Consumers are far from always satisfied with the quality of water supplied to their apartments. The reasons for this may be different: insufficient cleaning at the enterprises of the water utility, depreciation of water supply networks. A water filter installed under your kitchen sink will help solve this problem. But how to determine which installation is right for you, how not to overpay for a device that is too complicated, and how to ensure the proper level of water purification? Below we will tell you how to choose a water filter for washing and how to install a stationary water purifier.
Water purification steps
Before choosing a device for purifying water in an apartment, you should figure out what harmful substances can be in it and what filters will help neutralize them.
The video will help you understand how the filter works:
Large particles
Various impurities in the form of solid particles, sand, pieces of rust are captured from the water using mechanical filters. They are unable to capture solutes or various types of organisms, as they have a pore size of up to 5 microns. Structurally, they are made in the form of a mesh or polypropylene of various configurations. It can be wound like a rope, also used in foam or corrugated form.
- A lot of trouble can bring iron dissolved in water. You can get rid of it if you install a cartridge marked RF or BA. In it, the dissolved iron, due to catalysts, reacts with oxygen and passes into an insoluble form, which is cleaned by the built-in strainer or the next filter module - sorption.
- Excessive hardness of water is also unpleasant. It is a consequence of the increased content of calcium and magnesium salts in the liquid. High hardness is the cause of abundant scale, worsens taste, reduces the effectiveness of detergents. Filters marked WS or BS, filled with ion-exchange resins, will help to reduce the stiffness. Another anti-scale mechanism is found in TSGAC-marked cartridges filled with activated carbon in combination with hexametaphosphate crystals, which bind hardness salts and prevent scale formation.
- Sorption cartridges filled with activated carbon or other active elements are used to remove various harmful chemical elements, help to get rid of an unpleasant odor, which may be the result of, for example, water chlorination. And also these filters are able to capture mechanical impurities and suspensions. There are many varieties of modules of this type, so you need to select them, focusing on the specific qualities of the water entering the apartment.
- The highest degree of purification can be achieved by installing a drinking water filter in the kitchen, operating on the principle of reverse osmosis. Water under pressure passes through a special membrane laid in the form of a roll. The pores of this membrane, measuring hundredths or even thousandths of a micron, are able to capture not only organic compounds dissolved in water, but even viruses, bacteria and antibiotics. At the outlet of the reverse osmosis system, extremely pure water is obtained, and all impurities are discharged as a concentrate into the drainage.
However, some inhabitants complain about the extremely low content of minerals in water purified using reverse osmosis. Special mineralizers that can be installed after the filter help to satisfy such wishes.
- Complete biological purification is guaranteed only by filters with ultraviolet irradiation. It kills almost all microorganisms and bacteria.
All these modifications of filter elements are combined in a water purification system. Depending on its parameters, you can focus on the desired direction, and it is not necessary to use all models of cartridges. Therefore, at the stage of selecting a filter for drinking water, it is important to determine the quality of the water entering the apartment.
Determination of the parameters of the water entering the apartment
Correct filter selection requires accurate information about water quality, but this is not always easy to do. Companies involved in the sale and installation of filters, often deliberately exaggerate, trying to sell their product. The management company, on the contrary, may give too positive assessments of water quality, trying to avoid trouble, so the only right decision would be to order an independent examination. This will require certain financial costs, but it will accurately determine the desired degree of purification and help determine which water filter to choose for washing.
Ways to install water filters
The pretreatment system can be mounted directly on the pipes supplying water to the apartment. The built-in flow filter is installed at the entrance to the apartment after water meter and purifies all incoming water. Stationary filters, depending on the quality of cleaning, are one-, two- and three-stage.
But it is extremely expensive to completely clean all the water entering the apartment. For hot water, it will be enough to get rid of impurities, rust and excessive hardness. To provide clean drinking water, it is advisable to use compact filters for water purification installed under the sink. This design allows you to hide the entire filter system and at the same time provides free access to it for maintenance. For drinking water that has been purified, a separate tap is installed at the sink.
Filter selection criteria for washing
Water filter for the kitchen sink, which one to choose? Having decided on the set of necessary filter elements, you can proceed to the choice of a water filter for the kitchen. In doing so, the following points should be taken into account:
- Dimensions. The selected filter should not only fit in the space under the sink, it should have free access for maintenance and replacement of cartridges.
- Performance. Flow filters under the sink can clean 1.5-2 liters per minute. This is quite enough if you use water for drinking or cooking.
- Cartridge resource. It is measured in cubic meters of purified water. Filters also have a limitation on the period of use. Even if this element has not exhausted its resource, but the time of its use has expired, then a replacement is necessary. Different cartridges even from the same manufacturer may have different operating times, they will have to be changed in stages. If the liquid entering the apartment is heavily contaminated, then the filters will need to be changed much more often.
- Some filter systems require increased pressure in the plumbing system. The pump built into the cleaning system will help to avoid problems. But in this case, you will have to stretch a separate moisture-proof power line to it.
- The storage tank will allow you to always have a supply of clean drinking water in the apartment in case it is turned off. Its installation will require free space under the sink.
Filter station installation
Installing a household water filter under the sink is not difficult:
- An additional hole is drilled in the countertop on the sink, where the faucet is inserted and secured with washers and nuts.
- The water supply to the sink is blocked, the remaining liquid is drained. The easiest way to supply water to the cleaning system is at the point where the flexible water hose is attached to the pipes.It is unscrewed, and a special tee is inserted between it and the pipe, which is included in the kit of the supplied product, after which a flexible hose is screwed to this element. After installing the tee, a tap is closed on it, through which liquid will be supplied to the household filter system. By resuming the water supply to the sink, you can check the resulting connection for leaks.
- How to install a water filter? The filtration system itself is mounted using self-tapping screws or dowels to the wall or the inner surface of the sink. The mount must be secure to support the weight of the system filled with water and provide easy access for changing cartridges.
- The hoses are being installed. One of them, usually red, is used to draw water from the water supply. A compression nut is unscrewed from the tee and put on the hose, after which the latter is simply pulled over the fitting and fixed with a gang. There is no need to use any additional sealing materials. The other end of the hose is inserted all the way into the desired hole on the filter, which will be determined by the marks on its body. Before installing the tube, do not forget to remove the retaining ring from the moving part of the filter, and then attach it back.
- The blue hose connecting the faucet and the filter is mounted in the same way. When connecting to a faucet, a compression nut is first put on the hose, then a plastic ring, and a plastic tube is inserted inside. This whole system is inserted inside the pipe on the tap and fixed with a crimp nut. Now many systems are equipped with drinking taps with quick connectors.
- The system is opened and checked for leaks. But before using purified water, it is necessary to drain some of its volume in order to eliminate possible small particles that got inside the tubes when installing the kitchen filter.
