Are Refrigerator Water Filters Safe

H2o is a vital resource that we need all our lives. Whether nosotros use it for drinking, cooking, washing, or other household activities, water is always present in our daily routine.

However, people practise not often call back almost the quality of the water in their homes. Fifty-fifty if the Usa has i of the safest drinking h2o supplies in the world, yet near 7.2 1000000 Americans get sick every year from diseases spread through h2o.

This is also because people practice not think about the importance of a h2o filtration system in their homes. If non filtered, the water you drinkable may comprise sure contaminants that are harmful to your wellness.

The Fridge Water Filter – What It Is And How It Works

A solution designed to remove the harmful substances from your drinking water is the refrigerator water filter. When y'all purchase a new refrigerator, a water dispenser and an water ice machine are some large bonuses. Past choosing a device with these features, you volition always have available drinking h2o and ice cubes in your home.

Those refrigerators unremarkably came with an included filter that makes the water from your dispenser and ice maker safe to be consumed. Therefore, refrigerator h2o filters should remove impurities and contaminants that are unhealthy and gives an unpleasant taste and olfactory property to your h2o due to its excessive amount of chlorine.

This happens through the process of carbon filtration that uses active charcoal to get rid of contaminants past adsorption. In other words, the carbon is alluring contaminants simply like a magnet, making the unclean water healthy and condom to drink.

Is It An Efficient Filtration Method?

To answer the question - YES, fridge water filters are effective in removing chlorine, the substance causing h2o bad olfactory property and sense of taste, just that's about all information technology can do. Yet, fifty-fifty if you are happy to accept a fridge with a h2o dispenser and ice machine, you should consider the fact that the water from in that location is non 100% safe.

In brief, a refrigerator water filter will articulate away chlorine from your h2o merely will get out behind many substances such equally heavy metals and other contaminants that can't be removed past the carbon inside.

Below are some of the pollutants that a refrigerator water filter cannot remove from your water:

aluminium
arsenic
barium
cadmium
copper
fluoride
mercury
radium
selenium
uranium

Even though these are some of the most common contaminants, the list does not end here. The U.S. EPA identified more than 80 contaminants that may occur in drinking water and pose a chance to humans, with higher chances for those with a weakened immune system. Continue in mind that the effects of these contaminants may occur within hours, days, or even years after a person consumes unclean water.

Even if the human body does its best to fight these contaminants, it cannot cope alone with some high-risk bacteria and viruses. Therefore, you should not take your water's quality for granted even if y'all tin't meet or taste its impurities.

The Dangers of Not Irresolute Your Filter Periodically

If you are about to purchase fridge with a water filter, take into account that information technology will require some maintenance. An overused filter will non be able to operate at full capacity, and this means that the quality of your water will also be affected.

For this reason, many people who practice not pay attention to irresolute their filters volition have bug with the build-up in the water dispenser and ice maker car which will inevitably lead to damage of the fridge over time.

When your refrigerator water filter wears out, the dispenser won't exist a clean source of h2o anymore. But beingness unclean can exist the smallest issue of the water passing through a muddied and former filter.

If not changed periodically, it will become a favorable environment for bacteria causing serious health issues. This usually happens because harmful substances that have been retained over time by your refrigerator filter volition be filtered back into the h2o that passes through information technology if not replaced at the correct moment, giving it a bad odor or a strange taste.

To avoid such situations, you should change the fridge h2o filter at to the lowest degree twice a year. This too depends on the manufacturing company and the technical specifications of the product.

On the other manus, at that place are many refrigerators using water filters that exercise not inform you when the filter needs to be changed. Thus, it is very easy to forget or non pay attention to the importance of regular filter modify.

Operating Without a Built-in H2o Filter

Most refrigerators with water dispensers and ice makers have a born water filter. But this is non an absolute rule. Y'all can still have a refrigerator that gives you fresh drinking water and ice cubes whenever y'all need without a filter.

The average refrigerator has a lifespan of about 12 years . If you change the fridge water filter twice a year, this means 24 filters over the life of your refrigerator.

Depending on the manufacturer, a refrigerator water filter can cost about 60$ in the U.s.a.. And that means you'll spend an average of 1,440$ until y'all purchase the next fridge. All these numbers accept a great chance to make you modify your listen about buying a fridge with a built-in water filter.

Therefore, using a water filtration system to remove impurities starting correct from your firm's water supply line will articulate all the water you utilise in the house, not simply the one that goes into the water dispenser or ice maker. This way, yous will save money from irresolute the refrigerator filter twice a yr or even more than ofttimes and you will too exist sure that whatever source of h2o in the business firm is condom.

The Alternative - A Whole House H2o System

NSF International conducted a national consumer survey of 1,106 American adults related to their drinking h2o. Fifty-fifty if virtually respondents were aware that there are many types of filtration solutions designed to care for specific water contaminants, most of them are using the filter that came with their fridge.

Built-in refrigerator devices were the most used filters with a response rate of 24%. This statistic is quite worrying considering that many people who use refrigerator water filters are thinking that the water they drinkable is completely clean.

Because fridge water filters are not designed to remove all contaminants, the best solution for filtering h2o in your home would be a whole house h2o softener. With such a arrangement, your h2o will exist prophylactic from many other contaminants, not just chlorine.

And it is not just water that will be protected from impurities. A whole-house h2o softener will too take care of your pipes and appliances that can become chock-full due to the hard water passing through.

Moreover, by choosing a whole house softening system, you volition enjoy clean and fresh h2o directly from the water dispenser of your refrigerator without a built-in filter. To put information technology in some other style, this system will purify the h2o in your entire habitation, including the one that supplies your fridge.

The Most Effective Water Softening Solutions Today

At that place are several types of h2o softeners on the market at the moment. The best known of these is the salt-based water softener that removes hard minerals from h2o through the ion exchange process. This h2o softener is an fantabulous pick if you lot desire to get rid of scale build-up from your pipes and fixtures and extend the life of your appliances. However, due to its salt usage for regenerating, we cannot say that a common salt-based water softener is the best solution for filtering drinking h2o.

The added sodium from the water resulted after the ion substitution procedure can exist harmful to people on restrictive diets. In such cases, we recommend a Contrary Osmosis System or a Magnetic Water Softener. These two can treat water without adding sodium ions to its composition and they accept a college effectiveness in removing impurities.

Having such a device attached straight to your abode's water supply line will give you clean and safe h2o when using your refrigerator'south dispenser and ice maker as well. Therefore, at that place will be no need for a fridge water filter that involves replacement later on a certain menstruation.

In fact, some of the advanced water filtration solutions on the marketplace today don't fifty-fifty need a filter to operate. This means that you will only invest one time when buying the device, without having to constantly supersede filters or add salt for the regeneration cycle as in the case of salt-based water softeners.

To get the best from both worlds, if your refrigerator already has a built-in water filter, you tin can pair information technology with a h2o softening solution to protect your pipes, fixtures, and appliances. Our Yarna CWD24 Water Descaler treats the water with electric impulses that effectively reduce the scum in the sinks and baths and increases the life of your pipes, fixtures, and appliances.

If you are looking for a cost-efficient and low-maintenance softener that has no adverse effects on the chemic composition of the water, an electronic water descaler meets both aspects.

The Bottom Line

That being said, we can agree that fridge water filters have their advantages and disadvantages. In terms of user experience, it tin can be fourth dimension-consuming and expensive to replace the filters twice a year.

However, if a water dispenser and an ice maker are a must for you, you should e'er recall of the water's quality that passes through these when you lot consider buying a refrigerator with such features. Fortunately, there are various water filtration methods which yous can use to replace the refrigerator water filter or to treat the h2o along with information technology.