Whole house filter and.........?

[Mudball]

We are a good time away from this stage but I like to plan ahead. We are planning on a whole house filter and installing it directly above the utility sink. We dont believe we want a water softener at this time. The question is there a certain whole house filter system that we need to look for or that someone can suggest that is the best or what to consider when buying one ? Also anything to consider in addition to whole house filter system ?

 

[Gary Slusser]

If by "whole house" you mean a disposable cartridge filter, they are a very bad choice but.... what and how much of it is in your water that you want a filter to remove it?

If you have 3-4 or more grains per gallons (gpg) of hardness, you need a water softener much more than a filter of any kind.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Mudball]

Thanks and yes I did mean cartridge filters and why are they a bad choice and what other options do we have ?
If I get our water tested I guess it would help decide what we need but I thought cartridge filters would be a good idea to keep a lot of larger sediment and other trash out of the hot water heater etc...

 

[Gary Slusser]

Is the water visibly dirty? If not why filter invisible dirt? Invisible dirt is easily flushed out of a water heater tank but won't harm a water heater anyway.

What harms a water heater is hard water.

If you are on city water, use the highest hardness on the company's Water Quality Report found on their web site. If your own well you need water tests for hardness, iron and pH at least.

Disposable cartridge filters were never meant to be used on a point of entry (POE) basis, so they are being misapplied; they were meant for POU (point of use) like for a coffee machine, ice maker etc..

 

[Mudball]

Thanks for the information Gary Slusser I will call tomorrow and find out.

 

[Jimbo]

Think about legionaires before installing a whole house filter of the type which removes chlorine: http://content.usatoday.com/communi...2/miami-epic-hotel-and-legionnaires-disease/1


[video=youtube;9E-u5YNi8B4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-u5YNi8B4[/video]

 

[Mudball]

I read the link Jimbo and thats scary. Thanks for the information. Im thinking we dont need a thing at this point. The guy I needed to talk to at our water utility district was not there today but I will call him tomorrow. The guy that I did talk with said that he knows that they have never needed a reason to tell someone to get a softener but he said I need to call back just to be sure.

 

[Gary Slusser]

They will tell you that up to 150-180 mg/l is just fine but actually that is 8-10.5 gpg and very hard water.

 

[Mudball]

Called today and the guy I spoke with told me that they do not have a web site but he said they do have records that they keep on file and he said that the hard water average from 80 to 120. He said they never suggest to anyone to not install a water softener but they also have never had trouble with hard water and that the choice is mine.