Innovation is driving the water treatment field – Whole house water filters now utilize numerous different technologies to achieve a quality result of healthier, chemical and salt-free water for use throughout the home.  Dray states:  “…focus on businesses that address high end of water technology—things like desalination, filtration, ultra-filtration, water test, and then focus on which companies are best in breed.”  Stay tuned… soon the companies that manufacture salt-free alternatives to water softeners will be making a showing in the financial markets.

Why are we allowing ourselves to be exposed to a potentially toxic chemical, not to mention being forced to consume it in our drinking water supplied by municipalities?  Fluoride has many ramifications – and a long history of being use to alter the state of beings…  Did you know that fluoride is used to keep bulls docile? And that this chemical was used in concentration camps to keep the prisoners in a less rebellious state?   Having studied the many issues surrounding the fluoride controversy, I have come to have the realization that this is something we should not be exposed to except on our own terms, at our own discretion.  Fluoride is big industry and government’s way of disposing of fluorine gas.

Some critical questions exist:  How can we be sure the municipalities are adding the proper amount of fluoride, never too much or too little?  And how does this fluoride contribute to our daily intake, when combined with dietary sources and toothpastes?  I want to control my family’s exposure to this chemical, and the water never has a constant amount I can expect to be present.

What if I want to remove the fluoride from my water?  The only water filtration systems that remove the chemical now are reverse osmosis water systems and alumina filters.  Reverse osmosis systems waste water, strip all the healthy minerals, and create a dead taste.  Alumina filter media traps the fluoride, but I had heard that our government wants to charge to have the spent media hauled away as toxic waste!  So I see red flags and hypocrisy – Our government is forcing fluoride on us in our drinking water, and the telling us it is too toxic to throw away in the trash?

Here are a couple of videos about fluoride.  Take some time to educate yourself about it.  There is something going on here…

Doesn’t it seem interesting that an island, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, can’t use technologies from today’s water filtering systems to desalinate and supply potable, filtered water for domestic use?  Catalina is a perfect example of the successful use of an industrial reverse osmosis water system (RO) to provide water for its inhabitants and visitors.  Santa Barbara is using reverse osmosis technology, as is Tijuana, Mexico.  Ocean-going vessels have used the technology for years, including our Navy.  It looks like Hawaii may want to start planning for an alternative water treatment source, as their precipitation (like everywhere else in the world) is somewhat unpredictable, and certainly uncontrollable.   Should we chalk this year’s reduced rainfall on Hawaii up to Global Warming?

Source:  Drought costing Hawaii Big Island residents

Read more about Pacific Gyre clean-up here.

Our federal government has been overlooking at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals currently dumped into our waterways by U.S. drug companies and other manufacturers.  These dumped drugs while legally disposed of are still finding their way into our drinking water.

Manufacturing uses pharmaceuticals in making many household items.   Therefore, it is not only pharmaceutical companies dumping these drugs.  Copper is common to contraceptives and pipe making.  Explosives contain nitroglycerin and so do heart medications.  One can find lithium in ceramics as well as drugs to treat bipolar disorder.

There is no record keeping by the Federal government or industrial companies to discover the true extent of the number of pharmaceuticals expelled into our waterways.  In fact only by accident can investigators estimate the amount.  It turns out the government has unwittingly been keeping data on a few of the drugs factories discard.

Read this article for the whole story Drugs Taint Drinking Water

Poison in our water.

With rising health care costs it is even more imperative that you get some type of water filtering system on your faucets and showers.

Check out this source article on a new study involving pesticides in our water supply.

Recently we chatted with a person online who could concerned about chlorine byproducts.   He could not justify purchasing a water filtration system from us because he did not own the apartment he lived in.  However, he wanted to know about shower water filters.  For people in this predicament, this is what we advise.

“We would advise you that some type of  safeguard is more preferable than doing nothing, so a screw on shower water filter is definitely an option for your apartment.

Shower water filters like this one are better than using nothing.

Perform some comprehensive exploration online; locate a shower filter which includes together activated carbon along with KDF media; check out web sites regarding comparisons (Be aware – various water filter companies and dealers essentially sponsor and publish biased comparisons); and make a decision as to the best shower water filter for your situation.

Be certain to replace the filter media or get a new filter at a minimum of every six months.   If you possibly could manage it every three months, would be even better.  At the very least you will experience some protection from the frightening second-hand chlorine byproducts!”

If you don’t know already, it is time to learn about the risks associated with chlorine in your bath and shower.  Even the best screw on shower water filters, while providing some protection, are not nearly as effective as our eco-friendly home water filtration system.

Healthy Water  Article #1 for our Healthy Water fans – This supports the need for whole house water purification and environmentally sound, green water conditioning. Watch the video – Don’t you need to take control of your home water quality now?  The government is not able to do it for you.  It takes them too long to react and upgrade old laws.  In the mean time, you risk getting sick or even seriously ill from tainted tap water.  Again, please watch this video because this is scary.

I sometimes lay awake at night knowing that Pure Elements’ water systems have helped provide higher water quality for people in their homes, but how can we remove all of the plastic bottles, toys and other items from the Pacific ocean and save our sea life (and ultimately ourselves)?

It may seem crazy – but what if we took our old tankers that can no longer transport oil or cargo and converted them, using our best water filtration system, into big “sweepers” the traveled back and forth across the Gyre picking up debris and contaminants? I was just wondering…

Dr. Oz goes off on our drinking water quality here in the United States. It isn’t good and appears to be getting worse. He states that we need to take responsibility for our own health. The answer again is water filter purification systems. Only way to do it now is by using water filtration at the point of use or for the whole house. We of course are in the business of whole house filters. They end up costing less and stay more efficient longer because they don’t need media changing very often.

One thing Dr. Oz didn’t talk about was that a key feature your whole home water filter should have to prolong its effectiveness is a back flushing mode. The model he shows at the end of the video above doesn’t have this feature. This means you will have to change it sooner. Our Healthy Home Solution water filter has a back flushing feature and that’s one of the reasons it is such a high quality filter.

Reference:  Is Your Water Safe?

We were doing this water softener system conversion the other day and talking about how bad it is to use salt in these water softeners.  The salt damages our environment which is why slowly but surely, communities are banning them.

So we are talking about this and then RD Allen tells me he was in shock after hearing that Home Depot continuing to recommend water softeners and sells roughly ten to twenty a month locally.  I couldn’t believe that because I thought it was such a bad public relations move on Home Depot’s part.  The fact that California has legislation in motion this year to ban and remove water softeners would support this.   If it doesn’t happen soon, it is just a question of time because softeners are harsh.  Check out all the pertaining articles here at the Water Quality Association.

Home Depot should seriously think about this because selling water softener systems for several grand a piece, that they know are going to be outlawed at soon to arrive future date, seems a little shady at best.  I mean, doesn’t it?  Unless of course they warn potential buyers that the systems might be illegal soon.  Just my opinion but I know I wouldn’t be happy if I unwittingly bought one and then Home Depot wouldn’t take it back.

Author Jim Rubel

Water Softeners typically have three sections. The white tank on the right is the one we can convert into a whole house water filter.

The water softener salt tank on the left needs 50 lb bags of salt to operate. The floor drain is typical of Midwest well water systems. We usually run attractive PVC out to landscape drains so there aren't any unsightly floor drains.

Why would anyone want a messy three tank set up that demands maintenance all the time when they could have a nice clean single tank whole house water filter system. It is a system that conditions the water rather than softens it but it does change the hard water. And it doesn't hurt the environment. Perfectly safe and green in design.

It turned out that the previous install was so improperly done that the system wasn’t even working right.  Part of the problem was the outtake tube was broken at the top.  The previous company hadn’t bothered to fit the tube correctly.   It was a quarter inch too high.  Guess they didn’t care enough to do it right.  Plus the water filter was also back flushing once every 30 days which is not efficient or effective.

Author Jim Rubel

La Verne water softener conversion to whole house water filter

Get one of the best shower water filters to protect you and your family from chlorine in your home.

There are major health concerns relating to chlorine in your bath and shower water. When you take a bath or shower, the heated temperature of the water leaves the pores in your skin wide open. Your body literally absorbs chlorine like a giant sponge.

Chlorine in your shower water is absorbed into your skin and lungs.

In addition, the chlorine is released into the air through steam, forcing it into your body through respiration and your lungs. Both of these pathways are direct entrances to the blood, without the additional filtration provided through your esophagus and digestive system. The chlorine is driven directly into the body at much higher levels than if you were to consume water with the same chlorine level. It is extremely important and greatly beneficial to you and your family’s wellness to remove the chlorine before you even enter your bath or shower. Shower head filters only provide limited protection – The rapid flow rates of the shower and the limited amount of media result in partial chemical removal and a very short life (this means you spend lots of money to maintain a moderate result).

Typical shower head filter must be replaced often or it becomes ineffective.

A whole home water filter and conditioning system is the most maintenance free and environmentally responsible solution to chlorine removal from your living environment. The Healthy home Solution from Pure Elements is the best shower water filter and water filtration system available today for the consumer.

Information on Chlorine:
Chlorine Poisoning
What are the Symptoms of Chlorine Poisoning?
The Facts About Chlorine

The whole house water filter and conditioning system is the best answer to removing chlorine from your shower water.

What is the maintenance required on a home water filter system like the Healthy Home Solution?

As long as you have a high quality water filtration and conditioning system like the Healthy Home Solution
by Pure Elements, Inc., which does not use any salt or chemicals in its water conditioning process, your
maintenance interval is between five and ten years under normal conditions.

By contrast, a basic cartridge water filter or something more complicated like a reverse osmosis drinking
water system under each counter requires maintenance at least every year, if not every six months. These home
water filter systems require regular filter changes or they can be rendered ineffective (or even worse – they
can actually contaminate the drinking water if not properly maintained). And every time you open a filter
cartridge, you risk bacterial contamination. The Healthy Home Solution eliminates the need for frequent maintenance,
and the ongoing costs resulting from it.

Water Filters like these need constant replacing because they are so small.

When you simplify water filtration and conditioning using a whole house approach, you dramatically reduce your
maintenance costs and eliminate the headaches associated with point of use drinking water systems at each sink or faucet.
If you do the math, a quality whole house water filter will provide you with exceptional water quality for less than a
penny per gallon from every faucet and fixture, which is much less expensive when compared to the point of use systems or buying bottled water.

Clean filtered water from every faucet with a whole home water filter.

As a strong proponent and developer of environmentally sound salt-free technologies for addressing hard water, we see this as a major sign of the times. Whole-house water filter and conditioning systems provide a superior alternative that meets the needs for a Green product.

So why do the big water softener manufacturers like Culligan call this “a Big Government grab at private property.”? Do they think that the government wants to own a bunch of used water softening systems? I believe they are in denial regarding the serious issues chlorides create at municipalities and treatment plants.

Aside from making it difficult to meeting federal water quality standards, these chlorides dramatically increase the cost of treatment (including fines for non-compliance). These costs are passed on to us, the individual homeowner. As stated by the home water softener industry, removing residential softeners would leave 25% of homeowners with hard water. If ¼ of homeowners are dumping chlorides into the sewer systems, this has to be a substantial source and volume of chlorides delivered directly to the water treatment plants.

We have the answers in proven alternatives that eliminate the extreme costs for the removal of chlorides, and benefit the environment. Hey, Culligan Man, when are you going to wake up and stop trying to save the dinosaur salt-based softeners?

References: Watertechonline 9/10/09 – Softener bill passes
LA Times 9/10/09 – Water Softener bill
LA Times 6/26/09 – Culligan lobbies for its life

One of the questions we get quite often is, “What is the expected life of a high-quality whole house water filtration and conditioning system?”

The hardware on a quality products like whole house water treatment systems should last up to about 25 years. The water filter media and other things on the inside, if they are state-of-the-art, should only need attention every 5 to 10 years.

This is a water filtration system that you purchase once, and in essence you service it approximately once per decade to bring it back to an as-new operating condition.

If you have been following the news in California, you have probably seen the recent move by cities and municipalities to ban old-fashioned salt-based water softeners.

This is not a new controversy – softener bans were in place in California over 30 years ago in some areas.  However, there is definitely a new awareness of the environmental issues caused directly by the chlorides introduced into the ecosystem from water softeners.  These products operate by removing calcium from incoming water and replacing it with sodium or potassium.  In the regeneration or self-cleaning process, salt brine goes down the drain as calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and excess sodium or potassium chloride.  Wastewater treatment facilities remove very little of these mineral concentrations, and therefore they are passed along to the environment.  

Chlorides and increased salinity negatively affect recycled water and wastewater quality.  The ability for municipalities to meet federal guidelines becomes dramatically impaired as salinity increases, sometimes resulting in federal fines.   In addition to increasing the costs for wastewater treatment (seen directly in your water bill), the salts wreak havoc on landscape and farming irrigation, reducing crop quality and yields.  Chlorides can also harm aquatic life. Laundry detergents work less efficiently, plumbing fixtures and home appliances wear out faster, and costs increase for maintaining boilers, cooling towers and manufacturing processes.  Everyone bears these increased costs and the environment is adversely affected.

Why are companies like Culligan fighting so hard to avoid bans on these old-fashioned machines, rather than putting their efforts into finding alternative technologies that benefit the environment?  If you have been following the news, Culligan (the largest player in California) has been making every effort to diffuse the issue by pointing to other sources of salts and chlorides, rather than offering a real solution.  It is profit motivation, pure and simple.  The water softening business is a $500 million annual cash cow for these companies.  And the water softener salt and potassium business is also a multimillion dollar industry driving big profits for companies like Morton.

Major water softener companies also stand to make millions of dollars by providing a portable exchange tank service (where the regeneration takes place en mass at a plant instead of in the individual home, and the salts are routed to another area where a ban is not yet in place).  Rental services like this require access to the customer’s home once every three weeks, offer only unpredictable efficiency, and continually tap into checkbooks with no opportunity for ownership.

So what can the manufacturers of old-fashioned water softeners do, if they are really concerned about the environment?  The answer lies in alternative technologies, some old and some new, that do not rely on salt, potassium or chlorides to reduce hard water problems for consumers.  I have personally worked with several companies for nearly three decades that use specific catalysts and/or media to reduce hard water issues in the home, without any foreign substances required to perform well.  These technologies have stood the test of time, making permanent changes in the hard water minerals (unlike inconsistent magnetic or sonic devices).  When combined with whole house water filtration, these systems can produce exceptional water quality for consumption, cooking, ice and other household needs.

The time has come for the manufacturers of traditional salt-based water softeners to think outside the box, rather than spending their time, advertising and public relations dollars to scratch for share in shrinking market.  New technologies exist for those with open minds – everyone and our environment will be better off when these companies decide to become innovative once again.

Reference: LA Times Link…  LA Times article, June 26, 2009 — Culligan lobbies…

What are the reasons to buy a new type of whole house water conditioner and not a traditional salt-based water softener?  Why is there a substantial movement to get away from old-fashioned ion exchange water softening systems?

The answers are quite simple:

1) Old-fashioned water softeners use salt and add chlorides to the environment, adversely affecting us all and increasing treatment costs.

2)  New technologies exist that address the same issues as the old-fashioned water softeners, but without the use of salt or other chemicals.  These new technologies do not put salt and chlorides into the eco-system, helping to protect our environment.

New technology in water filtration systems keeps salt out of the environment.

3)  Many consumers do not like the “slimy feeling” that traditional softeners create when they soften the water.  These old systems make it feel like you can’t rinse shampoo out of your hair or wash the soap
off your body.  Terrycloth towels end up feeling too soft and unnatural.  Many people find these slippery and slimy characteristics extremely annoying.

4)  With a traditional home water softener system you are required to monitor, purchase and dump heavy bags of salt into the system as needed.

50 lbs bags of salt for water softening systems.

There doesn’t seem to be much point in buying an antiquated and problem-causing water softener when you can own an environmentally friendly (Green) water filtration and conditioning system utilizing new technology to addresses the same issues and do even more.  And the state of the art systems require no regular maintenance or adding of cumbersome, costly salt pellets.

Will I get slippery-slimy feeling water from using Whole  House Water Filtration Filters and a Conditioning System as I do now with my water softener?

A lot people wonder if they use today’s new salt-free technologies to address hard water issues, will the water still have that slippery-slimy feel that is common with salt-based water softening systems.  And the answer to that question is “NO.”

We have technologies today that reduce the hard water issues in your home without introducing sodium or other salts.   Therefore we do not suffer from what RD Allen calls, “A set of man-made characteristics” that come from the old-fashioned traditional water softeners.

No slippery, slimy or oily feeling.  The soap and shampoo rinses completely off, and you feel fresh and clean when you get out of the shower.  That is what you get with a high-quality water filter and conditioning system like the Healthy Home Solution.

What are the features of the Healthy Home Solution whole house water filter and conditioning system?

The features included in our water filter are many but there are six primary features to this product. 

1)  Health – We want to remove all the chemicals, odors, and physical things from your entire living environment.  And thereby provide home wellness for you and your family.

2) Taste and Quality – We want Great quality water coming from every faucet for drinking, cooking, coffee making.  We want it to be in every case possible to be as good as or better than the bottled waters out there.

3) Environmental Aspects – This product has been designed to be completely “GREEN.”  We do not add any chemicals to the eco-system.  The product is energy efficient with regards to both electricity and water usage.  It is a very efficient product.

4) Hard Water Issues – We can toss out the old traditional water softeners that add the sodium and chlorine to our environment and are being banned all over many communities across the United States.  Use technologies that will reduce the hard water in your house without the slippery or slimy feel and the addition of salt or chemicals.

5) Economics – This system will save you money in the long term because not only will it protect the assets of the appliances and plumbing in your house but it will greatly reduce if not eliminate your reliance on bottled water.  And cost just pennies per gallon for the water that you would use in an unlimited manner in your home.

6) Convenience – This is a set it and forget it system.  There are no under counter filters to change.  No ongoing maintenance costs on a regular basis.  No cartridges going into the eco-system or landfills.  It is a product you install and you address and give it attention somewhere in the 5 to 10 year range.

Those are the features and benefits that make the Healthy Home Solution water filtration system far superior to anything else we see on the market today.

Why is whole house water filtration better than a cartridge water filter system?  Why does the media last much longer than the average water filter?  And why does any high-quality whole house water filtration system require a drain?

All of these questions can be addressed in one answer.

Specifically, we want our product to clean and refresh itself on a regular basis.  Usually every seven days is best.  We expose more surface area and therefore dramatically increase the life of the media.

This filter system is much better than standard whole house water filter cartridge systems because of the regular cleaning and restructuring of the media.  And in our product, the Healthy Home Solution, this is all done with an automatic back-washing feature which requires a connection to a drain. The water that drains out is clean water.  There are no chemicals added, nor does it introduce any sodium or chloride as is done by traditional water softeners.  This water can be directed to either the sewer, a landscape drain, or to reuse for irrigation and landscape watering.

How does the Healthy Home Solution water conditioner compare to magnet water treatment?

This is an important question. While we don’t want to knock the
magnets, there are some serious differences in the technology.

Magnet water treatment makes a temporary change in the polarity of the water. The key
word there is temporary. When the change is taking place, a magnet
will definitely reduce hard water issues. But if you don’t use the
water in the specific time allotted, it will actually revert back to
its original state and you will lose all the benefits. That puts a
lot of pressure on the home owner to use the water immediately after
it’s been through the magnet.

And anyone who does magnets properly in a home these days will not
just put one in but they will put one on the water main and one on the
inlet and one on the outlet of the water heater. Sometimes a magnet
will need to be put on dishwasher, on the shower head of each bath and
everywhere else the home owner wants to improve his water. The costs
become astronomical and the reason is they are trying to keep the
polarity consistent. You need a lot of magnets to keep that polarity in place so the
consumer can benefit from the magnets at all outlets.

On the other hand, our technology makes a permanent change in the
calcium carbonate. Once the water has been through our unit the
calcium carbonate has lost the majority of its attraction for itself
and metal and other types of surfaces. So it loses its ability to
bond and it is a permanent state and there are no worries in regards
to time frame in which the water must be used.

We think it is obvious this is a much easier and cheaper way to
eliminate the hard water issues in your home.

Can anyone install water filtration purification systems?

Can anyone install a whole house water filtration system?  The answer is a qualified, “yes.”  Anybody who has experience with plumbing can install it.  Any licensed plumber should be qualified to install these systems.  If you haven’t worked with soldering copper using torches and those different things, you are probably better off leaving it to a professional.  Use a plumber, a professional water treatment specialist or installation technician to make sure you get the install right.

What are the advantages of using a salt free softening water system (actually a conditioner) such as the Healthy Home Solution system?

Newer technologies have been discovered that replace the technologies used in traditional water softeners.  These newer technologies take care of all the same problems the older softeners took care of but without the need for salt or potassium chloride.  {Note: Many communities across the country are making traditional water softeners illegal because of the dangers they pose to the environment.  It is probably not wise at this point to invest in such a system since they may soon be outlawed everywhere.  See this recent article from the LA Times.} LA Times – Culligan Lobbies And check out this article on the damaging affects of old fashioned water softeners.

All water filtration systems Pure Elements offers are salt and chemical free.  They are better for the environment and better for you.  There is almost no maintenance required.  There is no slippery or slimy feeling to the water as you get with traditional water softeners.  And you don’t have to go out and buy bags of salt and then go to the garage and lift 50 pound bags into the filter.  All this hassle has been eliminated with the use of our system.

Note:  Our systems are technically water conditioners and not water softeners.  However, most people don’t know about water conditioning so they don’t think to look it up for information.

In water conditioning the hard water is treated and calcium left in the water.  Better for you and no slippery feel.  This is good.  In traditional water softening the calcium is removed and the water gets salt and chemicals added to it in order to “soften” and remove the hard water.  The salt and chemicals stay in the water you consume.  The water has a slippery feel.  This is bad.

One of the first questions often asked by potential customers is, “How do residential water purification systems address hard water without removing the calcium?” For many people removing calcium is undesirable for health reasons.   Old fashioned water softeners remove the calcium as well as cause problems with the environment.

The answer is by using new technologies that permanently change the state of calcium in the water its abilities to bond are dramatically reduced.   Thereby calcium is kept suspended or dissolved in the water so you can benefit from that and yet hard water issues are greatly reduced.

Now you can retain the benefits of the calcium in the water but still reduce the hard water issues which affect your plumbing, appliances, water heaters and fixtures throughout your home.

If you’d like to learn more about the exact technologies that Pure Elements, Inc. uses in their Healthy Home Solution water filtration system, call RD Allen today and ask him directly.  (949) 644-1800

Help reduce your carbon footprint with home water filter systems.

How do home water filter systems or whole house water filter conditioning system reduce carbon footprints?

Carbon footprints – What kind of carbon footprint do you think is created or generated by the bottled water industry? Let’s take for example what it takes to bottle water in Fuji, fly it 2000 miles so you can buy it off a shelf in the United States. That’s energy to make the plastic bottles, fill them and package them. There’s a lot of fuel being burnt there too whether they are shipped by boat or air.

Now think about what it takes to drive a diesel truck around delivering bottles. More spent fuel. Not to mention the waste that is created by the actual bottles themselves. Four out of every five plastic bottles is not recycled. They end up in our landfills or out in the ocean in places like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. That’s 38 billion bottles going into the earth or oceans each year.

So the carbon footprint of bottled water is quite dramatic. You can greatly reduce that by installing a quality whole house filtration system and having water that in many cases is the same or better quality coming right out of every fixture in your home.

Why do whole house water filtration systems need a drain?

People often ask when we are talking about installing a whole house water filtration system why the unit needs a drain.  The reason is our water filter systems are designed to automatically clean themselves on weekly basis.  This is an exceptional feature and it is critical that any whole house water filter system you are considering contains this feature.  This cleaning process moves the media around and exposes more surface area to help remove more chloride and other foreign items.  It also extends the media life by 15 to 25 times.  In the process while it cleans itself, it does expel water.  This is a safe water with nothing foreign added to it like chemicals or chlorides like a traditional water softener might contain. Those are the reasons we have these water filtration systems that backwash and require a drain.  And the drained off water can be routed to a landscape drain, sewer or even used to irrigate your landscape which we recommend.

What makes your water filter environmentally sound and green in design?

Our Healthy Home Solution water filter system whole house is environmentally sound and
green in design. Our purpose is to not add anything foreign to
environment. No sodium. No potassium. No chlorides. And it
operates on an effective energy conservation approach. Our water
filter uses very little electricity.

What are the features of the Healthy Home Solution whole house water filter and conditioning system?

The features included in the best water filter system are many but there are six primary features to this product.

1)       Health – We want to remove all the chemicals, odors, and physical things from your entire living environment.  And thereby provide home wellness for you and your family.

2)      Taste and Quality – We want Great quality water coming from every faucet for drinking, cooking, coffee making.  We want it to be in every case possible to be as good as or better than the bottled waters out there.

3)      Environmental Aspects – This product has been designed to be completely “GREEN.”  We do not add any chemicals to the eco-system.  The product is energy efficient with regards to both electricity and water usage.  It is a very efficient product.

4)      Hard Water Issues – We can toss out the old traditional water softeners that add the sodium and chlorine to our environment and are being banned all over many communities across the United States.  Use technologies that will reduce the hard water in your house without the slippery or slimy feel and the addition of salt or chemicals.

5)      Economics – This system will save you money in the long term because not only will it protect the assets of the appliances and plumbing in your house but it will greatly reduce if not eliminate your reliance on bottled water.  And cost just pennies per gallon for the water that you would use in an unlimited manner in your home.

6)      Convenience – This is a set it and forget it system.  There are no under counter filters to change.  No ongoing maintenance costs on a regular basis.  No cartridges going into the eco-system or landfills.  It is a product you install and you address and give it attention somewhere in the 5 to 10 year range.

Those are the features and benefits that make the Healthy Home Solution water filtration system far superior to anything else we see on the market today.

Do Ionizers work with most water softeners, home water filtration systems, and whole house water filters?

So what about the latest trend in ionized water and ionized drinking water systems? If you choose to do that with your drinking water for health purposes, it is very important that your home water filtration system is 100% compatible. Traditional technologies like ion-exchange salt-based water softeners and in some cases reverse osmosis render ionizers useless. You need to make sure you have a compatible whole house filtration system. Everything that we manufacture at Pure Elements, Inc., is 100% compatible with the ionizers. And in fact will provide exceptional pre- treatment which enhances the quality of water that comes out of those ionizer systems.

RD Allen: A big question today is how does an environmentally sound salt-free water conditioning and filtration system benefit the environment?

The first answer is simple – a whole house water treatment system will reduce the reliance on plastics and plastic bottles. The second answer is to eliminate the need for traditional and old fashioned residential water softeners that introduce sodium chloride into the eco-system. Traditional water softeners are being banned in many communities in California and across the United States because of the dramatic negative effect they are having on the environment.

What is inside the whole house water purifier filter that takes out the chemicals, odors, tastes and other contaminants?

Top quality whole home filters have 3 to 4 different types of media. Redox media is used to reduce heavy metals. Coconut shell activated carbon is used to remove chlorine, pesticides and other chemicals. A garnet media is used to maintain a high flow rate through the water filter. Make sure any water filter system you are looking contains these media because without them you won’t achieve high quality water filtering.

The Healthy Home Solution home water system is five feet high and only 12 inches in diameter so they don’t take up much room. However, larger homes may require a slightly larger filter. The water conditioner is installed at the water main usually in the garage.

These are two distinct different water issues that you need to be aware of.

Filtering addresses the health and physical side of water quality. Water filters take out the chemicals, pesticides, organics and odors. Bad tastes are taken out with water filtering. Basically the unhealthy elements found in tap water are removed through filtering and the water becomes save drinking water.?

Water softeners address hard water issues. Hard water, specifically the calcium in hard water, is what destroys your plumbing, fixtures, water heaters, and appliances. Hard water can cost you a lot of money if it is not taken care of.

At Pure Elements, Inc. these problems are both dealt with using the environmentally sound and salt-free HealthyHome Solution whole house water filter system.

It takes very little energy to run the Pure Elements’  HealthyHome Solution water filter. This drinking water filtration system has been designed with energy conservation in mine.  The control valve uses less than one amp or roughly around 12 watts. That is little over a quarter of the energy it takes to run a 40 watt light bulb.

This is a very important question which often isn’t answered. There are a variety of chemicals in our cities’ water that have been added to keep us safe from bacteria and other bugs. This is good for that use but these chemicals need to be removed from your home water before you use it. You should not be drinking or bathing in chlorine or ammonia. These and other chemicals can cause serious issues when absorbed into our skin and bodies. The HealthyHome Solution whole home water filters create a barrier at your front door to keep these chemicals from harming your family. Now you can remove this chemicals safely with no harm to the environment.

It is easy for a home  water filtering system to address the problem of heavy metals in your water but only if done properly. Pure Elements focuses on this very problem with each of their HealthyHome Solution water filters. Iron, lead, mercury, arsenic, zinc and silver are greatly reduced due to the design of this water filter and conditioner. Many of our competitors DO NOT have this component in their filters. Their systems lack the ability to pull out heavy metals.  While doing research on whole home water filters, be sure to make sure that the filter you purchase has the capability of reducing heavy metals.

When considering a whole house water filter system, what is the difference between new green technologies of drinking water filter systems  and old-fashioned water softeners? This is one of the most common questions we hear from people considering a home water filter system.  The big difference is that the old fashioned water softeners dump a lot of salt and chemicals into the ecosystem and into your house.  They end up causing more trouble on top of the hard water problems they are set up to fix.  The combination of hard water issues in the home and the use of these old fashioned water softeners causes a list of serious problems:

• Irreputable damage is caused to the plants, animals and all living organisms we share the ecosystem with and thereby in the end we damage ourselves
• Scale build-up on your fixtures wears them out and clogs them up
• Plumbing rots out with scale build-up and especially older galvanized pipe must be replaced sooner
• Scale builds up in tankless and traditional water heaters causing earlier replacement
• Appliances need to be replaced more often due again to scale build-up

The solution to all these problems is to use a whole house water filter based on new going green technology.  These new water filters eliminate the hard water scale build-up that a traditional water softener was used for.  However, once you stop using a traditional water softener, no salt or chemicals will be dumped into the environment or into your home.

When the server came to my table with chilled water in a stylish, open-neck glass bottle, I did what any water quality expert would do – I asked to see the bottle so I could peruse the contents and learn what types of treatment were used in processing the water.

To my amazement, the server informed me (quite proudly) that the resort bottles its own water and maintains a bottling “plant” on site.  A series of commercial drinking water filtration systems were in place.

This seems to be the latest in the trend to take control over costs, reduce reliance on plastic (PET) bottles that clog our landfills, and add a touch of self-sufficiency to a high-end dining facility.  Everyone at our table was quite impressed with the concept; however, the water was highly purified and lacked in pleasing taste.  My guess is that reverse osmosis and filtration technologies were part of the bottling plant, and that we were being treated to water that had been stripped of the majority of its natural mineral content.

Although the water tasted flat, it was definitely clean and highly purified.  As a proponent of treating water at the largest possible point of entry that makes sense (whole-house filtration versus under sink filtration, as an example), I was quite impressed with the concept and the forward thinking of resort management.   One has to wonder if the resort charges people for the water (I was a grateful guest, so I did not see the bill), and whether they could further please guests by adding back a small amount of minerals to flavor the water like Coca-Cola does in their Dasani brand .

Just as this high-end destination resort took control of their water issues, we must do so in our own homes.  So next time you come to my house and I pour you chilled, bottled-quality water from a pretty open-neck glass bottle, be sure to ask me how you can achieve the same results in your house.  It is easy to do at a relatively low cost, and you will help to reduce the endless number of plastic bottles we plant in our earth.

The environmental and health issues associated with the production and use of plastic water bottles deserve our attention.  Sales of bottled water, driven by intensive marketing campaigns from big players like Coca-Cola (Dasani), Pepsi (Aquafina) and Nestle, increased at a rate of 8.9 percent last year.  This year Americans will spend a staggering 16 billon dollars on bottled water. We should also note that tap water can have off tastes and odors while still being healthy, so taste is another reason for the success of bottled water in the US.

The numbers are unbelievable – each year we put 38 billion plastic water bottles into landfills, and the number is growing.   That is 38 billion with a “B”!  And with a half-life (half the time it takes a plastic bottle to decompose completely) of up to 1,000 years, these bottles aren’t going to just go away in our lifetimes, or those of our kids, or even those of our grandchildren.

Let’s look at these key questions:

1)    Do we really need to buy bottled water?  Well, only if we believe what we are told in the marketing campaigns.  The US is the largest bottled water market in the world, but are we getting what we are paying for?  Numerous studies over the past decade have compared tap water to bottled and found no difference, or in the case of this recent study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) the findings suggest that tap water can actually be better in quality! [http://www.ewg.org/reports/bottledwater].  So the level of necessity depends on your tolerance for the alternatives – Drink tap water; get your water from flavored beverages; or filter your water at home with a quality whole house water filter system or use under counter water filters.

2)    Do plastic water bottles pose a health concern?  This is a controversial topic.  However, it is a fact that bisphenol A (BPA), a common plastic binder found in many polycarbonate bottles, is making its way into our bodies.  In 2003 and 2004, studies by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found BPA in the urine of 93% of children and adults tested.  BPA mimics estrogens in the human bloodstream and studies on animals have demonstrated developmental toxicity, carcinogenic effects, and possible neurotoxicity at low doses. The amounts found recently in humans are higher than those in the animals tested by the CDC.  This is enough to convince me that plastic water bottles are something we should try to avoid in our search for longevity.

We’ll save the discussions of the energy required to make water bottles in the US for another time.  The bottling industry uses the equivalent of nearly 100 million barrels of oil each year, excluding transportation, in bottle production.  And it should be disconcerting that manufacturing plastic bottles causes greenhouse emissions and wastes about three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.

The bottom line:  How can we stem the tide of plastic?

We can choose to take simple steps to reduce the problems plastic bottles create for our planet and the Human Race.

Step One:  Reduce your use of bottles by purchasing the best drinking water filter system you can get which will give you water quality as good as bottled water and then use reusable stainless or non-leaching plastic bottles.  (You can drink out of the tap without a filter but you’ll learn from other articles here, you may not want to do that anymore.  It isn’t very safe.)

Step Two:  When you do use a plastic bottle, RECYCLE IT.

A bit of perspective:   If we can affect the outcome of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars by simply texting a few numbers, can’t we make a difference by choosing to reduce our reliance on plastic bottles and recycling them when we do use them?

See you at the recycling center – our planet and health for generations to come depend on it.

This may seem like a strange question, but how much do we really know about the effects of bathing in water with chlorine added by our municipalities?

Everyone is aware that without some form of bacteriological kill, we would suffer disease and waterborne bacteria could threaten our health.  We can credit chorine disinfection in our water, introduced in 1908, for dramatically reducing our potential for acquiring serious diseases like typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera and Legionnaires’ disease.  And we appreciate the fact that chlorine is a very inexpensive chemical, even though it is classified as a pesticide that is effective in killing living organisms.

However, it is not uncommon today to find levels of chlorine in our tap water that exceed those recommended as safe for most swimming pools.

Chlorine is most effectively used when it maintains a residual until the time the treated water is ready for use.  So this means we need it delivered to our front door, but should we let it into our home?

I believe the answer is a resounding “NO”.  Chlorine and the altered version chloramines (chlorine and ammonia intentionally mixed together) can have an adverse effect on us when we consume it.  Thinking logically:   If chlorine kills organisms by destroying the cell wall, what is it doing inside our bodies?  Some have suggested that, if we monitor and keep the levels low enough, our bodies will simply neutralize the chlorine we ingest.  But scientists agree that higher levels of chlorine introduced into our bodies have a detrimental effect on our cells, and therefore negatively affect our heath and well-being.  And the jury is still out about prolonged exposure through consumption.

This article, however, is not about ingesting chlorine and chloramines from our drinking water.  A much greater danger lurks in our bath and shower water.  There is an increased risk of cancer and other ailments caused by bathing in water treated with these chemicals.  Because chlorine is a poison that kills waterborne pathogens, it has a detrimental effect on humans by attacking delicate tissues when absorbed into our skin or through respiration into our lungs.

Inhaled air containing chloroform and other chlorine byproducts (such as organochlorines) can contain up to 100 times the chemical levels of the incoming water, because chemicals readily vaporize into the steam in the bath or shower. This chemical-laden steam causes harmful chemicals to enter directly into our bloodstream, rather than being processed by kidneys and the digestive system.  Exposure to these chemicals increases production of free radicals, causes damage to cells, and provides prolonged exposure to carcinogens.

Numerous studies over the past 50 years have shown a correlation between chlorine and serious disease, including breast, rectal and bladder cancers.   Chlorine has been proven to be a contributory factor in damage to the heart, lungs, kidney, liver and central nervous system, as well as to the stomach. Other diseases connected to chlorine include atherosclerosis and respiratory problems, and some research has shown that chlorine destroys body protein.

One of the newest (and most disconcerting) findings relates chlorine directly to breast cancer, which kills many women each year.  One out of eight women in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer, and recent studies conducted in Hartford, Connecticut have linked the accumulation in breast tissue of chlorine byproducts (called organochlorines) directly to breast cancer.  Breast cancer patients were shown to have organochlorines levels of 50% to 60% higher than women without the disease.

Chlorine and chloramines in the bath and shower also cause dry, flaky skin and increase skin-related irritations.  Hair becomes dry and brittle, with increased dandruff and dryness of the scalp.   Skin, the largest organ of our body, soaks up chemicals like a large sponge in an environment with warm water and steam.  This phenomenon occurs because the warm temperature of the water causes our pores to become enlarged, creating sites eager to instantly absorb gaseous chemicals.  Eyes, sinuses and throat tissues become unnecessarily irritated with this exposure.  Chlorine and its byproducts can also be extremely dangerous to the delicate tissues in our lungs.  Researchers have shown that after 10 minutes in the shower, people show measurable increases in chloroform concentrations in their lungs (averaging 2.7 parts per billion).

Our children suffer the consequences of chloroform in the bath and shower, too.  Chemical exposure while bathing is considered to be directly related to the 300% increase in asthma and bronchitis in children in the last twenty years.  According to Dr. Lance Wallace of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Showering is suspected as the primary cause of elevated levels of chloroform in nearly every home because of chlorine in the water.”

So what should we do?

I believe that knowledge is power, and we have taken a brief look at the threats posed to our bodies by unnecessary exposure to chlorine, chloramines and their byproducts.  Armed with this knowledge, it is time to seek out a solution by taking control of the levels of exposure to these chemicals in our homes.  The most effective answer is to install a fully automatic, multimedia whole-house chlorine water filter at the point where the water enters your home.  This allows you to maintain the disinfecting benefits of chlorine to the front door, while completely removing it from your household living environment.  This further contributes to home wellness by eliminating the resultant airborne chemicals, and provides great tasting water from every faucet and to ice makers.

Choose the whole-house water system not only based on performance, but also on its Green characteristics.  Stay away from old-fashioned water softeners that add sodium or potassium chloride to the environment (and your drinking water).  Stick with technologies that have no adverse affects on the environment, and that use no salts or chemicals in their operation.

Be wary of smaller shower head and faucet mounted filters, as they will provide some benefit but act more like a band-aid.  These products are flow rate sensitive, meaning they may be totally ineffective if you run your shower or faucet at wide-open levels.  Moreover, the size limitation means the amount of effective filtering material is small, so regular replacement is necessary to maintain any type of consistency.  These products may look slightly better than they actually work.

Effective, environmentally sound whole-house technology is here, and reasonably affordable, to provide a chemical free home as it relates to water and resultant air contamination.   So take control – Protect yourself and your family from the cancer risk posed by chlorine and its byproducts in your water, bath and shower.

So, now you know.

So we need to take personal charge of ourselves and our children’s health because no one else is capable.  And one of the most important things we can do for ourselves is take into our bodies the best cleanest water we can get by using a home water purifier.  After all our bodies are made up of 80-85% water so why wouldn’t we want that water to be the best quality?  If you had a Ferrari, would you fill it with cheap oil and fluids?  If you did that, how long do you think it would last?  Why would you do anything less for the body that keeps you alive on this planet than put the best safest water into it?

Water isn’t just water.  There is good and bad and that is what this blog is going to inform you about and discuss.  There are solutions to getting the best quality water and many are cheaper than you think.  And some of the water solutions you think are cheap are actually the most expensive out there.

Upcoming posts and articles will be touching on:

How better health through good water can provide a healthier living environment inside and outside the home.

Using a home water purifier, filter, treatment system is becoming critical and there are many reasons why this is so.

Why we must minimize reliance on plastic bottles and how to achieve quality water that meets or exceeds the standards for bottled waters, without the toxic bottles.

We’ll tell you how to achieve a water cost savings which will provide an economic benefit.

Plus we’ll discuss how to be Green conscious and help protect our environment through the use of leading edge technologies that benefit our environment and landfills.

We’ll also be exploring the many different aspects of quality water control through water softeners, water filters, reverse osmosis, and whole house water filtration systems.