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Water Treatment & Filtration Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do I know what type of system I have?
A. Learn more about the various types of water filtration and purification systems.
Q. How do I know what’s in my water?
A. If you receive water from a municipal water supplier, then you can review your local "Consumer Confidence Report" (CRC) to learn what is in your water. Each year, public water suppliers are required to provided a CRC. If you are on a private well, you can send off for a water analysis from a certified laboratory.
Q. Which type of water treatment product should I purchase?
A. Once you know what is in your water, then you can better determine what you want to remove. This is accomplished through a water analysis. Next investigate and learn about what type of systems are available that address your specific needs. There are a number of resources that you can use to make a good buying decision. Never ever buy a product that is sold to you via scare or alarm tactics, and check with several sources before you buy to make sure you're getting a high-quality system or replacement part.
Q. Once installed does water treatment equipment require any service or parts?
A. Yes, All in home water treatment equipment needs occasional attention and many require replacement filters & membranes. Follow the manufacturer's recommended service and maintenance instructions.
Q. My water taste bad? What may be the cause and can it be corrected?
A. If you want to treat the drinking and cooking water at your sink with a POU (point of use) system, a reverse osmosis system is a great option. Reverse Osmosis can remove lead, iron, fluoride, nitrates and dozens of other contaminants. In addition, an RO system can greatly improve the taste and the quality of your water by removing chlorine and other offensive tastes.
If you elect to treat the whole house, a system that is installed at the point where the water enters the home POE (point of entry) system, then your first step is to identify what is causing the problem (have a water analysis done). Once you have identified what is causing the taste problem you can then research what type of water treatment equipment is designed to address your specific needs.
Q. My well water tested positive for coliform bacteria. What does this mean and what can I do about it?
A. Coliform bacteria can be an indicator that the well may be susceptible to bacteria contamination. There are several option that you have. One is to disinfect the well and retest for coliform. If this second test also shows positive for coliform, then a whole house water treatment system should be considered. The most common system for treating waterborne bacteria is Ultraviolet (UV) water disinfection.
Q. What is a reverse osmosis system ?
A. Reverse osmosis systems produce pure water by forcing untreated water or tap water through a semi permeable membrane. The membrane lets only water molecules pass through directing it to the units storage tank, the impurities that are separated from the water molecules are forced down the drain. The system consists of both pre and post filters which add additional contaminant removal. For more information on Reverse Osmosis systems or Reverse Osmosis Installation.
Q. What is an ultraviolet system? How does it work?
A. An ultraviolet (UV) system uses UV to inactivate certain bacteria, viruses and cysts that may be present in the water source that flows through the systems UV chamber. The effectiveness of UV depends upon the dose of disinfectant received by the organism, which is the combination of UV intensity times the contact time involved. It is advisable to always pre-treat the water entering the UV system. For more information on Ultraviolet (UV) Water Treatment Systems.
<>Q. What is distilled water?
A. Distilled water is water that has been purified by passing through one or more evaporation –condensation cycles and contains essentially no dissolved solids. Usually contains less than 5.0 ppm of TDS.
Q.What is Water Filtration?
A. A process in which water passes through a water system that may include one or more filters for the purpose of removing turbidity, taste, color, iron or odor and certain chemicals such as chlorine. The design can be loose media tank-type systems or cartridge devices. In general the process may include mechanical, adsorptive, neutralizing and catalyst/oxidizing filters.
Q. There is chlorine in my water. Is chlorine bad for me?
A. Chlorine in itself does not appear to be a problem other than the aesthetic concerns of undesirable taste and odor it creates. There has been a lot of research on the effects of chlorine with evidence showing that the biggest concern being its reaction with natural organic materials like leaves and humus forming disinfection by-products, which are considered carcinogens. Installing a point of use water treatment system that incorporates the use of carbon filtration can be very effective in correcting this problem. (link to How to Remove Chlorine page)
See How to Remove Chlorine from drinking water
We offer affordable water filtration systems and replacement water filters.
Q. What is activated carbon and what does it do?
A. Carbon used in filtration applications is produced by grinding a carbon source - like bituminous coal, peat or coconut shells and heating the material in the absence of oxygen to 1000 degrees to bake off impurities. The material is then subjected to 1600-degree steam to “activate” the carbon. The steam leaves carbon granules filled with cracks and pores, enabling them to store large amounts of chemicals. One pound of activated carbon (the amount in a standard ten-inch filter cartridge) has the equivalent surface area of a 160 acre farm. Carbon removes contaminants in two ways: through adsorption , contaminants are attracted to the surface of the activated carbon and held to it in much the same way a magnet attracts and holds iron filings; and by acting as a catalyst to change the chemical composition of some contaminants. Activated carbon is ideal for removing chlorine, organic chemicals such as many kinds of pesticides, THMs like chloroform and many VOCs that are components of gasoline, solvents and industrial cleaners.
Q. What can carbon remove?
A. Carbon provides an excellent and proven application for the reduction or removal of the following contaminants:
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Acetaldehyde Acetone Alcohols Amy Acetate Amy Alcohol Antifreeze Benzene Bleach Butyl Alcohol Butyl Acetate Calcium Hypochlorite Chloral Chloramine Chloroform Chlorine Chlorobenzene Chlorophenol Chlorophyll Citric Acid Cresol Defoilants Diesel Fuel Dyes Ethyl Acrylate Ethyl Alcohols Ethyl Acetate Ethyl Amine Ethyl Ether Gasoline Glcols Herbicides Hydrogen Peroxide Hypochlorous Acid Insecticides Iodine Isopropyl Acetate Isopropyl Alcohol Ketones Lactic Acids Mercaptans Methyl Acetate |
Methyl Alcohol Methyl Bromide Methyl Chloride Methyl Ethyl Ketone Naphtha Nitrobenzene Nitrotoluene Odors (General) Oil-Dissolved Organic Acids Organic Esters Organic Salts Oxalic Acid Oxygen Ozone PCB's Pesticides Phenol Plastic Tastes Potassium Permanganate Propioic Acid Propyl Acetate Propyl Alcohol Propyl Chloride Radon Rubber Hose Taste Sodium Hypochlorite Solvents Sulphonated Oils Tannins Tar Emulsion Tartaric Acid Taste THM's Toluene Toluidine Trichlorethylene Turpentine Xanthophyll Xylene |
To learn more about different water treatment systems: