5 Big Reasons Why You Should Use Drinking Water Filters

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The best drinking water filters provide us with the best quality water we can get. The best drinking water filter can improve our life, enhance our performance and increase our energy levels by providing what our bodies crave…99.99% pure drinking water.

70% of our body weight is water. We have to replace and replenish that water on a regular basis or face illness. Each person should consume gallons of water every day, but many do not, because their water doesn't taste fresh or it smells like chlorine. Good drinking water filters will put the joy back into drinking water.

Pure drinking water is important in more ways than one, the water that we take in may contain bacteria that can cause diarrhea, which can be life threatening to small children, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system. Chlorine is added to the water at the treatment facility to remove bacteria...to disinfect the water.

But, some bacteria are resistant to chlorine. Cryptosporidium cysts, for example, are not killed by chlorine. Only a drinking water filter with a micron particle stage can stop cryptosporidium at the cyst stage and protect your family's health.

The average drinking water filter is carbon based. Carbon activated drinking water filters remove chlorine and chemicals, but other stages are needed to remove different things. It all really depends on what's in your water and without laboratory testing, the only safe thing to do is buy a drinking water filter that can address all of the problems that "could" be in your water.

Some drinking water filters (like reverse osmosis and distillation) remove trace minerals that are good for your health. The best drinking water filters "balance" the mineral content, instead. So, in areas where high mineral content or "hard" water is a problem, hard minerals are replaced with "softer minerals". A drinking water filter that has a ion exchange stage is the right choice for well balanced mineral content.

Drinking water filters have been around for a long time. In India they had a crude drinking water filter that was used for ages. It consisted of a big round clay pot. The impurities would be absorbed by the clay and the remaining water tasted sweet and refreshing. With modern science we have perfected the technology and now can filter a number of things that are not good for us, but some drinking water filters are stuck in the dark ages.

Chlorine removal is just one thing that a drinking water filter can do to improve our water. Some companies stop there. Other drinking water filters go the extra mile by reducing harmful pollutants like pesticides and herbicides. Remember, anything that goes down the drain or on the ground eventually ends up in the ground water and our drinking water reservoirs

We use thousands of chemicals every day, thoughtlessly. Industries have spills, as do gas stations and repair shops. We have our grass treated with pesticides. We use herbicides to kill weeds. We wash medicines down the drain. All of this stuff ends up in the drinking water.

It is important to be careful about what you flush down the drain or pour on the ground, but you have to realize that other people may not be so careful. The only way to protect your family is by investing in good drinking water filters for every tap in the house.

By: Gordi

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Gordon Hall is fervent about enabling you and everyone to live a healthy lifestyle, and is an ardent reviewer of Water Purification Systems. Visit his website now at : www.water-safe-and-pure.com to discover which Water Purification Systems Gordon recommends after far ranging comparisons.

Treatments For Hard Water

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More drinking water is being consumed each and every day. Those that are drinking it are thinking more and more about just how clean and safe it really is. If them amounts of water that are being consumed is any indication, than the worry about the water is larger than once thought.

Treatment systems for hard water are one way to lower the dangerous substances found in the water and improve the quality of it. When you hear the phrase 'hard water' it just means that the water has a large calcium and magnesium content. When you have a high concentration of minerals in the water, you have two distinct problems. These are:

Formation Of Scale Deposits

The first problem that it can cause is scale deposits. Scale deposits are created from calcium carbonate or other dissolvable salts that get wet and gather together. They continue to build until this formation of salts inside the water pipes and the other water system surfaces that are used to heat and cool the water.

Scale deposits can also be formed by other types of minerals such as; calcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, magnesium hydroxide, barium sulfate, zinc phosphates, iron hydroxides, and silica. Each of these minerals is found naturally in the water.

The forming of the scale deposits are not the main issue for treatment of hard water. The treatment of the hard water is necessary for the deposits that have formed over time and are causing a problem with the water flow.

These scale deposits do not allow heat conduction to occur like it should on the heat and cold surfaces. It also lessens the wart flow in the pipes since it clogs them up. If you have a boiler or a water heating system you know how expensive it can be to maintain it but, with scale deposits, the cost to fix it could be even more. You need to use a hard water treatment system to lower the cost of fixing the system and also help it to work properly.

The Reaction Of The Soap You Use

There is a second problem that you can encounter with hard water. The hard water can lower the usefulness of the laundry soap you use to watch clothing. If you are in the laundry business, it can be a big thing for you. The hard water will react with the detergent and causes it to form a sticky scum and also stops it from lathering up. The mineral deposits make the soap become less effective and so it is almost not worth using it. Many do not want to give up the use of soap when cleaning.

Hard water treatment systems will provide you with a way to avoid the problem. When the amount of minerals in the water is lowered, the negative reactions of the soap and the hard water and the lather problems will be reduced.

Hard Water Treatments And How They Work

Hard water treatment systems are also known as water softeners. The treatment system takes the hard water and softens it by removing the magnesium and calcium minerals and puts ions of sodium in its place.

Sodium Ions do not moisturize and deposit. It also does not have any adverse reaction with the soap you use. The sodium ions are accepted in the water more so than the magnesium and calcium.

By: David Faulkner

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You can also find more info on water treatment and tasting water. eWaterTreatmentSystems.com is a comprehensive resource for water treatment with information on reviews, reverse osmosis and how it works.

Hard Water Causes Pipe Scale

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Most residents in the United Kingdom have a problem with hard water. Hard water contains abnormally high and difficult levels of minerals and ions that are not found in "soft" water. Magnesium and Calcium are the minerals that worry people the most. Water starts out as soft but becomes hard when rain water seeps through areas of earth that are high in minerals before it is absorbed into the water table. Soft water is rain water that has fallen to ground that has high concentrations of stone or soil that is peaty. These cannot be absorbed into the water, so the water stays "soft" as it seeps into the water table.

The problems caused by hard water are caused by the minerals that build up in the piping of your home and on the inside of your home appliances or other types of machines that use water on a regular basis. This "scale" decreases the efficiency of the pipes, appliances and machines and eventually they stop working properly.

When your home has hard water it also makes it harder to clean because the minerals interfere with the lathering action of your soap making it harder to rinse the soap from whatever you are cleaning. All of the extra work your machines are doing and water you use as you try to keep your house and body clean cause your energy and water rates to rise. If you let the scale build up too long in your pipes, they will need replacing"a very expensive endeavour.

Many homeowners in the United Kingdom have found that installing a water softener can help a great deal in ridding hard water of its mineral content. A water softener sits between a ground water source and your home and acts as a filter to trap all of the minerals that cause the water to be hard. The filters act as strainers to trap the calcium, magnesium and other minerals that are found in UK hard water.

Some water softener manufacturers include filters that will filter out other things as well as hard water minerals, creating a soft water that is easy to wash and clean with and won't build up mineral scale on your home's pipes.

Hard water can wreak havoc on a house and the human body and the danger is proportional to the amount of dangerous minerals contained in the water. The worst minerals in hard water are magnesium and calcium because too much of either ion can cause disastrous effects on a home and on the human body.

Mineral scale build up on pipes can cause the walls of a pipe to become weak and eventually those pipes will start to leak. This can cause a person thousands in repair and doctor costs. The easiest way to make sure that you only use soft water is to install a water softener somewhere inside your home or on your property.

By: Tal Potishman

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Tal Potishman, editor of Heating Central, writes articles about central heating, home boilers, Golders Green plumbers, underfloor heating and solar thermal. He specializes in helping save money by advising on efficient heating.

Hard water problems in UK

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Calcite, the main cause of scale, is the most common form of calcium carbonate and occurs naturally as a natural ingredient of chalk, limestone and marble. Water passing over and permeating through such rocks dissolves calcite when this water subsequently flows through a water system the calcite precipitates out to form a very hard scale on surfaces.When hard water is heated, or evaporation takes place, the problems are exacerbated. Calcite forms ever growing layers of rock-like deposits until eventually pipes, jets and equipment become totally blocked. The problem increases as the water gets hotter. Water containing 145 ppm of calcite, flowing at 3.5 litres per minute, produces in one year 4.8 kilograms of scale at 60ºC. At 80ºC this rises dramatically to a massive 29.9 kilograms! Scale wastes both energy and financial resources just one eighth of an inch of scale reduces heating efficiency by 25%. It is also very expensive to remove, de-scaling pipes and boilers alone costs British Industry over £800M each year.

Hard water substantially increases energy consumption, necessitates equipment downtime for cleaning and results in the early renewal of capital equipment. Executives involved in running a business, local government department or institution are under increasing pressure to cut costs and become more efficient. However this must be carried out with due regard to increasing environmental legislation.

From its many years experience in hard water treatment scalewatcher has refined and developed its Electronic Descaling Systems. These provide companies with a clean, effective and environmentally friendly means of removing and preventing
limescale build-up.

Scalewatcher is a unique, efficient, energy-saving device better than the water softener or a magnet. It is designed to eliminate the problems of hard water, whilst retaining the natural benefits. This is achieved by changing the size of the particles of precipitated compounds, by aiding the ability of crystals to form their shape, and by altering the solubility of compounds within liquid. Scalewatcher takes the process of induced ionisation to its ultimate stage. The principles of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) are applied by passing scalewatcher's patented signal through a coil wrapped around the pipe to be treated. The signal consists of a frequency modulated (FM) wave form within the audio frequency (AF) bandwidth. This inaudible sonic frequency signal sets up a dynamic field around and through the coil, pipe and water, and modifies the calcium carbonate crystal nuclei. The nuclei upon which the crystals start growing are minute in size and have charged surfaces in their natural condition within the water. When they pass through the field, these naturally charged nuclei encounter considerable forces as the field interacts with them. The field acts at the surfaces of the nuclei and modifies the nature of the electrical charges and this ionisation effect thus alters the growth rate and pattern of the crystals in general and on specific planes.

The principle of magnetic water treatment is not new. The first patent was granted around 1900. Scalewatcher takes this knowledge into the 21st century. The electronic device treats the water by inducing magnetic AND electric fields with a continuous changing frequency. This forces the dissolved minerals such as Calcium and Magnesium to crystallize in the water before the ions settle (hard scale) at walls of piping, bathroom or heating elements of dishwasher and washing machine. This action stops any further build up of hard scale by preventing the settlement of dissolved mineral ions on whatever surface.

Advances in micro-electronics have enabled scalewatcher to produce a system which
is so compact that it can be installed in small or normally inexcessable spaces. It is ideal
for commercial applications such as laundries, hotels, garages, dentists, correctional
centers, restaurants and bakeries. Easily fitted and requiring no plumbing, chemicals or maintenance. Scalewatcher benefits include : increased life for capital equipment, lower energy bills, short term payback, reduced mechanical damage and failure environmentally friendly and hazard free.

The capability of the water to dissolve minerals will also be increased and this is the reason why hard scale layers will be softened, will slowly enter into the water stream, and will disappear down the drain.

By: Caroline Anderson

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

From its many years experience in hard water treatment scalewatcher has refined and developed its Electronic Descaling Systems. Scalewatcher is a unique, efficient, energy-saving device better than the water softener or a magnet.

Energy Efficient Central Heating

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There are many products that are available to add to your system to keep it running on a regular basis, and there are others that you can install and let them do the work for you. Either way, a well looked after system will run more efficiently for you.

We have all heard the advice from the Government and environmental agents telling us to turn off lights, turn off TVs and not leaving them on standby, and turning down our washing machine temperature and room thermostats. All of these are very effective ways of saving energy which will not only help environmentally but also reduce many household bills. But what about getting your central heating system to work more efficiently?

The build up of sludge and limescale deposits in your central heating system will cause it to run less efficiently.

To stop the build up of limescale and sludge in your system – particularly in hard water areas, then you need to take a look at water treatment.
Water treatment is a term used to cover many different ways of looking after your system. A wide range of water treatment products including scale reducers and inhibitors, magnetic and electronic lime fighters, sludge removers, noise reducers and anti-freeze are available.

Living in the UK means that depending on whereabouts you are in the country, your water can range from hard to soft. Living in a hard water area means that you are prone to limescale – your kettle probably being the first place that you will notice limescale deposits as well as on your showerhead and taps. Limescale reduces efficiency and adds to heating bills. Just a small, thin layer of scale in your hot water cylinder can increase your fuel bills by as much as 40%. Limescale is simply calcium deposits in your system. Those who live in soft water areas need not take quite so many precautions – but it is always wise to seek advice if you are unsure.

Most water treatments act by altering the molecular structure of the water and the particles therein and changing the way it behaves. Some will change one structure for another, others remove the offending structure and another will stop them from being able to make a solid – leaving them in suspension.

There are chemical test kits which will measure the ph and chloride levels and also the iron and copper levels so that you can measure the probable corrosion potential and rate.

First, you must ensure that your system has been installed by a competent person – just knowing that you must never directly connect aluminium to copper or brass because simply by connecting different metals can start a reaction which causes corrosion. All gas connections must be made by a CORGI registered tradesperson.

It is a good idea to plan ahead, if you are having a new system installed, think which water treatment you will require as some can be fitted to your system. If you are updating your existing system you would be looking at flushing the whole system before adding any water treatment solutions.

Heating systems take water from the mains water supply and there are various systems that you can attach to your mains supply to deal with hard water problems, however, it is worth noting that systems that are put in to soften water in your home are only for household use and will do nothing for your central heating system problems. They will help make detergents and soaps lather more readily but do not help in the fight to get your heating system working efficiently.

The three main things that you need to prevent are corrosion, limescale and biological growth.

Corrosion can start from the moment the system is set up and filled with water from the mains supply. Corrosion causes sludge in the system which can restrict the circulation causing cold spots on your radiators. It can cause pinholes in the radiators and if left can cause the boiler to become noisy.
Limescale is caused by calcium and magnesium which is present in the water – hard water areas having far more of these minerals than other parts of the country. Once the water is heated it leaves deposits of these minerals which form a hard crust, building up over time and blocking pipes etc. This again can manifest itself with a noisy heating system.

Biological growth in the system is another one to avoid. This tends to get into the system by open tanks. Once in the system it breeds producing slime and sludge. This can also grow and cause blockages in the pipework thereby reducing the efficiency of the whole system.

There is a lot of free advice on the internet. Take some time to look through this. I would start with the manufacturers themselves. Below is a list of manufacturers and some of the popular products they have available. Blogs are another great source of free advice and information or contact a supplier with any queries that you may have.

Good luck with your water treatment – here’s to energy efficient heating and hot water with lower household bills of course.

Aqua-Dial: Aqua-Dial Combi-Care uses a dilute form of polyphosphate which bonds with the scale causing minerals in the water making them soluble with the remaining hard minerals staying in the solution. The Aqua-Dial Combi-Care permanently prevents precipitation of calcium scale as well as protection against corrosion with a 12 month cartridge life. The Aqua-Dial Ceramic Magnetic Scale Reducer offers whole house scale protection. Suitable for immersion heaters, hot water cylinders and heaters, combi boilers and electric showers.

Fernox: Fernox manufacture an extensive range of Water Treatment products, including Central Heating Protector, System Neutraliser, Cleaner and Cleanser, Limescale Preventor and Remover, and Cleansing and Flushing Restorer. New to the range is the Boiler Buddy, a magnetic filter that traps magnetite and sludge. The Boiler Buddy is designed to last the life of the heating system.

Liff: The Liff Limebeater is an eloctrolytic water conditioner which changes the characteristics of water allowing limescale simply to pass through a domestic hot water system without sticking to heat exchange surfaces and extends the life of hot water appliances and cylinders. The Liff Wrappa is an electronic water conditioner for copper or plastic water pipe that uses radio frequencies to alter the characteristics of water, again allowing limescale to pass through a domestic hot water system without sticking to heat exchange surfaces. The Wrappa can also remove existing scale from a system.
Salamander: The Salamander SESI inhibits limescale formation in domestic water systems without using chemicals or salt. WRAS approved. The Salamander SESI is installed on the incoming mains, and treats the whole house.
Scalemaster: Scalemaster produce a range of scale inhibitors and reducers. Magnetic, digisonic and electrolytic products available for water treatment and for corrosion protection there are the Scalemaster Corrosion Masters.
Sentinel: Sentinel manufacture a comprehensive range of easy to use scale inhibitors and reducers, including Sentinel Universal Combiguard, Ferroquest and Universal cleansers, ensuring the efficiency if the central heating system is maintained.

All of these products can be purchased at UK Plumbing Ltd – online suppliers of plumbing and heating supplies to the trade and DIY.

By: Claire Hamill

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Claire Hamill of UK Plumbing Ltd (www.uk-plumbing.com)