Whole house water filter

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Jtwhitejr

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I live in a condo and would like to install a whole “house” water filter. I have 5 bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths. Problem is there is not a lot of room and what acces there is, is in the ceiling. Main issue with water is strong chlorine odor and taste but want to filter as much as possible. Water is not hard and sediment is not an issue. It is city water. I have photos of area it would have to go.

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How about a R/O unit under the sink? Many will tell you the whole house filters are just pretty much a scam.
 
How about a R/O unit under the sink? Many will tell you the whole house filters are just pretty much a scam.
Chlorine smell is so strong can't brush teeth or drink water from bathroom sink. I won't go into all the skin problems associated with bath and shower. Have a countertop Aquasana on kitchen counter for cooking and drinking
 
Best option would be to use a carbon based whole house filter. I personally like the 20" size housing but due to your location restrictions, you may have to go with a 10" housing system.

Carbon based filters are meant to filter out chlorine, taste and odor and typically carry the NSF/ANSI 42 standard which means they have been certified to meet the standards for chlorine, taste and odor reduction.

You can get the 10" whole house filter housing with 1" ports or 3/4" ports. The Big Blue filter is probably one of the most popular, which you can get in 10" or 20". You would then pick whatever kind of filter you want, but for Chlorine, Taste and Odor you would want to got with a carbon based filter.

If in doubt, take a sample of your water to a testing lab and have it tested to see whats in it, then test it again after the filter. You can also contact your water company to see if they have a print out of what is in the city water.
 
If you want my recommendation or you think that is is worth it for you, you can either install a Royal Berkey water filter or an Apex countertop drinking water filter. I have the first one mentioned and well, it is nothing too fancy nor too expensive but it gets the job done and I have been using for five years and still not a single mechanical failure, about the other one I can't tell you that much info, I just looked up the best water filtration systems online and this one popped up, it seems to have good reviews, but I will say I am just a person and I could be wrong with my advice, just read and look up the best filters for your type of water because that affects a lot the performance of the water filtration system.

I hope my advice was worth it, greetings! have a great day!
 
I don’t have a link but you can buy small inline chlorine filters to put on the supply hose for your sinks. They seem to work pretty good
 
Chlorine is added because it helps keep bacteria down. In some places it is even increased because Legionaire's Disease is a form of Pneumonia that has been around for at least 10,000 years, and it loves to live on iron in non-clorinated places like shower heads. It also likes your lungs because of the iron in your blood. I can see putting in a filter in the kitchen for the cold water. But I would not want to shower in water that could have Legionaire's hanging around.
 
I thought about that too, but then I reasoned that the incoming water has been treated and should be free of any contamination so how would any bacteria appear after the filter?
Another consideration is if your system is treated with Chloramine instead of Chlorine. Many cities are switching to this instead of Chlorine and I think it's much worse and more difficult to remove. You need an "activated carbon" filter as regular carbon won't remove it.
 
I thought about that too, but then I reasoned that the incoming water has been treated and should be free of any contamination so how would any bacteria appear after the filter?
Another consideration is if your system is treated with Chloramine instead of Chlorine. Many cities are switching to this instead of Chlorine and I think it's much worse and more difficult to remove. You need an "activated carbon" filter as regular carbon won't remove it.

We use an activated carbon filter in the kitchen for cold water.

Legionaire's is airborne. It is especially prevalent in the Pacific NW or anywhere there are hot springs. Some of the folks working in / around Mt St Helens got it and then some sampling showed it was not a new disease, like they thought because of the outbreak in the 1970. Cooling towers are especially prone to it. They do tests in hospitals now looking for it in faucets and shower heads.
 
I thought about that too, but then I reasoned that the incoming water has been treated and should be free of any contamination so how would any bacteria appear after the filter?
Good question.
the answer is the water is indeed treated at the water treatment plant
then is is pumped through miles of underground piping that [on any given day]
has city workers and plumbers in a ditch, working on that pipe. the pipe and water they are working on is contaminated by the dirt with fertilizer/chemicles/ fecal matter etc etc...that contamination travels in the pipe with the treated water.
now the interesting part. inside the pipe a fight is going on
the treated water and bacteria are fighting each other for control of the environment in the pipe
that fight continues to rage on all the way to your faucet
 
I would try a Big Blue filter. You can get one for around $50. Looks like you could fit a 20" unit in that space? If not then try a 10".
With 5 BR/baths, you might run into flow issues depending on whether people frequently have more than 2 showers going at the same time.
You may have to try several filter brands/models to find the right one. There will definitely be a trade off between chlorine removal efficiency and flow rate. You want something that doesn't have a micron particulate rating. Good news is that activated carbon is really good at removing chlorine so maybe you can get 80-90% reduction and still not loose too much flow.
Worst case is that you end up with too much pressure drop and you remove the filter cartridge. Or, you could try 2 filters in parallel.
 

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