Discover How Consumer Reports Best Rated HEPA Air Purifiers Can Improve Your Quality of Life

If you are searching for a way to make sure that your home humidifiers are producing only top quality air for your family to breathe you may to check out the consumer reports best rated HEPA air purifiers. This is because not all purifiers are created at the same quality, although the manufacturers would like you to believe so. In fact, sometimes even the most expensive purifiers are not the best choices for you home as they rank low on the consumer reports best rated HEPA air purifiers list.

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This is due to the fact that sometimes expensive air quality monitors are over equipped with fancy features that sound good, but are not overall effective at their main purpose of purifying the air in your home. Of course, on the flip side choosing a cheap purifier is not always the answer either as there are not too many budget devices that make the consumer reports best rated HEPA air purifiers. This can lead consumers to feel a little confused and wondering how they should go about choosing the best purifier for their home.

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Actually, the best way to proceed is quite simple. First, you should of course check the consumer reports best rated HEPA air purifiers. After you get a close look you should head to the store and inspect the packages of air quality monitors and home humidifiers. You will find that the best choices are usually the ones that provide simple explanations of what you want, which is ultimately a clean air environment. Choose a device that keeps it basic but with a professional body make and you will be well on your way to a clean home and air as clean as the outdoor morning.

This is the type of air environment that you want establish in your home on a consistent basis. Many people have been able to successfully get the indoor air quality they desired my simply obtaining the right purifier. It may take a bit of time and a small investment but it will surely be worth it in the end. Just stay committed to improving your air quality and it will happen.

Discover How Consumer Reports Best Rated HEPA Air Purifiers Can Improve Your Quality of Life

Consumer Reports

Hard Water Stains - Top Tips to Improve Your Well Water Supply and Prevent Water Stains

The water from your well could be costing you hundreds of dollars a year. This is because well water (or borehole water as it is sometimes called) contains high levels of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium, which cause stubborn hard water stains and also stick to the elements on kettles and boilers causing them to be much less efficient.

If your water comes straight from a local well it may contain several components that could be potentially harmful to your family. There are many people in the US and around the world who have the same problem, especially the very common and annoying hard water minerals that cause hard water stains, which end up on fixtures and fittings. However, there are some really simple ways to combat these unwanted minerals and by installing a device to your home that will give you the peace of mind of knowing that your water is the best it can be.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Top Tips To Improve Your Well Water Supply:

One of the simplest ways to improve the quality of your water is to install a water softener. These devices remove the calcium and magnesium minerals that cause hard water stains, and replace them with sodium which makes the water much "softer". The advantage of this is it also prevents these same minerals from sticking to the heating elements of kettles, boilers and other appliances in the home.

Water softeners generally contain an easy to install cartridge that must be replaced every few months, or recharged, to keep it in top condition.

Water filters are also a great way to improve the quality of your well water and there are some great devices available that do an excellent job. Basically, these devices contain a filter that removes the unwanted minerals from your water and makes it cleaner and of higher quality.

One of the best types of filter to purchase is called a reverse-osmosis filters. These filters are often considered the best form of water filtration available today. The water is passed through several types of filters including a semi-permeable membrane, which filters out almost every contaminant.

They are more expensive than other types of filters but have reasonably low running costs, very effective filtration and can also be used to filter water to the whole house. These devices are the industry standard and can help to achieve very high purification, so much so that often people comment that they can actually taste the difference themselves once one of these has been installed.

Electromagnetic water conditioners are another way to reduce the level of minerals in well water and are a relatively new invention. The idea is that by passing water through a magnetic field, the calcium and magnesium ions are altered in such a way that they lose their ability to cause scale.

These devices have a number of benefits and many are used in industry; although the water is not technically soft, it has the useful properties of soft water, that is, it may reduce limescale in pipes and may increase heating efficiency as well as lengthening the lifespan of any clothes washed in the conditioned water.

However, the jury is still out on whether these devices work effectively in a residential environment. The magnetic current that passes through the water does not technically remove the unwanted minerals but simply changes the chemical make-up of them. This is supposed to prevent the minerals from "sticking" to the sides of pipes and fixtures around the home - thus reducing hard water stains and scale formation. However, as they are still present in the water, they can still cause problems around the home and are not particularly effective in hard water stains removal. There was a period of time in the 60's and 70's where many of these anti scale devices were installed in industrial systems, however they are not used as frequently these days.

Summary:

So, if you receive your water from a well water supply then there are some proven techniques for removing the annoying minerals and potentially toxic chemicals that are present in this type of water. Installing a device to filter your water is a great idea and could reduce the formation of hard water stains in your home, as well as making your morning coffee taste even better!

Hard Water Stains - Top Tips to Improve Your Well Water Supply and Prevent Water Stains

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

How to Improve Water Pressure

Low water pressure in faucets and showers has become a daily routine nowadays. There's nothing more annoying than spending twice the usual time washing dishes, especially in this fast-paced life where consumers want one-click solution for most of the things. But what's more interesting is that many households bear with this nuisance for long as they are unaware how to fix this simple plumbing problem; and it might not be feasible for many to hire quality plumbers as the charges would obviously be on the high end.

The majority of do-it-yourself guides for this sort of water pressure issue concentrate on fixing the faucet and internal pipes. However, the approach this article takes is quite different as we seek to find the root of the problem rather than making a temporary fix. First thing you need to do is confirm that yours is the only house affected by this issue. One could ask some people in their neighborhood fr this. If you live in an apartment, it would be better to ask those living on top of you if they are having a similar problem in the same bathroom/kitchen where your problem exists. If someone else shares this problem with you, then you know the problem lies somewhere outside and I would strongly recommend you call find a plumber as this is a matter of the whole neighborhood. Sometimes, it may be outside the control of a plumber as water pressure can be affected on a city-wide scale.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Also go outside and see if the water pressure at the hose bib is satisfactory or not. If you observe that the pressure level there is almost perfect, then you need to locate the problem inside your house. In case you are experiencing slow water flow just on sink faucets, try to open them up a bit and see if the screens have anything clogged inside that may be hindering the flow of water. But if you face the low water pressure problem in all taps, the problem may be located elsewhere. Go check if the shut-off valve is fully opened or not; occasionally, we open the valves but don't remember to open them completely. The system installed near the shut-off valve can vary from one household to another. So whatever system you have, just ensure it is operating as it is meant to operate.

One more thing to note is that water lines coming from the municipal supply are larger and have a greater diameter. Lines that go from your house to the main municipal lines have smaller diameters. When water travels through all these lines, it experiences a lot of friction from the walls of the pipes. It could be that a very small length of pipe, installed from your home to the next line, is causing excess friction and thus slowing the overall flow of water. It can also be that all lines inside your house have a very small diameter, which would automatically lessen the water pressure. And even if something small in size gets trapped inside one of those lines, it's going to virtually put an end to the water supply. While these would be an expert plumber's job, you can take note of this if you ever design a house or make a new house. Always take care that you use ¾-inch pipes rather than ½-inch ones. And if you are choosing a new house to shift into, then take care to check the water flow in the lines before you make the decision.

How to Improve Water Pressure

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Use A Water Softener And Improve Your Water Quality!

The most common water problem can clog of your pipes, cause malfunctions of your washing machine. It also makes you use larger portions of washing powder and soap.

What we're talking about here is hard water.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

So what is hard water to begin with? Hard water is caused by dissolved mineral traces of primarily calcium and magnesium in the water.

The level of hardness can vary greatly from location to location. If for example you live in an area where the groundwater is taken from wells where the water have been moving through deposits of limestone you will have very high levels of hardness in your water. If your water on the other hand comes from lakes with low ph levels then you will have a low hardness level in your water and you will have little water problems.

It is relative easy to measure the water hardness with a test sample. It is important to do this as the buildup of clogged piped can happen even if you are not aware of it.

Water softener equipments are an often used solution to lower hardness of the water as it will limit or completely eliminate any damage.

The most common form of water softener for home users is based on ion exchange.

It works on the following principle. The calcium and magnesium ions are replaced by sodium ions. This ion exchange is made in a resin bed.

The construction of the water softener is made in three parts. Resin Tank - This contains the resin bed.

Resin Bed - This is made up of tiny bead-like material often made of styrene and divinylbenzene. The beads attract and hold positively charged ions such as sodium, but will exchange them whenever the bead encounters another positively-charged ion such as calcium or magnesium.

Brine Tank - This tank contains a dissolved solution which is necessary in order to regenerate the resin. This regeneration is for the reversing of the ion exchange, which otherwise would become depleted. The calcium and magnesium ions are removed off from the resin beads and replaced with positively charged sodium ions. The regeneration happens when the resin beads are washed by a strong salt water solution. The calcium and magnesium ions are forced by the salt to be released, and are then discharged as waste in the backwashing cycle. The beads are now once again ready to be used to lower the hardness of your water.

Modern water softeners are fully automated. Some of them are regenerated at a preset clock. Other systems use electric sensors and are regenerated when the beads are becoming less effective.

Because the calcium and magnesium are replaced by sodium some consumers are concerned by the additional intake of salt in the drinking water. However this additional salt intake from drinking the tapped water is so small that the adverse affect is minimal compared from salt intake gained from ordinary diet.

Copyright 2006 Per Strandberg

Use A Water Softener And Improve Your Water Quality!

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS