Looking for a recommendation for whole house filtration

I live in Lincoln County, NC, and they use a Sodium Hypochlorite filtration process for our 'city' water.

What we are experiencing in our homes is a less than pleasant taste and smell, seemed like chlorine to me until I looked up the process they use (though I assume part of that fancy word is chlorine). We are also concerned about bacteria type silliness, a couple years ago we received a notice from the county that the county water was pretty much not safe to drink (not sure if the Sodium Hypochlorite filtration has been added post that notice) but that seems to be cleared up now, so I would probably like to do some filtration of that kind of stuff.

Any recommendations?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Bob

It's the fancy name for chlorine injection. A system most municipalities employ to treat their water. Removing it is as easy as a carbon unit in your home of one type or another. You can install just a standard filter housing at the kitchen faucet on the cold line with a carbon block filter to remove the chlorine at the point of use...or you can (I would recommend) a dechlorination unit...fancy word for tank full of carbon to remove it from the entire homes water supply. If you really want good quality drinking water then I'd suggest looking into the addition of a reverse osmosis unit. How does the water test as far as hardness and TDS go? Let us know if you have any questions.

Good luck!

Since it is a regulated water system, actual water conditions are public knowledge and available on request. Let us know what those results are.

Your water MUST be safe or warnings would be issued. So it is more like aesthetic issues that confront you (taste, odor, etc.). For drinking water, a reverse osmosis may be an option on the high end and a VOC carbon filter for a more economical solution.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Thanks for the replies, I am looking to do a whole house unit, so the carbon unit for that. From my reading it seemed like the reverse osmosis unit would be more at the point of use instead of whole house, correct?

Andy, we did get a couple notices about 2 years ago that our water was not safe to drink, which was our concern. The wife has a request out for current conditions, we are waiting to hear back. I'll let you know the results.

Bob

Most of the time those are temporary boil water alerts due to a line break. And yes, the RO would be point of use just for drinking water. It would remove most all of the "stuff" in the water that isn't water and provide you with high quality drinking water. The removal of the chlorine for the whole house provides you with better quality "working" water....IE the water you wash with, shower in, run through your plumbing system etc. The RO concerns only the water you'll be taking into your body.

Awesome, thanks. I am not sure how much you guys comment on the actual implementation, but as a start it looks like my system is shaping up to be a carbon filter system to cover the whole house for the aesthetic issues and an RO at point of consumption to clean up anything extra/stuff contaminating it along its journey though the house.

I have what looks like a 3/4" plex line coming into my house (I would of course make sure at some point before starting). Does this sound like something doable for the average joe, or should I really hire it out? I have done other basic plumbing items around the house like replacing the check valve on the ejection pump in the basement, and replacing the expansion tank for the hot water tank etc. so the RO part should be cake, but I am a bit more concerned on the plex/carbon part since it would effect the whole house.

Baring something crazy coming back on the water quality report, that sounds like the path. Agree? Comments?

Thanks again for all the help, you guys are great!

PEX tubing is easy to work with as long as you have the crimping tool necessary to make the fittings work. Some places rent them...otherwise they're $100+ generally. The RO can go anywhere you want to mount it with a line run up to the sink for the faucet. The carbon unit I'd install first with consideration given to whether or not you want the outside faucet lines treated by it (no need unless it will be hard to plumb raw lines to them). It would be the first thing the water goes through and then I'd install a tee with a boiler drain to use to flush off the carbon after install...and then I'd put it through a standard 10" filter housing with a 5 micron filter to catch any sediment/carbon fines that may get through. Ball valves before and after the carbon unit and before and after the filter...with a 3 valve bypass on the whole thing so you can skip it should you need to...or pull it out easily if/when you move.