Recommendation for point-of-entry carbon filter?

[allenartlab]

Hi,
I am trying to purchase a whole house carbon filter to remove chloramine, taste and VOC's from our city water. Did a google and found quite a few manufactures and on-line retailers. So anyone has a recommendation on a good system?

Thanks!

 

[GarySCWSVI]

I suggest that you not do that. I suggest a Point of Use Carbon Cartridge at drinking water locations and shower heads.

It is not likely that the City Water has VOC's. Have you varified their presence by analysis? If not, you probably won't find any by an independent analysis. You can sure have a VOC analysis done to ease your concerns.

Gary Schreiber, CWS VI
The Purolite Co.

 

[allenartlab]

Hi Gary:

A reply so quick. Thanks a lot.

Costwise, I think installing a kitchen filter and a few shower filters is almost the same as installing a whole house filter, which last a few years as claimed. In addition, we cook a lot at home thus removing the chloramine taste from our cooking water is highly desirable.

However, I hesitate to choose such a point-of-entry system because, unlike those point-of-use filters, it is hard to find a certified system and most of the time, the vendors refuse to disclose the source of GAC medium and simply claim it is NSF certified, which is a bit scary to me.

Do you have any recommendations/comments?

Thanks a lot,
Allen

 

[bimr]

Corporations pay a lot of money for the voluntary NSF standard.

http://www.nsf.org/consumer/drinking_water/dw_treatment.asp?program=WaterTre#devices

If your concern regards chlorine, any product that is certified to meet the ANSI/NSF standards 42 & 53 will suffice since activated carbon has almost an unlimited capacity for chlorine. Just be sure to change the carbon filter regularly.

Buy the least expensive product that is certified and meets your flow capacity. You can find such products at stores such as Sears, Home Depot, Grainger, etc.

 

[GarySCWSVI]

Allen,

The primary problem with a "whole house carbon filter" is the total removal of chlorine to every location in the home. If you only install them as I suggest you are only removing the chloramine for ingestion or where it causes skin reaction problems but still allowing it to prevent bacteria accumulation everywhere else in the building.

Gary Schreiber, CWS VI
The Purolite Co.