Whole house water filters as the name implies provide filtered water to all the outlets in your house. This includes showers and baths. The water filters are not large devices in most cases they can be as small as 10 inches by 10 inches by 3 inches and weigh about 8lbs. So a whole house water filter can be fitted into the smallest of homes.
A whole house water filter will remove most of the nasties in your water supply including Chlorine, herbicides and pesticides but you really shouldn’t depend on a water filter to remove viral contaminants. For virus’s you really need to use disinfectants such as iodine tablets or silver. Having said all that some modern water filters claim to be able remove up to 99.99% of all virus and bacteria.
If you are going to depend on a whole house water filter to remove viral contaminants you need to question the supplier as to how they remove them from the water because viruses are extremely small and a water filter which claims to remove them may clog up very quickly therefore reducing flow.
The typical whole house water filter uses either an activated carbon block or a ceramic filter or a combination of both. The carbon is usually made from charcoal and is extremely porous, a small amount has a very large surface area. This means that the tiny impurities in the tap water can be easily absorbed by the water filter because the carbon presents many faces to the particle. The ceramic filter could be made of beads or a solid permeable core.
Some filters that claim to be super efficient water filters actually use multiple methods to remove contaminants. For instance they may use a sediment pre-filter to remove larger deposits, carbon filter adsorbtion to remove chlorine and organic deposits and reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis is incredibly wasteful and typically wastes ten times as much water as it produces.
Fitting a whole house water filter.
Is not as easy as an under the sink water filter and will need a skilled plumber to fit. It is not a big job to fit but it does require pipe fitting skills and will take around two hours to complete in most situations. Talk to your plumber before you buy, they will have experience of fitting whole house water filters and can in most cases advise you to the type of filter that is most suitable.
Finally
With a cost in the region of $1000 plus fitting costs, a whole house water filter needs careful consideration before you buy. You need to make sure you are buying the right water filter for your situation. Questions to ask yourself are where will it fit and how big is the water filter. Do I need extremely pure wateror just a much improved water supply. Remember most tap water is pretty good so you may not need all the bells and whistles . If you are taking water from a river then make sure that the water filter you opt for can back up their claims of viral and bacteria protection.