Do charcoal filters remove chlorine or just the "smell" of the chlorine?

[RogerPDX]

I would like to put a whole house charcoal filter on my house, to save the brass to PEX connectors from eventual ruin from chlorine that is in the water. Do you know if these filters actually remove the chlorine, or do they just remove the smell of the chlorine from the water?

 

[Reach4]

Removes the chlorine and not just the smell. However a cartridge filter can exhaust its capacity fairly quickly. I don't know how to quantify that. There are big backwashing filters that last much longer and have a lot less backpressure and can support higher flow rates.

I don't think the fittings and PEX are noticeably hurt by chlorine. People often want he chlorine out for other reasons. The filters also take out organic compound I think.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

There are tens of millions of homes using even more brass fittings, valves and spigots all made of brass. Drinking water will have no more than 4 parts per million of chlorine. Your brass fittings will be fine.
You may have read chlorine could corrode brass and most other metals. If you were to place a brass fitting in pool chlorine, 10% sodium hypochlorite, for a year or two, it might eat some of it away. Pool plumbing will not have brass of any kind because of the much higher levels normally used in pools.
If you want a whole house carbon filter this one is rated at 600,000 gallons or fives years. https://www.pelicanwater.com/water-filters/whole-house-water-systems/

 

[JohnCT]

I just read this article about chlorine damage to PEX:

https://www.corzanplumbing.com/blog/chlorine-failures-in-pex-pipe-plague-washington-home

Pretty scary. The homeowner had the 10 year old PEX removed and his home repiped with CPVC. Hope he doesn't get snapped off brittle pipes in 10 years...



John

 

[Jadnashua]

What may be a better solution if chlorine is objectionable primarily for taste, would be to filter the drinking water rather than all of the water coming into the home.

 

[Dj2]

If your goal is filtered water for drinking and cooking at a reasonable cost, an under sink filter with an advanced carbon block 1 micron cartridge would be the answer. It's a standard 2-1/2" x 10" filter.

This is what the cartridge label says: removes chlorine taste and odor, lead, cysts, chloramine, MTBE, VOC, mercury, asbestos, particulate class 1, turbidity. Cost? under $18.

Yes, you might have to replace the cartridge (depending on use) more frequently. My solution is to install a whole house filter with a standard 2-1/2" x 10" 5 micron filter before the under the sink filter.

I question the value and the claim of the pelican filter.