Homeowners concerned about water quality should consider BlueFlow All-Service Plumbing for our water treatment services in Buford, GA. While testing is an option, water quality can change without notice.
A better approach is whole-home water purification. Depending on your needs, there are various solutions, including reverse osmosis, water softening, and water filtration.
Reverse osmosis (RO) solutions for the home are all-in-one point-of-entry (POE) systems. A POE or whole-home system functions between the home’s main water line and internal plumbing, treating all the water before it enters the residence.
Water molecules generally move from areas of low concentration to high concentration. An RO system reverses that natural osmosis. Using high pressure, it forces water to a lower concentration through a semipermeable membrane. It results in some of the cleanest water possible because it leaves behind most minerals, chemicals, and gases,
One concern with RO is that it eliminates all the good minerals. Minerals are essential for a healthy balance in water. The most common way to overcome this issue is a remineralization filter. After the RO process, the water passes through a filter to pick up trace amounts of calcium, potassium, zinc, and other minerals.
Another concern with RO is that the process can use much more water than it delivers. Fortunately, there are WaterSense-certified systems available. Such systems minimize waste for better water conservation.
A POE water filtration system is a cost-effective solution for households concerned primarily with the quality of their drinking water. These systems ensure clean and healthy water from every faucet and showerhead in the home.
Traditional home water purifiers function by forcing water through a series of filtration stages. The stages your system has will determine what it can filter and to what degree. Many systems have a prefilter, which is necessary for well systems and benefits homes with municipal water, too.
A sediment filter generally provides the main mechanical filtration. An important consideration here is the filter’s pore size. The smaller the pores, the more the filter will trap. There are notable differences between mean pore size, for instance, and absolute pore size.
Many systems have activated charcoal, which is also very effective at improving taste and smell. In addition, charcoal absorbs many substances that a sediment filter can’t trap, such as chloramine and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Thus, charcoal can also serve as an additional prefilter or even the primary one.
A compelling aspect of an RO system is that it’s effectively a water filter and water softener system combined. If you have hard water but don’t have other water quality concerns, you can install a POE water softener instead.
Whole-house water softeners function by exchanging minerals that can become limescale with salt. The water passes over resin beads saturated with salt. Through ion exchange, the beads release salt and absorb calcium and magnesium.
A main consideration with any water softener system that functions this way is regeneration. The system will eventually exhaust the beads and need to regenerate them. If you opt for a single-tank system, you can’t continue using it while it regenerates. The regeneration will generally occur overnight. If you opt for a dual-tank system, you can use the system while it regenerates.
How much salt does a water softener add? It adds about 12.5 milligrams per 8 ounces. That amount has a minimal impact on taste and isn’t a health concern for most people. If it is a concern, you can use potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride.
BlueFlow All-Service Plumbing has helped many area homeowners improve their water quality with our water treatment services in Buford. Contact our expert plumbers at your convenience to learn how we can do the same for you.
Don’t have a water filtration issue? We also provide expert water heater, drain cleaning, and household plumbing services!
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