How a Whole House Water Filter System Works: A Brief Breakdown
Access to clean drinking water is vital for every household. We use it to cook delicious meals for our families, hydrate our bodies, wash our laundry, and create a clean environment in our homes.
But with America�s aging water infrastructure and highly contaminated water sources, millions of people are at risk of consuming harmful contaminants, such as chlorine, impurities, and chemicals, which may be toxic to our health and well being.
Thankfully, with a certified and proven whole house water filter system, you can remove all those pollutants from your water supply and create a constant flow of safe drinking water in your home.
A whole house water filter system is designed to provide clean, filtered water for your entire household � not just your kitchen and bathroom faucets. Essentially, the water filter acts as the point of entry for the water and works to prevent contaminated water from entering your household.
But before you shell out your hard-earned dollars on just any random system, you�ll first need to learn the basics about how it works. In this article, we�ll walk you through the various processes a whole house water filter uses to remove contaminants from your water. Stay tuned!
What is a Whole House Water Filter System?
A whole house water filter, also known as a Point-of-Entry (POE) filtration system, combines several important features and functionality to remove contaminants from water entering your home. It�s called a POE system because it is normally installed at the main water line where water first enters your home. In essence, the water has to go through the filtering system before being routed to faucets, showers, toilets, water-using appliances, and so on.
How Does a Whole House Water Filter System Work?
A multi-stage system uses various stages of filtration to ensure that only clean, contaminant-free water gets into your household.
Stage 1 � Sediment Pre-Filtration
As soon as the water first enters the filtering system, it flows into a 5-micron sediment prefilter. This filter is designed to block out larger contaminants like sand, sediment, silt, clay, dirt, debris, rust, and others. It also helps extend the lifespan of the entire filtration system, so the media won�t have to be replaced but after 1,000,000 gallons.
What is the 5-Micron Filter and How Does it Work?
Filter micron ratings can be either nominal or absolute. A nominal 5-micron filter means that the filter is designed to capture 90% of particles 5 microns and over. A filter with an absolute 5-micron rating means the filter will remove 95% of anything 5 microns in size.
These filters act as a sieve to remove visible particulate matter, and any particles of dirt, sand, dust, and debris being transported by the water. As water passes through the filter, depending on the micron size of the contaminants, they will be captured by the mesh-like filter bed. Five-micron sediment filters also remove turbidity from water. Turbidity is the cloudiness in water caused by the heavy presence of suspended solids.
Sediment filters do not remove chemicals or heavy metals, microorganisms, or dissolved particulate matter. They also do not improve the taste and odor of the water. Rather, they are primarily a defensive filtration method.
Stage 2 � Mineral Filtration
When the water leaves the sediment filter, it passes through a copper-zinc and mineral filtration media. This filter removes most of the remaining chlorine and heavy metals contaminants in the water. It will remove what�s left of the chlorine, heavy metals, bacteria, and other microbes.
In some cases, some manufacturers impregnate KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion) media in the carbon filter to destroy bacteria and other dangerous pathogens and contaminants.
What is KDF Media, What Does it Remove and How Does KDF Work?
KDF process media is a unique combination of high-purity copper and zinc granules that uses an oxidation/reduction (redox) process to reduce contaminants in water.
KDF process medias use a redox reaction to remove iron, chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, and other dangerous compounds from water by exchanging them with harmless components. They also remove other heavy metals like nickel, copper, and mercury, by bonding to the KDF media. They also have a mild effect that helps kill bacteria, fungi, algae, etc., and may prevent limescale building in pipes and fixtures. Read more on how KDF media works here.
KDF process media is available in various forms, including:
- KDF 55 granules: designed to remove or reduce chlorine and soluble heavy metals. (this is what�s in the SpringWell Water Filtration Systems)
- KDF 85 granules: used to remove or reduce iron and hydrogen from water supplies.
- KDF-F (Fine Mesh) granules: designed to remove chlorine and control bacteria when incorporated into carbon blocks and other matrix-type filters.
- KDF-C (Coarse Mesh) granules: used for removing or reducing soluble heavy metals and chlorine.
- An electrolytic field forms during the exchange of electrons in the redox reaction, which destroys most microorganisms.
- After catalyzing the formation of radicals and peroxides in certain circumstances, the radicals can hinder the microorganisms� ability to function.
KDF process media control microorganisms in two ways:
- An electrolytic field forms during the exchange of electrons in the redox reaction, which destroys most microorganisms.
- After catalyzing the formation of radicals and peroxides in certain circumstances, the radicals can hinder the microorganisms� ability to function.
Stage 3 � Activated Carbon Filtration (Using Catalytic Coconut-Shell Activated Carbon)
After the sediment is filtered out, the water then enters the activated carbon media at the same time as the kdf media. This particular filter media has a wide porous surface that is lined with deep ridges. The activation process generates a network of tiny openings (pores or cavities) of different diameters on the carbon surface, which becomes the path for water to access the extended internal surface created by the activation.
The activated carbon acts like a sponge, with a large surface to absorb the contaminants in the water, depending on the hydrophobicity of the molecule. Hydrophobic substances will bind with the carbon surface better than hydrophilic substances. Most organic contaminants in drinking water are naturally hydrophobic, so they will bind very well with the non-polar carbon surface within the pores.
What is Catalytic Coconut Shell Carbon and What Do They Remove?
Springwell Water Systems use catalytic coconut shell carbon in their whole house filter systems to target and remove certain contaminants. Catalytic carbon is a highly adsorbent material made from raw organic matter, such as coconut shells or coal, that are high in carbon. Because it is predominantly microporous, it is very efficient when it comes to removing a wide range of organic chemicals and organic contaminants. Catalytic coconut carbon has been known as a miracle filter media by many researchers because of its unique ability to remove chlorine, chloramine, hydrogen sulfide, iron, suspended solids, total organic carbon, the remaining sediment from potable water. It is also outstanding in adsorbing pesticides and herbicides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), halogens, and disinfection by-products like THM (trihalomethanes), as well as controlling taste and odor.
When water comes into contact with the surface of the catalytic media, gas, vapor, liquid, and dissolved solid contaminants get channeled and trapped in the micropores by the process of adsorption. These compounds are then dissolved into the carbon matrix and are adsorbed or locked into the internal pore structure, which removes it from the water.
Stage 4 � UV Purification (Optional For Bacteria)
Springwell offers UV purification system in their filtration systems to combat microbiological agents, like bacteria and virus, E. coli, cryptosporidium, and giardia lamblia. Our systems kill 99.9% of harmful pathogens to protect your home against contaminated water. Read more on how UV purification work and why you need one here.
https://www.springwellwater.com/how-a-whole-house-water-filter-system-works-a-brief-breakdown/
The article author is making several great points related to Water Filtration Systems in general in this article on the next paragraphs.
There are lots of things that you can do to make your home more reliable as well as less expensive. In the cooking area, one of the things you can do is mount some Fresh Water Purification Equipment to make certain that you don't have gastrointestinal disorder in your home. These systems are a great investment to include, because they will certainly have the ability to eliminate 99% of the food bits from the water. You don't need to bother with losing your food and other items that you have in your house because of bacteria.
Since these systems are available in various designs, you will certainly wish to determine which Fresh Water Purification System would be the best suitable for your kitchen area. They can be found in all different sizes, so you must always consider what kind of kitchen you have as well as what you require out of your kitchen.
Kitchen taps are a huge consideration when it involves picking a Fresh Water Purification System. These taps should be very easy to clean and also should not be challenging to keep clean as well. You should additionally learn exactly how frequently the tap requires to be cleaned up. The smaller kitchen must have the faucet cleansed every three months while the bigger cooking area should be cleansed each month.
Various other factors that you should consider include what sorts of knobs are used in your kitchen. Some people utilize a cooking area cart with a stainless steel knob, however other people choose the traditional porcelain style handles.
There are also different brands of taps that are available on the market today. There are several of them that are more pricey than others, so it will certainly be essential to understand what kind of tap you want prior to you shop. Likewise, keep in mind that the tap is just one aspect of the Fresh Water Filtration System.
There are several products that are readily available to assist clean your water, yet you must additionally consider which kinds of filters are appropriate for your demands. While there are many systems that provide filters for both commercial and residential use, a few of them are much better than others.
When taking a look at Fresh Water Filtration Equipments, you need to likewise bear in mind that they all have different attributes. A good thing to remember is that you don't intend to acquire the first Fresh Water Filtration System that you see due to the fact that some of them may not be the best option for your home.
You must also keep in mind that there are various types of systems that are readily available to you. As see here now an example, if you have children in your home, after that it is a good suggestion to acquire among the filters that are matched for households.
A few of the best choices for Fresh Water Purification Solutions are the automated systems. These filters begin several versions as well as various types of tools, so you will intend to consider your choices before you decide which sort of system you want to purchase.
When considering Fresh Water Filtering Solutions, it is essential to keep in mind that there are various manner ins which you can select to filter your water. You ought to likewise take into consideration that there are a number of systems readily available that you can mount in your home.
When you choose a system for your home, you will certainly want to look into the sort of filtration you require, the amount of room you have readily available for installment, and what dimension and also design of devices you desire. The water filter ought to include comprehensive instructions, so you will certainly have the ability to install the system appropriately.
Keep in mind that it is a good way to conserve money by looking for a brand-new water filter. These filters can aid you cleanse your water and also aid you to stay up to date with your drinking water intake.
We hope you liked our piece on Water Filtration Systems. Thank you for spending some time to read our piece. Do you know about another individual who is truly interested in Fresh Water Filtration Systems? Please feel free to promote it. Thank-you for taking the time to read it.