An Introduction to Point of Use vs. Point of Entry Water Filters
Broadly speaking, water filters come in two varieties: Point of use and point of entry. Point of use water filters are those that are used at a specific location in your house such as the kitchen sink or shower. An example would be the standard odor/taste reducing filter that you screw onto your kitchen sink faucet or water dispenser spigot so that the water is filtered each time the sink is used. On the other hand, a point of entry water filter is one that filters the water as it comes into your house before it gets to each water source in the house; whole house water systems fit into this category.
Generally, these point of entry products are better at reducing visual contaminants such as rust and sediment. These point of systems can usually accomplish this task with very little clogging and a super fast flow rate. However, keep in mind that you will still want to use point of use filters if you are in an area with particularly bad water. This is because point of entry filters often will not filter out certain parasites that point of use fiters will be able to catch before the water hits your glass.
With that bit of introduction in place, I want to take a detailed look at 5 premium whole house water filters:
Green-Carbon-10
The Green Carbon Water Filter uses an interesting system involving coconut shells that create a granular activated carbon medium. This medium is the part of the filter that is actually responsible for removing contaminants, including hydrogen sulfide and chloramines. Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that is responsible for that nasty rotten egg smell that shows up in some water supplies. If you have ever smelled water with a hydrogen sulfide issue, then you’ll understand the extreme important of removing this odor. Chloramines are another name for disinfectants that cities use to clean the water supply. Most commonly, chloramines result from adding ammonia and chlorine together to clean the water. While these chloramines have been used for a long time by utility companies, it’s best to remove them as much as possible from your drinking water.
Other features of the Green Carbon filter are:
- 10 GPM Peak Flow
- 1 C.F. Activated
- Carbon Media
- Good for homes with one to three bathrooms
Big Blue Whole House Pleated Sediment Filter
Big blue water filters are a very popular series of water purification equipment, and their whole house water filter systems are no exception. This particular filter reduces particles of all kinds of contaminants, including rust, dirt, and sand. Featuring a polyester filter media that is highly resistant to bacteria and a reusable, washable pleated sediment filter, this product is even big enough for industrial applications.
The best thing about this filter besides it’s washable and reusable element is the fact that it stands up to both chemical and bacterial attacks. This means that the Big Blue filter is suitable for an incredibly wide range of applications and is pretty cost effective, to boot.
Big Blue Whole House Nitrate Removal Filter
As suggested by the name, this filter focuses specifically on nitrates. Nitrates are undetectable by taste or smell, so are particularly hard to nail down. Nitrates are mostly an issue in rural areas because they are commonly found in fertilizers and manures that are used to grow crops. Although proper management of these materials is the ideal solution to nitrate issues, this is rarely the case. Usually, nitrates are taken up by plants as a natural process, but things like rainwater and irrigation can interrupt this process, sending the nitrates into the groundwater and eventually into your kitchen. Therefore, a nitrate filter is a great option if you’re living on a farm or in close proximity to a rural area.
The Big Blue nitrate filter uses a “white bead strong base anion resin” medium. This material’s chemical makeup causes it to give preferential filtering treatment to nitrates, thus making it particularly effective. It will treat up to 25,000 ppm (parts per million) of water. If you want to convert this number to how many gallons of water you can treat, you can use this formula:
(25,000/xx ppm = Filter Life in Gallons)
A nitrate filter will be especially important for families with newborn babies up to 6 months of age. This is because the child’s digestive system will be particularly sensitive to nitrates during this state of development. Adults are generally not affected very much by nitrates barring any particular health issues.
Conclusion
Hopefully this has been a helpful rundown of 3 of the best products, aiding you in the search for the best whole house water filter for your particular needs. As you can see, there are filters made for every situation, whether you have particular contaminants to deal with in your water supply or you have young children in your family with specific dietary needs.
If you have a whole house filter system, you might also want to consider a Whirlpool ice maker since they’re already rated to accept a whole house filter’s pressure!
