Not a project per say but has anyone purchased a water filtration system for the house? Tom Tynan on 610 is talking about them every weekend and I have been looking at a Kinetico system and wondered if anyone has this brand or something similar?
I don't see the point of it if you're in the city limits of an area with treated water. When I was a kid way out past BFE in Alvin, our well water had so much iron that it turned my sandy blonde hair brown. We got a filtration system and it turned back. I've looked into RO systems but I have a TDS meter and our fridge does a good job of filtration. My son did a science fair project to see which water grew plants the best- tap, filtered or aquarium water. Filtered water actually grew the plants the fastest at first but as you can imagine, water full of fish poop was the best.
I've been toying with the idea of a large aquaponics setup.... It's a fairly large up front investment, but I've already got a pond for fish. You can grow duckweed and azolla to supplement the fish feed to lower input costs. I'd love to find someone who has done it... I have a million little questions. Maybe I should start small scale and answer some of those myself. Or find a book. Mostly, it's got me interested and it's project 254 and I'm on number 5 but having an almost closed loop food system is fascinating. Fish poop, plants filter the water, feed some of the plants back to the fish... throw in some store bought pellets. Fresh catfish and veggies on the cheap sounds too good to be true.
Check out Island Aquaponics in Galveston. Super cool people. https://www.facebook.com/islandaquaponics/photos/?ref=page_internal
Most people don't get whole house filtration just to be a water filter, which I guess would be pointless -- I don't know. They usually do it for water softening properties. Most drinking/tap filters aren't going to fix water hardness, and they definitely don't help the rest of your house.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. When people go to companies that specialize in whole-house filtration systems, I don't think most people do just whole-house filtration (even though everything gets dumped into that). The system they get is often a combination of both, but usually they're going to pay for water softening. If they just get the filtration portion of the system, I don't get it unless they're paranoid, but then again, the pipes probably have crap in it that many want filtered out, too (even for bath/showering). If I were to get it, I'd have both and not just filtration, but then I don't plan on getting either anytime soon. I'll just replace showerheads, use CLR and fridge and tap filter while bathing in the toxic pipe water. lol.
Since rimrocker started this thread, it is appropriate that I am working on wildland fire mitigation. Working with a chainsaw at 7,400 feet elevation on steep slopes is no joke, but at least I am not in Houston! Also installing a radiant barrier in the attic since we don't have a/c. Next up, soffit vents, since the idiot who built the house didn't install them.
In the summertime, in the mountains west of Golden, Colorado. In the winter, Houston. Best of both worlds.
Ah, cool. The land of beer and jolly ranchers. lol. I plan on making a geek trek of sorts up there hopefully this year or next (well, to the Denver area). No matter when I get up there, it'll definitely be during warmer temps.
