Residential reverse osmosis systems are one of the best systems, if you are fighting a salt water battle. If you don't have a salt water issue, then you have options with the newer technologies that are much less expensive to buy and to operate. We will compare one of these options with reverse osmosis in this article.
The increase of chemical toxins in our environment has led to a lot of discussion about our "body burden", the term for the total amount of these toxins in our bodies at any given time.
In the past, we worried a lot about the quality of the water we consumed and how it was affecting our bodies, and rightly so, but now scientists are discovering the quality of the air in our home poses an even greater load on our bodies. One of the largest offenders is chloroform, a byproduct of the chlorine in our water.
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.
The main reason to look at RO and SF systems before you buy is the difference between their initial costs and operating costs, especially in whole house systems.
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.
How do you explain the price differences?
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.
Not all contaminants are stopped by the membrane. Chlorine, its byproducts and many other chemical compounds have small molecules that allow them to pass through easily. Carbon filters are added to remove them and to protect the membrane.
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.
To operate efficiently the home's water pressure must be a minimum of 40 psi (pounds per square inch) for the smaller units. Booster pumps that increase the water pressure are usually included in whole house units and are sometimes required for smaller units as well.
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 uses mechanical filtration, the adsorptive power of activated charcoal, and redox (reduction/oxidation) in a multistage process that will quickly process 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.
Over 99 percent of the chlorine, chlorine byproducts and other organic chemicals are removed by the adsorptive power of the activated charcoal. The overall process of selective filtration removes bad tastes, odors and sediment from the water and acts somewhat like a water softener, but there is no unhealthy sodium added 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.
The increase of chemical toxins in our environment has led to a lot of discussion about our "body burden", the term for the total amount of these toxins in our bodies at any given time.
In the past, we worried a lot about the quality of the water we consumed and how it was affecting our bodies, and rightly so, but now scientists are discovering the quality of the air in our home poses an even greater load on our bodies. One of the largest offenders is chloroform, a byproduct of the chlorine in our water.
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.
The main reason to look at RO and SF systems before you buy is the difference between their initial costs and operating costs, especially in whole house systems.
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.
How do you explain the price differences?
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.
Not all contaminants are stopped by the membrane. Chlorine, its byproducts and many other chemical compounds have small molecules that allow them to pass through easily. Carbon filters are added to remove them and to protect the membrane.
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.
To operate efficiently the home's water pressure must be a minimum of 40 psi (pounds per square inch) for the smaller units. Booster pumps that increase the water pressure are usually included in whole house units and are sometimes required for smaller units as well.
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 uses mechanical filtration, the adsorptive power of activated charcoal, and redox (reduction/oxidation) in a multistage process that will quickly process 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.
Over 99 percent of the chlorine, chlorine byproducts and other organic chemicals are removed by the adsorptive power of the activated charcoal. The overall process of selective filtration removes bad tastes, odors and sediment from the water and acts somewhat like a water softener, but there is no unhealthy sodium added 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.
About the Author:
David Eastham has done exhaustive research on such subjects as selective filtration to discover the most cost effective way to produce good, clean drinking water. Follow him for his choices as the most cost effective dollar for dollar buys, and the most cost effective products overall, in home water filtration systems
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