How Do Reverse Osmosis Filters Work?

Clean water is important for your health, your comfort, and the condition of your home, so you more or less expect it to come from your pipes. What you may not be aware of is “clean” water may still contain deposits or other materials that could cause damage to your clothes, property, or even your health if consumed too much. As a result, many people who deal with issues like hard or nasty-tasting water won’t drink from their taps but will instead purchase bottles of water every week or purchase filter after filter for their specialized water pitcher.

What many of these people don’t realize is just how much money and time they could be saving themselves by making the investment in a high-quality reverse osmosis filter. This modern technology takes almost everything out of water, including mineral deposits, debris, salt, and more. And it does all of this while using no electricity for a long period of time. Seem too good to be true? Well, it’s not, and actually it’s a rather simple science. Let’s look in more detail how it works.

Semi-Permeable Membranes

Filters work by separating what you want from what you don’t want. In your car, your oil filter removes dirt and grime from your oil to prevent it from getting into your engine. Your air filter removes dust, debris, pollen, and other contaminants from the air to prevent them from ruining your air vents or your air conditioning system. Your reverse osmosis filter works by separating microscopic contaminant particles from your water. A reverse osmosis filter is what’s known as a “semi-permeable” membrane, which means water can flow through it using a process known as “osmosis”. However, particles which are larger than water, such as dissolved solids, cannot.

In order to make this system work, water from your main supply is fed into the filtration system under pressure on one side of the filter. The water then presses against the filter, forcing it through while filtering out other particles, chemicals, and impurities are held back. These substances are then flushed away through your waste water system, leaving you with clean, healthy, and great-tasting water.

Is Reverse Osmosis Right for You?

Reverse osmosis filters are particularly beneficial in two cases: hard water and salty water. Hard water is a term used to describe water that has higher levels of mineral deposits like iron and calcium. While these aren’t necessarily bad, they can make water taste funny, dry your skin out, and have other negative consequences. Reverse osmosis filtration system scan remove these minerals from your water before they’re run through your tap or distributed throughout your house, helping keep your pipes clean and your taps fresh, including preventing obnoxious limescale buildup.

When it comes to salty water, reverse osmosis filters are great for desalinization, which is the process of removing salt from water to make it drinkable. If you live near the beach or draw your water from a potentially salt-laden source, you may experience this issue. Reverse osmosis is extremely effective at taking the salt out of the water, even turning literal ocean water into clean and drinkable water in very little time. It can also make sure the water is safe by removing other things like sediment, chlorine, nitrates, arsenic, and other potentially toxic substances from your water.

Perhaps the best part about a reverse osmosis system? They require very little maintenance. Since the filter is regularly flushed and deposits removed, they can work for years on end with very few issues or inspections.