Guide to Home Water Filtration Systems

The human body relies on clean water in order to function. It is one of the most precious resources on earth. It travels far before it gets to your home plumbing, providing plenty of opportunities for contamination. Home water filtration removes impurities like silt and bacteria that are collected along the way, which helps improve the taste, prevents odors, and keeps everyone healthier.

Providing high-quality water for your family, pets, and everywhere in your home is important to the health and safety of your household. There are multiple ways to make sure your water is clean and many products to help you keep it that way. We’ve developed a guide to help you sort through some of the best water filtration products on the market.

Why Do You Need a Water Filtration System?

The fact is that there are impurities in all tap water. Whether from an excess in minerals, to unseen bacteria and parasites, the water from the pipes at times may taste off or hold a particular odor that is less than desirable. Water filters of all kinds can quickly create drinkable, enjoyable water that is safe and clean.

Water filters remove contaminants, minerals, bacteria, and viruses from the water to make it safer to drink. The right types of home water filtration systems can soften the water to remove mineral deposits, making it easier for the human body to process. 

Cleaner water even helps protect the home plumbing by removing the components that can add to the oxidation and degradation of the pipes throughout. It also reduces the visible buildup of hard water on faucets, sinks, showers, and countertops.

How Do Water Filters Work?

Different types of water filters can remove different impurities from the water using different methods. That is why it is a good idea to know what is in your water before you choose a home water filtration system, so you ensure the filter is capable of removing the contaminants present in the water.

What Kind of Water Filter is Best?

The best home water filtration systems for your household will depend on the water flowing in. Simple water testing kits can help narrow down what chemicals are present in the water to find what needs to be filtered out.

Even if you don’t know exactly what lurks in the tap water, you can still work with different types of water filtration to find the filters that result in the purest, best tasting water. To choose the right home water filtration systems, discover what types of home water filters there are, and what would work best with your household’s daily water use habits.

There are five common methods of filtering water. Once you know what these methods are, you can build a DIY home water filtration system by mixing and matching the filter types that work best for your household. Let's take a look at the best water filtration methods out there.

Activated Carbon Filters

Also called charcoal filters, or pre-filters, activated carbon filters can collect larger particles and contaminants as the water moves through the filter. Charcoal acts as a magnet for many particles that can cloud the water. Activated carbon is charcoal that has been aerated, expanding the carbon particles to create “pores” that add extra surface area for the impurities to collect in, removing them from the water.

Activated carbon filters improve the taste of the water by removing chlorine and scrubbing out odors. There are two basic filter types with activated carbon.

Granulated activated carbon consists of very fine pieces of carbon piled loosely into the filter. They offer a smaller surface area as the activated carbon scrubs contaminants from the water that passes between the many individual grains.

Carbon block filters are very dense, hard-packed blocks formed to fit inside the filter container. The water flows through and around the block, maximizing contact and collecting impurities. Less sediment can sneak through because the carbon will not shift to allow the larger particles.

Reverse Osmosis Filters

Reverse osmosis filters, also called RO filters, are often paired with activated carbon filters because together they remove many of the more common water problems. While the activated carbon filters can remove chlorine, the reverse osmosis filter can remove other chemical trace particles, such as arsenic, fluoride, and nitrates.

The reverse osmosis method filters water by forcing it through a semipermeable membrane that traps the non-water particles, removing the contaminants from the drinking water. This process can create up to 5 gallons of wastewater per gallon of drinking water, so it uses more water than most other home water filtration systems. Because it uses so much water, it is a good idea to save the RO filtered water for drinking, cooking, or baking, rather than other household tasks that require a lot of water.

Water Softeners

Groundwater can dissolve limestone, iron, and other metals to pull the extra mineral buildup into the water, resulting in corroded plumbing pipes and soap scum at home. Minerals in water can make the water feel “hard”, sticky, or cause it to dehydrate into a white, flakey mess. It’s not a great addition to your water, whether for drinking water or the water for the laundry.

Water softeners use a process called ion exchange to remove the hard, inorganic minerals from the water. They are a different kind of home water filtration system in that they add chemicals and minerals to the water in order to remove others.

The ion exchange process “softens” water by using sodium ions to create a positive charge that counters and removes the negative ions of minerals in the water, such as barium, calcium, chlorides, magnesium, sulfates, and radium.

The water softener trades the calcium ions in the water for the sodium ions instead, without adding salt to the water, and should not smell or taste like salt water. It removes hard water minerals to leave the water clean and healthy to consume. While they remove minerals, water softeners do not purify all contaminants from the water and work best when paired with an RO or carbon filter system.

UV Filters

Thankfully, municipal water treatment plants clear the water of most germs with chlorine and other chemical treatments before the water reaches your home. UV light filters can provide an extra line of defense to kill off the microorganisms that make the long trip to your home’s plumbing lines.

Ultraviolet radiation can kill bacteria, parasites, and viruses in the water without using heat. UV water filters utilize high frequency UV light to destroy live contaminants. The water is run along a glass UV light element that irradiates the water inside the disinfection chamber, killing off any live microorganisms.

Infrared Filters

Infrared filters soften the water by reversing the ionic charge of the minerals, without utilizing sodium.

Instead, the water is exposed to heat and infrared light, which inundates it with a negative charge. Common water impurities are inorganic, negative ion-based minerals that then react to the negative charge in the water.

The end result is a softer water source with less soap scum and mineral deposits left behind on faucets and sinks.

Where Can You Use Water Filtration?

One of the first choices with water filters is to determine where to use or install a home water filtration system.

A whole house water filtration system can be installed outside of the home and provides safer, cleaner water to the plumbing in each room. That means the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and even the garage can all access purified, softened water, right out of the tap. It can help reduce the buildup and mineral damage to the home’s plumbing over time.

Additional point-of-use home water filtration can be installed to add an extra level of purification with an under the sink water filtration unit. These usually include reverse osmosis water filter tanks. RO filters can use up a lot of excess water during the process of removing contaminants from the water, so it is a good idea to only install these in places where the water will be used for drinking water.

Some refrigerators offer filtered water on the door. These refrigerators will connect to the water line in the kitchen and improve the taste of the water that is processed. They can be connected to the filtered water of an under the sink filtration system, or just boost the purification offered by a whole house filtration system.

Another option is to attach water filters directly to the faucets. They can be used for kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, or even attached to the shower to help soften the water. These can be built into the faucets themselves, or as added-on spouts. Different types of water filtration are available for every room in the house, wherever and however you use the water.

What Types of Home Water Filtration Systems Are There?

Finding the perfect combination of water filtration options depends on the demands of your household’s water use. There are a variety of different types of water filters to coordinate into your daily life, throughout the house.

Water Pitchers

One of the most common home water filtration options is the water pitcher with the built-in filter compartment. Relatively inexpensive and easy to use for everyone in the family, water pitchers are most likely to use an activated carbon filter that will need to be replaced every few months.

Countertop & Faucet Mounted Filters

Easily installed and portable, countertop and faucet mounted filters offer cleaner water with relatively no plumbing required. They take up very little space, but they cannot be used with pullout or pull down faucets.

·      Countertop mounted filters sit beside or behind the sink and connect to the faucet with a screw-on spout that, with the press of a button, diverts the tap water through the filter via an external hose attachment. The water is processed through the filter and then delivered through the dispenser on the countertop filter unit.

·     Faucet-mounted filters are entirely self-contained filter units that screw onto the faucet spout, filtering the tap water on-demand with the press of a button or by turning the filter into place. The water is diverted through the filter and clean water is dispensed through the spout at the bottom of the unit.

Under Counter Filters

As the name implies, undercounter filters reside below the sink to purify the water before it gets to the faucet. An under-sink water filter system can consist of multiple types of filters that clean and soften the water and a tank to store the water ready for drinking. These systems can utilize multiple cartridges for different types of filtration, including reverse osmosis filters and carbon activated filters.

Refrigerator Filters

They may not be as flashy or conspicuous as some of the larger, more obvious home water filtration systems, but refrigerator water filters are effective and often the favorite of the household. They utilize carbon filters to produce clean and clear water for both the in-door water dispenser and the ice maker.

Showerhead Filters

To help reduce the hard water and soap scum deposits in the shower and bath area, look to showerhead filters. The filter installs easily between the showerhead and the shower arm, and instantly cuts down on the bacteria and mineral build up in the showerhead and water flow.

Water Filtering Faucets

If you’re looking for a little extra filtration on the drinking water, water filtering faucets allow the added bonus of choosing between filtered cold water or heated water ready for tea. These smaller tanks and filters are connected through the countertop or sink to a dedicated dispenser faucet. Because of the smaller filter or tank, these faucets can be found with a lower flow rate than most kitchen faucets, down to half a gallon per minute.

Whole House Filters

To provide softer, cleaner water for the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms, look to the whole house home water filters. They connect to the main water supply for the house and can include different types of filters. A whole house filter is good for getting clean water to the less obvious things, like the dishwasher, washing machine, or bathroom showers, without having to install individual filters. They’re also a good line of defense for homes that rely on well water.

Your Water: Clean and Safe

There are many benefits to incorporating home water filtration into your household routine. Anything that protects your family and prolongs the lifetime of the house itself is well worth research and consideration.