Water is essential to every home, and its quality can significantly impact your daily life. Deciding between whole house water treatment systems or opting for individual water filters can be daunting. This guide will help you understand the differences, benefits, and drawbacks of various water treatment options.
1. How Water Gets To Your House
3. Water Treatment Systems: 3 Options
At WaterSmart, we have 30 years of experience with whole house water treatment systems, and we'd love to share our expertise with you!
1. How Water Gets to Your House
Understanding how water reaches your home is crucial to choosing the right treatment system. Here’s a brief overview:
Residential Plumbing Basics
Water typically comes to your home through a municipal supply or a private well.
Municipal water is treated to meet safety standards, but it may still contain contaminants.
Well water is untreated and can vary in quality depending on local conditions.
Hard vs. Soft Water
Water hardness refers to the amount of dissolved minerals, mainly calcium and magnesium, present in the water.
Hard Water: Common in many regions, hard water can cause scale buildup in pipes and appliances, reduce soap effectiveness, and leave spots on dishes and fixtures.
Soft Water: Contains fewer minerals and is gentler on plumbing and appliances. However, soft water may taste different and lack essential minerals.
Water typically comes to your home through a municipal supply or a private well.
2. How to Treat Your Water
Several solutions are available to address water quality issues, each with its specific use case and benefits.
Water Softeners
Water softeners replace calcium and magnesium ions in hard water with sodium or potassium ions, effectively reducing hardness.
Pros: Prevents scale buildup, extends the life of plumbing and appliances, and improves soap and detergent effectiveness.
Cons: Can add sodium to water, requires maintenance and salt replenishment, and may not remove other contaminants.
Brita Filters
Brita filters are popular for their convenience and effectiveness in removing common contaminants like chlorine, lead, and certain particulates.
Pros: Easy to use, improves taste and odour, relatively inexpensive.
Cons: Only treats water at the point of use, limited capacity, requires regular filter replacements.
Avoiding or Cleaning Mineral Buildup
Regular maintenance and cleaning can help mitigate the effects of hard water without installing a treatment system.
Pros: Cost-effective, simple to implement.
Cons: Labor-intensive, less effective in the long term, doesn’t improve water quality.
Choosing the right water treatment solution depends on your specific needs, water quality, and budget.
3. Water Treatment Systems: 3 Options
When considering whole house water treatment systems, you have several options, each with its pros and cons.
Whole House Water Treatment System
A comprehensive solution that treats all the water entering your home, ensuring consistent quality throughout.
Pros: Treats water for the entire house, protects plumbing and appliances, improves overall water quality, and reduces contaminants.
Cons: High initial cost, requires professional installation, regular maintenance needed.
Under-Sink Water Filters
These filters are installed under individual sinks to treat water at specific points of use, such as kitchen or bathroom sinks.
Pros: Targeted treatment, relatively easy to install, and affordable.
Cons: Only treats water at specific locations, requires multiple units for whole house coverage, regular filter replacement needed.
Faucet-Mounted Filters
Faucet-mounted filters attach directly to the faucet, providing treated water on demand.
Pros: Easy to install, portable, and affordable.
Cons: Limited capacity, may not fit all faucets, and regular filter replacement needed.
Conclusion
Choosing the right water treatment solution depends on your specific needs, water quality, and budget.
Whole house water treatment systems offer comprehensive benefits but comes with higher costs and maintenance requirements.
Under-sink and faucet-mounted filters provide targeted treatment at a lower cost but may not address all water quality issues.
Understanding the pros and cons of each option will help you make an informed decision for your home’s water treatment needs.
For more information, you can refer to these pages: Consumer Reports and Better Homes & Gardens.
Whole House Water Treatment Systems
Since 1994, WaterSmart Systems has consistently offered its customers in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, and surrounding areas innovative, quality products and excellent service.
We are a water softener and FULL plumbing service company that you can trust.
That trust extends to our products and our expertise to improve the quality of your home's water.
“These guys deserve more stars , efficient, polite, on time, their price was a value. Cannot say enough of the easy and professional going communication from Greg and the plumber ... Highly recommended!”
