If the shower leaves white spots on the glass, makes your hair feel rough, or causes your skin to feel dry after bathing, then hard water might be one of the causes. Hard water has higher amounts of dissolved minerals, mainly calcium and magnesium, and this is typical in many areas of the United States.
That often causes homeowners to look for a shower head filter when dealing with hard water. However, does a filter really deal with the problem or is a water softener a better option?
Does a shower head filter eliminate hard water?
The key point is that all shower filters are not designed to remove the minerals which cause water hardness.
Most shower filters are made mainly to reduce chlorine and other particular impurities; in fact, NSF/ANSI 177 is the standard accepted for shower filtration systems since it specifies the reduction of free available chlorine.
You should therefore be careful about products that are advertised as a complete solution for hard water, since a filter might enhance some features of your shower water without in fact getting rid of the calcium and magnesium which cause hardness.
What can a shower filter do?
A shower filter of good quality will still be useful whenever chlorine, odours, or some aesthetic aspects of water quality are the things that bother you.
For instance, lowering the amount of chlorine might make the water from the shower more comfortable for certain people. The important point is to go beyond the marketing claims and verify precisely what the product has been independently tested and certified to reduce. NSF suggests that you select a treatment system according to the particular contaminants you wish to deal with.
How to Choose the Best Shower Head Filter
Rather than just looking for the best shower head filter, you should first work out what is actually in your water. You should look for:
1. Verified Performance
Make sure that the filter has appropriate third-party certification and verify the details of that certification. Just because a filter has an NSF certification doesn’t mean that it removes all contaminants; it is the particular standard and the stated level of reduction that is important.
2. Your Water Quality
If you’re not sure if your problem is indeed hard water, then you should check the water quality report for your area. Owners of private wells might wish to have their water tested independently.
3. Flow Rate
A shower should be given sufficient water pressure to ensure comfort, so check the filter’s rated flow rate against that of your present shower setup.
Filter or Water Softener: Which Do You Need?
A shower filter could be a convenient solution if your primary worry is chlorine or some impurities.
If the issue you are mainly worried about is hard water minerals, scale, and constant mineral deposits, then you should look for a treatment system that is specifically designed to deal with hardness. For your entire house, water treatment solutions can involve the use of water softeners and various other systems intended for different water quality issues.
Conclusion
A filter for a shower head in areas with hard water may be useful, but it is essential to know exactly what the filter is intended to remove. The best shower head filter isn’t necessarily the one that has the most claims and it is the one which deals with the particular water quality problem you have.