We install four main categories: whole-house filters, under-sink filters, reverse osmosis systems, and specialty media for specific contaminants. Which combination is right depends entirely on what your water test shows.

Whole-House Filters

A whole house water filter installs where the main line enters and treats every drop before it reaches any fixture. Showers, laundry, ice makers, and every tap.

This is the right approach for problems that affect more than drinking water. Sediment wears out fixtures and appliance valves. Chlorine affects how a shower feels and how laundry comes out. Sulfur odor makes the whole house unpleasant regardless of what you drink.

Whole-house systems typically combine a sediment stage with a carbon stage. The sediment cartridge goes first, rated by micron size, and protects the finer carbon media behind it.

The tradeoff is that whole-house filtration cannot economically remove dissolved contaminants. Treating every gallon in the house to drinking-water purity would be enormously expensive, and you drink a tiny fraction of what you use.

Under-Sink Filters

Point-of-use carbon filters install under a single sink and treat only that tap. They are inexpensive, simple, and effective for taste and odor.

They make sense when your only complaint is drinking water flavor and your water is otherwise sound. They do not remove dissolved solids, nitrates, or sodium — for that you need reverse osmosis.

Cartridge changes are straightforward and most homeowners handle them once shown how.

Reverse Osmosis

A reverse osmosis system forces water through a semipermeable membrane that rejects the overwhelming majority of dissolved contaminants — lead, nitrates, sodium, fluoride, dissolved solids, and much more.

It is the most thorough residential treatment available and it is almost always installed at a single point of use, typically the kitchen sink, with a small storage tank underneath.

RO systems filter in stages: a sediment pre-filter, a carbon pre-filter that protects the membrane from chlorine, the membrane itself, and a post-filter polish. Each stage has its own replacement interval, and the pre-filters are what determine whether the membrane reaches its full life.

In hard water, installing an RO system downstream of a water softener extends membrane life considerably. We frequently recommend the pairing.

Specialty Media

Some problems need dedicated equipment rather than general filtration.

Iron removal systems handle the orange staining that standard filters cannot. Sulfur treatment addresses hydrogen sulfide odor. Neutralizing filters correct acidic water, which matters because low pH dissolves copper out of your pipes and eventually produces pinhole leaks. Ultraviolet treatment addresses bacteria, which is primarily a well-water concern.

These are prescribed from test results, not selected from a catalog.

What Filtration Does Not Do

Worth stating clearly because it is the most common misunderstanding: filters do not soften water.

Spots on glassware, scale on fixtures, soap that will not lather, and stiff laundry are hardness — dissolved calcium and magnesium. No carbon or sediment filter removes them. That requires a water softener or a salt-free water conditioner.

Many homes need both, addressing different problems.

How We Recommend

We test on site, look at what your fixtures and water heater tell us, and ask what specifically bothers you. The equipment follows from that.

The most common outcome for Hill Country homes is a softener for hardness, a whole-house sediment and carbon filter if the supply warrants it, and an RO unit at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking.

Sometimes the answer is a single under-sink cartridge. Occasionally it is nothing.

Maintenance Is Part of the Decision

Every system has consumables and a service interval. Before you buy, you should know both, because that recurring cost is part of the purchase.

We put it in writing and can put service on a schedule under our Care Club maintenance plan.

To get your water quality tested, contact 72 Degrees or call (830) 468-5316. We serve Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Boerne, Comfort, and the surrounding Hill Country.