How Whole-Home Filtration Works

A whole-home filter goes in on the main line where the water enters the house, so everything downstream is filtered: every tap, both showers, the ice maker, the washing machine. That is the difference between it and a filter on the kitchen faucet, which treats one outlet.

Catalytic carbon is what we fit most. It works by adsorption: contaminants bond to the surface of the carbon media as water passes through. No electricity, no waste water, and nothing to plumb to a drain. Media typically wants replacing every one to three years depending on your water and how much of it you use.

What the Install Involves

The filter needs to sit on the main after the meter and before the water heater, with isolation valves either side and a bypass so the house still has water while the media is changed. In most Nashville-area homes that means the garage or a mechanical room. If the house was pre-plumbed with a loop, it is straightforward. If not, we cut in and add the valves.

Filtration and hardness are two different problems, and a carbon filter does not soften water. Houses that want both get a filter and either a softener or a salt-free conditioner, which is what we fitted on a new Brentwood home: a whole-home catalytic carbon filter for the water quality and a FlowTech MAX for the scale. See water softeners and conditioners.

Where You Notice It

Chlorine taste and smell go first, and that is the one people notice within a day. After that it is the shower, coffee and cooking water, and less residue on fixtures. If you want drinking water taken further than a whole-home filter goes, that is a job for reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink, and the two work well together.