How to pick the right water purifier for your home: RO, UV, UF purifiers explained

Access to clean water is one of our most basic and important needs. To get that, most of us depend upon a good water purifier at home to convert tap water to drinkable, healthy water. While a new water purifier isn’t something you head out to buy every day, you may have to upgrade your existing purifier sometime in the future. When that time comes, there are numerous options to consider thanks to advancements in technology.

Here are some of the most common types of water purifiers and who they’re for.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Purifiers

Reverse Osmosis water purifiers or simply RO water purifiers are some of the most common devices used in Indian homes. The technology in RO purifiers include multiple filtration layers, including a key reverse osmosis membrane. In these water purifiers, after the water passes through various other filters, it goes to an RO membrane that has a pore diameter of 0.0001 micron. This gets rid of bacteria and heavy metals from the water when it passes through it at high pressure.

ALSO READ: What is reverse osmosis in water purifiers?

RO water purifiers are great for those who only have access to hard water (water with minerals like calcium, potassium and chlorides), as the RO membrane helps separate the minerals from hard water, making it easier to consume. RO water purifiers are also known to last for a long time.

Ultraviolet (UV) Water Purifiers

UV water purifiers use UV purification to clean water before you drink it. This process involves an internal screen of ultraviolet light in your water filter that the water passes through, allowing the UV rays to kill any microorganisms present in the source water. These UV rays are also capable of altering the DNA of many pathogens also preventing them from multiplying,

UV water purifiers are great for those who need quick purification. These purifiers can begin working as soon as you turn on the electric supply. UV purifiers can also be very cost effective, and don’t require a lot of power to operate. The mechanism used here is also free of chemicals.

ALSO READ: 5 common water purifier issues and how to tackle them

However, UV tech alone may not be enough to completely purify tap water. This is why UV is often coupled with other technologies, like in RO+UV water purifiers.

Ultrafiltration (UF) Water Purifiers

Ultrafiltration water purifiers have a simple mechanism to cleanse water. They use a gravity-based path for the water to flow through, allowing impurities like dust, sand, and chlorine to separate themselves from the water over time. Some UF water purifiers also work without electricity. They also don’t use any chemicals in their filtration process.

These water purifiers are most common among those on a tight budget, and users who frequently have to move around. Since they don’t need electricity and need not be fixed to a wall before operation, you can always set up UF water purifiers in a different part of your home, or in a new space entirely. Needless to say, UF water purifiers are great for areas with a lot of power outages. Note that UF tech will usually be combined with UV water purifiers.

These are the most common types of water purifiers available in India. Note that many water purifiers will use more than one tech to purify water. Examples are RO+UV water purifiers, UV+UF water purifiers as well as RO+UV+UF water purifiers which combine all three technologies. While choosing the right water purifier for you, consider the kind of water you get at home, whether you want to rely on electricity for filtration, and the degree of filtration you require.