How to Choose the Best Water Filter System for Your Home

Do you know what’s in your home’s water? It doesn’t matter if you have city water or well water, it could be threatening your health. You don’t want heavy metals, chemicals, toxins or carcinogens in the water you drink. That’s where a water filter system for your home comes in.

Of course, if you’ve never had a water filter for your drinking water, you might not know where to start. But we can help you with that! Our licensed experts know everything there is to know about choosing the best water filter for your home, and today, we will share that information with you.

Before we start, feel free to look at the range of home water filters available at Angel Water so you know what we’re comparing.

Why Do You Need a Water Filter System for Your Home?

It doesn’t matter if you have city water or well water, you need a water filter system in your home. Depending on the type of water, you’ll have contaminants that can make your family sick, cause your water to taste bad and leave stains around your home, among other things.

But the exact reasons for needing the best water filtration system for your home will be different for everyone, which is why it’s so important you get your water tested. Generally, however, there are specific things that go wrong with city and well water.

Problems With Well Water

There aren’t any regulations on well water. No CDC or EPA will be knocking on your door to see what’s in your water – you must check that yourself and ensure it’s safe for your family. There are four main things you’ll find in well water:

1. Calcium
2. Magnesium
3. Iron
4. Bacteria

Some of these contaminants will make your family sick and can be absorbed through the skin in some cases. This means it isn’t just drinking the water that’s the problem, but also showering, washing dishes or swimming in the pool. Well water doesn’t have chlorine in it.

Other contaminants pose more of an aesthetic problem. They might cause your water to smell or taste bad. Or they might cause stains on your appliances and may stain clothing.

Problems With City Water

A good way to think about city water is with the candy bar analogy. If you’ve ever bought a candy bar, you know it comes in a wrapper.

The wrapper protects the candy bar, so you know it hasn’t been touched by every hand it passed through on the way to you – the guys who packaged the candy bars, loaded them into the truck, unloaded them at the store and placed them on the shelf. Not to mention anyone who touched the candy and put it back once it was on the shelf.

With city water, chlorine or chloramine is the candy bar wrapper. The city adds it to protect the water from contaminants while it travels through the system on its way to you.

But do you eat a candy bar with the wrapper still on? No!

In that same sense, you don’t want to drink city water with chlorine or chloramine. That’s just the wrapper. It might serve a purpose, but you want to take that out when you get home, and that’s the main reason you’ll want a water filter system for your home that uses city water.

What Happens If You Pick the Wrong Water Filter?

The “right” water filter is different for everyone. Choosing the wrong one means your water isn’t as clean as it should be. That’s why we stress thoroughly testing your water and working with a reliable company that knows what they’re doing.

But what are the real consequences of picking the wrong water filter? Just a few things that come to mind:

• An undersized system won’t thoroughly filter your water.
• You might be taking out the wrong contaminants.
• A low-quality product may not last long or work properly.
• You could waste your money on something that isn’t keeping your family safe when you think it is, giving you a false sense of security.

How to Choose the Best Water Filter Company?

Choosing the best water filter is fifty percent the product and fifty percent the provider. Improper installation from a fly-by-night operation can be a nightmare, leading to health hazards, plumbing problems, etc.

Thankfully, knowing what to look for can help you avoid these problems before they even start.

Look at the Company

Finding a trustworthy company is crucial to finding the best water filtration system for your home. But buyers beware! Some companies take their used equipment, refurbish it and sell it as new. Other companies sell subpar products with a fancy sticker on them so they can markup prices.

Talk to the company. Look at customer reviews. Do your investigative work because it’s your family’s health and safety we’re talking about here. That’s not something you want to cut corners on, you know?

Are they licensed, insured and bonded? Remember that your family’s health is on the line. A poorly or improperly installed system can make you and your family seriously sick. That’s why you want a professional company that will be properly insured and bonded. This doesn’t only apply to water filters but to anyone who plans to service something in your home.

Visit the Company’s Location

If possible, you need to visit a company’s location before purchasing to know what you’re getting into. Do they have a physical facility? Is that facility clean? After all, you’re trusting this company with your family’s health.

Ask About Installation and Plumbing

Installing a water filter system for your home can be complicated. You need to hire a company that will handle everything, from testing your water to installing and maintaining the system. But you don’t want just anybody handling the installation. You want a licensed plumber.

Here’s the thing – a licensed plumber has gone through several years of training to become licensed by the state of Illinois. That’s like having a PhD in plumbing. The licensed contractor understands what to do or not do to protect you from illness. Someone who doesn’t understand can introduce bacteria, viruses or other illnesses into your plumbing, feeding it straight into your family’s drinking water. In fact, an improperly installed water filter system can even put you at risk of developing Chron’s Disease.

What Are the Top Five Things to Look for When Choosing a Water Filter for Your Home?

So, you want to avoid all those problems we talked about above and make sure you get the best water filter system for your home? There are five things you’re going to want to do.

1. A Thorough Water Test

We really can’t stress the importance of a thorough water test enough. This is the only way to know what chemicals, pollutants or toxins reside in your water. If you don’t know what’s in the water, you won’t know what to remove. If you don’t know what to remove, how will you choose the best water filtration system for your home?

2. The Right Filter for YOUR Home’s Needs

That leads us into choosing the right filter for YOUR home’s needs. Every home is different, so you want to apply the right product for your specific contaminants. For example, if you know you need to remove chlorine, you can apply a carbon filter. If your water contains toxins like the carcinogens barium and radium 226/228, you can apply an NSF-44 certified water softener/carbon filter combination.

3. Correctly Sized

Do you know what size filter you need? No? That’s okay! Because that’s where purchasing from a quality company comes in. They can give you an idea of the right size based on your water usage, home size and what you’re using the system for. Getting a system that’s too big is a waste of money, but getting one too small can mean you’re not filtering out all the contaminants in your water.

4. A Quality Product

Not all water filter systems are created equally. Look for those that are NSF certified. Earning this certification proves to you, the consumer, that the product has been put through rigorous testing and holds up to what it claims to do.

You’ll also want to look for American-made products. These products will last longer and hold up better to use than cheaper, Chinese-made versions.

5. Correct Installation and Ongoing Maintenance

Find a company that hires licensed plumbers to install your product so you know the water filters are installed correctly. If they’re installed incorrectly, illnesses could be introduced into your system.

Water filtration systems aren’t an install-and-forget-about-it home appliance. They need to be maintained regularly and sanitized annually. Look for a company that can handle that maintenance, so your system continues working to keep your family safe for years to come.

Why Shouldn’t You Buy the Cheapest Water Filter Option?

You get what you pay for! But this concerns your health, so you shouldn’t try to cut corners or choose a lower-quality product to save a few buckets.

Don’t be like too many consumers who value the lowest price above all else. The low price isn’t always the right price because, remember, you’re getting what you pay for.

There’s a reason something is the lowest price. Usually, that means it’s made in China out of low-quality parts that aren’t going to last. The water filter will likely be installed by someone who isn’t a licensed plumber, which means your system may not function correctly. The system probably hasn’t been sized correctly and might not have the right filter for your contaminants.

At the end of the day, the cheapest water filter option can cause more problems than it solves. Plus, you’ll likely spend more money in the long run on repairs or replacements.

What’s the Best Water Filtration System for Your Home?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to which water filter will be the best for your home. We’ve said it a few times but can’t overstate the importance of regular, thorough water testing. It’s the only way to know what water filtration system best suits your home’s unique needs.

That being said, there are a few general recommendations on the type of water filter that works best for you based on whether you have city or well water. Keep in mind these are very general recommendations and aren’t a guaranteed solution for you.

If You Need a Water Filter for Drinking City Water…

If your home has city water, the most important thing you’ll need is something to remove the chlorine added to the water. A carbon filter can do that and remove many other chemicals.

It’s also a good idea to use a water softener, which removes calcium, magnesium and other hard water minerals. This will leave your water “soft” and get rid of rust-colored stains on your toilet bowl or white build-up on your faucets. Plus, an NSF-44 certified water softener will remove toxins like radium 226/228 and barium.

Your best bet is to get a carbon filter/water softener combo like the PurASoft ACF5000-DMTe. This will solve all your problems with a single water filter system for your home.

If You Need a Water Filter for Drinking Well Water…

The problem with well water is that you need to remove contaminants that have seeped in from the soil and you’re also likely to have hard water. Bacteria is also a serious problem with your well water, leading to foul-smelling, bad-tasting water that makes your family sick.

For these problems, you’re going to want a whole-house chlorinator system like the PurAClear Chlorine Injection System. Plus, you’ll need an NSF-44 certified water softener to solve hard water problems.

Keep Your Family Healthy by Choosing the Best Water Filter for Your Home!

As you can see, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the best water filter system for your home. But there are several things you can do to ensure you’ve chosen the proper water system for YOUR home. Selecting the right option is crucial because it protects the health of your household.

At Angel Water, we’ve been helping families find and install the best water filters for over 50 years. In that time, we’ve worked with countless types and brands of water filters, so we can help you find the right option. Plus, we’ll ensure your new filter is installed correctly by licensed plumbers who will protect your family’s health and home.

Are you ready to find the best water filtration system for your home? Please visit the page below to schedule an in-home water test today. Or call (847) 382-7800 to speak with an expert.