but it's not effective against non-living substances such as lead, asbestos, chlorine, and chemicals. Most Ultra Violet Light purifiers are too large for point of use application. The UV light used in combination with the carbon block technology removes more contaminants than any other system. The initial cost for the UV Light system can be prohibitive.

Combination Filters

Your best choice is a system that uses a combination of two or more water filtration technologies. Choose a system that takes out the most harmful contaminants and leaves in the beneficial minerals. Aquasana water filters for use a combination of carbon filtration' ion exchange and sub-micron filtration to filter out chlorine' lead' VOC's, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) and Cysts (chlorine resistant parasites), and leaves in the natural trace minerals.

Make no mistake about it, home water purification is a real necessity today. Now that you are aware of the potential contaminants and the best technology available to handle each one, your next step is to investigate the top performing brands. We believe Aquasana Home Water Purifier is an outstanding value based on performance, cost and ease of use.

A Simple Guide to Choosing the Best Home Purifier Water System For You

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How to Remove Iron From Drinking Water - Simple Facts

Iron is one of the numerous water contaminants that is not healthy on your part if its level of contamination in the water is quite high; that is why many individuals want to know how to remove iron from drinking water in order to make the water potable and safe for household consumption. Take note that you can easily detect if the water has excessive amounts of iron because its taste is somewhat metallic.

Cooking food using water with a high iron content will also make your food easily turn black; aside from making your food look bad. More importantly, there are several health risks involved in taking in too much iron through drinking. Hence, you must be all the more vigilant with regards to iron content in order to avoid acquiring various forms of health issues and problems as a result of too much iron intake.

INSTALLING A WATER SOFTENER

Therefore, it is best to know how to remove iron from drinking water because this information is greatly beneficial in your end; considering the fact that water is one of the basics things for survival, and everyday we are drinking a couple of glasses in order to quench our thirsts.

Fortunately today, removal of iron is quite easy to do; thanks to the most recent advancements that make this process available for everyone to perform right in their own house. All you have to do is to get one of the filtration systems that also cover iron removal; thereby effectively transforming your contaminated tap water into potable drinking water that is very safe to drink.

Keep in mind that there are several types water filtration systems; one of the highly effective types that can also remove iron from drinking water is one that uses reverse osmosis. This process has been in use for quite some time now. In fact, the method is based on the same principle of desalinating salt water into drinking water. Similarly, this system is also effective in sorting out iron from water; hence, you can select this type of filtration if you want to resolve your problem on how to remove iron from drinking water. Another one is a run of the mill water softener that uses carbon filters and salt.

Nevertheless, you have utmost flexibility on your choices; considering that there are numerous types of water filtration systems. What is important is to select the right type that effectively removes iron as well as purifying your water.

How to Remove Iron From Drinking Water - Simple Facts

INSTALLING A WATER SOFTENER

Why Does Water Taste Bad? A Simple Solution to Why Water Tastes Bad

Why does water taste bad?  It could be because there's something in it that's making it taste bad, or it could be that it's missing something too...

Why Does Water Taste Bad?

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The most common reason why water tastes bad is because it contains microscopic particles in it that give it both a bad taste and odor.  The only time you can really see these particles is when you first pour a glass of it.  If it's a bit cloudy, then these particles are what's causing it.

The other reason why water tastes bad is because it may be lacking all the natural trace minerals that most water contains.  Distilled water or water produced by reverse osmosis systems are stripped of their natural trace minerals, which is why many people that use these systems describe their water as "flat".

When most people ask why does water taste bad, they often think that they need to add something to it to make it taste better.  Some people add water tablets that neutralize the taste, and other add kool-aid or other sugar just to hide it!

But the problem with this method is that all those particles that are making the water taste bad are still in what you're drinking!

The best way to eliminate the bad taste in water is to install a simple water filtration system in your home.  A quality system will not only remove all of these bad taste and odor particles, it's also remove most of the chlorine, lead, herbicides and pesticides, synthetic chemicals, cysts, solvents, chlorinated byproducts, and other harmful contaminants.

Just make sure that the filtration system you get does not strip away all the natural minerals found in water, because then you'll be right back where you started! 

A filtration system does not have to be expensive either.  The one that my family and I use in our home filters out 99% of most harmful contaminants and only cost us 0.  Then every 6 months, a replacement filter only costs .  So for just pennies a day, we are able to have an unlimited amount of pure, healthy drinking water at our disposal.  Oh yeah, and it tastes great, too!

Why Does Water Taste Bad? A Simple Solution to Why Water Tastes Bad

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Install a Water Softener in 6 Simple Steps

Several homes nowadays suffer from the harsh effects of hard water. Clothes get dingy, hair dries up, skin gets rough, and water appliances get broken. This is why you need water softeners that can prevent these from happening. But for a water softener to work properly, it should also be installed properly.

Follow these 5 simple steps to a successful water softener installation so you can start enjoying softened water at home.

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Step 1: Choose the best location

Before installing a water softener, you have to prepare for installation first. The first thing to do is choose where to best place your softener. You can choose to install it indoors or outdoors. The important thing is to put it somewhere dry and where it will be protected from frequent changes in temperature. If you have a two-tank system such as most demand-initiated regeneration units, the brine tank should be easily accessible but the two tanks should be close to one another. The location should also be near an electricity outlet and a drain. If a drain is a bit out of the way, you can use additional tubing to connect the unit to it.

Once you have your location, shut off your electric supply and water supply to get started.

Step 2: Install the Unit

Now you're ready to install your watersoftener. Before you begin, however, make sure to have your water softener manual ready. The steps to proper installation of water softeners are generally the same, but depending on your unit, there might be some special steps you need to take. So make sure to read the manual before beginning installation.

Now, to install, insert the distributor tube into the mineral tank and flush. Tape up the open ends of the tube so that the plastic beads in the tank will not enter the tube.

Step 3: Add the gravel and softener resin

Once the water softener's ready, add gravel into the mineral tank using a funnel. Make sure the gravel fully covers up the screen intake. Then add softener resin, which should full up to half of the tank. Then take the tape you placed at the open ends of the distributor tubes and make sure the control valves are secure then move on to the next step.

Step 4: Install the bypass valve to connect to the water supply

With the control valves secure, take the bypass valve and connect it to the control valves. Make sure the screws are tight to avoid any problems. With the bypass valve in place, you can now connect the water softener's piping to the bypass valve then attach a plastic tube to the available fitting on the brine tank.

Step 5: Put in water and salt

When that's done, pour four gallons of water into the brine tank. This should be followed by around 40 pounds of sodium chloride. Some, however, prefer to use potassium chloride. With both salt and water in, open the water supply valve and wait until there is a steady flow of water coming from the drain.

Step 6: Run a backwash

Now you're all set and done. What's left to do is to run a backwash so you can check for leaks. Double-check to see if all fittings are secure. If yes, you can start enjoying softened water at home.

Install a Water Softener in 6 Simple Steps

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