whole house water filter

[egon]

Uhh -- Dosent a reverse osmosi filter remove those products?

Filter is a filter I always thought,

[Pat]

Yes Egon, There are reverse osmosis units made expressly for desalination of sea water. They used to be expensive but the price fell and the technology matured and they became typical equipment for cruising yachts. A big difference is the sea water has a high osmotic pressure due to the 35 parts per thousand of salt so high pressure is required to run a desalinater processing sea water. The yacht type typically have a manual pump arm for emergency use in case of failure of the electric motor or electrical system or you take it with you when abandoning ship.

I assumed "cartridge" implied chemical process type filtration or similar. I suppose you can think of RO as mechanical filtration with smaller pore size (betwen salt and water molecule size.)

Pat

[egon]

Pat:

When we purchased our RO system it's main purpose was to remove naturally occurring sodium from our well water.
This was back in our Alberta acreage well water life. The system followed us to Nova Scotia and now cleans Town [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] water.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryQWA]

True, I know of no commercial or otherwise, disposable cartridge to remove/reduce sodium or chlorides.

Egon, RO is a system of disposable cartridges and a membrane, and although you can sling around slang terms like calling an RO a filter; I suspect you'd be calling a distiller a "filter" too.... I being in the water treatment industry have ethics constraints.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

[egon]

Distiller is something completely different.

A menbrane is still a filter in that it takes out particles to a size to which the membrane is designed. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Gary, Just wait a cotton pickin' minute. This is turning into a jargon war. Irrespective of what you PROFESSIONALS call a MEMBRANE the membrane is a filter, BY DEFINITION. Water with stuff in solution comprised of molecules larger than H2O can be separated out by forcing the solution under pressure through the filter (membrane.) Larger molecules (or other larger than H2O "chunks of stuff" are held back by the fine porosity of the filter/membrane while water can pass through much easier at a given pressure. Osmotic pressure isn't arcane black magic.

You can describe the human circulatory system just fine without using commonly accepted (by doctors) medical terms, replacing them with appropriate plumbing or hydraulic engineering terms.

Similarly, to a layman, an RO membrane is a FILTER. To a scientist or engineer considering an RO membrane to be a filter is not heresy. Perhaps not the common water quality industry favored technical use but also NOT WRONG.

The little round ball with the hole in it that when turned sideways to the flow stops the flow is a cumbersome use better replaced in technical discussions with BALL VALVE but it doesn't make the usage wrong because plumbers don't say it that way.

Peace brother, we aren't all water quality experts communicating with peers. We are just regular folk who may not have the secret handshake.... but know a filter when they here about it.

Pat

[AndyC]

Pat,

I see your point. I have always considered a 'filter' as a device that removes things from water and holds them until the filter (media or element) is backwashed or the replaced.

A membrane (MF, UF NF or RO) are water separation devices. Ideally, the elements to be separated never even touch the membrane and are washed away. As water moves laterally across the membrane it is preserving it and, theoretically, should last forever. But we know that is not the case.

Membrane systems that have a rinse cycle using treated water, such as RO water or citric acid, will extend the lives of membrane considerably. Where a membrane meets its greatest challenge is when the tank is full and the auto-shut off stops, causing the untreated water to rest against the membrane and begins its deterioration process.

On the other hand, sometimes when speaking with prospects we use simplified terms for brevity and comprehension as TMI can lose them with jargon and technology.

Andy

[pappy19]

I would also make another suggestion. If you plan on watering your lawn from that new well, set it up where your outside faucets are on a by-pass from the water system to the rest of your house. Otherwise you'll be watering your grass with filtered water, not necessary.

[egon]

If the water has a salt content the lawn may not like it. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryQWA]

Firstly guys... I said disposable cartridges.... are you including a membrane in that discription? I guess you will but... based on your calling an RO a "filter" because it removes things from water, I guess you'll soon be calling an ion exchange water softener a "filter" also; because it removes things from water. BTW, a distiller removes things from water too, so to at least Pat is it, a distiller is a "filter".

I disagree because most people will define a "filter" as something that mechanically traps and thereby removes something from a gas or fluid. An RO membrane and ion exchange resins do not use a mechanical or other type of trapping process.

Recall I said "disposable cartridge" which in yer wildest stretch does not include an RO or water softener, or distiller.

Gary
Quality Water Associates