Best Whole House Water Filters

Choosing the Best Whole House Water Filter is not that hard. It requires some basic knowledge about your water source, and some planning for the type of system and contaminants that you want to remove.

Home On the Water

How Whole House Systems Work

Properly sized Whole House Filter System will filter out chlorine and trap other contaminants, such as sediment and rust, Volatile Organic Compounds, metals and others that can be present in your water source. Pollutants are removed from water through the processes of Particulate Filtration, Adsorption, Absorption, Ion Exchange, Catalytic Conversion, Oxidation-Reduction, Ultrafiltration, Ultraviolet Sterilization and several others. Read more about how whole house filters work.

Differences Between Whole House Filters and Water Softeners

Water Softeners are drinking water systems that remove calcium and several other minerals (such as magnesium) from water. A typical softener works via an Ion Exchange process, whereby calcium molecules get attached to the media in the tank. Because typically there's lots of calcium in drinking water (hundreds, and occasionally even a thousand or more parts per million or mg/L) media gets exhausted pretty quickly and needs to be regenerated periodically.

Whole House Water Filters typically leave calcium in drinking water and are designed to remove or reduce other harmful chemicals.

Choosing a System

Water Softeners are a good whole house system to protect your home from harmful effects of high levels of hardness and scale build-up. However , if you are not in the area affected by that, your choice differ depending on which water issue you are trying to solve. It is also not that uncommon to see a softener (or anti-scale conditioner) and a whole house filter to be installed together.

We present various water solutions in this easy to read table:

Water Problem	Health Effects	Contaminants	Water Treatment Benefits	Best Solution
Hardness, Scale Build-up	High blood pressure, heart health concerns from salt water	Calcium, Magnesium, Lime scale	Soft water with less mineral removes scale to protect plumbing and appliances, imrpoves laundry. You would use less soap	Salt-based water softener, in areas where hardness is not extremely high Salt-less water conditioner This System
Chlorine and "Pool" smell or taste	Dry flaky skin, weak or brittle hair, allergies, red spots on skin after showers.	Chlorine, Chloramines, VOCs	Softer skin and hair, healthier lungs (chlorine is otherwise breathed in). "Softer" water feel.	Standard Whole House Filter System This System
Mild Scale Build-up and Mineral Deposits in plumbing	No	Calcium, Magnesium, Lime scale	Softer skin and hair "Softer" water feel. Reduced scale. Salt-free systems are eco-friendly, do not waste water and do not need salt and other harsh chemicals to regenerate,	Salt-less Water Conditioner System This System
Bacteria, Viruses, Microbes and other Biological Pathogens	Gastrointestinal illnesses, abdominal pain, fever, various infections	E.coli and other Coliform bacteria, Giardia, Cysts, Cryptosporidium	Better health, no health hazard concerns when drinking or bathing in water.	UV Light Sterilizer, Ultra-filtration Membrane Systems This System
Iron: Red, Brown or Orange Stains; Rotten Egg Odour	No	Iron, Manganese and Hydrogen Sulphide	No more stains on toilets, bath and shower fixtures, on driveways and all around.	Iron & Hydrogen Sulphide Removal System This System
Arsenic	Arsenicosis, skin problems including skin and other forms of cancer	Arsenic exceeding EPA limit of 10 ppb	Healthy drinking water.	Arsenic Removal System This System
Fluoride / Fluoridation of Public Water Supply	Dental fluorosis, neurotoxicity, cancer risk	Various forms of Fluoride	Protection from toxic fluoride injection and adsorption.	Fluoride Removal System This System
Acidic Water	No	Varies. Water with low mineral content, metals, water from Reverse Osmosis systems, etc.	Water with balanced pH is much healthier to drink. Protection of copper plumbing from corrosion.	Acid Neutralizer System This System

If you have a water problem that may not be on the list, or there's more than one issue, it is imperative that you do a water analysis and then talk to a Water Quality Professional. If your plumber is not involved in water filtration, there may be significantly complex health and system issues that need to be address in a properly designed water filtration system. Contact field experts to get help.