Water filtration - post tank, post pump, or under sink?

[BoeingFan]

Hi Team,

I have 2 questions about water filtration, please:

• All of my water comes from my rain tank, which is fed by both rain water off the roof, and unfiltered river water via a local community system. At minimum, I'd like to install a filter under the kitchen sink which would filter both hot and cold pipes, and deliver the filtered water out of my Mondella Matte Black Rumba Side lever Sink Mixer. I saw a post where @EricL suggested the Stefani Twin Undersink Water Filtration System and with good information around why it was suggested. Sadly, this unit has a poor rating due to flooding etc., so I'll pass on that one. Is there another filter unit you'd suggest, be it single or twin cartridge?
• The second question is around filtering the water either out of the tank before the pump, or out of the pump before entering the house. This would filter all water entering the house including the toilet, shower and vanity. As an extra curve ball to consider, I'm about to have a garden tap installed post pump so I may access a pressurised hose to fight fires with (Nymboida area), and of course this needs to be max flow, no filtration required unless it's a particularly fussy fire. This makes me lean towards a filter post pump and before the house as the ideal location (and would exclude the garden hose). Could you please suggest a filter which could be utilised here? If it helps, all of the piping from the pump onward is standard copper the same as what's used within the house, so perhaps a couple of threads could be cut and mounted allowing me to simply install a filter easily, similar to the under sink kitchen unit.

I hope all this makes sense. Apologies if it's confusing. It makes sense in my head!

Thanks in anticipation,

Jason

[EricL]

Hi @BoeingFan (Jason)

I want to give you the best possible advice I can offer regarding your water filtration system. Let me do a little bit of research for you to make sure that the parts I'm suggesting will fit your needs. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Eric

[BoeingFan]

G’day @EricL , 

Thank you, I appreciate that very much. 

Cheers,

Jason

[EricL]

Hello @BoeingFan 

Let's take it one step at a time. All of your water comes from a rain tank, which is being fed by both rainwater off the roof, and unfiltered river water via a local community system. This water is being fed into your house with an electrical water pump.

Depending on the budget you've set aside here are my recommendations:

• I suggest installing a Stefani Rainwater Tank Premium Grade Pre Filter. The purpose of this pre filter is to protect your pump from sediment build up and debris coming from the water tank. It's installed between the tank and the pump.
   
• In order to directly access the pump during a firefighting situation, I suggest installing a fire hose cam lock system. This will make it easy for you to hook up your fire hose. If you still want a diversion for a garden tap installed this is the point where I recommend installing it.
   
• After the cam lock, I propose installing a shut off valve that will isolate house and the full pressure of the pump can be used by your fire hose.  
   
• After the shut off valve, I recommend installing a Stefani Whole House Filter System. A whole house filter is a POE (point of entry) system installed at the main water line, usually on the outside of the house, to filter water for the entire home. The whole house filter will protect the home with clean, clear water throughout every tap and shower. This will prevent sediment build up in your plumbing and hot water cylinder.

For Drinking water:

• Instead of running it through your sink mixer, I propose installing an independent drinking tap with its own carbon filter. Now Stefani has had some poor rating reviews, but I believe that it is still a good system to install due to its ease of cartridge replacement. The number one thing not to misplace in a Stefani system is the cartridge wrench that comes with the kit. Loosing this wrench means that you will never be able to tightly close the filter body which will cause leaks.
   
• There are a number of filter tap sets available at the store, I recommend going for a visit and see which one suits your needs. In regards to filtering the hot water side, it is not recommended as the hot water is not compatible with the filtering system.
   
• Another option is to have a benchtop filter set such as the Stefani Chrome On-Tap Digital Water Filter. I would double check that the fittings will fit your Mondella tap mixer. However, if you don't want anything attached to your tap, I suggest using a Stefani 15L Ceramic Water Purifier. 

For firefighting:

• I propose using the Ozito 40mm x 36m Fire Hose Kit. This is a lay flat hose and easy to unfurl. 

Before you begin, I suggest checking your local councils rules and regulations regarding firefighting systems installed on your water tank. I also recommend speaking with your local plumber regarding the installation of the parts that I've mentioned.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let me know.

Eric

[BoeingFan]

Hi @EricL ,

Thank you for your very comprehensive reply. I’ll take a minute to digest it, speak to my plumber, and work out a course of action. 

I appreciate your help. 

Cheers,

Jason

[BoeingFan]

Hi @EricL ,

So I'm looking into the under sink water filter options, and I have a question, please? Here's what I'm looking at:

• The Stefani Ultimate Undersink Water Filtration System has good feedback ratings, and is a simple single cartridge with options down to 0.5 microns. Whilst this is an extra tap on the counter top, I'm OK with that now. This is the unit I'm leaning towards purchasing the most.
• The Stefani High Flow in line Water Filtration System also has reasonable feedback ratings, however it says it "Connects directly to most mixer taps" and therefore does not need an extra tap. Perplexingly though, as it connects to most mixer taps, but still says, "For cold water use only", how do you get hot water out of your mixer tap?
• The Stefani Twin Undersink Water Filtration System. I'm making an assumption that this unit is cheaper than the Ultimate kit because it needs two filters to do the job of the Ultimate's one; would that be an accurate assumption? Could you please help me understand why you would need a multi-stage system if the outcome is the same as the single Ultimate unit?

Thanks in advance @EricL 

Regards,

Jason

[EricL]

Hi @BoeingFan (Jason)

The Stefani Ultimate Undersink Water Filtration System is a single cartridge system that is quick and easy to replace. It provides excellent filtration and removes/reduces a great number of harmful items in the water.

The advantage of this system is that it has its own tap. Which means that you only use your filter when you want a drink of water, or you want clean water in the kettle. Otherwise, you use the ordinary sink tap for washing the dishes or anything else. You therefore get maximum use out of your filter.   

This unit is directly connected to the cold line only and is not connected to your main kitchen tap.

The Stefani High Flow in line Water Filtration System is very similar to the Ultimate system and that it has a quick replacement cartridge system. However, this filter is connected in-line with the cold-water outlet in your wall. Which is then connected to the cold line going into your mixer tap. 

This means that every time you turn on your tap to full cold it is always filtered. If you mix hot water with the cold water in the tap mixer, it will contaminate the filtered cold water as your hot water is not filtered. In essence every time you turn your cold water on you are using your filter. If you accidentally shift the mixer a bit to the hot it negates all the benefits of the filter.

If you want the cold water to be filtered 24/7 this is the filter to use. The drawback of course is that it has a short service life as it is continually in use.

The Stefani Twin Undersink Water Filtration System has the advantage of a pre-filter stage. You also have the choice of choosing the filter rating of your charcoal unit. It therefore extends the life of your main filter. 

For example, a single filter that encounters heavy sedimentation will conservatively last 3 to 5 months. A filter with a pre-filter will catch all the sediment and polish the water before it reaches the charcoal filter effectively extending its life to up to 8 months.

If you need more information, please let me know.

Eric

[BoeingFan]

HI @EricL ,

You're the best, I'm so glad I asked about the high flow unit because I never for a second connected the dots that the filter connects to the cold water pipe and the mixer cold inlet! No idea what I was thinking.

In any case, I've made my decision based on the information you've very kindly helped me with, and the reviews on the site; I'm going to go with the Ultimate kit onto the extra tap for the kitchen.

As for the rest of the house, I'll get that pre-filter between the tank and pump, and revisit a whole of house filter once these first two are in place.

I'm grateful for your insight as always. Thanks and regards,

Jason

[EricL]

Hi @BoeingFan (Jason)

I'm glad I could help. My number one tip is to always keep two extra cartridges in the house. It might seem like overkill, but all of a sudden you need to replace it and it's always good to have a spare.

Eric

[BoeingFan]

Hi @EricL ,

The Stefani (or Gwen Stefani, as I call it 😄) Ultimate Undersink Water Filtration System is installed and working beautifully. I saw on the Stefani 0.2 Micron All Carbon Universal Replacement Cartridge - 250mm page an image explaining about microns, and the various nasties that they filter out at different stages; I think this information is INCREDIBLY helpful, especially as I use tank water, so I'm going to invest in the 0.2 replacement cartridges going forward. If I may provide a little feedback, I would like to see Bunnings add this micron image to all of the Stefani replacement cartridge pages because it is a case of you don't know what you don't know.

Thanks so much for your help on this journey and learning curve @EricL , I really do appreciate it.

Regards,

Jason