When buying water at a store, occasionally, purified and filtered are used interchangeably on bottled water labels. However, these terms have distinct differences when you use them to refer to appliances to treat your home’s water supply. If you want to stop buying bottled water, you must determine if purified or filtered water will be a better choice to use in your home.
What Is Filtered Water?
Filtered water often comes from a water softening system that combines filtration. By removing contaminants such as chlorine, MTBE, and nitrates, water filtration systems make the water from all your home’s taps taste better.
Depending on the water softening mechanism, the whole home filter may actively soften the water or counter the effects of minerals in the water. Water softeners, like the Oceanus DR system, that use sodium or potassium chloride can cut hardness to less than one grain per gallon. Alternative methods, like the Healthy Home system, do not require salts for softening, making them better for those who have dietary restrictions on salts due to health conditions.
In both cases, the water taps all produce fresher tasting water with the installation of a single, whole-home water treatment system.
How Is Purified Water Different?
Purified water has even more contaminants removed. The multistep filtration system used by reverse osmosis removes up to 100% of water contaminants that can contribute to unusual flavors and smells. The downside to purified water is that the system requires more time to remove impurities, and each tap that you want the purified water from must have its own reverse osmosis system. Since most homes only use water from the kitchen sink for drinking, however, this does not pose a serious concern for the majority of homeowners.
As tasty as purified water is, because it only filters the water at one sink, it does not help to soften water throughout the house.
Is Purified or Filtered Water Better?
The type of water treatment system you use for your home depends on what you want. If you want the best tasting water and feel okay with only getting it from one faucet, choose the extra purification of a reverse osmosis system. However, if you want to have cleaner water from all taps and treat for hard water issues, consider a whole-home filtered water system.
How to Get Purified of Filtered Water in Your Home
If you want filtered water in your home, start with a phone call to us at Best Home Water Treatment Systems at 951.737.1500. We have reverse osmosis systems, whole-home systems, and many more options to help you get better water throughout your home.
