There are four main types of water filter that a domestic user can buy. These vary from the portable Brita type Jug filter to the much more complex whole house reverse osmosis filter. So depending on your budget, your water needs and how ‘Eco’ friendly you want to be there should be a water filter out there to suit you.
I will just quickly run through each type without too much detail to help you work out which type of water filter you might want.
- Jug Water Filter
These are a great introduction to filtered water, they’re relatively cheap to buy and don’t need to be plumbed in. The filters last a fairly long time and so are also reasonably economical to maintain.
The main disadvantage in that they have to be filled by hand and therefore take time and effort every time you want filtered water. A more automatic way of getting your filtered water is by having the filter plumbed in.
- Under Sink Water Filters
Again this is a reasonably economic way to get filtered water. These vary somewhat in price but can be bought for as little as $100. These need to be fitted in but if your reasonably handy with a drill and spanner it isn’t too complicated and you don’t need to have any plumbing skills with a lot of them.
The main disadvantage with these are that they only give you filtered water locally. If you fit it in your kitchen you can’t access it from your bathroom. For that you need a whole house filter.
- Whole House Water Filters
As the name implies these water filters provide filtered water to the whole of the house. This means that with one filter you can access cleaner water in your kitchen, bathroom and any where else in the house. This is because the filter is plumbed in line with the main house supply and from there your existing plumbing will distribute it around the house.
There are two major disadvantages with this; the cost can be large firstly the filter itself costs from a thousand dollars upward and second you need to have it installed by a competent plumber. The second problem is the size squeezing a filter into an apartment can be a major challenge.