No one wants subpar water to drink or to use for daily fixtures. A whole-house water filter can transform the water entering a home by improving its quality, but does it have any other advantages? And how do these advantages compare against the disadvantages of having a whole-house water filtration system?
These are the most common questions homeowners ask us at Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Air. For over 15 years, we’ve worked and serviced all kinds of whole-house water filters and have seen what pros and cons are associated with them.
Here’s a quick overview of the pros and cons of whole-house water filtration systems.
Pros of a whole-house water filtration system include
- Greater accessibility
- Removes a wide range of contaminants
- Potential health benefits
- Environmentally friendly
Cons of whole-house water filtration include
- Upfront cost
- Routine maintenance required
- Selective water filtration
We’ll dive into each bullet point, and by the end of this article, you’ll be able to easily compare the good with the bad and determine if these systems are right for you.
Let’s jump right in!
What Are the Pros of Whole-House Water Filtration?
Whole-house water filters come in different types of systems, but all are designed to improve the water quality in an entire home in one way or another. Here’s a list of the different types of whole-house water filters.
As we review the pros and cons of whole-house water filtration, we’ll touch on the different types of filtration options. While it’s possible to have these systems individually installed, they’re also compatible and can be installed alongside each other.
Thanks to their possible combinations, whole-house water filters offer the most comprehensive filtration possible. We’ll examine that more in the following section.
Whole-House Water Filtration Provides More Accessibility
Whole-house water filtration isn’t limited to just one fixture like point-of-use water filters. This means that instead of having carbon-filtered water from your kitchen sink, you can have a whole-house carbon filtration system for an entire home.
Most of the whole-house water filtration systems are compatible with each other, so they can be installed alongside each other and provide further filtration. Some whole-house carbon filters come with sediment filtration to help eliminate any dissolved solids a carbon filter isn’t designed to remove. Different combinations, such as a three-stage filter with sediment, carbon, and UV light water filtration, are possible.
Whole-house reverse osmosis includes carbon and sediment filtration; some can even have a UV light filter. This whole-house filtration system can effectively remove up to 99% of contaminants, making it one of the most effective in the market.
By offering different combined filtration options, whole-house water filters can keep most contaminants away from a home’s drinking water.
Whole-House Water Filtration Can Target All Contaminants
The primary purpose of any whole-house water filter is to target and eliminate certain impurities found in water. Here’s a list of the different contaminants a whole-house water filter can remove based on the type of filtration used.
- Carbon filters remove chlorine, chloramines, hydrogen sulfide, pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals.
- Sediment filters remove dirt, silt, sand, and other dissolved particles.
- Reverse osmosis removes the contaminants listed above, plus 99% of other impurities.
- Water softeners only target minerals in tap water that cause hard water, such as magnesium and calcium
- UV light water filters kill germs, viruses, and microorganisms flowing in water.
The tap water in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas is tested under strict standards set in place by the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet, it is still possible for the water to pick up impurities as it travels to your home. By protecting your home’s water supply, you and your family can enjoy various health benefits of the different whole-house water filters.
Potential Health Benefits from Whole-House Water Filtration
Whole-house water filters can provide homeowners with various health benefits. All of these whole-house water filters can help a family increase their water drinking habits, which can have a positive impact on overall health. Some systems will improve the taste and remove any lingering odors that water may have, further encouraging more water drinking.
One of the whole-house water filtration systems that may provide plenty of benefits is a water softener. A whole house water softening system uses a process called ion exchange to target and treat hard water materials, resulting in soft water available in the entire home. With soft water, homeowners can take advantage of the following benefits.
- Protects appliances and plumbing
- Prevents scale buildup
- It may help prevent dry skin and brittle hair from hard water
- Improves wash quality
These benefits are unique to whole-house water softening systems because they’re the only filter that produces soft water. Other whole-house water filters don’t produce soft water but still provide high-quality water for use and consumption. These systems also have a positive impact on the environment.
Whole-House Water Filtration Can Positively Impact the Environment
Although there are various kinds of whole-house water filters available, most of them have a positive impact on the environment.
The only exception to this statement is water softeners, which produce brine discharge. The discharge can potentially harm the environment and is too heavily concentrated with salt for wastewater treatment plants to remove effectively. Some areas in Los Angeles have banned water softener installations within their cities.
Besides water softeners, other whole-house water filtration systems can eliminate the need for plastic water bottles by producing high-quality drinking water.
Plastic pollution comes from different sources, with plastic bottles being one of them. Homeowners with a whole-house water filtration system have the option of no longer having to purchase cases of bottled water. Less plastic water bottles mean less plastic ending up in landfills.
By cutting off the need for plastic water bottles, homeowners can also save money by not having to purchase cases and cases of water throughout the year. Saving money, eliminating contaminants, and improving water-drinking habits are all substantial advantages of whole-house water filters, but there are cons worth knowing about. We’ll look at what these are in the following sections.
What Are the Cons of Whole-House Water Filtration?
Based on the pros, whole-house water filtration systems sound like the go-to choice. Learn more about the cons before deciding whether these filters are right for you. By understanding the cons associated with whole-house water filtration, you can be better prepared for when the time comes to install one in your home.
High Upfront Cost
In terms of water filtration, whole-house water filtration is on the higher end of the price spectrum. A whole-house water filter requires more of an investment due to its size, capacity, installation, parts, and labor. The average cost is a couple of thousands of dollars or more than $10,000.
Multiple companies provide financing options to help offset the cost of whole-house water filtration. This makes whole-house water filters accessible to homeowners who have a limited budget. The initial price of installing a whole-house water filter doesn’t include the costs required to maintain the system, which is another con we’ll explain further in the following section.
All Whole-House Water Filtration Systems Require Routine Maintenance
Whole-house water filtration systems require routine maintenance to continue to operate. Homeowners must stay on top of maintaining their whole-house water filter to avoid early breakdowns and other possible problems.
Maintenance for whole-house water filters varies on what type of system it is. A simple filter replacement every six months will suffice for most whole-house water filters, like carbon and sediment. Because filter replacements are spread out, homeowners may possibly forget to replace their filters which can result in less efficient water filtration.
Other whole-house water filters, like water softeners, require more maintenance, such as replacing the rock salts in the brine tank. The monthly salt refills are necessary for the water softener to continue producing soft water. Whole-house water softeners can experience failures if not maintained properly.
In addition to staying on top of routine maintenance, some whole-house water filtration systems are limited in what they can filter out of water.
Some Whole-House Water Filtration Systems Have Limited Filtration
Some, but not all, whole-house water filtration systems have limited filtration available. A whole-house sediment filter, for example, will only filter out sediment and not other chemicals such as chlorine.
Unless you install a whole-house water filter with multiple filters or a whole-house reverse osmosis system, a whole-house water filter will have limited filtration. The best way to avoid this is to determine what your water needs are to help narrow down which water filtration system is right for you.
Is A Whole-House Water Filtration System Worth it?
With a whole-house water filter, homeowners can enjoy better quality water without making multiple trips to the supermarket or planning visits to water refilling stations. Now that you know more about other pros and cons of whole-house water filtration systems, you can determine if this system is a good fit for your home. Every home has different water needs, and whole-house water filters may be the system you’ve been looking for.
Since 2007, we at Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating & Air have installed thousands of whole-house water filtration systems for various homes across Los Angeles. Even though every home is different, we’ve seen how whole-house water filtration systems can be a good fit or not, depending on their pros and cons.
If you have any questions regarding whole-house water filtration systems, contact us using one of the buttons below or book an appointment using our water filtration scheduler.
If you’re interested in knowing more about whole-house water filtration, check out this article on the cost of whole-house water treatment to better understand what pricing looks like.
