Water Softeners and Filters - Discover How They Can Improve Your Water Supply

It may be useful to invest in a water filter for your home to make sure that your drinking water is clean and free from contaminants. There are different forms of water filters available today, all useful as a water softening treatment:

•Granulated, activated carbon water filters – These are portable filters that are found in water jugs. They are the simplest type of filter and removes contaminants such as chlorine, large particles and parasites. They are available at most kitchenware stores and are reasonably cheap if you have a low budget. However, they have a short filter life and don’t filter out many chemicals and bacteria.

•Carbon block, activated carbon water filters – These types of filters are generally built-in to the water supply in your home. These filters are more expensive than granulated types, but they do give better filtration and do not need to be replaced as often.

•Ceramic carbon water filters – This type of filter is comprised of a ceramic part and a carbon part; this gives it an ability to filter out a broad range of contaminants from the water supply. Some are infused with silver, as this is a good antibiotic and reduces the number of micro-organisms present. These filters are good value for money. They are built-in to the home water supply and need to be replaced about every 12 months in the average household.

•Reverse osmosis water filters – These filters are often considered the best form of water filtration available today. The water is passed through a semi-permeable membrane, which filters out almost every contaminant. They are more expensive than other types of filters but have reasonably low running costs, effective filtration and can be used to filter water to the whole house, and remove minerals that cause hard water stains in the home.

•Combination Systems – This filter has become available in recent years and are seen as an alternative to reverse osmosis systems. They have a number of different filters, and each filtration process removes different contaminants.

•Alkaline Water Machines – These systems not only filters your drinking water but it make it more alkaline. They are promoted as a good system for those with environmental illnesses where there is too much acid in the body. However, the jury is still out on how effective these machines are and whether they do indeed have any health benefit by altering the pH of the water. They do have effective filtration but can be expensive and waste a lot of water during the filtration process.