Water Filters and Frequently Asked Questions
The water filter industry is thriving. And just so you can make an informed decision when you buy a water purification system, we’ve put together the top water filter questions to guide you along the way.
Why shouldn’t I drink tap water? There are still many people who have enough faith in their community water filtration system to feel comfortable drinking their tap water. But that number is quickly decreasing, as public awareness increases. Water testing has shown all kinds of invisible foreign bodies in our drinking water.
If you could see what the lab technicians see under their microscopes, you’d probably run for your life. Or at least, you’d immediately stop drinking tap water. There are some major menaces lurking in there that could make you very sick, or even kill you!
You need to be aware that there are pathogens in your water. That’s the name given to the three types of disease-causing microbes. Those three types are: Protozoa, which includes giardia and cryptosporidium (even the names sound scary); bacteria, like the infamous E. coli; and viruses, like hepatitis. Now do you want to be pouring that into your body? Probably not!
If I’m concerned about water purity, can’t I just buy bottled water? Bottled water is a huge industry, now that it’s clear that our water is anything but clear. But, like most industries, there’s the good and the bad. There’s a lot of bottled water available that’s only partially filtered, so there could still be some contaminants in it.
If you’re really concerned about safe drinking water, make sure you buy a well-known brand that’s proven to be pure.
Is boiling my water enough to remove contaminants? By boiling your water for a couple of minutes, you’ll eliminate many of the E. coli, giardia, crypto, and other such organisms. But it won’t remove any of the harmful metals. In fact, as the water evaporates, the metals become even stronger.
Your best bet is to use a home water filter. It’s much easier than constantly boiling water, and it’s definitely much safer and much more effective.
How do I know what kind of water filter to buy? There are several water filtration systems available. They all do an adequate job of purifying your water. You just have to decide which one suits your water use and lifestyle the best.
You can get a water jug, with a filter, or you can get a filter that fits onto your tap. You can also get an in-line filter that’s mounted on your counter. This type is connected directly to your cold water supply. Or you can get one that’s installed under your sink, with its own independent tap.
Which water filtration system works the best? All home reverse osmosis water filters work well. They do what they’re designed to do. Again, it depends on your use and preferences. A water filtration system forces water through a material, called a media, that allows the water through, but not the impurities.
Or you can use the distillation method, which is, simply put, boiling the impurities out of the water. This is very effective, but you have to pay for the power to run them, and you also have to de-scale them periodically.
The other method, which is also very effective, is called reverse osmosis. This is a very thorough method which goes through several stages in filtering the water. The end result is very pure water, but not all the water that goes into the system comes out clean. There’s a certain amount of waste - the water that carries all the impurities. That goes down the drain.
Is reverse osmosis better than other water filtrations systems? To decide if reverse osmosis is better than other methods, you have to define “better”. It’s probably the most efficient system as far as removing impurities. However, it does have some disadvantages.
Because the system is so thorough, it takes more time, and uses more water. So you need a holding tank - that’s extra equipment, which usually means extra money. Also, it doesn’t work well with hard water, so you need to be living in a soft water area. And you need to have a minimum water pressure of 50 psi to operate the system.
How long will my filters last? Obviously, some filters last longer than others. It depends on which water treatment system you’re using. If you have a water filter jug, then the average use for one filter is about three months. But if you go through a lot of water, like if you have a large family, you may have to change your filter every month.
Usually, the general rule is, the larger the filter, the longer it lasts. You need to check out your owner’s manual for specifics. It’s important to remember that you should always change your filter within the suggested times. If you drink water that’s been passed through an expired filter, you may as well not use it at all because it’s full of contaminants that have already been filtered out.
What type of contaminants do water filters remove? Water filters are designed to improve the taste and odor of the water. Nobody likes to drink water that tastes of chlorine, so that’s one of the most important things that are filtered out. Metals, like copper and lead, are also eliminated.
And, of course, we need to get rid of the bacteria - those giardia and cryptosporidium that can be so harmful, or even fatal.
Why would I need a whole house filtration system? Filtering your drinking water is half the battle, but it’s not the whole war. Bacteria isn’t transferred only by drinking - you can also pass it on by hand, with the water you use in the rest of your house for washing the dishes, washing your hands, etc.
Whole house water filters do a great job of removing the chlorine and other bad tastes and odors, along with the other impurities you don’t want to come into contact with. These filters are hooked up to your main water line into the house, so nothing gets by them. Another great benefit is that you can purify about 100,000 gallons of water before you have to change the filter.
Where’s the best place to buy water filters? Because water purifiers are so popular these days, there are many manufacturers and distributors vying for your business. So the best place shop for your home water filters is on the Internet.
That way, you can get all the information you need, including the best prices, and the most beneficial features, without leaving the comfort of your home.
We all want to drink water that looks clear, not cloudy, and that has no bad taste or odor. And we all want to wash with water that has no bacteria or viruses. And that’s why water filters are the way to go.
We’ll suggest a couple of the many distributors of fine water filters. Check out these brands: PiMag Water Systems, Aqua Gold, or Richard Simmons’ Pure To Go Personal Water Filter System.
There are many more, and you can see all the online water filter merchants right there, and decide which one is best for you. I’ll drink to that!
Best Cost Alternative For Residential Reverse Osmosis Systems
If you are dealing with salty water, then “yes,” either one of the residential reverse osmosis systems, or a distillation system, is needed. But, if like most of us, you get your water from a chlorinated system with no salt problems, you have simpler and far less expensive options. We will cover one these options in this article called selective filtration.
No doubt you have been hearing about our need to reduce our body’s exposure to toxic chemicals; something now referred to as reducing the “body burden” or the total amount of toxins in our body.
Toxic contaminants in the water we drinks and bathe in has long been a concern to us all, and we should be concerned, but more and more the guys in the white coats are telling us the air quality in our homes is imposing even greater burdens on our bodies. The worst toxic contaminants in the air come from chlorine byproducts such as chloroform.
The EPA said, “Every home in America has an elevated level of chloroform gas (in the air) due to the vaporization of chlorine from tap and shower water.” (Also, while the shower produces the most chloroform in the air, the dishwasher and the washing machine aren’t far behind).
Since whole house units remove chlorine and other toxins from the water, at the point of entry into your home, they greatly improve both the air quality and the water quality.
One of the most compelling reasons to compare RO and SF systems before making your choice is the big difference in their purchase and operating costs.
In today’s world, cost differences might determine whether or not we can even buy a whole house unit. Very good residential selective filtration systems will run about $800. Comparable residential reverse osmosis systems are in the $10,000 range.
What causes the huge price difference?
One of the hardest things to remove from water is salt and, years ago, RO was developed as a cheaper way to clean up salt water than by using distillation. But that was when water and electricity were both very cheap. Today RO is an expensive technology as you will see.
RO systems use the home’s water pressure to force water through a membrane having pores so small only molecules the size of water molecules, or smaller, can pass through, leaving contaminants with larger molecules behind.
Not all contaminants are stopped by the membrane. Chlorine, its byproducts and many other chemical compounds have small molecules that allow them to pass through easily. Carbon filters are added to remove them and to protect the membrane.
The RO systems are faster than distillation, but the smaller units will only produce a gallon of filter water every two or three house. The larger whole house units are good for about 80 gallons an hour. Either system, large or small, uses pressurized storage tanks for delivering larger quantities of water quickly.
The minimum pressure required to operate most of the smaller countertop units is 40 psi (pounds per square inch) and older homes, or some well water systems, may need to add booster pumps. Since more pressure is required to operate the whole house systems, booster pumps are usually included with the unit.
These systems waste a large quantity of water that will not go through the membrane even with sufficient pressure applied. This water is often thrown out with the collected contaminants. The typical system wastes two to five gallons of water for each gallon that is filtered.
While there are systems that do recycle the waste water, it is the cost of the recycling, extra pumps (if needed), electricity, and storage tanks that lead to the higher initial costs, and higher operating costs. Also, the more parts in the system, the more Murphy’s Law is likely to influence required maintenance and further increase operating costs.
If you are on a chlorinated water system (95% of us are), a good option for consideration is selective filtration.
In these systems, redox (reduction/oxidation), mechanical filtration and activated charcoal are integrated into a multistage filtering process that will quickly process the water at the whole house level.
Redox, which is a chemical exchange process, is a new kind of filter media that was developed to remove dissolved lead and other toxic metals from water. Prior to this simple filtration process, only RO or distillation was capable of taking toxic metals from water.
Over 99 percent of the chlorine, chlorine byproducts and other organic chemicals are removed by the adsorptive power of the activated charcoal. The overall process of selective filtration removes bad tastes, odors and sediment from the water and acts somewhat like a water softener, but there is no unhealthy sodium added to the water.
Selective filtration units are simple to install, and work quickly to filter over 7 gallons of water per minute with no waste, and no electricity, storage tanks, or booster pumps required.
For anyone wanting to improve the air and water quality in their home, selective filtration systems are a viable cost saving option to consider.
Samsung Ln52a750 Review
With a marvelous line of new HDTVs out there in the market nowadays, how does one pick out anymore? Well for one, the LCD TV needs to be relatively sleek, fresh and has a plenty of usable features that will raise the level of amusement. And with this, you need just one name: Samsung LN52A750.
The fresh Samsung LN52A750 is all you demand to perk up those nights when the film lines are extended, and you feel like cuddling up to the freshest and most cutting-edge HDTV in the market nowadays. You don’t have to concern about doing a thing; the bran-new Samsung LN52A650 arranges everything for you, from aligning the image quality in accordance with the options you chose, to delivering you the current and quickest news program and reports, Samsung LN52A750 is the best and most efficient HDTV you can get in the market today.
The features of Samsung LN52A750 can be summed up in 2 words: efficiency and trendy. The bran-new Samsung LN52A750 features a system integrated to control judder motion, and of course, you have the regular richness of controllers that allow you to manipulate noise level, coloring, luminosity, dark detail, contrast and depth.
The bran-new Samsung LN52A750 as well has a radical new remote control that lets you to rotate and click around the new sleek menus without hassle. The new remote control also has a new “never say ‘I can’t see’” characteristic as well; it has a brilliant back light that can assist you if it’s dark.
Samsung LN52A750’s picture settings were done this way: the contexts are quite independent, per input of the user. You can choose other, only 1 the pre-made adjusting, the Entertainment Mode adjusting, would not allow you to touch the controls anymore, but yet, the TV is self-adjusting in some aspects, so no worries there. Other features that you can work around with include the ability to modify the temperature of colors; so you can go from dark and warm change to bright and vivid in no time.
What other nice features are there in the new Samsung LN52A750? Well aside from that nice Ethernet port, you also get a nice new USB port, where you can plug in your USB devices, and you can play media with the Samsung LN52A750. This is especially usable if you want to present people your digital shots and other associated media.
The USB port is placed at the control area of the Samsung LN52A750, and it’s rather convenient to simply connect your thumb drive there and slide away. There are also a lot of other interfaces if ever you need to connect to other devices, like RF interfaces and other conventional ports, like those for coaxial wires.
All in all, the Samsung LN52A750 is a great purchase because you’re actually obtaining value for money in terms of durability and greatest, this product follows the big tradition of other shiny and feature-full electronic products of Samsung.
Skip Hire Car Crash
I always used to think that the hiring of a skip was the reponsibilty of the supplier to look after once its been hired. In 3 months time it was the annual vegetable growing competition. I couldn’t wait, I was so excited by this!
last year, the day before the competition, a fox had snuck into my garden, and had a field day with my prize winning radishes. It took a huge chuck out of them. Realised they were not eggs, and flung them under cars, who then preceded to squish them! Did i forget to mention, i was extremly unlucky!
So this year I decided to start early, and create a disposable fence to keep out the ragamuffins, and them to unveil dramatically my hard work and beauty. I wanted to win so badly I decided it would make a better impression if I did all the work myself. So I went about finding a skip hire company. I needed a skip hire company to provide me with a builder’s skip, so I could shovel my old soil out, and lay fresh, nutritious particles for my vegetables to flourish.
the skip hire company told me I would need to place the skip on the road, as my garden was small. This would require a permit and more costage, but it didn’t bother me, the winning was all that mattered.
I soon had my skip filled halfway. I was very excited, the work was coming along nicely. I figured I may need another skip hire soon. In my excitement and anxiety, one night I forgot to warn other drivers by placing cones and lights around the skip, that there was indeed a giant skip in the road.
Boom! Jesus..i awoke with a t start. The clock read 1.53AM! What had happened? Being a star trek fan, I immedialty though aliens had landed on my house. I wish! It was an expensive car diving head first into the side of my skip. I quicky rang the emergency sevices, and rushed out to see if the driver was ok. thankfully he was, the audi’s superb interior had saved him.
The emergancy services arrived and took the driver away. The next day I contacted the skip company, they said it was my responsibility to make sure the skip was safe for road users. They had provided me with the skip, the permit and the equipment to make sure it could be seen at night.
I didn’t win the competition and was also left with a massive repair bill and the injured man was trying to claim conpensation. Just my luck eh?!