Home Water Filters

If you are unhappy with the test of the tap water in your home, but tired of buying bottled water, a home water filter may be the answer.  Tap water can contain all kinds of contaminants including lead, bacteria, sediment, rust, and many others.  Water quality varies highly from place to place so your water could contain some, none, or all of these contaminants.

Bottled water is usually a great alternative, but in many cases bottled water is little more than filtered tap water.  Bottled water is very expensive compared to tap water, and our landfills are filling up with empty plastic bottles.

A home water filter professionally installed by your plumber is much more cost effective and environmentally friendly solution to get great tasting, healthy drinking water.  Depending on your needs and water quality, you will need to choose between a whole house water filter or one or more undersink water filters.

Undersink filters are mounted under the sink and filter all of the water at that tap.  They are much less expensive than whole house water filters and can be a great choice if your goal is to have one source of clean, filtered drinking water and there is no problem with showering, washing dishes and clothes, and cooking with unfiltered tap water.

A whole house water filter has the advantage of filtering all of the water in your home including water for your dishwasher, showers, ice maker, and at each tap. It is installed in your main water supply line and filters all of the water coming into your home. If your water has an unpleasant odor or if you want clean filtered water throughout your home, a whole house filter would be an excellent choice.  These are more expensive to install than under sink models, but they can filter thousands of gallons of water.

Advantages of a Whole House Water Filtration System

If you are not satisfied with the water quality in your home, you have a few options when it comes to great tasting drinking water.  Many people choose to buy bottled water, but over time bottled water can become very expensive.  Depending on what type of bottled water you buy, it can cost from 200 to 10,000 times more than tap water.  In addition, millions of gallons of oil are used to manufacture the bottles which then take up space in our landfills.

A much better solution is to filter the tap water to reduce the amount of chlorine, chemicals, metals and other contaminates in the water.  A sink mounted filter can do the job, but a whole house water filter installed by your Buckhead plumbers is a much better alternative.  With a whole house water filtration system, the water coming out of every tap in your home will be clean and purified.

Even the water in your showers, toilets, washing machine, and dishwasher will be cleaner and healthier.  You and your family will bathe in purified water and your clothes and dishes will be washed in purified water.  In addition, the indoor air quality in your home will be improved by a whole house water filter.  These filtration systems reduce the amount of chlorine that off-gasses from your water into your home and forms chloroform.

Your Buckhead plumbers can help you select and install a whole house water filter that is right for your home.  The system is installed at the point of entry of your water supply so all the water in your home is clean and safe.  You and your family will enjoy fresh, clean great tasting water!

Home Water Filter Options

There are several different types of water filter systems available ranging from a simple carafe type filter to a permanently installed whole house filter.  Each type has its advantages and disadvantages.

A pitcher or carafe type filter is the simplest and least expensive home water filter.  The pitcher can sit on a countertop or in the refrigerator.  To filter water, simply pour tap water into the top of the pitcher.  The water flows through a filter into the pitcher below.  These do not need any installation at all.

A little bit more sophisticated is a faucet mounted filter.  These water filters thread onto the faucet in place of the aerator and have a filter cartridge that needs periodic replacement.  Most faucet mounted filters have a lever that allows the user to switch between filtered water and unfiltered water to extend the life of the filter cartridge.  A faucet mounted filter is a little more expensive than the pitcher type filter.  Installation of these types of water filters is easy.

An undersink filter uses a much larger filter cartridge than a faucet mounted filter and is mounted permanently under the sink.  These units filter all of the water going to the faucet and generally last somewhat longer than the faucet mounted filters.  Installation of an undersink filter is a little more challenging than a faucet mounted filter.

Finally, a whole house filter uses an even larger filter cartridge, and sometimes uses a series of two or three cartridges to filter all of the water entering the house.  These are permanently installed near the location where the water service enters the home and should be installed by an experienced plumber.  These are the most expensive option, but do the best job of filtering water.