What You Need To Decide Before Purchasing a Home Drinking Water Filter
- Space to Install the Unit: The best home drinking water filter systems are a compromise between your water flow rate and the size of the unit. Although a bigger size water filter system produces more drinking water, it takes up more space. If you choose a smaller size, the water flow capacity may not produce enough drinking water for your household’s drinking-water needs. However, it is not always necessary that a bigger size unit will filter water faster than a smaller unit. It depends on the kind of technology that is being used on the home water filter.
- Where to Install: Before purchasing, you need to decide where to install your home water filter, such as whether to install under the sink, to hang on the wall, or as a counter top system.
- What Contaminants Are Present In Your Water and Can The Unit Remove Them? Find out what contaminants are present in your tap water. You may not want to spend a lot of money to filter chemicals that are not even present in the tap water.
- Price of the Unit: Before you do your research on home water filters, you need to set a budget for initial investment on the system and for the maintenance costs. Most of the time, it is better for cost saving to choose a system which can filter contaminants that are present in your tap water. However, if you have a bigger budget, you can choose a system that can filter a wide range of chemicals whether they are present or not in the tap water.
- Certifications That Back Up Contaminant Removal Claims: Most manufacturers make bold claims having tested their own products, yet water filters need to be tested by independent organizations such as the NSF International in order to be certified for the removal of contaminants. NSF International also offers a database on its website that allows consumers to search easily and learn what they need to know about specific models and their features.
- Flow Rate – Moderate to Fast: The flow rate of your water supply will slow down noticeably with most water filters, but it is especially inconvenient if it becomes too slow. Different types of water filters have varying standard flow speeds. Consumers can visit the NSF International website to research different certified filters and their respective gallon-per-minute outputs.
- Indicator for Filter Change: A typical indicator doesn’t test the water to determine if there’s a need to replace the filter. The quantity of water filtered is measured by the good units while the less accurate ones merely measure the length of time the filter has been in use. A foolproof system like Everpure indicates a filter change when you feel inconvenient with the slow flow rate.