Water Filtration System

[enelybur]

Any suggestion on what's the best water filtration system to use?

 

[travelover]

What are your trying to filter out? I use a reverse osmosis system for drinking water and have been happy with it, though it wastes water.

 

[SteveR]

Enelybur,

Welcome to the board. It is customary for a new memeber to post some basic information about themselves in the "Hi, I Am" forum. Once you do that you might get some more hits on your question.

Also, be sure to read the Community Rules at the bottom right of the page.

Thanks and welcome to the board.

 

[Marquette]

We plan on getting a distiller eventually... but a brita filter has been fine so far. I haven't died yet!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Analog Medium: The Great Brita Vodka Challenge

 

[Nords]

Any suggestion on what's the best water filtration system to use?

"It depends".

Some are better for well water (water conditioners with UV light, especially for minerals & bacteria), others are better for city water & iron (water conditioners for minerals with a chelating agent like IronOut), some are better for just wanting cleaner drinking water (reverse osmosis under the sink), others are better for killing everything and getting rid of the leftovers (distillation & UV).

Or maybe you just want a charcoal filter.

Where does your water come from, what are you trying to do to it, and how much do you want to spend?

 

[HFWR]

Any suggestion on what's the best water filtration system to use?

Beer...

"It depends".

Some are better for well water (water conditioners with UV light, especially for minerals & bacteria), others are better for city water & iron (water conditioners for minerals with a chelating agent like IronOut), some are better for just wanting cleaner drinking water (reverse osmosis under the sink), others are better for killing everything and getting rid of the leftovers (distillation & UV).

Or maybe you just want a charcoal filter.

Where does your water come from, what are you trying to do to it, and how much do you want to spend?

What Nords said. I have "city" water, with enough chemicals in it to kill small farm animals. But an under sink charcoal filter makes it taste almost like water!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Just remember, fish do unspeakable things in water.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Good question... how about for overseas? I get tap water of dubious quality and have been boiling it for drinking. I don't detect any taste to the water. What type of system would be safest? Thanks.

 

[ERD50]

Beer...

What Nords said. I have "city" water, with enough chemicals in it to kill small farm animals. But an under sink charcoal filter makes it taste almost like water!

Well, beer like chlorine/chloramine-free water, too.

Compounds called chlorophenols are formed when beer interacts with chlorine and these compounds have a fairy unpleasant aroma.

If all you want to do is get rid of the chlorine, let it sit out overnight. Chloramine is used a lot today, because it is more stable, so Chloramine won't dissipate overnight, or even with boiling.

However, there is an easy, cheap solution:

BYO - Clearing Chloramine & Historical Hopping: Mr. Wizard

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]a 1/2-ounce Campden tablet ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]metabisulfite) [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif]can be used to dechlorinate 20 gallons of water. This reaction occurs very rapidly and all you really need to do is dissolve the metabisulfite in your water, let it sit for a minute or two and you are finished with the dechlorination process. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif][/FONT]

similar info here: Chloramine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, some questions on the effectiveness of a carbon filter on chloramines:

Chloramine and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

I'm on a private well - the chlorine in municipal water is really obnoxious to me. I seem to have an immunity to any bugs in my well.

-ERD50

 

[Nords]

Good question... how about for overseas? What type of system would be safest? Thanks.

Bottled.

For example, much of the effort in a country like Thailand goes into making sure that the ice machines are clean and sanitary. Not so much effort is directed at the tap water, assuming that everyone will be buying bottled anyway.

 

[samclem]

If you are concerned about the safety of your water, pay $100 bucks or so and get a comprehensive water test performed by a reputable lab. That's the only logical place to start.

We have a well with very hard water. I installed a water softener (regular ion exchange resin kind) for all the water inside the house (showers, washing machine, etc). Downstream of this, our drinking water water goes through two sediment filters and an activated charcoal filter. Then, to a reverse-osmosis membrane (augmented by a permeate pump to significantly reduce water waste). Then to a small charcoal polishing filter and on to the small pressurized storage tank. On the way out of the small storage tank the water passes through a UV light treatment unit. Last stop: the drinking water tap at the sink and the icemaker in the freezer.

Our well water has high hardness, some iron, some iron-reducing bacteria, and the house water had coliform bacteria when we moved in (we shocked the well and I think that killed it). The water softener adds a lot of salt to the water, and the most practical way to get rid of that is with the reverse osmosis system for the drinking water. Our water test didn't turn up anything really bad, and I probably don't need the charcoal filters. Still, when I see the Chemlawn truck spewing his stuff all over the lawns in my neighborhood, I feel a little better with the carbon filter in there.

When you have a well you assume total responsibility for the safety of your family's water.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Jeez Louise Sam...for the cost of all that gear you could have Lindsay Lohan come to your house and pour you a glass of bottled water!

Do note the effects of water softeners on the rest of your appliances. My pretty well made water heater failed early, washing machine got a few rust spots, and so did the dishwasher. My neighbors homes built at the same time didnt have these problems.

 

[Nords]

Do note the effects of water softeners on the rest of your appliances. My pretty well made water heater failed early, washing machine got a few rust spots, and so did the dishwasher.

How was this ascribed to the water conditioner? We're talking about an ion-exchange resin that removes calcium & magnesium, right?

 

[FinanceDude]

My city water is safe to drink, but it doesn't taste that good.

I installed a reverse osmosis filter system 3 years ago, and have been happy so far. The water tastes much better, I use it for cooking, and the kids like it also. Filters are not cheap but I switch them myself.

Bottled water is expensive,I think, even buying it bulk at Sam's Club............

 

[JPatrick]

Jeez Louise Sam...for the cost of all that gear you could have Lindsay Lohan come to your house and pour you a glass of bottled water!

Think larger CFB, don't waste a visit from Lindsay on no stinkin water

 

[ERD50]

We have a well with very hard water. I installed a water softener .... Downstream of this, our drinking water water goes through two sediment filters and an activated charcoal filter. Then, to a reverse-osmosis membrane (augmented by a permeate pump to significantly reduce water waste).

samclem, my situation is close to yours. No coliform (that I know of, at least not when they tested when we bought the place, no reason to think that has changed). We have the softener, and RO unit, but no filters after that.

What pressure do you take your RO up to? I wonder if the extra efficiency is worth the cost/complexity?

Also, I run my RO into a non-pressurized 3 gallon jug, with a tap on it to fill gallon jugs that we use. When the collection jug is near empty, I just reset a timer that runs it for 3 hours, which won't overfill it. As I understand it, since it is not working against any pressure, this is like having that added pressure at the inlet side. And I save the cost of the pressure tank. I'm running 4 units 'waste' for 1 unit 'pure'. I really should collect the 'waste' for flushing toilets or something, but it has never seemed worth the hassle. We mainly use it for coffee (and my beer brewing).

20+ year old water heater on my softened water. I was going to replace it ten years ago, 'just in case'.

-ERD50

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

How was this ascribed to the water conditioner? We're talking about an ion-exchange resin that removes calcium & magnesium, right?

And replaces it with salt.

I guess you could use one of the potassium models.

Only thing I could think was the cause of my early appliance demise (which were all corrosion related) was salt water.

Jpatrick - the water thing was just to get her in the door. After that I'd have worked my bunny magic on her. Right up until my wife hit me in the head with one of those cast iron frying pans I bought for xmas.

 

[Moemg]

Jpatrick - the water thing was just to get her in the door. After that I'd have worked my bunny magic on her. Right up until my wife hit me in the head with one of those cast iron frying pans I bought for xmas.

Since the bunny magic involves food and not booze you may be out of luck !

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well see? Thats where my versatility is frequently understated.

The bunny magic has often involved booze. Among other things.

 

[samclem]

Our well water hardness was 34 grains/gal. The amount of salt that goes into the water when you soften it is directly proportional to the hardness of the original water, so our water is definitely is loaded with NaCl. Probably not good for the appliances, but I also saw what the scale did to the old water heater, which wasn't pretty.

samclem, my situation is close to yours. No coliform (that I know of, at least not when they tested when we bought the place, no reason to think that has changed). We have the softener, and RO unit, but no filters after that.

What pressure do you take your RO up to? I wonder if the extra efficiency is worth the cost/complexity?

-ERD50

The bladder in the empty tank is filled to 7psi. When it is full of water it is at 38 PSI. Our pressure from the well pump varies from 50-70 PSI (which is not very high), and RO systems with low input pressure can waste a lot of water, particularly if the pressure in the output tank is kept reasonably high. That's the main reason I bought the permeate pump--it works like a charm, is very simple and robust, and drastically reduces the amount of waste water.

ERD50, your way sounds just fine, its just a little more bother than I wanted. Plus, I wanted to be able to feed the fridge (cold water and ice maker), so I needed a pressurized source of drinking water.

BTW, if you filter/RO, etc your water going to the icemaker, be sure that the end-product flow rate (pressure) remains fairly high. A solenoid in the icemaker has to keep the water valve open until the tray fills, and if this takes too long the valve will die an early death. Then, it's back to the ice cube trays . . .

If Lindsay Lohan tasted our drinking water she'd give up that fast-lane existence and stay with us forever. And I think she'd be expensive to keep.

 

[Pasha]

It looks like this thread contains several topics related to water treatment. I would look separately at water filtration (removal of insoluble particles), softening (removal of "hardness ions") and purification (including reverse osmosis) because these are different tasks being used for treating different water conditions with different final outcomes.

I agree that only a comprehensive water test can give an idea about what kind of water treatment is required.

P.S. Reverse osmosis and distillation of drinking water remove calcium, fluoride and all micro-elements required for normal organism functioning. Of course there are situations when reverse osmosis (or distillation) is the best option, but I would not consider it the top choice for all households.

 

[ERD50]

Then, it's back to the ice cube trays . . .

Have always had ice cube trays. I never wanted to pay extra for the ice maker, run some plumbing to it and then fix it when it broke.

Ice makers always struck me as a solution looking for a problem. But that's just me, I guess.

-ERD50

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Fun water pressure story...

I tested our water pressure when we moved in, a steady 65 or so. Most household plumbing systems are rated for 60 and many homes are in the 40-60 range. A fair amount of stuff fails when faced with 80+psi.

So I went to test it again a few weeks ago. My pressure meter has a current and high pressure mark needle. When I went back out to check it, the high pressure mark was at 140.

Cant be. So I put it on an interior faucet and left it for an hour. High pressure mark was 160.

So I know two things now. Something changed in my plumbing and the t&p valve on my water heater is either not working or its sticking and not releasing until somewhere between 140 and 160psi.

Make a long story short, these homes have a backflow preventer that keeps water in the interior plumbing from flowing back into the public water system, so they're closed systems. Cold water being heated by the water heater created thermal expansion in the closed system and increased the pressure.

A lot of plumbers/builders offset this problem by using a thermal expansion tank on the water heater. Turns out this guy used a cheap valve on the toilet in the most remote bathroom to offpressure the system when it needed it. Which I scoffed at as a foolish economy when I replaced the toilet with a new one with a high quality valve in it.

I guess its a good thing that I used a good stainless steel line on my refrigerator instead of the plastic one that came with it.

Turns out this isnt an uncommon practice. Save yourself the $35 for an expansion tank and pick up a $15 toilet valve in exchange for the $5 one, and the problem wont appear for a good 10-15 years until someone replaces the valve. Then you've got a good chance of doing a bunch more plumbing work.

One guy that spent a few months trying to figure out what was going on lost his whole house water filter casing (the tenuous link to this thread, in case anyone was wondering), flooding his garage, then his fridge water line which made a mess out of the rest of his house.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ice makers always struck me as a solution looking for a problem. But that's just me, I guess.

Clearly someone who doesnt have enough parties.

Or who has never been caught putting back a half full ice tray by their pregnant wife who is in NO MOOD FOR THAT RIGHT NOW!