My wife is pushing for one of these very expensive home water treatment/filtration systems, but it all feels like a scam to me. No one I know has one, so turning to random strangers on the internet for opinions.
Edit: We’re on city water in a decent area. No well water. It’s more about removing the chlorine and microplastics than anything.
It’s more about removing the chlorine and microplastics than anything
Yeah that’s a scam for boomers
The problem with removing chlorine at the home water source is that you then have nothing preventing bacterial and fungal growth in your pipes and water faucets.
You just need an under sink carbon water filter for drinking or cooking water.
I have a full reverse osmosis system at home. On city water. Installed it when my ice cubes melted and left some sandy sludge at the bottom of the glass. I use it to make crystal clear ice and to fill up the aquarium with safe water. Also, for drinking water in the spring when the water smells like dead fish for some reason.
We had a guy out who specialized in this stuff and he said to install the RO system to the fridge and a tap and leave the toilet water as it comes from the city. Installed it myself for cheap when the system went on closeout.
Get a water test done first to see what it is you need to target. Not all filters are the same.
You might be fine with a simple 2-stage filter for the home, and an RO filter at your kitchen sink/fridge for your drinking water and ice cubes.
a proper water test from a reputable lab that tests for dangerous contaminants like lead, not just a TDS test.
Total Dissolved Solids tests are what the filter companies to scare you into buying their filter systems. They’ll take your tap water, put their TDS meter in it, go “Oh my god, look at how high it is! you need filtration immediately!” and try to sell you an overpriced system immediately.
You know whats dissolved in water? All the minerals and other crap that makes water good for you. Thats why a TDS meter spikes even in bottled water. But its an excellent scare trap for the uninformed by the predatory.
If your water is good, don’t bother. You’re getting way more microplastics from driving with your windows down than a municipal source. I lived in Orlando for a little where they used wayyyy too much chlorine, but a cheep faucet filter made it serviceable.
It’s not a scam if your town/well water is shitty or causes issues.
I don’t have one, but many restaurants in my city have them because the city water is hard, and will destroy pipes and equipment. Like, if you ran an espresso machine in my city w/o a filter the machine would clog every other week from mineral build up. So in terms of lowing your plumber and equipment bills it’s a very good investment. Often in my city water heater tanks, for example, will last 5-10 years instead of like 20. Also, a lot of people find the hard water in my city unpalatable.
The info about your water should be available through your town or city. The water in my city isn’t treated because it’s perfectly safe and clean, it just has high mineral content. I have lived in places where the water was treated with softeners because it was too hard, and that has other drawbacks.
If I was building a new home in my same town, I would totally install one because it would pay for itself in the long run. I use a Brita filter and that’s good enough for me to clean up the taste, and I do call a plumber to flush my pipes and all that every couple of years to prevent the build up that eats away at them, so that is an ongoing cost I have to eat. And retrofitting a filter system would be stupidly expensive for my building.
Get an under-sink RO system. 6 stage is the sweet spot imo.
Water went from 750 TDS to 40, and that’s with minerals readded with a mineral adding filter. Tastes as good or better than bottled water to me.
If you have hard water, it’s true that water softeners can help with other issues in the house (scaling of faucets, dishwasher cleaning I effectively), and possibly if your family has skin issues from showering in it. I thought about it but for simplicity, we’re foregoing for now.
Yeah I had an RO for years at my last house. However, I bought new filters one time and my entire system smelled and tasted like mold after installing them. I always sanitized the entire system per their directions. 13 years no problem then, a problem. They also straight up refused to talk to me about it so maybe avoid US Water Systems…
I’ll second that opinion. RO filtered water basically is the same as overpriced bottled water, but you can have all you want at home anytime in your own glass
The water in my house tastes like crap. We used to buy gallon jugs of water not for health reasons but because of the taste. I bought a reverse osmosis system and I love it.
It wastes water to cycle (less than most) but still not great and it takes cartridges, but to me it’s still with it. I mean is it better to waste water or put plastic jugs in the landfill? The cartridges last a long time. So to me, the scam is worth it. One of the best things I’ve ever bought.
Not a water treatment system as those being described in the thread but I have installed and used a water filter in my house to prevent sand and metal deposits to enter my home pipes, as the main is a very old galvanized tube.
It cost around 60€ and the instalation is pretty straigh forward if you are at ease with tools. The kit was composed of a stainless steel cartridge and a clear filter housing. A cartridge lasts about 2 years, more if routinely cleaned, and I had the option of cheaper fabric-like filters, discardable.
The results, for me personally, besides removing the solids, were negligeable but my partner is a water taster and was constantly stating the water tasted better after I installed the filter.
I went to a few stores, asking questions and comparing answers and solutions. I was not in need of a complex system but regardless I was presented with very exaggerated solutions and more basic and down to earth approaches. A serious hurdle I had to face was insisting that the system had to be easily instalable and maintainable by myself; most people tried to convince me to have everything installed by a plumber, no matter how simple the solution was.
The first thing to do is to pull the water report for your area. For the US, most can be found here. Tap water database.
Prepare yourself because most drinking water has some serious contaminants.
When I learned this, I was stunned. It had never crossed my mind that we would allow one of our most precious resources to be contaminated.
You will see a bunch of people chiming in about how the water is safe, but a few things to note.
There are contaminants in a lot of drinking water that they simply dont regulate. So there can be excessive levels of toxic things in your water but its still identified as safe.
Also what is considered safe levels of contaminants can vary wildly.
The EPA guidelines are factoring in the cost and feasibily of removing contaminants, not just the science.
As far as (carbon based) whole house systems, they can remove chlorine and handle lower levels of PFAS, but beyond that you need to focus on point of use filters. These are typically located under sinks and or refrigerators where you use water for drinking and cooking.
Lastly you have to be very careful when selecting filters. Many vendors will not list NSF certifications. Its also highly advised to request a performance data sheet from the vendors you are considering.
Best of luck.
The first thing to do is to pull the water report for your area. For the US, most can be found here. Tap water database.
the EWG is bullshit scaremongering site that says anything functionally above 0 is CONTAMINATION. And what do you know, theres easy links to buy filters that solve every imaginary problem they try to scare you with right on the very same pages.
A simple search about EWG shows that everyone has some very legitimate and serious criticism about their utter bullshit.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/environmental-working-group-ewg/
Even the biasfactcheck rates it as pseudoscience.
city water here.
I installed a modest three stage filter last year.
first stage is particulate, second stage is active carbon, third stage is UV.
we have aging pipes in the area so main breaks happen at least twice a year, not to mention the possibility of lead pipes.
no filter will get you to absolute zero, but the levels of harmful chemicals and biological matter that get through after a good filter will be negligible.
just because you trust your water today, doesn’t mean you can trust it tomorrow.
Yes I’ve used them. They are worth it. What the EPA says is safe still has stuff you should probably remove.
Not to mention that treatment plants are not infallible.
This is the correct database to use. In the US, we haven’t invested any official effort into updating our drinking water standards in many decades. So take whatever your municipality or water supplier says about your water quality, with a grain of salt. Maybe a very large bag of salt.
No, its not the correct database to use because EWG is bullshit who lists anything above a functional zero as dangerously contaminated, with links to sell you water filters for every bullshit claim they make.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/environmental-working-group-ewg/
You have to be specific to answer properly. Where do you live (how is your water) and what treatment/filtration are you considering.
Lots of folks on well water have hard water, bad tasting, etc… Other may have lead, or other pollutants.
The truth of the matter is you should get your water tested at an independant lab. Based on the results, you can tailor a system to your needs, if any.
We’re on city water in a decent area. No well water. It’s more about removing the chlorine and microplastics than anything.
Without a test you wouldn’t know. Cities have lead, pfas, god knows what. Older areas of cities may still be using lead pipes.
We’re on city water in a decent area
Could you just answer where you roughly live? US, Europe, Antarctica, the moon?
If you’re in Europe your probably fine because of EU laws…
You should get your water tested. While your water district report is a fine baseline, it won’t tell you about things like lead scale in your home’s feed line that are localized to your plumbing.
I had this done and learned my home originally had a lead feeder line from the mains that was replaced 30 years ago, but coated the pipes in lead scale. Now we use a 6 stage RO system.
Why is removing the chlorine important to your wife? Why does she think a filter won’t introduce more microplastics than it removes? Is the entire filter system plastic free? (The answer to that is "no. ")
Put it together yourself and it’s cheap af. The whole system package is the scam.
We have a salt water system, came with the house, system was about 2k in today’s dollars. buy like $15 of salt every quarter, works great and saves the plumbing
