How Frequently Should I Get My Water Filtration System Serviced?

January 10, 2020

If you have a water filtration system at your home, it is important that you stay on top of regular preventative maintenance so you can continue to reliably filter out water contaminants in Scottsdale, AZ long into the future. Many people pay little or no thought to these filtration systems, but you should really think of them as you would any other appliance you have in your home—they need at least a minimal level of care and attention if they’re going to operate at peak efficiency and do so for their expected useful lifespan.

Here are a few examples of some of the maintenance tasks that are necessary for some of the most commonly used water filtration systems in residential settings.

Water softeners

Water softeners use the ion exchange process to transform hard water into soft water. To do so, the system uses sodium chloride. In the ion exchange process, the molecule splits, leaving only the sodium molecules behind. When hard water runs through the system, the hard water that is fortified with an excess amount of calcium and magnesium then swaps with the sodium, which filters out those unwanted minerals.

The salt for this system must be refilled regularly throughout the year, the frequency of which depends on how much water you use in your home. It might just be a couple times a year, or it could be a couple times a month.

Reverse osmosis systems

This type of system will provide you with the best purity for your water in a residential setting. These systems generally comprise several individual filters. The water will enter, flow through a sediment filter, then a pre-carbon filter, then a reverse osmosis membrane before going into a storage tank, then it gets put through a post-carbon filter before exiting the system.

The three filters and the membrane all need to be replaced according to a specific schedule. You can expect to replace the sediment filter and carbon filters once or twice a year. The membrane will last a bit longer—two to five years on average, based on the amount of total dissolved solids in the water and how well the water is flowing through the membrane.

Failure to stay on top of replacing these filters and the membrane will drastically reduce performance of the system.

Chlorine removal systems

Chlorine removal systems are highly efficient, using a single chamber in most cases with activated carbon. In a standard chlorine removal system, the activated carbon freely floats around, which helps to remove carbon but can make it difficult to service the unit because you have to clean all the carbon out. Canister chlorine removal systems feature high compact activated carbon, which makes for simpler maintenance.

In this type of system, you’ll need to put in new carbon every two to four years depending on your water usage levels.

For more information about the kinds of maintenance you need to perform on your filtration system to address emerging contaminants in water in Scottsdale, AZ, contact WES Water today.

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