Vibrant civilizations and good water were becoming history, but the invention of the water filter revived the goodness of water and, in turn, maintained health. Filtered water has a range of other household applications such as cleaning, water for plants, and more. The electronic water filter purifies the water and restores the taste, health and odorless purity necessary for drinking. The rise of water filtration product brands leaves the buyer with too many options, complicating the purchase decision.
Filter impurities retain the nutritional value of the water
Various types of bacteria, viruses, parasites, organic compounds, heavy metal salts, dissolved gases and suspended solid particles are the main impurities in water. Filtering impurities from the water does not mean removing beneficial minerals from the water as well. Filtering one type of contaminant and leaving the other doesn’t make sense either. A good water filter provides almost perfect purity, ultimately removing all contaminants without spoiling the nutritional value of the water.
Impulse Buy: Future Regrets
Electronic water filters are an immediate resource for water treatment. An increasing number of homeowners, unprepared to wait, decide on a water filter on impulse, only to regret it later. The water filter is a good idea; however, choosing the right water filter requires thought. Spending just a few minutes choosing the right gear will prevent future regrets and ultimately provide more value for every penny paid. In most cases, simple and inexpensive purifiers work better than complicated and expensive systems. The underlying technology offered by the brand makes the difference.
Correct water purification technology
Water purification technologies aimed at filtration are as simple as boiling through complicated treatment procedures like activated carbon filtration, distillation, reverse osmosis, membrane distillation and more. Water comes from the land, lakes, reservoirs, rivers, canals, rain fog, sea and even from the atmosphere. Waters from different sources need different technologies.
Home water filters
Home water filters don’t have to be just for drinking. In regions where water quality is totally poor, filtering becomes necessary for all domestic purposes. The whole house filter, installed on the main water source of the house, supplies filtered water for the entire house. There are specialized water filtration products for purposes other than drinking. However, with most of the focus on healthy drinking water for the home, the drinking water filter needs to be one with built-in “selective filtration” technology.
Selective filtration for drinking water
Selective filtration for drinking water is by far the best, because this technique purifies contaminants without stripping essential minerals from the water. Filtration systems that have selective filtration technology built in make use of a combination of filtration technologies such as carbon filtration, ion exchange, and sub-micron filtration. Not all companies use similar filtration combinations. Filter types and combinations differ; however, the final purification points to similar contaminants in all brands.
Basic water tests will reveal the predominant contaminants in the water. Choose the brands that offer the highest percentage of purification considering the predominant contaminant in the water. Make sure the resulting water after filtration is free of chlorine, lead, cysts, THMs, VOCs, lindane, alachlor, atrazine, benzene, TCE, or MTBE. The purification percentage for each contaminant differs between brands.
With cost in the spotlight, there’s more to think about than retail price. Even the best brands need frequent cartridge replacement. Companies that offer the lowest retail price for the product may sometimes charge more than the justifiable price for cartridge replacement. In some cases, cartridge replacement can be repetitive up to a frightening number of times. The cost per gallon of use, cost per 1000 gallons or cost per year of consumption should be considered and compared between brands.
Manufacturers’ literature
Manufacturer’s certified documentation, whether for drinking water, shower filters or whole house filters, provides documentation and attestation of capacity and performance claims. Companies that do not provide certification or documentation are likely overstating performance. Some companies show different performance statuses in different regions, probably because their filters provide different purification results for the type of water used in different regions. Even in cases where the claims are certified, it is important to check whether the certification is legitimate. With the advancement of technology, it is not difficult to produce fake certifications, license seals and holograms.
One-size-fits-all fit
No one brand of water purifier can be the best for everyone. Since water quality, contaminant removal, cost of electricity, backwash, flow rates, and other factors vary among buyers, different brands perform better in different areas.
Check what consumers in real time have to say about the potential product. Feedback from friends and neighbors who already use a product can give a clear idea of which product is better. A look at forums where consumers discuss the quality of customer service of different filtration products can provide most of the information for deciding on a product.
Personalized comparison with personal purification needs in mind makes all the difference. With the Internet, information is everywhere, gather information from different sources and decide with a little common sense.