What Is Whole-House Water Filtration?

For over 15 years, we’ve seen how whole-house water filtration systems improve the water quality in homes across Los Angeles County. At Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we have installed hundreds of whole-house water filters and understand the ins and outs of how they work.

Whole-house water filtration uses various technological designs to treat water entering a home. By the end of this article, you’ll understand how different types of filtration systems can treat water for an entire house so you can see which one can benefit your home the most.

Let’s begin with how these filtration systems work.

How Does a Whole-House Water Filtration System Work?

Whole-house water filtration comes in different systems, but they’re all designed to treat contaminated water. These systems are usually installed between a home’s main water line and before a traditional or tankless water heater.

They’re also referred to as point-of-entry systems because they’re installed right after the entry point where a home receives its water supply from municipal sources. As soon as water passes through the main line, it will go through whole-house water filtration before being released into the home. The filtered water is then supplied to all the fixtures in the house that provide water, such as kitchens and bathrooms.

According to standard testing and regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), all the tap water in Los Angeles is deemed safe to drink. However, it can still become contaminated as it travels through public water supplies. There are various water testing kits where you can determine what impurities are present in your neighborhood, or you can review the annual water quality report to see what contaminants your water may carry.

Once you can determine the quality of water in your home, you can explore the different whole-house water filters.

Are All Whole-House Water Filtration the Same?

All whole-house water filters aren’t designed the same because each kind is meant to prevent specific contaminants from freely flowing in water. A whole-house water filter, for example, can be a standalone installation or a combination of different filters.

Some manufacturers already offer whole-house filtration systems equipped with different water filters. When multiple water filters are installed together, they can complement each other and add an extra layer of water filtration to a home.

In the following section, we’ll break down each type of whole-house water filter.

Types of Whole-House Water Systems

The five common types of water filters used as whole-house treatment systems are,

• Carbon filtration
• Sediment filtration
• Reverse osmosis (RO)
• Water softeners
• UV light water filter

Each filter requires routine maintenance so that it can continue to treat water efficiently. Without maintenance, these filters can eventually break down if it is neglected.

We’ll highlight how each whole-house filter operates, starting with carbon filters.

Whole-House Carbon Water Filtration

Whole-house carbon filtration is designed to remove a large list of water contaminants using adsorption. Similar to how metal is attracted to magnets, adsorption attracts specific contaminants in water to filter them out.

Some of the known contaminants that a whole-house carbon filter can remove include:

• Chlorine (a common water disinfectant)
• Chloramines (a disinfectant combination of ammonia and chlorine)
• Pharmaceutical byproducts (Isopropyl Alcohol)
• Bleach

A whole-house carbon filter can significantly improve the taste and even odor of tap water in a home by removing these contaminants. Some of the impurities that this filter isn’t designed to reduce are dissolved physical contaminants. A whole-house sediment filter, however, specifically targets those contaminants that a whole-house carbon filter can’t.

Sediment Filtration for Whole House

Sediment is defined as dissolved particles sitting at the bottom of a liquid. Whole-house sediment filters are designed to trap these tiny particles and prevent them from flowing into your home’s water.

If your home’s water appears cloudy, it may be due to sediment contamination. This is more common in homes near beaches because of the sand. Along with sand, some of the other dissolved solids that sediment filters control are

• Dirt
• Rust
• Clay
• Silt

The sediment filters have tiny pores that prevent contaminants measured in micrometers from passing through. The pores are tiny enough to let water while stopping dissolved solids from going through.

Carbon and sediment whole-house water filters can be installed together to improve water quality. Some whole-house water filters, like reverse osmosis systems, contain carbon and sediment filters and other filtration components to purify water.

Reverse Osmosis Whole-House System

Reverse osmosis whole-house systems use multiple filters to purify water in an entire home. This system uses sediment and carbon as pre-filters before purifying water through a reverse osmosis membrane that captures 99% of contaminants. A carbon post-filter is included to help improve the taste of the water entering the home.

A whole-house reverse osmosis system prevents bacteria and other microbes from lurking in the water, among other benefits. These contaminants remain on the filters until they are replaced. Some reverse osmosis whole-house systems can flush out the contaminants from the RO filters through a drain line.

Like reverse osmosis systems, water softeners also produce wastewater, except the softener wastewater has salt in it. Water softeners require rock salts to treat hard water, which we’ll dive into further in the next section.

Water Softeners

Water softeners are whole-house water treatment systems that are designed to remove minerals responsible for hard water. By using ion exchange, water softeners produce soft water, which has beneficial effects for you and your family. Hard water contains calcium and magnesium, which are replaced by sodium ions from rock salts in the water.

The salt that water softeners use to treat hard water is low enough and does not impact the taste of water. These systems are designed to treat hard water only and do not have any additional filtration against possible contaminants remaining in the water.

Alternatively, some manufacturers include additional post-filtration for water softeners. After softening the water, it can go through carbon or a sediment filter for further filtration.

Another kind of filter that water softeners can come with is a UV light filter. This filter is also available as a whole-house water filtration system.

Whole-House UV Light Water Filtration Systems

UV light whole-house water filters are purifiers that kill potentially harmful microbes entering a home. This water system is effective at killing 99% of bacteria and other germs using ultraviolet light.

The UV light bulb emits enough radiation to dismantle the DNA of bacteria and other microorganisms. The bulb is replaced yearly, and the entire system requires little maintenance.

This filter is limited in filtration and does not remove sediment, heavy metals, chlorine, or other organic compounds.

Which Whole-House Water Filtration System Is Right for Me?

Whole-house filtration is an excellent way of ensuring your home has high-quality water available at all times. There are, however, different systems that can achieve whole-house water filtration. Now that you’re aware of these systems, you can narrow your search to a whole-house water filter suitable for your home.

Since 2007, we’ve installed and serviced multiple whole-house water filters in homes across the Los Angeles area. At Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we have seen many homeowners find the right whole-house water filter for their homes. But we understand that making a decision based on one article is ill-advised and that you’ll likely need much more information.

If you have any questions regarding whole-house water filters, contact us with one of the buttons below or book an appointment with our water filtration scheduler.

Whole-house water filtration may not be for everyone. Luckily, water filtration can also be done at a smaller scale, like point-of-use water filters. These systems may be smaller, but it helps to compare them against whole-house water filtration systems to see which kind is better for you and your family.

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