Home Water Filtration System Options and Ideas

There are many options on filtering your drinking water in your house. Some are very expensive, some are very inexpensive. It is up to you on how in deciding what is adequate for your living situation. Some of the ways you can filter your water from contaminents range from whole house systems to pitcher and gravity filters.Here are some of the options you can choose from:
Reverse Osmosis systems. There are reverse osmosis systems that are whole house systems, which are very effective and mostly used when you have a well. It us mainly put in when you are building a new house. The wells usually have a very high dissolved solids level or other issues that make them undesirable for drinking. They can be noisy due to the pumps. The system can also be very costly, upto $6000.

Point of use Reverse Osmosis systems. Another option is a reverse osmosis system that attaches under the sink. It is far less expensive than a whole house system. Ranging from $200 to $500. This is a point of use unit, therefore it only affects where you are using the water to drink. If you have it under your kitchen sink, the other faucets will not be filtered. Reverse Osmosis filters undesirable materials from the water by using pressure to force the water molecules through a semi permeable reverse osmosis membrane. The water treatment removes ionized salts, colloids, and organic molecules down to a molecular weight of 100.

Water Softeners.  A water softener is used usually when you have a hard water issue. When water contains a significant amount of calcium and magnesium, it is called hard water. Hard water can clog pipes and cause problems with soap and detergent not dissolving in water. Water softening is a technique that serves the removal of the ions that cause the water to be hard, in most cases calcium and magnesium ions. Iron ions may also be removed during softening. The best way to soften water is to use a water softener unit and connect it directly to the water supply. This also is not extremely expensive compared to the whole house osmosis system. You do have to replace the salt regularly, usaually at least once a month. Costs can be from $500 to $1000 depending on the unit.

All are great options to filter out the chemicals and impurities in your water.  Deciding what is best can be determined by your financial situation, and also if you are in an existing house, or building new.