Buying Home Water Filters? Be Careful Of These 5 Problems
Have you bought your home water filter yet? Or are you still thinking about it? In civilized countries like America, most people have access to water that is safe to drink and do not need additional purification for their drinking water. However, many Americans buy home water filters anyway ... largely because they prefer the taste of purified drinking water. While installing a water filter seems to be an easy decision (either you want one or you don't want one, right?), There are still some problems you need to be careful about:
- Water flow slows down
- Frequent replacement of water filter cartridges
- Complicated procedure to replace of water filter cartridges
- Difficult to replace the water filter cartridge
- The home drinking water filter does not work
1. Water flow slows down
Many people never really think about what installing a water filter will do to the flow of their tap water. The better the water filter, the slower it works. With regards to carbon home water filters (both GAC and carbon block), the very fine 0.5 micron ratings needed to remove cysts will only provide 1 gallon (5 litres) of water per minute. On the other hand, a coarser 25 micron drinking water purifier will give you 4 gallons (20 litres) of filtered water per minute. Reverse osmosis water purification is even slower. Most RO home water filters only give you 5 gallons of purified drinking water for every 100 gallons that goes through the filter. The remaining 95 gallons is wasted.
2. Frequent replacement of water filter cartridges
Most water filter cartridges nowadays are supposed to be changed every six months. While some owners find that their home water filter cartridges can last longer than that, there are also many others who have to replace their cartridges much sooner. For example, the very highly regarded Everpure H-300 becomes choked up with sediment very quickly, especially when the local water supply has a lot of sediment. Some owners have to install a coarser pre-filter to extend the lifespan of their main drinking water filter.
3. Complicated procedure to replace of water filter cartridges
The procedure to replace the filter cartridge of many home water filters is not always straighforward. For example, the Consumers Digest best buy Aquasana water filter has quite a large number of parts that need to be disassembled and reassembled carefully. Part of the process involves the use of needle nose pliers and silicone lubricants - tools that many modern households no longer have. The replacement water filter cartridges come with a number of seals that need to be carefully prepared before the re-installation. If not done carefully, the drinking water purifier may not be able to remove all impurities.
Careful customers do ask the salesman to demonstrate how to replace the water filter cartridge. But it always looks easy when he does it. But when they try to do it themselves six months later, they often find that some details escape their memory. Having their user manual ready at hand can be a life-saver. Losing or misplacing the manual for home water filtration systems can be a big, big mistake.
4. Difficult to replace the water filter cartridge
This is a major problem with many home water filters that are mounted under the kitchen sink inside a cabinet. Many owners get their drinking water filtration systems installed at the back of the sink, near the wall and out of the way of their other stuff. But when they need to replace the water filter cartridges after six months, they find that the complicated procedures make it very difficult. Some of the contortions necessary to get to the filter make it an impossible task to older people (and even younger people who spend their whole day in front of a computer in the office). Just as bad is the fact that many people find that they need a third hand to shine a flashlight so that they can see what they are doing inside the kitchen cabinet.
5. The home drinking water filter does not work
There are customers who complain that their home water filters do not work. It is true that some models/brands of drinking water purifiers are junk. But quite often the water filtration system works but does not do what the customer thought it did. In other words, you need to make sure the specifications of the drinking water filter and your expectations are properly aligned. For example, if your tap water has very fine sediment, then the cheapest Culligan faucet water filter will not purify your drinking water. In this case, you should have spent the extra money needed for the Everpure or Aquasana water filter instead.
Keep in mind the above 5 problems when buying your home water filters. Make sure that you know exactly what you want from your home water filter. Make sure the drinking water filtration system you want to buy actually meets your needs. Make sure you know how to install the filter as well as replace the filter cartridges.