What Is The Difference Between Water Purifiers And Water Filters?

If you’ve got unfiltered and dirty water coming through your taps and faucets, then that’s a major problem. Well, there are several ways by which you can make water safe for drinking. Two of those ways are using a water filtration system or a water purification system. Here is everything you need to know about each of these methods.

Water Purifiers

A water purifier is just what it sounds like. It goes the extra mile of purifying your water and getting rid of all kinds of harmful toxins, metals, bacteria, and viruses in the water. It is a machine or a set of equipment, depending on what type of water purification method you want to use, and it’s installed near the main pipelines of your house, from where the supply water is coming.

If you’re confused because you don’t know whether you should use a water purifier or a water filter then the best way to navigate through this problem is to figure out what’s in your water, in the first place. You need to figure out what impurities and contaminants the water contains because that’s going to let you know what kind of method will be the best and most efficient to give you pure and safe water.

Types Of Water Purifiers

Water purifiers are of many types, some of which are:

Reverse Osmosis Plant

it’s a type of water purifier that gets rid of almost 99.9% of impurities from the water. It works on the mechanism of a semipermeable membrane that allows molecules of water to pass through and leaves everything behind, be it metals, sand, bacteria, microorganisms, etc.

It’s a great thing to install if you have extremely dirty water coming through your pipes and you want a foolproof way of purifying it.

Deionization

Deionization is a process that removes all of the charged particles from the water. This leaves the water neutral, inert, and, most of all, clean. Water deionization is a relatively newer purification process, but it is quite promising and it gets the job done quickly.

If you have insanely salty water coming through your supply pipes, or if the water is hard and has an excess concentration of calcium and magnesium, then a deionizer is going to be your best friend and it will get rid of all of the unwanted ions in the water and you’ll be left with potable water that can be used for literally anything and everything.

Distillation

Distillation is also a very common purification process but it’s not used as commonly in houses, as it is in industries and laboratories. Distillation is the boiling of water and the condensation of the vapors produced by boiling.

This leads to water that’s almost 100% pure, but the main problem with this process is that it also gets rid of all of the minerals that are necessary in the water, like calcium, sodium, and other electrolytes. The water is relatively pure and tastes amazing, but without minerals and electrolytes, it’s not as good for your body.

Why Water Purification Methods Are Used?

Water purification is a great method to employ if you want to guarantee that the water you’re drinking is safe from all kinds of impurities. It is, however, a very expensive investment and it’s nowhere near as reasonable and cheap as water filters.

So, you need to do your research and find the best purification method for yourself because as you can see, every purification method works differently and removes different impurities, and leads to completely different results, so this is something to consider carefully.

If you want a short-term solution, you can skip installing a water purifier and have a drinking water delivery service Warren deliver water to your home or office.

Water Filters

A water filter is a mechanical contraption that uses meshes and screens to remove the impurities from the water. Water filters are great to use if you have dirty water coming in through your taps and faucets and you want a quick fix.

The meshes or screens allow the impurities to stay behind, whereas the water, that is not clean, can flush forward and you will be good to go. Water filters are a go-to in most houses, if not all because they’re convenient and super cheap. You can change them easily and there’s no fuss involved in the process.

Water filters work best for the removal of impurities if your water has the following things:

  • Sand
  • Silt particles
  • Suspended particles of dirt
  • Metal particles like iron, cadmium, nickel, etc.
  • Bacteria and living organisms that are large-sized, and the list goes on.

Water Filters Are Affordable

Water filters are a cheap and reasonable option to go for if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to purify your water without having to invest in special equipment and machines.

Low Maintenance

It also requires little to no maintenance and the only thing you need to do is change the filter or mesh screens regularly and you’ll be good to go for a long time. The number of times you have to change your filter depends on the fact of how dirty or clean the water is.

If the supply water is very murky and there’s a lot of dirt suspended in it, then you’ll need to regularly change your filters. Otherwise, you can go on for months without changing the filters and there won’t be an issue. Just make sure to keep an eye out for the water. Once the filter starts to misbehave, as in not filtering the water properly, then it’s time to change it up and get a new one.

They Can’t Make Water Soft

Water filters can remove many things, but one thing that they can’t remove is the hardness of water. Hard water is water that contains a high concentration of calcium and magnesium ions and it can affect the use of water around the house. It doesn’t lather up. It wastes a lot of detergent and it also stains the clothes and dishes like a nightmare.

If you pass hard water through a water filter, then nothing will happen because the ions are dissolved in the water rather than being suspended and that is a huge issue, which is why water filters cannot be used for turning hard water into soft water.

You’re going to have to treat hard water first through the ion exchange process and then, if it’s still murky, you can pass it through a water filter, and only then you will have clean and safe water for drinking.

So, a water filter isn’t the best when it comes to water being chemically altered and you’ll need some sort of purifying or softening system to get rid of the excess ions in the water to make it potable.

Water Filters Can’t Remove Smaller Bacteria And Viruses

Water filters are great and all, but they’re not an all-around thing that you can use to get safe and potable water because they can’t purify dirty water and completely get rid of bacteria and viruses so that shaves off some points.

But if you’re looking for something to give you clean and clear water, quickly, and that’s the only thing that concerns you, then a water filter is more than sufficient.

Conclusion

Water purification and water filtration are two completely different things and they serve different purposes. Now that you know exactly what they are, you can decide as to which one is better. Research different types of whole house water filtration Meadville systems to decide on the right one.