Removing Chlorine vs Chloramine In Home Water
Most folks have heard of chlorine - it's the stuff of backyard swimming pools, hot tubs, and the same stuff in that bottle of bleach under the kitchen sink. But many people haven't heard of chloramine. Similar word, very different compound. What they both have in common is that they are highly efficient disinfectants for drinking water. That is, they're both really good at killing bugs. The other thing they have in common, is that many people are waking up to the fact that drinking disinfectants isn't a great idea! So here at Aquatell we're always fielding calls about how to remove both of these compounds from home water.
While they're very similar in name and in function, these two disinfectants require different filtration strategies. If you want to see which disinfectant your city uses, you can check out our Chlorine / Chloramine by Canadian City page. Chlorine is highly reactive, and this makes it easier to remove from water. The most common means of removing chlorine from your home water is to use a carbon-based water filter where your water enters your home. These can be cartridge based systems or backwashing style systems. Cartridge systems offer the advantage of lower initial cost, but the downside of cartridge changes, and lower flow rates. Backwashing style carbon filters are more expensive up front, but filter chlorine more thoroughly and the carbon media only needs replacing every 4 - 6 years in most households. They also offer a superior flow rate.
The removal of chloramine is similar but there are fewer options. Chloramine is less reactive than chlorine, which makes it tougher to pull out of the water. Cartridge based systems exist, but the cartridges are ridiculously expensive, and the lifespan is limited. We recommend the use of a backwashing carbon system that use Centaur Catalytic Carbon. This is a special carbon product that is highly effective at removing chloramine from water and will do a great job for virtually every residential application.
If removing chloramine or chlorine from all of your home water isn't a high priority and you just want to make sure your drinking water is secure, consider a reverse osmosis system. They're highly effective at removing chlorine and chloramine and literally thousands of other water contaminants.