Imagine turning on your tap and pouring up a glass of crystal clear, great-tasting water every time without worrying about anything contaminating it, whether you can see it or not.
Even if your home water source tastes and looks good, you may still want to consider contacting us to install a water filtration system to ensure you can provide the healthiest, cleanest water for your household.
But with so many filtration options available, deciding which is the most effective water filtration method is difficult. Use our simple primer instead to help you understand the basics of each one so you can choose the right filtration system for your home.
4 Methods for Filtering Your Water
Since each category of water filtration system includes a variety of types to choose from, picking the most effective water filtration system for your situation will result in fresh, clean water that you can trust every time.
Pre-Filtration: The First Line of Defense for Well Water Users
Before your water supply passes through any type of water filtration system, well water owners will want to utilize a pre-filtration system to rid their water source of sediment first. These necessary catchment filters remove sediment, clay, silt, loose gravel and other contaminants before the water is run through more complex filtration systems.
1. Adsorptive Media Filtration
This system employs adsorptive media filters like those used on pitchers and faucets to strain out unwanted particles from the water. The makeup of the filter determines the quantity, quality and types of contamination filtered out when using this kind of filtration system. This is the most common kind of filtration system in use, and it is prized for its customizability, its ease of maintenance and its ability to make your water taste better.
Activated Carbon Filters using tiny pieces of carbon draw out impurities because they stick to the carbon material as they pass over it. Activated carbon filters are most effective on cooler, faster flowing water, so systems with warm or slow flow may not want to utilize this type of filtration.
Carbon block utilizes carbon particles compressed into a solid mass, allowing this type of filter to capture even the smallest bits of contamination. Carbon block filters allow for a more complete cleaning of water, but it does take longer to filter water through than those made with granular activated carbon (GAC), which uses loose granules.
A specialized form of activated carbon called catalytic carbon is the ideal choice for water high in chlorine and hydrogen sulfide, and this blocked carbon filter is often installed under the sink for maximum effectiveness.
Activated Alumina This granule-based filter’s specialty is clearing water from strong contaminants like fluoride, arsenic and other heavy metals. Filters using activated alumina can be installed where you use them(point-of-use or POU) or as a whole-house solution (point of entry or POE).
2. Disinfection Filtration
Typically used at POE, filtration systems that use disinfection technology are best for water systems that need help with clearing microbial risks from the water source.
Boiling water is a commonly perceived way to clean water, and it does disinfect it from microbial risks. However, boiling increases the concentration of other types of water contamination, making boiling a last resort choice rather than a first-level plan for water filtration needs.
Chlorination can be added to POE water systems on a continual drip basis to disinfect them. Adding large quantities at one time, called shock chlorination, is often used on well water when contaminants like E. coli are present.
Distillation of water is the practice of boiling water until it evaporates and then condensing the vapor back into water form to disinfect it from impurities. Because the distillation process also removes everything, including vital minerals, distilled water systems are not encouraged for water that is used for drinking.
Ultraviolet or UV light can be used to clean water of impurities like parasites, bacteria and viruses. However, this UV technology is often used in conjunction with other water cleaning systems since larger particles first need to be removed from water before ultraviolet light filtration can be effective.
3. Ion Exchange Filtration
This common POE system utilizes ion-coated resin beads to attract unwanted ions in water, like salt and minerals. Ion exchange, or IX, is often used to soften water that is full of hardness-causing elements like magnesium and calcium using the cation exchange method that employs negative ions.
In contrast, the positive ions used in anion exchange filtration systems clean water of negative ion elements like arsenic or fluoride. An IX filtration system is expensive to install and since the resin needs regular replacement, upkeep can also be costly. In addition, water with organic matter and even some non-ionic contaminants makes IX filtration systems ineffective.
4. Membrane Filtration
The most effective water filtration method may be a membrane filter because of its ability to block out the smallest of contaminants and its ease of maintenance. While the membrane filter does need regular replacement as well as a pre-filtration system to remove larger particles before reaching the membrane itself, this system can be installed as POU or POE.
Micro-, Ultra- and Nano are the three larger types of the four membrane filter options. Progressively smaller holes in the membrane of each of these filtration types catch increasingly smaller contaminants, but the largest (micro) can filter out chemicals, while the smallest (nano) can remove even singular compounds from a water source.
Reverse Osmosis employs a series of filters that require high-pressure water to pass through. Reverse osmosis or RO uses lots of water to move the water through, but the result is highly filtered, clean water. We consider RO as the most effective water filtration method because it removes more contaminants from water than all of the other systems, even requiring a re-mineralization plan for water use after RO treatment to reintroduce vital elements back into the water.
Choosing the Right Water Filtration Method
Knowing which contaminants are in your water is the first step in choosing the most effective water filtration method for you. Whether you need a pre-filtration system, a POE or POU or just need a reliable RO system for your home, Pompano Benjamin Franklin can install it so you can be confident that you have sparkling clean water. And when you schedule with us, you know that if there’s any delay, it’s YOU we pay, so you can be confident that the job will be completed as quickly as possible so you can enjoy crystal clear water right away.
