When it comes to your drinking water, quality matters and the water purifier you choose will make a huge difference. However, with so many on the market, finding the right system for your home can be a challenge. While many water purification companies in the Napa Valley, such as Oakville Pump Service, can help you find the right one, it is always best to understand your options beforehand. 

Determine Current Water Quality

Before you begin looking into your options, you need to know what type of contaminants you want to remove. Each type of purification system removes different types of contaminants, so it's important to know which ones are in your water. You can find this information by requesting the water quality report from your local water utility or sending a sample to an independent testing facility. 

Common Types of Water Purification Systems

Once you know what types of contaminants you need to remove from your water, then you can decide which option is best for you.

• Portable Options - These are your personal water bottles and water pitchers with built-in filters that allow you to purify a smaller amount each time. They work best for minimal contaminants, such as the chemicals used by water treatment facilities.

• Cartridge Filters - Are quite flexible and the possiblities are almost limitless. Cartridges are available for many purposes including: taste and odor reduction, removing particulate matter, even softening water. Cartridge filters require manual servicing to clean/replace the cartridge. While a great quick fix to many problems, cartridge filters are not always the best solution to the problem. Touch base with Oakville Pump Service to see if a cartridge filter is suitable for your water filter needs!

• Reverse Osmosis Systems - purify the water to very high levels. In the Napa Valley, RO is frequently used to remove silica, a common contaminate that etches glass and ceramics and cannot be cleaned off. Most bottled water is process by reverse osmosis to remove nearly everything and leave pure water. It is important to realize that Reverse Osmosis produces a significant amount of waste water and uses a significant amount of electricity to process the water to the state of high purity. Additionally, reverse osmosis equipment often incorporates other filtration technologies for to pretreat the water. Water that has high levels of contaminates often requires the use of cartridge filters or water softener to pre filter the water supplied to the RO equipment to ensure it can function optimally. Reverse Osmosis Systems should have a pH filter installed to ensure that the ultra-pure water has the correct pH and will not any household piping!If you have silica or other contaminates that are difficult to treat, contact Oakville Pump Service to have them help you develop a solution to your water problems in the Napa Valley.

• UV Microbiological Systems - deactivate harmful bacteria that can live in drinking water by shining high intensity ultraviolet light through the water. UV is a great technology, but has limitations. If the water is dirty, cloudy or has high turbidity the UV light will not be effective since the light will not be able to effectively irradiate all of the bacteria. UV lights should always be installed with a 5 micron cartridge filter prior to the UV to ensure particulate matter is removed from the water. In addition, if the water has very high mineral content, a UV may not be suitable unless used with a water softener or other filter designed to remove those minerals.

• Water Softeners remove iron, manganese, calcium and magnesium in the right water chemistry conditions. Water softeners work by a process called ion exchange in which the iron or calcium removed from the water is replaced/with a sodium or potassium ion. Water softeners required the brine tank to be refilled with salt on a regular basis and should be checked for proper operation on a regular basis.

• Calcite Filters adjust the pH of water to normal levels (about 7-8). This is important when you have metal or copper piping. Water with low pH will corrode these pipes from the inside out. Areas in Angwin and other parts of the Napa Valley frequently have a pH of between 5 or 6 and homes in these areas suffer from significant damage to their copper or other metal piping.

• Manganese Greensand Filters are frequently used to remove high levels of iron or manganese that cause red or black staining.

• Carbon Filters - Are typically used to remove chlorine from water. In addition they can help with heavy metal removal. Contaminates that contribute to bad taste and odors can be mitigated with carbon filtration.

Once you have a good idea of what type of system your home needs, water purification companies in the Napa Valley can professionally install the new system and ensure it is working correctly.

 For more information, or to request a quote for installing a new filtration system for your home in the Napa Valley and surrounding areas, please contact the experts at Oakville Pump Service today. We can help you with a water filter system whether you live in Calistoga, St. Helena, Angwin or Pope Valley.