Counter Top Water Filters
by Mike
Staying hydrated by drinking enough water is an important part of maintaining our health. Things like counter top water filters can play an important role in this especially as we continue to learn about the contaminants commonly found in our drinking water and cooking water.
Finding The Best Water Filter For Your Needs
When looking for a water filter, it’s important to know which contaminants you want to remove. Contaminants and other chemicals in water can cause health problems as severe as cancer. That’s a risk you don’t want to take. Different water supplies vary in concentrations of contaminants and other chemicals. It’s recommended to check with your local water supply and department about the quality of water and any potential problems before you start shopping for a countertop water purifier. Different water filters are designed to purify water from certain substances, but they may not be effective for all harmful substances you are trying to avoid. If you get your water from a well instead of the city you may want to check for high levels of harmful substances like arsenic and get an arsenic water filter if the levels are higher that what is considered safe.
Water Filtering Technology
The most common technology used in water filtering systems include activated carbon, KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion), Reverse Osmosis, and Ultraviolet or UV water filtration. These water filtering technologies work well for different purposes. Additionally, water filters are rated in microns, which is a measure of the particle sizes in water. A small micron number means that the water filter can remove the tiniest impurities. A large micron number implies that the water filter cannot remove any smaller particles. Of course, you want the smallest micron rating to make sure all impurities are filtered.
Counter Top Water Filter
Ultraviolet water filters, also called UV water filters, are extremely effective in killing bacteria and viruses such as cryptosporidium and giardia (which cause gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea and stomach bloating.) Meanwhile, Activated Carbon water filters effectively remove bad tastes & odors, chlorine, radon (toxic gas), and VOC’s. While KDF water filters are great at removing hydrogen sulfide, which is responsible for the rotten egg smell of water. It is clear that different filtering technologies have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to filtering certain chemicals. Therefore, it’s important to be well informed and educated about your water supply and the water filter technology.
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Types of Contaminants Found In Our Water Supplies
The list of contaminants and particles in your water supply numbers into the hundreds. Some common harmful substances found in water supplies include arsenic, bacteria, chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, fluoride, radon, nitrates, and volatile organic compounds (VOC.) Some of these chemicals, such as (chlorine and fluoride) are added by your municipalities, but the chemicals are harmful in large amounts. It is necessary and recommended that all chemicals found in water supplies be filtered and kept to a minimum. After all, you want the purest drinking water you can provide on a regular basis.
The Basics Of Counter Top Water Filters
The most economical and efficient solution to filtering your water is a counter top water filter. Installing a large and sophisticated whole house water filtering system can be very expensive and require a lot of maintenance, with costs running into several thousand dollars. Instead, countertop water filters allow you to filter water at one specific location, the location that is your main source of drinking water. For most people this will be the kitchen sink. Counter top water filters are connected directly to your kitchen faucet and placed nearby on the counter. Overall, counter top water filters are convenient and easy to install within minutes. When it comes to prices, they are also are affordable and can be bought for less than $100.
There are a variety of counter top water filters, including those with replaceable cartridges, and some without cartridges. For those water filters equipped with them, cartridges typically last between six months to a year, depending on how much water you use. Filters with cartridges can last a long time and only require cartridge replacement. Filters without cartridges require no maintenance, but have a limited life of only a few years.
Many counter top water filters use activated carbon technology to remove harmful substances such as chlorine, pesticides, herbicides‚ harmful bacteria, VOCs and other synthetic chemicals. Carbon filters made with coconut shell carbons are a little more expensive than those made with other carbons, but they are also more effective so they are worth it. Because you may not want all of your water filtered, so your water filter lasts longer, you may want to look for a countertop water filter with a diverter that allows you to use either unfiltered or filtered water through the same faucet.
If you are looking for an arsenic water filter you should look specifically for a countertop arsenic water filter, or for a countertop reverse osmosis water filtration system. Some KDF water filters can remove or reduce arsenic as well. Unfortunately simple activated carbon filters alone are not very effective at removing things like arsenic, barium, copper, mercury or nickel.
If you like to have instant access to hot or cold filtered water you may want to look into a countertop water filtration system that has these functions. They are often called a countertop water cooler, even though many of them dispense filtered hot water and room temperature water.
Most counter top water filters are easy to install and easy to maintain by simply changing the cartridge or filter regularly. Just be sure you know what you want from your water filter before you start shopping as different water treatment systems remove different contaminants.
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