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Buying a water filter for your home is usually a great decision, regardless of where you live and what the tap water conditions in your city or state are. Even in places where tap water is well cleaned and filtered by the municipality – which, thankfully, in developed countries is almost everywhere – there are still a ton of benefits that you can reap from purchasing a nice water filtration system for your home.
The bottled water industry has been capitalizing on people’s fears about tap water for decades, and while these fears are mostly unjustified and tap water is generally a much better alternative to bottled water, it is true that a home water filtration system can further improve the quality of tap water and thus – the quality of your life.
How does one choose a water filter, however? Today, there are almost as many types of water filters as there are types of bottled water. You can buy a whole home water filter system that filters the water of your entire home simultaneously; you can buy an under sink water filter that is installed below a sink in your home – the kitchen sink, usually – and filters the water that goes to that sink; you can buy a countertop water filter that functions in a similar manner but is placed on top of the sink or to its side and filters the water just before it flows through the sink faucet; or you could buy a refrigerator water filter which needs to be plumbed into a water supply. You could even just get a water filter bottle if you live alone.
Each of these types of water filters have their advantages and disadvantages. Each are designed for different situations and different homes and families. Plus, each of them has a lot of different models, many of which have their own features and purposes. With that said we’re specifically tackling a certain type of filter today; if you’re interested in buying one, check out our under sink water filter buying guide.
Under sink water filters work on a very simple principle – they are placed under the sink (let’s say – a kitchen sink) and a diverter valve diverts the cold water from the pipes to the filter before it has reached the sink faucet. The water goes through the filter and goes out through an exit valve that goes above the sink through a hole in it. Said exit valve ends with a separate faucet for filtered water that is placed on the sink, besides its standard faucet. And that’s it – now you have the options between hot water, cold water and filtered cold water.
To be a little more precise – what we described isn’t just an under sink water filter, it is a “conventional under sink water filter”. There are also “simple under sink water filters”
This second type works a bit differently – the cold water is diverted into the filter, but once it is filtered it goes back to its original valve and into the cold water faucet. This means that you won’t need to drill a hole for an additional faucet for filtered water, however, all your cold water will be filtered. This may sound like a benefit at first, but it actually means that you will be needlessly filtering water that didn’t always need to be filtered. In other words – you’ll need to change the filter cartridge more often.
Whether simple or conventional, under sink water filters have a lot of benefits they can bring to a household. So, it is not surprising why they have become so popular in recent years. Let’s go over all the benefits you can expect if you choose such a filter for your home.
Under sink water filter advantages include:
Of course, no filter is without its drawbacks. After all, just as a filter bottle is not as effective as an under sink water filter, you can’t take the latter to camping, right? And joking aside, under sink water filters do have their share of disadvantages:
Conclusion
And those are more or less the basics of this type of water filter. They are not perfect and in some situations a countertop water filter or a whole house water filter might do a better job.
However, a high quality under sink water filter is without a doubt a great addition to a lot of kitchens and will drastically improve the health and comfort of you and your family.