We all would have noticed that in recent years Domestic Water Purifier as a product is gaining popularity for the benefits it offers like Convenience, Cost saving, Health benefits & needless to say the larger contribution it makes towards eliminating the plastic waste from bottled water.
In below article we are making an effort in Busting 7 common Myths about Water purifiers.
#This list is made in no particular order
1.Water Purifiers are expensive and need too much maintenance–
Water purifiers are a one-time investment and prove to be cost effective in the long run. Cost of bottled water in most countries are high so if you choose a water filter / purifier wisely you may save much more. The cost of water purifiers depends on their filtration technology, material used for construction, filtration capacity & additional features it can offer. The maintenance cost depends on the life of filter elements, replacement cycle, internal cleaning & replacement frequency of other functional components used in the device. One should compare the cost of the water purifier and filter element replacement cost for 1-3 years with your current monthly / Annual drinking water bottle cost to arrive at a conclusion. Also don’t forget to factor in the convenience and safety a water filtration system can offer while making above comparison.
2.Water Purifiers remove minerals and nutrients from water
Not all filtration technologies used in water purification removes minerals & nutrients from water. Filtration technologies like RO (reverse osmosis) is to be installed only when the input water TDS (Total dissolved solids) is higher than 500 ppm. RO technology by design will reject excess minerals and dissolved solids from water and also may alter the Ph level of water post purification, so if RO is installed at lower input TDS feedwaters like Municipal water lines the output water will have lower TDS as ~ 90% TDS gets reduced while passing through a RO membranes. Many RO purifier brands try to compensate this by providing Mineral & Alkaline cartridges but their performance depends on many factors and tend to deteriorate over a period of time.
Fortunately, there are other alternative technologies available if you are getting pre-treated municipal water. Technologies like UV (Ultraviolet), Nano, UF (Ultrafiltration) can remove contaminations from water to give you pure and safe water without removing minerals & nutrients from water.
3.Water Purifiers waste water & consumes lot of electricity.
Only water purifiers working on RO technology have reject water pipe & on an avg rejects 70-80% of water. Technologies like Nano, UV & UF does not reject water as there is no claim on TDS reduction from feed water and is recommended to be installed if the input water TDS is < 500 ppm.
The power consumption depends on the wattage of the Water Purifier, if the purifier is equipped with Hot & Cold dispense features the wattage of heating & cooling systems will add to the power consumption. Direct flow Tankless Design based purifiers with only ambient water dispensing feature will have minimal electrical power consumption. While most of the popular purification technologies don’t rely on electricity for purification and in fact it is the filter elements which does bulk of the job, electricity is only required for dispensing water and in devices with Jog dial or smart mechanical valves the need of electricity is completely eliminated.In UV based purifier electricity is used for operation of UV lamp & in RO based purifiers electricity is used for operating internal booster pumps as RO membranes need higher feedwater pressure for the membrane to function.
4. Boiled Tap water is safe for drinking. What is the need to invest in a water purifier?
While boiling water may purify water to a certain extent, it still may not be 100% safe for consumption. Boiling water can remove few viruses and bacteria from water but there may be many other contaminants present in your drinking water that boiling alone cannot remove. Municipal water from desalination plant or any other water treatment plants usually have to travel through a whole pipeline system stretching for kilometres ultimately leading to your Tap. Although Water treatment plants cleans the water to a certain extent, there is a high risk of contamination of the water in the pipes or tanks before it reaches your tap. Often, the pipelines and tanks are corroded, unclean or old which affects the water. POU water purifiers are the best solutions to solve this problem.
5. I need to alter my kitchen and make special arrangements to Install a water purifier
Most of the water purifiers available in the market are designed to fit in normal sized kitchen equipped with standard plumping water pipes. Most of the water purifiers are supplied with necessary accessories for standard installations. Some under the sink models may require an electrical point under the sink and the need of making a drill in the sink for fixing the purifier faucet & routing the inlet pipe to connect with the inlet water supply.
Fortunately, there are Counter Top water purifiers which can be placed as Table Top installations without making any hole on the wall or Sink. Water purifiers with DIY (Do it yourself) Technology can be installed without any requirement of a plumber, even maintenance, filter change and cleaning can be done without any service support intervention.
6. Water Purifiers with Storage Tanks have risk of recontaminations
While selecting a water purifier with Storage Tank one should enquire about the material of their construction. While Stainless Steel Tanks are most popular in devices with storage facility, one should also check about their sealing to avoid the risk of external contaminations. To eliminate these risks the Technology which is gaining popularity worldwide is Direct flow Tank less design. Direct flow Tankless water purifiers reduces the chances of contamination in purified water and the water is always fresh while dispensing.
7. I need to depend on Plumber or Technician for maintenance and filter change to ensure water quality from the Purifier
It is a good practise to periodically service & change filters of your water purifier to ensure optimal water quality. Many Global water purifier brands have identified this bottleneck and have come up with innovative products & fitments which allows consumers to clean parts that are prone for contaminations and clogging like filtration element & device faucet.
Hence, fret not while deciding on whether to buy a water purifier. Health comes first and choosing a good quality water purifier may be the very first step in that direction.
