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.
In the past, we worried a lot about the quality of the water we consumed and how it was affecting our bodies, and rightly so, but now scientists are discovering the quality of the air in our home poses an even greater load on our bodies. One of the largest offenders is chloroform, a byproduct of the chlorine in our water.
In a report from the EPA, it state, “Every home in America has an elevated level of chloroform gas due to the vaporization of chlorine…from the tap and shower water.” (What they didn’t say is the dishwasher and the washing machine are not far behind the shower in chloroform output).
The quality of the air and the quality of the water in our homes can both be enhanced greatly by whole house water purification units, since they remove the toxins as soon as the water enters the home.
And, there is a compelling reason to look at RO and SF technologies before you buy, because they differ significantly in initial costs and the cost to operate.
Good quality residential reverse osmosis systems are around $10,000. Good quality residential selective filtration systems come in at about $800. For most of us that difference might determine whether or not we can even get a whole house unit.
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 push water through a membrane using the home’s water pressure. The membrane’s pores are microscopic in size, allowing only molecules small than a water molecule to pass through. Larger contaminants remain behind the membrane.
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 small RO systems are very slow, taking two or three hours to produce a single gallon of filtered water. Whole house units, on the other hand, can filter upwards of 2,000 gallons per day. Large or small units require a pressurized tank in order to be able to deliver a larger quantity 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.
Selective filtration on the whole house level uses an innovative multistage filtration process consisting of mechanical filtration, redox and adsorptive filtration to rapidly process the water.
The relatively new redox filter uses a chemical exchange process to remove toxic metals, such as dissolved mercury or lead, from water. RO and distillation can also remove lead, but redox filters uses the first technology capable to remove these toxic metals by simple filtration methods.
Chlorine and its byproducts, along with other organic chemicals, are 99 percent (plus) removed by the activated charcoal. And, the total process treats water somewhat like a water softener, with no sodium added, and the odors, bad tastes and sediment are also removed.
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 looking to install a whole house water filter to improve the quality of the air in water in their home, selective filtration systems have a lot to offer.