When it comes to the question of drinking water for your family, you need to stop making impulsive decisions. One of the most significant choices among them is to buy the correct type of water purifier. The water that we consume has a direct impact on our health, and therefore, it needs to be 100% clean and pure. There are numerous options that are available for the water purifier, but choosing any one particular model can be a daunting task for you. Thus if you intend to buy the best water purifier, this buying guide will help you to make the perfect decision.
5 Steps to Find Best Water Purifier
Below are some of the ways through which you can choose the most acceptable water purification system according to your needs.
Sources of Water
The quality of water is dependent on the source from where they were supplied. The primary water sources are municipal corporations, borewell, rive water, or a combination of them. The water supply varies according to the area. In the water, the first thing to consider is the Total Dissolved Salts or TDS. TDS will significantly influence the type of machine that you require to choose. The most common elements of TDS are sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphates, nitrate, and chlorine. The municipal water has a TDS of 1 to 100 PPM, whereas groundwater or borewell contains TDS of 200 to 2000 PPM.
Contamination
Nitrate, bacteria, lead, and dissolved particles are some of the most commonly known contaminants in the water. If the water supply to your home contains a high amount of contaminants, then you require installing a UV+UF+RO purification system. The UV light will penetrate viruses and bacterial cells, break their DNA, kill them, and will clean the water. The RO membrane removes these dead microbes and contaminants from the water and makes it pure for consumption.
Water TDS Level
According to a report by WHO, TDS can generally originate from the natural water resources or even sewage. According to Indian standards, up to 500 mg/litre TDS is acceptable. If you have to rely on water tankers or borewell, the TDS level will increase. But the TDS level higher than 1000 mg/litre makes the drinking water unpalatable.
| TDS Level | Reason | Acceptable/Rejected |
| Lower than 50 | No mineral is present and includes no taste | Rejected |
| 50 to 150 | Safe range and does not contain any microorganisms | Accepted |
| 150 to 200 | This TDS level is perfect for maintaining cardiovascular health | Accepted |
| 250 to 350 | It is a tap water TDS range | Accepted |
| 350 to 500 | BIS guidelines state that they are good to consume | Accepted |
| 500 to 2000 | Full of microbes, bacteria, and viruses | Rejected. Should have an RO water purifier with mineralizer or TDS controller |
| Above 2000 | It is not suitable for consumption | Rejected. No machine can control such high TDS |
Types of Water Purifier
Based on the purification technology, there are mainly three types of water purifiers. They are discussed in detail below.
UV Water Purifiers
UV purification is one of the most efficient processes to get rid of harmful bacteria and viruses. This system is ideal for water with less than 200 TDS and is the fastest way to disinfect water. They implement a high wavelength UV light that removes all the contaminants, bacteria, and viruses from the water. UV water purifiers are perfect for those homes where water is supplied through the tap or Municipal Corporation. However, these types of machines cannot eliminate dissolved inorganic and organic particles and sterilized microorganisms.
Gravity Based Water Purifiers
Gravity based water purifiers or Ultra Filtration process implements hydraulic pressure to clean the water from dust, chlorine, and bacteria. The purifier consists of two containers. The top one includes water purifying candles and should be filled with water that needs to be cleaned. The water then passes through the finer pores in the filtering candles to the container below it. They are best for the specific areas where the water supply has a TDS level of lower than 500. UF water purifiers do not require any electricity to operate. Moreover, it is portable and is inexpensive.
Reverse Osmosis Water Purifiers
In the process of reverse osmosis, water moves from higher to lower concentration through the semipermeable membrane. The membrane contains innumerable tiny pores through even the salt molecules that cannot pass. The water seeps through these pore without any addition to TDS. The RO water purifier machine comes with built-in pumps to use the pressure of water. They are useful for the areas with water sources having 200 to 2000 TDS levels. RO machines also decrease the hardness of the water by removing extra magnesium, salts, arsenic, and calcium. It also gets rid of toxic metals, other contaminants, and fluoride from the water.
Storage Capacity
The places with regular power cuts or unreliable water supply, it is best to buy a water purifier with a high storage capacity. This will ensure that you have access to safe and clean drinking water even when there is no electricity in your house. RO and UV water purifiers use running water and electricity to deliver drinking water. Thus UF water purifiers are the best for those people where electricity remains only for a few hours in their locality. It is also considered as the best non-electric water purifier.
Conclusion:
Hope, by now you must have realized that you should keep in mind these above mentioned most critical aspects before buying a water purifier for your family. With the increasing amount of water pollution, it has become mandatory to install purification in your abode. You only need to understand which model will suit you the best according to your necessities.
