| Best Cost Alternative For Residential Reverse Osmosis Systems | | Print | |
| Written by David Eastham | ||||||
| Friday, 28 November 2008 | ||||||
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Residential reverse osmosis systems are one of the best systems, if you are fighting a salt water battle. If you don't have a salt water issue, then you have options with the newer technologies that are much less expensive to buy and to operate. We will compare one of these options with reverse osmosis in this article.
Residential reverse osmosis systems are one of the best systems, if you are fighting a salt water battle. If you don't have a salt water issue, then you have options with the newer technologies that are much less expensive to buy and to operate. We will compare one of these options with reverse osmosis in this article. The increase of chemical toxins in our environment has led to a lot of discussion about our "body burden", the term for the total amount of these toxins in our bodies at any given time. Toxic contaminants in the water we drinks and bathe in has long been a concern to us all, and we should be concerned, but more and more the guys in the white coats are telling us the air quality in our homes is imposing even greater burdens on our bodies. The worst toxic contaminants in the air come from chlorine byproducts such as chloroform. The EPA said, "Every home in America has an elevated level of chloroform gas (in the air) due to the vaporization of chlorine from tap and shower water." (Also, while the shower produces the most chloroform in the air, the dishwasher and the washing machine aren't far behind). The quality of the air and the quality of the water in our homes can both be enhanced greatly by whole house water purification units, since they remove the toxins as soon as the water enters the home. One of the most compelling reasons to compare RO and SF systems before making your choice is the big difference in their purchase and operating costs. In today's world, cost differences might determine whether or not we can even buy a whole house unit. Very good residential selective filtration systems will run about $800. Comparable residential reverse osmosis systems are in the $10,000 range. What causes the huge price difference? Reverse osmosis and distillation systems were developed years ago to remove salt from brackish water and, at that time, water and electricity were very cheap. But, in today's world this technology has become very expensive. Water is forced through a membrane, in the RO process, that will only allow molecules equal in size or smaller than water's to pass through. All other matter is left behind. Chemicals having a molecular size smaller than water's, such as chlorine and its byproducts, will pass right through the membrane. For that reason, and in order to protect the membrane, RO systems must add a carbon filter to the system. The small RO systems are very slow, taking two or three hours to produce a single gallon of filtered water. Whole house units, on the other hand, can filter upwards of 2,000 gallons per day. Large or small units require a pressurized tank in order to be able to deliver a larger quantity water quickly. The minimum pressure required to operate most of the smaller countertop units is 40 psi (pounds per square inch) and older homes, or some well water systems, may need to add booster pumps. Since more pressure is required to operate the whole house systems, booster pumps are usually included with the unit. A lot of water is wasted, even with adequate pressure in the system, because for every gallon filtered, often 2 to 5 gallons of water cannot be pushed through the membrane. This water is then flushed, along with the filtered contaminants. This waste water is recycled in some systems, however, the need for electricity, recycling, storage tanks and (maybe) booster pumps are the cause of the increased up front costs and they add to the higher cost to operate as well. And, all the extra equipment means it is more likely there are going to be additional maintenance costs too. About 95 percent of us are on a chlorinated water system, and that means a good option to consider is selective filtration. Selective filtration on the whole house level uses an innovative multistage filtration process consisting of mechanical filtration, redox and adsorptive filtration to rapidly process the water. Redox, which is a chemical exchange process, is a new kind of filter media that was developed to remove dissolved lead and other toxic metals from water. Prior to this simple filtration process, only RO or distillation was capable of taking toxic metals from water. Chlorine and its byproducts, along with other organic chemicals, are 99 percent (plus) removed by the activated charcoal. And, the total process treats water somewhat like a water softener, with no sodium added, and the odors, bad tastes and sediment are also removed. These systems produce filtered water rapidly (over seven gallons per minute), without electricity, storage tanks, or booster pumps. Their simplicity also makes for simpler installations. For anyone looking to install a whole house water filter to improve the quality of the air in water in their home, selective filtration systems have a lot to offer. Article Author: David Eastham has done extensive research on such subjects as selective filtration to find the most cost effective way to provide good, clean drinking water. Here are his picks as the most cost effective dollar for dollar buys, and the most cost effective products overall, in water filtration systems
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