Whenever you go to the store, there’s a section for bottled water with high-quality options. With the turn of a kitchen faucet, you can have access to excellent-tasting drinkable water thanks to a whole-house water filtration system. Despite their ability to produce filtered water, these systems do have some drawbacks worth knowing about.
The water quality isn’t always the best in hundreds of thousands of homes throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Since 2007, we at Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Air have helped homeowners improve their house’s water quality by installing and maintaining their whole-house water filters.
Here are some of the drawbacks we’ve seen with whole-house water filters.
- Initial cost
- Limited water filtration
- Routine mandatory maintenance
This article will review each con of whole-house water filters and explain why they can be a disadvantage. With this information, you can decide if these filtration systems are ideal for you and your home’s water needs.
Let’s jump right in!
What Are the Disadvantages of Whole-House Water Filtration?
Whole-house water filtration’s most significant advantage, among other benefits, is its ability to provide filtered water throughout an entire house. Despite its water filtration capabilities, whole-house water filters have a few drawbacks.
These drawbacks apply to all whole-house water filters regardless of their filtration design. Water filtration for a whole house can come in the following form of water treatment systems.
- Reverse osmosis (RO)
- Ultraviolet (UV) water filtration
- Water softeners
- Sediment filtration
- Carbon filtration
These systems each address certain impurities in water using different filtration technological designs.
For example, water softeners remove minerals that cause hard water and instead produce soft water. Sediment filters remove dissolved solids, carbon filters remove chlorine and other chemicals, and UV light filters kill any germs and waterborne viruses. Reverse osmosis systems can help purify water by combining using multi-filtration stages.
All of these filters can be installed as whole-house systems, but the upfront cost to have one may be a drawback for some homeowners.
Initial Cost of Whole-House Water Filtration
When exploring water filtration, the upfront cost of a whole-house water filter is one of the top considerations that dissuade homeowners from moving forward with one. Having a whole-house water filtration system is an investment. The cost of whole-house water filtration with installation included varies, but the general range is between $4,000 to over $8,000.
Several factors can affect the final price, such as the brand, any required modification to a home’s water lines, and the type of water filtration system (sediment, carbon, etc.) desired by the homeowner—installation, and labor costs also factor in the final price.
A whole-house water filter costs more than a point-of-use water filter, which is a smaller filtration system usually installed under a sink or on a countertop. Whole-house water filters are larger and more extensive, so their price will be higher.
Multi-stage whole-house water filters usually have the highest upfront price. These filtration systems combine multiple filters to provide all their filtration benefits to entire houses. These extensive whole-house water filtration systems can potentially cost over $10,000.
The businesses responsible for selling and installing these systems can set their pricing at their discretion. Still, many offer financing to help offset the cost of whole-house water filters.
Creating a budget is important if you’re renovating your home or just seeking to improve its water quality. Besides upfront costs, one other drawback with whole-house water filters is that some of them can be limited with what impurities they can remove from water.
Whole-House Water Filtration Can Have Limited Filtration
Unless you invest in multi-stage water filtration for an entire home, whole-house water filtration systems are limited in what they can filter out. As previously mentioned, there are multiple filtration options for whole-house systems.
These are only designed to remove specific contaminants in water but not all of them. Here’s a breakdown of what each whole-house filtration system can remove.
- Reverse osmosis water systems use multiple filters and a semi-permeable membrane to get rid of up to 99% of contaminants in water. All, if not most, RO systems include sediment and carbon filtration with UV light filters optional. They do not soften water, however.
- UV light water filtration system uses a type of UV light radiation to kill germs, viruses, and other microbes that can potentially harm a person’s health. This filter does not remove sediment or chemicals that may be in the water.
- Water softeners are only designed to treat hard water and provide beneficial soft water for an entire household. These systems do not actively remove any other contaminants and are more likely to have post-filters available to help address a lack of filtration.
- Carbon filters remove chlorine, chloramines, and chemicals responsible for the rotten egg smell sometimes present in water. Unlike UV light or sediment filters, carbon filtration does not remove dissolved solids or waterborne microbes.
- Sediment filters prevent sediments from floating in the water, such as dirt, rust, and other dissolved particles. A sediment filter does not remove chemicals such as chlorine.
One way to determine which whole-house water filter is suitable for you is by doing a water quality test and deciding what your water needs are. This can help you determine which combination of or single whole-house water filters is a good fit for your home.
After deciding which one, it’s important to understand another drawback; whole-house water filtration systems need routine maintenance.
Whole-House Water Filters Require Maintenance
Whole-house water filtration systems are not one-and-done installations. These systems require routine maintenance, which can be challenging for some homeowners to stay on top of. Maintenance is required, monthly or bi-annually, depending on the whole-house water filtration system.
Maintaining a home requires special care, and whole-house water filters are no different. Most of these systems need periodic filter replacement to ensure they can continue to decontaminate the water.
Some systems also need to be regenerated, which is when the filters discharge any water used to clean out the filter. Some of these processes are done manually, while some filters have an automatic regeneration setting.
Water softeners usually require the most maintenance out of all the whole-house water filters. These systems rely on rock salts to soften water and must have their brine talk refilled with salt monthly.
Are Whole-House Water Filters Worth It?
The downsides of whole-house water filtration systems may not outweigh their benefits, but by knowing the drawbacks, you can better determine if these filters are right for you. By understanding these drawbacks, you can also prepare for a whole-house water filtration system should you decide to move forward with installing one in your home.
For over 15 years, we’ve installed all types of whole-house water filtration and have helped homeowners find a system that best matches their water needs. Although all these whole-house filters provide filtered water, we believe in being transparent about any drawbacks they may have.
If you have any questions regarding whole-house water filtration systems, book an appointment through our water filtration scheduler. You can also contact us using one of the contact buttons below.
If you’re still unsure about whole-house water filtration systems, you can learn about their pros and cons. By comparing their benefits and drawbacks, you will see whether or not this system is right for you.
