It's quite normal to hear people complain about the taste of their tap water. That's due to it containing chlorine, lead, and many other metals that can change the flavor of the water. Of course, it doesn't taste the same worldwide due to different concentrations of metals.
A post on the Water Filters Advisor blog explains how water filter pitchers can be beneficial to this issue and many features of using them. One important point made is most city tap water has a high concentration of specific metals. It can also include carbon, lead and fluoride too. We all know, too many contaminants in our drinking water can cause serious health problems in the years to come. That's why every house should consider using a water filter pitcher.
Let’s Explain How They Filter Tap Water
Due mainly to a unique chemical structure, water is incredibly effective at dissolving objects. It's often very useful. In case you want to get the dust out of your pants, just put it in the laundry basket with plenty of detergents. The result: When the water is combined with soap, they will clean any dirt easily. Yet that, too, obviously has a disadvantage. All the water in the world is continuously flowing through the ecosystem. This process is named water cycling. One minute it's running through a lake or floating up in the sky; the next, it's flowing out of the tap or goes down in your toilet.
Physical filtering and chemical filtering
There are two different methods to remove the soil. Physical filtrating means that the water is filtered to eliminate bigger impurities. That's not the only method for water filtration we have. The other type, called chemical filtering is quite interesting as well. The water goes through the active materials. They eliminate impurities with chemical processes as they pass through.
Activated carbon
The much more popular water filters are using active carbon (AC). It's mostly based on carbon (a unique carbon created by burning trees in limited oxygen supply. A large internal layer is filled with nooks and crannies. It will attract and catch chemical impurities using the mechanism called adsorption. This process involves trapping the liquid or gas by solid or liquid. The only downside of the active carbon is maintenance. The water filters will clog up, and you'll have to replace it. It's something you can't avoid, and it can be a bit pricey, mainly because it's a thing that will happen quite often.
Which contaminates they filter?
A good indication of water filter efficiency is certification in compliance with NSF / ANSI criteria. This means that the water filter's capacity is measured and made to eliminate certain pollutants. The other important factor to be checked would be that the firm is accepted in WQA, which stands for the Water Quality Association.
It's familiar that almost all water filter pitchers have a similar design. That's because the company that produces the pitcher filter wants to improve the smell and taste. Yeah, if the chemistry was your thing, you probably know that water shouldn't have any taste or smell, but the tap water in the city or the well water has it. That's because of the different contaminants in the water. Water filter pitchers are there to get rid of those contaminants and provide the cleanest drinking water. When you decide which water pitcher to buy, we suggest you look for an NSF/ANSI 42 certificate; be aware that not many filter pitchers have it.
Let's say you are trying to eliminate other hazardous contaminants, heavy metals, for example. You should ensure that the filter is accredited to the NSF / ANSI 53 standard. However, it may be unlikely to obtain a filter of this scale that has NSF / ANSI 53-certification. If the tap water at your home contains significant pollutants, you should consider buying a special filtration system.
What is the process of using a water filter pitcher?
The usage of water filters is quick and easy. All you need to do is to fill them up with tap water and wait. Fill your water pitcher from a water source that does not have low water pressure. The water will start flowing throughout the cartridges, and you'll get the clean, filtered water in minutes. Even the kid could do it! The price is acceptable, it's often below 50 bucks, so you won't need to worry about that as well.
Ion exchange
These water filters are incredibly useful for softening the water. They are meant to separate atoms of a contaminant to create ions. Once they do, the ions will be trapped and then release some specific, less problematic ions they have. Simply said, it's an exchange of harmful ions for healthy ones.
Ion exchange should be used for pollutants purification of the removed contaminants. This implies the ion exchange isn't just an appropriate solution when there is visible contamination in the water.
Distillation
The easiest way for water purification is called boiling. The heat will kill most of the bacterias, but the downside is that it won't remove any contaminants from the water. Water distillation is a move forward compared to regular boiling. The water is boiled until it becomes steam, which means that all the contaminants will be cleared. After that, it captures the steam, cooling it and putting it back in different containers.
However, certain pollutants are not removed because they boil at even lower temperatures. The distillation won't remove them, but it will definitely remove most of the pollutants. As a side note, indirect water heaters will not purify or create clean drinking water for your home.
Conclusion
As you could see, there are many different filtration methods. Every method removes different contaminants. However, there is no specific type of filtration that will eliminate all pollutants in the water. Because of this, many homes use more than one method to ensure they have clean, drinkable water. In case you choose among these water filters, take a cautious measure. Keep in mind that you're not automatically going to kill all contaminated stuff in it.
Don't forget that many water filters require continuous maintenance, and that can be pricey. If you bought a 40 gallons filter, it would cost more than a 5-gallon filter, but not much more, which is a good thing to be aware of. The filter requires regular maintenance because it needs to be clean to work as it is supposed to. If you avoid maintaining the filter, the water can be in bad shape after filtration, maybe even worse than before it.
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