Access to clean water is crucial for sustaining a comfortable and healthy living environment, especially considering that the average American household consumes around 300 gallons of water daily. Shockingly, recent government reports reveal that nearly half of all US tap water sources are contaminated with “forever chemicals.”
Ensuring a safe home water supply is paramount, and whole-house water filtration provides a comprehensive solution to achieve this goal. These systems deliver near-contaminant-free tap water from every faucet, unlike point-of-use filters, offering an all-encompassing approach to enhancing water quality throughout your home.
Discover everything you need to know about this effective water filtration solution and how our team at Plumbing & Cooling Nerds expertly handles installation.
What Is a Whole-House Filtration System?
Whole-house water filtration systems offer point-of-entry (POE) solutions for treating water from the main water line feeding in your home. They ensure that water flowing from every one of your household faucets, including showers and laundry machines, is thoroughly cleaned and filtered. These systems are like gatekeepers for your plumbing system. They guarantee that your faucets and appliances only receive safe, great-tasting water.
Unlike the single-point (or under-sink) water filtration systems you can purchase from home improvement stores and online, whole-house systems provide comprehensive filtration. They can remove several commonplace contaminants, including chlorine, sediment, and heavy metals. Whole-house water filtration solutions also help eliminate bacteria and viruses through ultraviolet UV treatment along with copper-zinc and activated carbon filters and other methods.
The Different Whole-House Water Filtration Solution
Before choosing a whole-house water filtration system, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the different filter types. This information will help you recognize which solution you need. While most whole-house water filtration systems deploy multiple filters through their various stages of filtration, some solutions are more effective than others. Moreover, each stage performs a different function, targeting dozens of potential water contamination sources.
Carbon filters, for example, are highly efficient at removing chlorine, sediment, and volatile organic compounds. These filters are largely responsible for enhancing the taste and odor of your water. However, the solutions aren’t particularly effective against heavy metals and microbial contaminants.
Reverse osmosis (RO) systems remove a diverse range of unhealthy materials, including bacteria, nitrates, heavy metals, and more. RO provides water that is almost entirely purified. The only major setback of this filtration solution is its cost. While RO’s semi-permeable membrane eliminates most harmful substances, they require pre-filters to protect your water supply from larger contaminants. This step is necessary because substances greater than 5 microns can damage the expensive RO membranes.
Some whole-house systems leverage UV filters as a chemical-free filtration solution. The option is ideal for homes that rely on tanks, rainwater, and city water. UV water filters depend on ultraviolet radiation to remove harmful microorganisms and some chemicals from your water supply. This system sends your water through two filtration processes. The first is a pre-filter to remove dirt, sediment, and rust. The second filtration stage removes chlorine, taste, odor, and a select group of other chemicals.
While UV filtration can break down toxic chemical bonds, it doesn’t accomplish this as effectively as other solutions. UV filters are primarily responsible for eliminating microorganisms from your water. Therefore, they’re less effective at catching heavy metals, salts, chlorine, and other synthetic materials that pollute our municipal water supplies.
Many whole-house filtration solutions integrate salt-based softener systems that deploy high-quality catalytic carbon filters to target common water contaminants. Like the UV filtration processes, softeners rely on a two-step process. They initially filter the water by sending it through a kinetic degradation fluxion (KDF) media to remove harmful chemicals like chlorine and other unhealthy substances.
After completing this process, the water goes through a salt-based softener solution. This stage gives you a pleasantly “soft” water supply that’s ideal for bathing and drinking. The softener solution achieves this effect by cleansing and flushing the water of hard minerals. On the downside, softeners do not remove all contaminants. So, as a general rule, these solutions aren’t as effective as a standalone water filtration system.
The Initial Water Supply Assessment
Before selecting a whole-house water filtration solution, you’ll need a professional assessment. This process involves having a plumbing or water quality expert collect water samples from each one of your faucets. The specialist will then send the samples to a lab where a technician will identify the specific contaminants in your water.
You’ll then receive a report indicating which potentially hazardous toxins the laboratory identified in your water. The lab tests will give you an accurate picture of any contaminants present. After the initial assessment, you’ll understand your specific water quality issues. After equipping yourself with this information, you’ll be in a reliable position to make an informed choice on the right whole-house filtration system.
What Does the Professional Installation Process Entail?
Before starting the whole-house water filtration installation process, a plumber will cut off your main water supply and drain your plumbing system to prevent leaks. After this, the installer can begin fitting the new filtration unit at a point where the main water supply enters your home. The onsite specialist will then take several steps to ensure a leak-free connection before testing the system for correct operation.
The entire process can take anywhere from a few hours to a full day. The length of the installation procedure really depends on the solution you select, the complexity of your plumbing, and your property’s layout. In most cases, the installation is relatively straightforward, and you can anticipate minimal disruption to your home.
Maintaining a Whole-House Water Filtration
The maintenance of your whole-house filtration system varies by solution. Some systems are relatively simple to maintain by yourself, while others require a professional plumbing service. Regardless of which system you own, routine maintenance is essential for keeping fresh-tasting household water flowing safely into your taps.
As the system removes impurities from your water, the filter cartridges can clog, resulting in lower performance. Absent regular maintenance, your whole-house water system’s filters won’t protect you as intended. Likewise, as the efficacy of your filters declines, so will your water’s taste and smell. The water quality will worsen, and you may find yourself less inclined to reach for a fresh glass of tap water.
Water safety is, of course, also another concern. Your whole-house filtration solution could become the breeding ground for mold and bacteria. Likewise, the materials your system was designed to break down could end up accumulating in your water. You might notice a reduction in water pressure, as well. The low water pressure is due to the debris building up in your system. Regular maintenance prevents this issue while stopping contaminants from building up in your water supply.
Looking to Install a Whole-House Water Filtration System?
A point-of-entry whole-house water filtration solution ensures that every ounce of water that enters your home is safe, clean, and enjoyable to drink. At Plumbing & Cooling Nerds, we offer customizable whole-house filtration systems that help protect your home’s piping network while removing harmful contaminants from your water supply. We also provide other premium plumbing and HVAC services to our valued customers in Naples.
Contact Plumbing & Cooling Nerds today for more on how we can improve your water quality with a custom-designed whole-house water filtration system!
