It depends, if you have brackish water laced with salt, then yes, one of the residential reverse osmosis systems is a good solution. But, if you are on a chlorinated water system, with no salt problems, there are simpler and far less expensive systems available. In this article we will look at why one of these systems, selective filtration, might be a better choice for you than reverse osmosis.
No doubt you have been hearing about our need to reduce our body's exposure to toxic chemicals; something now referred to as reducing the "body burden" or the total amount of toxins in our body.
Toxic contaminants in the water we drinks and bathe in has long been a concern to us all, and we should be concerned, but more and more the guys in the white coats are telling us the air quality in our homes is imposing even greater burdens on our bodies. The worst toxic contaminants in the air come from chlorine byproducts such as chloroform.
The EPA said, "Every home in America has an elevated level of chloroform gas (in the air) due to the vaporization of chlorine from tap and shower water." (Also, while the shower produces the most chloroform in the air, the dishwasher and the washing machine aren't far behind).
Since whole house units remove chlorine and other toxins from the water, at the point of entry into your home, they greatly improve both the air quality and the water quality.
One of the most compelling reasons to compare RO and SF systems before making your choice is the big difference in their purchase and operating costs.
Since quality residential reverse osmosis systems start around $10,000, compared to a quality residential selective filtration systems at about $800, the $9,200 spread can mean the difference between getting a whole house unit or not.
Why the big difference in price?
One of the hardest things to remove from water is salt and, years ago, RO was developed as a cheaper way to clean up salt water than by using distillation. But that was when water and electricity were both very cheap. Today RO is an expensive technology as you will see.
Water is forced through a membrane, in the RO process, that will only allow molecules equal in size or smaller than water's to pass through. All other matter is left behind.
Some contaminants will pass through the membrane with ease, including chemicals such as chlorine and chlorine's toxic byproducts. To capture these pollutants, and to protect the membrane, a carbon filter is always included in these systems.
The RO systems are faster than distillation, but the smaller units will only produce a gallon of filter water every two or three house. The larger whole house units are good for about 80 gallons an hour. Either system, large or small, uses pressurized storage tanks for delivering larger quantities of water quickly.
The minimum pressure required to operate most of the smaller countertop units is 40 psi (pounds per square inch) and older homes, or some well water systems, may need to add booster pumps. Since more pressure is required to operate the whole house systems, booster pumps are usually included with the unit.
These systems waste a large quantity of water that will not go through the membrane even with sufficient pressure applied. This water is often thrown out with the collected contaminants. The typical system wastes two to five gallons of water for each gallon that is filtered.
There are some systems that do recycle this water but, recycling, electricity requirements, storage tanks and, possibly, extra pumps are what cause the high initial costs and some of the higher operating costs. Then too, the more things in a system that can go wrong, the more chances there are for additional maintenance issues to further increase the operating costs.
A good option to reverse osmosis, especially if you are on a chlorinated water system (which most of us are), is selective filtration.
Selective filtration on the whole house level uses an innovative multistage filtration process consisting of mechanical filtration, redox and adsorptive filtration to rapidly process the water.
Redox, which is a chemical exchange process, is a new kind of filter media that was developed to remove dissolved lead and other toxic metals from water. Prior to this simple filtration process, only RO or distillation was capable of taking toxic metals from water.
The activated charcoal removes over 99 percent of the chlorine, chlorine byproducts and other organic chemicals. The combined stages remove odors, bad tastes, sediment, and perform similarly to a standard water softener, without adding sodium to the water.
All of this is done quickly, producing up to seven gallons of filtered water per minute, and install easily, without electricity, booster pumps or storage tanks.
For anyone wanting to improve the air and water quality in their home, selective filtration systems are a viable cost saving option to consider.
Article Source: http://www.alltopinfo.com
David Eastham has done extensive research on such subjects as reverse osmosis to discover the best way to produce good, clean drinking water. Here are his choices as the best dollar for dollar buys, and the best products overall, in home water filtration technology
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