For as long as I can recall, I’ve had some deposits that form in my shower and one of the bathroom sink counters. A contractor that was doing work at the house commented on it once and suggested that I look into water filters to clean it up. I’m on city water, and I know the city touts how good their water quality is, so I don’t think it’s actively killing me or anything. Still, it would be nice to not have those deposits to clean up. And to know if there’s anything getting in the water by the time it reaches my faucets.
Fast forward to this week - I had a pinhole leak in a pipe outside, and had a plumber come out to fix it. I started to discuss the issue with him, and he’s happy to do the plumbing associated with a filter, but he isn’t up on the actual filter options and details. So I’m doing research.
It seems that I likely want two filters - a whole house filter to get rid of minerals/contaminants/something, and then a separate RO system under my kitchen sink, where I tend to get drinking and cooking water. But yesterday I had a realization - I should test my water to understand what’s actually in it, so I can make sure the filter system I pick is appropriate!
I know the Home Depot and Lowes stores of the world offer free testing, but I’ve read in the past that they aren’t the best path for this.
So…what do I need to know? What is considered a reliable, useful way to test my water?
Check with your county folks, we can take water to the Health Department and have it tested. The free check was for contaminants, arsenic and heavy metals and something else that I have forgotten. Because hubs was making beer, he wanted other tests done and the fee was small enough that I can’t remember how much it was.
I know this isn’t much help, but maybe its a starting spot?
Talk to your neighbors, see what they are doing. Go to facebook or the like, join the community group in your area. If you have hard water and are getting deposits, then use a water softener for the whole house.
RO is overkill in my opinion - but with drinking water its all opinions. I would just buy a regular filter for drinking water.
I recently purchased a water test kit after doing some research. Now I forget my sources, but they were saying that the kits you buy in the hardware store and kits that just use test strips are not reliable. I bought a Tap Score home water test kit by SimpleWater Labs. It’s expensive but I think it will be a good test. They say if you have filters you need two kits, one for each side of the filter.
I’d start by checking with the city water department. They should have test results for the general water supply.
Mine sends out an annual report with testing results, or you can find it online. This will give a good indication of things like total dissolved solids (TDS) and hardness, which is what to look at if you’re getting scale buildup. If you’re worried about lead, that can be introduced downstream of the treatment plant, so you’ll have to do your own tests.
No filter is going to get rid of deposits.
RO might help, but would be ridiculous for the whole house.
A water softener might also help, but they seem expensive, wasteful, and environmentally bad to me, along with making the water unpleasantly “slimy.”
In my job, I work closely with my city’s water department. They’re VERY serious about testing their water- before it’s treated, after it’s treated, and after it’s gone through the wastewater treatment process. They take a lot of pride in producing clean water that substantially exceeds the state and Federal guidelines. And they test all over the area they serve, not just where it comes out of the water treatment plant, so at least in our case, anything picked up on the way would be identified and the source tracked down.
From what I gather, things like mineral content are mostly dependent on the water source, and can’t be filtered out. That’s what water softeners are for.
If hardness is the issue (and I suspect it is) then I highly recommend to flush your water heater to remove all sediments. Also flush the water line connecting to your refrigerator/ice maker, if any. I have neighbors who have had both (water heaters and refrigerator/water coolers) fail early due to deposits.
Great point. My water heater is waaaaay older than it should be, and I was actually discussing replacing it as well. I shouldn’t do that until after I do the softener.