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Compare Reverse Osmosis Systems to Water Filters
Water Filters for the most part trap particles using a physical barrier usually made of polypropylene, extruded carbon or granular carbon and in the case of a Doulton filter the use of ceramic. Most of the refrigerator type filters are just overpriced carbon filters. Some filters are imbedded with silver and resins to trap bacteria and lead as well as arsenic. Depending on your water quality a water filter may be right for you.
A Reverse Osmosis System comes with one to three prefilters made of polypropylene for sediment, carbon filters and a carbon post filter. After the prefiltration, the water is pushed through a semi-permiable membrane using water pressure. It then sends most of the dissolved minerals and salts to the drain and the purified water to your drinking water faucet. In a comparison of size a water filter would trap and remove particles the size of a basketball with reverse osmosis removing those the size of a pinhead as shown in the diagram below. In real terms, reverse osmosis filters to molecular or ionic level.
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Choosing a Whole House water filter System
When deciding on a whole house water filter most people end up with a 2.5 x 10 inch sediment or carbon filter cartridge. While this size filter is great for drinking water, it's usually too small for a whole house situation. The first thing to do is to decide what you want to remove from your water. If it's high in sediment then a multi depth polypropelene or bag filter will work. If chlorine and smell are an issue then a carbon block filter may be what your after or a combination of both.
Then you need to size your housing and filter properly. A 4.5 x 10 inch or 4.5 x 20inch size filter will work for most whole house situations. Though the filters are a little harder to change, you'll be changing them every 6-12 months and your flow will not be restricted. To make things easier, Cuno has come out with the Aquapure AP902 Sediment filter and AP903 Carbon filter with easy change tool-less design.
Choosing the best reverse osmosis water system
This can be equally confusing. Having worked in the drinking water business for the past 10 years, here is some free advice.
First size the unit. Usually you can get about half of the product water of what the RO membrane is rated for. So a 36 or 50 gallon per day system will work in most homes. If you want a massive amount of RO Water then the GE Merlin can make over 400 gallons per day in optimum conditions.
How much time do you want to spend changing filters? Now you only need to do this every 6-12 months but if ease of use is what your after, along with product quality. Then Water Factory Systems SQC3 HF or SQC4 HF by 3M are the perfect choice and worth the extra $100 or so. If you don't mind opening canisters and changing filters the connvetional way, then the Vertex or Goldline 50 systems will treat the water about equally as good with just a little more work when it's time to change the filters.
Undersink Water Coolers such as the Oasis R1P are easy to install with simple in out connections and work well with filtration systems.
