Tips on how to estimate cost when you buy a water purification system
When you want to buy the best water purification system for your home, you are inevitably faced with the issue of cost. You need to consider not only the initial purchase price, but also how expensive it is to maintain it.
Below, I give you a list of the elements that should go into your cost equation. In my analysis, I make references to the most popular water purifier technologies now available, which are: Filters, Reverse Osmosis (RO) units, distillers and Ultraviolet (UV) units.
Tag Price
There is a wide variation of initial cost. As a general rule, it is directly related with the number of contaminants you want the water purification system to get rid of from your tap water. Therefore, it is imperative that before you start your selection process you should get a hold of your water utility's annual report (if your utility is public), or get your water tested though a private lab (if your water supply is from a private source).
As a general rule, the more the pollutants you want your installed system to remove, the more complicated your set up will become. What you will probably end up requiring is a multi stage system possibly combining different technologies. As you realize, each stage introduced will mark up your initial cost.
Just to give you an indication of the tag prices you could expect, there are simple granular carbon filters starting from just $25 and there are water purifiers combining UV, redox and carbon filters starting from $400 up to $800.
Installation cost
More often than not, the purchase price quoted does not include installation cost. This is because within a given type of water purification system different models may or may not require installation; many of them just sit on a counter top or snap onto a faucet and are ready to use.
If the installation of your system is a bit more involved, more often than not you can seek help from a person with minimum technical know how. In the case, however, that more technical skills are required, then a hired professional might cost anywhere from $100 up to around $200. The final cost depends on the modifications you need to make in your existing set up in your house as well as on the complexity of the water purification system itself.
Having said the above, I would suggest you get into the habit to always ask the manufacturer of the water purifier system that you consider buying, whether installation cost is included in the initial price or not.
Running cost
The last cost dimension has to do with the ongoing operating cost of the water purification system. In the performance sheets provided by the manufacturers it is usually expressed as "cost per gallon", where by "gallon" they mean gallon of pure water produced. This cost includes money spent on replaceable parts as well as money needed to cover any other operating costs (such as electricity and water bills). It is usually in the range between 6 to 25 dollar cents.
To give you a rough indication of what this cost actually means for each technology, consider that, as for parts replacement, filters need to be changed roughly once every six months, RO membranes once every two years and UV lamps once a year. Distillers have no parts to replace; therefore their cost is totally based on operating cost that is utility bills. I should also mention here that RO units have exceptionally low efficiency (in other words they waste a lot of water), so expect a high water bill for this type of purifier.
Among the filters, the least expensive (purchase price wise) pour through pitcher filters have the highest cost per gallon because the small canister filters need to be replaced frequently, typically every six to eight weeks. In general, the larger the filter, the greater the initial expense, but the lower the cost per gallon after purchase.
To conclude, what's very important to do before you start thinking about the cost is to establish what you want your water purification system to achieve in terms of two things: Firstly, the type and number of pollutants it should eliminate and secondly by how much it should eliminate them.
So, I will stress again that it is very important that you know what contaminants you want to remove, before you consider buying a water purifier.
After you short list all the systems that are OK with the quality criteria, then you should go for the least expensive. - 17273
Below, I give you a list of the elements that should go into your cost equation. In my analysis, I make references to the most popular water purifier technologies now available, which are: Filters, Reverse Osmosis (RO) units, distillers and Ultraviolet (UV) units.
Tag Price
There is a wide variation of initial cost. As a general rule, it is directly related with the number of contaminants you want the water purification system to get rid of from your tap water. Therefore, it is imperative that before you start your selection process you should get a hold of your water utility's annual report (if your utility is public), or get your water tested though a private lab (if your water supply is from a private source).
As a general rule, the more the pollutants you want your installed system to remove, the more complicated your set up will become. What you will probably end up requiring is a multi stage system possibly combining different technologies. As you realize, each stage introduced will mark up your initial cost.
Just to give you an indication of the tag prices you could expect, there are simple granular carbon filters starting from just $25 and there are water purifiers combining UV, redox and carbon filters starting from $400 up to $800.
Installation cost
More often than not, the purchase price quoted does not include installation cost. This is because within a given type of water purification system different models may or may not require installation; many of them just sit on a counter top or snap onto a faucet and are ready to use.
If the installation of your system is a bit more involved, more often than not you can seek help from a person with minimum technical know how. In the case, however, that more technical skills are required, then a hired professional might cost anywhere from $100 up to around $200. The final cost depends on the modifications you need to make in your existing set up in your house as well as on the complexity of the water purification system itself.
Having said the above, I would suggest you get into the habit to always ask the manufacturer of the water purifier system that you consider buying, whether installation cost is included in the initial price or not.
Running cost
The last cost dimension has to do with the ongoing operating cost of the water purification system. In the performance sheets provided by the manufacturers it is usually expressed as "cost per gallon", where by "gallon" they mean gallon of pure water produced. This cost includes money spent on replaceable parts as well as money needed to cover any other operating costs (such as electricity and water bills). It is usually in the range between 6 to 25 dollar cents.
To give you a rough indication of what this cost actually means for each technology, consider that, as for parts replacement, filters need to be changed roughly once every six months, RO membranes once every two years and UV lamps once a year. Distillers have no parts to replace; therefore their cost is totally based on operating cost that is utility bills. I should also mention here that RO units have exceptionally low efficiency (in other words they waste a lot of water), so expect a high water bill for this type of purifier.
Among the filters, the least expensive (purchase price wise) pour through pitcher filters have the highest cost per gallon because the small canister filters need to be replaced frequently, typically every six to eight weeks. In general, the larger the filter, the greater the initial expense, but the lower the cost per gallon after purchase.
To conclude, what's very important to do before you start thinking about the cost is to establish what you want your water purification system to achieve in terms of two things: Firstly, the type and number of pollutants it should eliminate and secondly by how much it should eliminate them.
So, I will stress again that it is very important that you know what contaminants you want to remove, before you consider buying a water purifier.
After you short list all the systems that are OK with the quality criteria, then you should go for the least expensive. - 17273
About the Author:
Nicos Stylianou is a long time researcher on issues relating to healthy nutrition. To find information and what he recommends you should do to have purified water at your home, visit his website now.
posted by X - Men at
4:20 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home