Whole house filter

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done this? Our house is nearly 100 years old and has been completely renovated throughout the years.

Is it possible to install a whole house filter? What can I expect approximate cost to be on a 3000 sq. foot house (plus finished basement)?

How does changing the filter work?

Appreciate any insights!

[Anonymous]

Water, or air?

If you have forced air it has filters already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Water, or air?

If you have forced air it has filters already.

Water! Not air. We have HVAC

[Anonymous]

Water expert here - why would you need this? What are your concerns? Lead pipes, well water, taste?

[Anonymous]

It's a very simple plumbing job. Whole house water treatment is just a name they give to a water softener and possible an active carbon filter (which can be in the same tank as the softener) to also remove chlorine. Expect to pay about $5-8k or less than $k if you buy your own and install it yourself.

[Anonymous]

I don't see any point in filtering the water used by toilets, showers or washing machines. The more water goes through your filter the bigger the filter needs to be, the more often you need to change it, the bigger hassle it is. If you're filtering for taste or even pathogens you just want to filter the water you drink, cook and wash dishes with, which means filtering the cold water going to your kitchen.

If your water has dissolved minerals that stain your clothes the appliance you need is a water softener.

[Anonymous]

I don't see why you'd want to remove chlorine, it keeps bacteria from growing in your pipes.

[Anonymous]

This lowers the water pressure in your house. Use point of use filters instead.

[Anonymous]

We recently installed a whole house system. We went with the fully loaded Aquasana with all the filters and UV. They run regular promotions, filters are changed every 1-3 years, and the cost is 1k-3k plus licensed instal (a few hundred). We went with the fully loaded based on the contaminants found in DC water, forever chemicals, the fact they they issue a boil water advisory late and with every big rain, plus wanted to not breathe in chemicals in the shower, and have nicer hair, skin etc. which is more frivolous. The tests say it’s working.
We choose the system based on the Duke study: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00004/suppl_file/ez0c00004_si_001.pdf

We looked for the parts of the system to take care of the PFAS/PFOAS and DC water contaminants:
https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=DC0000002

First, we made sure there was no lead pipe into the house. Took care of our other pipes and made sure system was fit to our type of pipe (copper).

Second, we picked the system and the installer. We tested the water. Our system has a bypass so we can choose to filter or not.

Third, we went with fully loaded including UV because we also wanted to not worry about the filter media growing bacteria etc.

There is a recent article with different options and some start at “just” a few hundred. I’m of the opinion the city should have a program to subsidize healthy living for its residents on a sliding scale so all households have access but that’s probably not going to have much support.

https://www.bhg.com/best-whole-house-water-filters-8406113

There are also water pitchers, faucet mounted filters, under counter filters. Zero pitcher will do the job on forever chemicals for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a very simple plumbing job. Whole house water treatment is just a name they give to a water softener and possible an active carbon filter (which can be in the same tank as the softener) to also remove chlorine. Expect to pay about $5-8k or less than $k if you buy your own and install it yourself.

I’m the poster above. This price seems absurd! We paid half for the 5 part system, all copper plumbed.

[Anonymous]

And I mean half of your lower range!!!

[Anonymous]

We have a whole house filter system b/c we are on a well and also have very hard water.
Over time hard water ruins your appliances, faucets, shower glass, etc.

We had our water tested by an independent company and they made recommendations for filters based on the mineral content of the water, presence of sulfur, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very simple plumbing job. Whole house water treatment is just a name they give to a water softener and possible an active carbon filter (which can be in the same tank as the softener) to also remove chlorine. Expect to pay about $5-8k or less than $k if you buy your own and install it yourself.

I’m the poster above. This price seems absurd! We paid half for the 5 part system, all copper plumbed.

That's my statement. I don't disagree with you. You can buy thing tanks yourself for about $1,500 and it's a very simple install. I'm giving you accurate, market costs from the big name dealers like, Culligan down to some of the local guys who specialize in water treatment. Just the sale guy alone who comes to your house is going to make about $500-$1,000 on the sale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently installed a whole house system. We went with the fully loaded Aquasana with all the filters and UV. They run regular promotions, filters are changed every 1-3 years, and the cost is 1k-3k plus licensed instal (a few hundred). We went with the fully loaded based on the contaminants found in DC water, forever chemicals, the fact they they issue a boil water advisory late and with every big rain, plus wanted to not breathe in chemicals in the shower, and have nicer hair, skin etc. which is more frivolous.

The bolded is nonsense. The rest is dubious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Water expert here - why would you need this? What are your concerns? Lead pipes, well water, taste?

I’m concerned about contaminants in my water. I’m going to sound like a joke and I fully own this, but I just watched Erin brokovich for the first time. We drink mostly bottled water from a cooler, but I do cook with tap.