Whole House Water Filter

I'm writing this page to try to convince you to install a whole house water filter. In my opinion, it is infinitely cheaper than buying bottled water (which costs about $4 per gallon), and the quantity of these bottles being put into landfills has become a serious ecological issue.

I was concerned about this over a year ago, but never wrote anything about it. Recently, my friend Roland Ratliff of www.simple-green-home-solutions.com wrote a newsletter that caused me to refocus.

Water filters & other small appliances

The Ecological Issue

Roland points out that the average American is responsible for about 300 plastic bottles each year - a bit less than 1 a day. Only 24% of these get recycled. The rest end up on the side of the road, or in landfills.

It takes at least 450 years for these things to decompose. During the 2008 Great American Cleanup sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, volunteers recovered and recycled 189,000,000 plastic bottles from highways, waterways and parks. So it's a littering issue as well.

Yes, a whole house water filter needs to have a filter replaced every month or so. But the time involved is less than the time it takes you to load and unload bottled water from your car. And the cost is about 1/20th of the cost of the bottled water.

The Primary Purpose of These Water Filters

With over 2100 known carcinogens in our water supply, its no wonder the water filter industry is growing at over 3 billion dollars in sales a year worldwide. If you do not have a water filter of some kind, you may want to consider buying a whole house water filter soon.

It will filter contaminants like chlorine, VOC's, THM's and a host of other contaminants that can cause cancer and a whole host of other diseases.

This is especially important for our young children and our elderly. Chlorine removal for people who rely on municipal water systems should be the first to purchase a whole house water filter.

The EPA says drinking and showering in chlorinated water increases your risk of cancer by a whopping 93 %. 70 years ago, before we had this multitude of chemical compounds in our environment, 1 in 50 people could expect to get cancer in their lifetime.

Today, 1 in 3 Americans, including 1 in 2 males, will become cancer statistics! Cancer is a man made disease, and almost completely preventable. The purity of our water is one of the most important factors in the prevention of degenerative diseases.

No whole house water filter will do it all, so it is always a good idea to have a quality point-of-use water filter on your kitchen sink that will also tie into your refrigerator to remove lead and other contaminants that seep into your water through your home’s plumbing.

Although chlorine is the primary disinfectant used today, chlorimines are coming on strong because they are cheaper than chlorine. This is why many municipalities are switching to them in great numbers.

However, this has its own set of problems. In your decision making process you may want to consider a whole water filter that addresses chlorimines as well as chlorine.

House Water Filter Purchasing Considerations When considering the purchase of a whole house water filter there are several key points to look for:

1. Initial cost, including shipping and installation

2. Life of the filter

3. Warranty on the filter: can they prorate it?

4. Return policy: do they offer a satisfaction guarantee? 5. Shipping cost: who pays for shipping on any warranty?

6. Customer service: how do you reach the company?

7. What contaminants does the filter remove?

8. Do they offer a performance guarantee: what happens if it does not perform to manufacturer claims?

9. When do you replace the filter or the media and what is the cost?

10. Does the filter require back washing? If so, how long is the warranty on the electric head and valve?

11. Gallons per minute of flow (one shower will use 2.5 gpm)

Best Review

The best value seems to be the PC 600 model by Pelican. It can be purchased for about $700 on line, or $1000 in retail outlets (plus installation). It carries a 5 year warranty. It's rated higher than many of the more expensive models.

Roland installed a whole house water filter in his house, just before the water heater. You can buy under-sink models as well - these are much cheaper. As for me, we've been using a Brita faucet-attached unit in our kitchen.

Once we filter our water, my wife and I put it into traveling containers (mug or canteen or reusable bottle), with an ice cube, for our commute. It's very easy.

I hope you can see the benefits of using a whole house water filter, or an under-sink model, and that you will seriously consider getting one.

If you have a question, contact me about a whole house water filter here.

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