Water travels a long way from public water treatment facilities. Even before entering your home, your water supply may have picked up any number of impurities, ranging from organisms to volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines VOCs as a variety of chemicals that are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. Common VOCs include paint, cleaning supplies, glue, permanent markers, and pesticides.
Hard water occurs when the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS), or the combined inorganic and organic content in liquid, reaches a high TDS level. When water moves through limestone and chalk, it may pick up calcium and magnesium deposits. This leads to mineral deposit buildup in pipes, sinks, bathtubs, and faucets.
With hard water, soap solutions don’t lather properly, making plumbing fixtures more difficult to clean. Hard water is treated with a water softener, which replaces deposit-building calcium and magnesium ions with sodium and potassium ions.
Fortunately, there are a number of water purification solutions available for your water problems, from treating a single water source to purifying your entire household water supply.
What is the Right Water Purification System for Me?
The right water purification system on your household depends on several different factors. First of all, is your entire household water supply affected, or just one plumbing source? What kind of contamination are you noticing: metallic-tasting water, a rotten egg odor, or something else? Water purification solutions come in two different categories: point-of-use and point-of-entry.
Point-of-Entry Systems
A point-of-entry (POE) water purification system treats all the water used in the home. A POE system is installed on the main household water supply line.
Point-of-Use Systems
A point-of-use (POU) water purification system treats small batches of water for use in the home. POU systems may be attached to a faucet, installed under a sink or placed on a counter.
Types of Water Treatment
Water Softeners (Ion Exchange)
A water softener uses an ion exchange process to reduce the amount of hardness in your water. This reduces the concentration of calcium and magnesium in your water, and may also remove iron and manganese. As a result, your plumbing surfaces will be easier to clean and will have less mineral deposit buildup.
Iron/Sulfur Filters
Iron/sulfur filters remove contaminants that cause rotten egg odors and stains on plumbing surfaces.
Carbon Filters
Carbon filters remove organic contaminants from your water supply. They utilize adsorption, a physical process that occurs when liquids, gases, or dissolved/suspended matter adheres to the surface of an adsorbent medium. This filter improves the taste, smell, and appearance of your water.
R.O. Systems (Reverse Osmosis)
There are two different types of Reverse Osmosis; a Point of Use system and a Whole House System.
The most common Reverse Osmosis system is the Point of Use system. These are installed under the sink with a separate drinking water faucet. Many bottled waters are tap water treated with an R.O. system. For a fraction of the cost, you can conveniently enjoy the benefits of bottled pure water right at your kitchen sink. R.O. systems involve the passing of mineralized water under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. This enables fresh water to pass through, leaving mineral contaminants behind.
The Whole House System requires a large storage tank, large membranes, and high-pressure pumps in order to force the water through the membrane.
Ultraviolet Filter
An ultraviolet filter disinfects water using UV Radiation, damaging the genetic material in a way that the organisms are no longer able to grow or reproduce.
Distillation
A water distiller operates by heating water to a boil and collecting water vapor as it condenses. Bacteria are destroyed by the heat, and contaminants are left as a waste.
Water Treatment Solutions
No matter what your water problem is, there are a variety of water treatment solutions to improve your water quality.
Water Softeners
Protect your pipes and plumbing fixtures from tough-to-remove calcium and magnesium deposits.
Iron & H2S Filters
Prevent iron stains and rotten egg odors from fouling up your water.
Whole House Filters
Eliminate contaminants from your entire household water supply.
We use two different types of Whole House Filters; we use a 20in. big blue radial flow carbon filter with replaceable cartridges or we use a water softener style carbon filter that regenerates and cleans the carbon on a regular basis.
Scale Control Filters
Reduce scale build-up caused by calcium deposits in water.
Point-of-Use Filters
Purify water at a single source by installing a point-of-use filter.
We use and recommend using EverPureTM .5 micron filters.
