Home Water Filtration Systems--Which Is Better?

When considering a water filter system, it's important to know what you are targeting for removal, and the cost of the maintenance on the system....This then requires a comprehensive water test to begin with, and identification of contaminants to be removed or reduced, and levels acceptable.... Community water systems providing water to 100,000 or more people must post the reports online....

I use a Culligan faucet mounted activated charcoal type filter to remove chlorine taste...

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/water-filters/buying-guide

The better the filtration before the RO, the longer the RO will perform properly. It will make the expensive RO filter last longer.

Got to figure out what you want!

The non-Ro unit will not reduce TDS. Question is, is TDS reduction your goal? Or is it a concern of water quality (pathogen reduction etc.).? It may make a difference in taste.

Household RO sysytems aren't typically too expensive, but they do require maintenance- basically filter replacement. most have at least 2 prefilters, then the RO membrane and often a polishing filter that may also filter water from the pressure tank (as this can be breeding ground for bacteria!). If the prefilters load up they will slow throughput, also the last one is usually a carbon filter that removes chlorine (which can eat a thin film RO membrane). They usually have to be replaced a couple times before the membrane is shot.

I wouldn't bother putting the other one before an RO. It's not going to make an effective difference to the critical parameters for the RO. In industry, water purification and usage savings are mainly from multi pass RO and de-ionization polishing, RO is normally considered an initial step after sediment removal and normal filtration.

Good filtering will ensure longer RO membrane life, so yes putting one before the other may help extend useful working life, carbon filters are better for chlorine removal, though bacterial infection post carbon can be an issue.

We have a 100,000 L/day system at work and the pre-pre filters last 2-3 months when supplier is on borehole supply, and 2-3 weeks on abstracted river water, this is from a city wide potable water supply, the carbon filters similarly are shorter life on abstracted water, due to the very heavy chlorination.

So I'd opt for both in series, with one caveat, you've going to need to maintain and sterilise regularly to keep things safe, if it's only a 'taste' issue the tap type filters as suggested by SolarEagle are a better idea.

If you want to cook, make coffee tea. etc. with clean tasting well filtered and fresh water the little tap based systems are woefully inadequate.

More than one filter type can be ganged into a setup like this one for pennies.

Solar.. I'd give this a strong consideration next time you're at the tap. You need to set a timer to get a potful of water from those little ones on the tap head.

The big filters cost less and will filter 10-40K gallons over 2/400G for the one on the tap.

oops! forgot a pic.

add valves before and after for changing the filter.

I'm in no hurry....I've used these for years, they work well and are cheap....Adequate for drinking water and coffee....I pre-fill plastic water bottles and keep them in the refrigerator, after a drink, a quick top-off and bottle switch = constant cold water supply with minimum refill time....no more than three seconds...coffee pot maybe 20 seconds for 6 cups....Takes that long to grind the beans anyway....

You're grinding the beans!?

If you look over your water provider's periodic analysis reports, you will see halogenated hydrocarbons in ppm. There are other minor players as well that can be of concern. Some of these are as a result of the treatment chemicals added for sanitation required by law, others to balance water chemistry. Chloromethanes and fluoromethanes are examples. Some are potential carcinogens, but provide healthy water. These can be removed at the point of consumption by a good RO system.

I have had a good RO system for 10 years. My experience tells me that a whole house pre filter will save some money and aggravation. Our municipal system has frequent roily water incidents that necessitate changing the filters. Using a whole house filter will protect the appliances in your home as well as the RO system, saving money and effort. As far as a good RO system, my experience is to have one that has a 10 micron sediment filter, a primary activated carbon filter, an RO filter that has a capacity about twice the gpd that you think you will need, then a secondary activated charcoal filter, finally storage tank 1.5 x the amount you think you will need. I upgraded my system recently for extra volume and have been happy. Above all else, follow meticulously the installation and maintenance instructions.

Our water company tells us that we have a " safe" amount of arsenic in our water. There's also small amounts of other things that are questionable, however it's below the EPA threshold so we're not suppose to be concerned.

I'm not an expert so I can only use my understanding of chemistry and some common sense, which tells me to filter my drinking water.I chose to err on the side of caution.

Heck, I'm getting older and I need too consider my health.

Recently I bought a refrigerator with incorporated water filter. For me it was a double kill with a single shot (the fridge is very big and I don't need extra space for other water filter). It makes the job as our main water resource. No mather the type of filtration that you have - use the best filters you can get. With all that pollution, there's no time to joke.

Our refrigerator has a water/ice maker built in. The last one we owned didn't have one - I actually prefer not having one, since I don't hook it up and it just takes up space in my fridge. For me, my stomach doesn't like water that's too cold, so a sink mounted RO system works great. Clean water that's replenishes after each use.

Wow, sorry for the long delay with an update.

I wound up installing the GE RO system. I listened to your advice (thank you to everyone) and decided that it would be best for our family to filter out not only TSS, but TDS. I know that we have trace amounts of 'things" in our water, however what got me was reading that we have Aresnic in our water. Yes, it's in the "safe" zone per the EPA, but I figure that it would be best for us to filter it out.

Instant results! I installed the new system and I noticed an immediate change. It may sound crazy, but I could feel a difference when I touched the water. On top of this, I noticed a difference when I mixed my powdered drink (Cytomax, which I use after a workout) with the RO water. It mixed better and the taste was much better. It may sound crazy, but I felt that the mixed drink had a fuller taste and the texture was smoother (best word I can use to describe it).

The irony is that a few months after changing the system, we moved. I still own the house, but I now have tenants there. At our new place, the tap water is much better (per the city report) and we now use a Brita filter in a pitcher. We have a granite slab counter and I don't want to drill a hole to add a spigot, so the pitcher works fine - except we need to fill it many times a day.

Thank you everyone for your input. It's greatly appreciated and helped me make a good decision.

I like soft water, however it doesn't filter out any particulate and most of the "bad stuff" in solution remains there.

Remember that a water softener is an ion exchange process. Trade a sodium for calcium, etc. Sodium is "softer" and doesn't leave hard deposits like calcium. The other "things" in the water don't get filtered out. Also, the "bad stuff" like arsenic also aren't removed.

I think a water softener is a great idea, but for a different reason. It helps plumbing fixtures and parts, because the soft water doesn't cake on like calcium. Also, sodium can make things taste better than calcium.

Three drawback of a water softener.

1. It adds chloride to the dumped water. Some communities have banned softeners, due to the environmental impact of adding chloride to the dumped water (in our area, it finds it's way into the river and farmers downstream complain about chloride killing their crops).

2. Water softeners need to recharge the pellet. This is done by flushing the system with potable water and salt to get rid of the calcium that is sticking to the pellets. This wastes water, which some communities are having trouble with drought conditions.

3. If you have high blood pressure, sodium isn't good for you. Water softeners add sodium to your tap water. I know, some use other salts, like potassium, but either way, you're adding something to the water.

That's why I like RO. Yes, you waste water as the RO membrane is flushed clean. You also have dump water, but it's not rich in chloride. Finally, it doesn't have an effect on high blood pressure. Though many minerals are stripped out of the water and our bodies need certain minerals, so this could be a negative.