Written by: Gene Fitzgerald // Last Updated: Oct 11, 2022
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With the evolution of water filtering technology, there are now a wide variety of options available. While this provides people with plenty of flexibility when it comes to setting up a filtering system that meets their needs, it doesn’t help when they don’t know which filter works best for them in the first place.
Take whole house water filters and reverse osmosis systems for instance. Both are powerful. But which one should you use for your household?
That’s what we will answer for you in this article. We’ll discuss whole house and reverse osmosis water filter systems including their types, benefits, differences, and which one is best for you.
Key Takeaways
A whole house water filter, also known as a point-of-entry water filter, is a system that’s installed where your main water line enters your home. This way, you can filter all the water going into your home through a single system instead of using separate filters for the house’s different rooms and water outlets.
There’s a wide variety of whole house systems that differ by the process they use to filter water. These are:
While the specifics will vary slightly depending on the filtering method used, you can expect these general benefits from using a whole house water filter:
Treating water with reverse osmosis consists of using pressure to push water molecules through a semipermeable membrane, lowering the concentration of contaminants in the water, if not outright removing them entirely. The process typically works to remove contaminants like fluoride, lead, nitrates and sulfates, and pesticides.
This process is normally combined with other types of filtration, such as sediment or carbon filters, to achieve optimal water quality.
RO systems can be categorized by their application or type of membrane.
There are two types of reverse osmosis membrane: Thin film composite (TFC) and cellulose triacetate (CTA). The former is better at dealing with standard contaminants in general, with a 98% effectiveness rate, but it can’t handle chlorine. The latter is less effective at dealing with contaminants (93%) but can handle chlorine better.
As for RO system application, there are three different types:
Among the many benefits of using an RO filter, you can find:
There are a few differences between whole house water filters and reverse osmosis systems. For one, RO filters are usually used as point-of-use filters, while whole house systems are always point-of-entry – naturally, since they handle very different flows of water, they also have differences in their intended use.
An RO filter is intended for purifying drinking or cooking water, and whole house filters are mainly used for bathrooms, cleaning, or gardening. A whole house filter has an average flow rate of 10 gallons per minute, while an RO filter can only do somewhere around 30 to 90 gallons per day.
Finally, when it comes to their filtration capabilities, RO filters can remove pollutants down to 0.0001 microns, while whole house filters have much larger micron ratings typically ranging from 5 to 50.
So, whole house water filter vs reverse osmosis system – which is right for you?
Well, there’s no universally correct answer, as this will depend on your water quality and what kind of filtering you need. You also have to consider your budget, as whole house systems would be significantly more expensive than a point-of-use unit like a reverse osmosis filter.
In general, RO systems are much more powerful, so if your main concern is drinking water for your kitchen, then they are a solid choice. However, your pipes and appliances and other parts of your home won’t receive the benefits of filtering.
Whole house water filtration, on the other hand, will give you clean water that you can use for a wide variety of things, such as cleaning and showering, while also protecting your plumbing and appliances.
You could opt for a whole house RO system to get the best of both worlds, but that would be a pricey choice.
If you want the most thorough filtration possible, you shouldn’t choose between one system or the other. Instead, you should combine a whole house water filter with a point-of-use RO system so that they can counteract their weaknesses.
If you have any questions about whole house water filters vs reverse osmosis systems please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
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