City Water - Whole House Treatment Options

The following product considerations are for people on city water who want more than just their drinking water treated. We are assuming that you have water that is already chlorinated and treated by a municipal treatment system.

Product Choice - Which Whole House System to Choose

Shower Head Filter

• Concern is only for removing chlorine and you mainly take showers instead of baths
• This is the simplest and least expensive option
• Not a whole house system, but addresses the concern

Cartridge-Type Dechlorinator

Concern is for removing chlorine, you take showers and baths, and budget is a factor Not dependable for treating chlorination by-products This unit is usually a dual filter housing with a sediment prefilter and a granular carbon post filter cartridge. These housings are not the size you usually see in a hardware store but rather each housing is about 8" in diameter and about 2 feet tall. It takes this kind of size to adequately dechlorinate the water for a whole house. The unit should be attached to a wall. Cartridges are usually changed out once per year unless the household is large, then twice per year is recommended. Maintenance cost based on once-per-year service is about $120 including service call.

Large Backwashing Granular Carbon Filter + Ultraviolet (UV)

Concern is for chlorine and chlorination by-products in all household water Also able to reduce viruses, bacteria and cysts (giardia and cryptosporidium) This system should be sized dependent on the size of the house, how many people, number of water-using fixtures in the house, etc. Typically consists of a tank about 12" in diameter and standing about 5' high. The water then flows through a sediment cartridge prefilter then through an ultraviolet system, both of which hang on a wall. This system reduces chlorine, chlorination byproducts, bacteria, viruses, and cysts. (Even with this level of treatment, it is still suggested to place a drinking water filter at the kitchen sink.) Maintenance on this system consists of once-per-year UV prefilter change, UV lamp replacement, and UV sleeve cleaning and costs about $140 per year. About every 4 years, the granular carbon in the filter needs to be replaced. Approximate cost every 4 years for this service is about $250-300.

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If you are in the process of building or remodeling:

Early in the planning or building process you should make sure that:

• the space is available for a system,
• the plumber knows that you will want the outside hose bibs and sprinkler system to bypass the treatment system,
• if you are leaning toward purchasing the large backwashing filter, access is available to a floor drain or standpipe for the backwash discharge, and an electrical outlet is nearby.

Plan for a drinking water system as well. Early on is a good time to consider whether you want drinking water at other locations than the kitchen sink. It is possible to run lines from the main drinking water purification system to master bathrooms, kid's bathroom, wet bar, refrigerator, etc. You then get the efficiency of a single drinking water treatment unit instead needing multiple units.

If you are interested in placing equipment in an existing home:

Similar to the above, the considerations are:

• Space is available for a system
• There is access to a floor drain or a standpipe for running the backwash water
• There is a duplex 110v outlet nearby where you wish to place the equipment
• Ideally there is a way to cut into your household water supply line after any connections for hose bibs and sprinkler system
• The system can be installed by us or by your plumber - we will work with the plumber to ensure that the equipment is properly installed

 

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