The Layman’s Guide To Shower Filters
Here at the Shower Filter Store we get a lot of questions about what the best options are when it comes to purifying your water with a shower filter. We’ve worked with shower filters and shower filters for nearly 16 years now so we know quite a bit about the subject.
What Is Your Source of Water?
This is the #1 question you need to ask yourself before you consider anything else. Most Americans obtain their water from tap. Tap water is extremely convenient; it’s already been treated to ensure a basic level of purity and that gives you a sense of safety – unfortunately in many cases tap water simply isn’t safe. According to research municipal tap water is often chock full of chemicals and pollutants. In some cities the issues with municipal water supplies are so great that they have caused national scandals. Some of the common pollutants in municipal water supplies include:
Chlorine – Chlorine is a chemical used to treat municipal water supplies and attempt to ensure purity. Not only does it leave a horrible aftertaste but it can cause digestive issues; nonetheless the most dangerous form is when tap water is heated and turns to vapor such as in a bathroom shower.
Volatile Organic Chemicals – These chemicals often are forms of poison such as Pesticides or Herbicides that infiltrate municipal water supplies via water runoff. VOC’s can be very dangerous and can wreak havoc on your body and vital organs.
Heavy Metals – These include very dangerous materials such as Lead & Mercury. These metals can permanently damage your nervous system and stunt growth.
Fluoride – A popular additive designed to promote tooth health it can cause the discoloration of teeth and thyroid issues
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals – These are chemicals that wreak havoc on human hormonal balance. They often cause problems during pregnancy or childhood.
How To Purify Your Water Supply
There are a variety of water filtration and water purification methods on the market today.
Buying Pre-filtered Bottled Water
Bottled water is convenient and accessible. You can buy bottled water at nearly any store today – and it is often purified using top-of-the-line filters. Nonetheless Bottled Water is extremely expensive; costing more per gallon than gasoline – and the source of water is most likely the exact same municipal tap that you use at your own home.
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters
Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration uses pressure and membranes as the way to filter out dangerous contaminants from a water supply. These filters are able to filter out a lot of the dangerous metals in a water supply – but are unable to filter out VOC’s and Endocrine Disruptors. They also waste more water than they reduce with an average of 2 gallons of water wasted for every gallon filtered.
Granulated Charcoal Shower Filters
The main advantage of Granulated Charcoal shower filters is that they are cheap – these are the filters you will see in the vast majority of your pitcher or sink based water purifiers. Unfortunately these filters are unable to remove Heavy Metals, VOC’s, Fluoride, or Endocrine Disruptors. They also need to be replaced much more often then other filters.
Carbon Block Shower Filters
These filters absorb chemicals and other pollutants in the pores of Carbon permanently removing them from the water source. Carbon Block Filters are so effective because 1 Pound of activated carbon contains over 100 acres of surface area.
The Carbon Block shower filters we sell at the shower filter Store are able to remove chemicals, pesticides, bacteria, fluoride, heavy metals, nitrate, nitrites and parasites from all water sources.