Whole House Filtration for Fullerton Homes
A whole house filter sits on the main line, so everything downstream of it gets treated water. Kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, the ice maker, the outside tap. There is no good faucet and bad faucet arrangement to remember.
What it takes out is taste, odor, sediment and the disinfectant your city uses. In Fullerton that last item is genuinely the story. The approach is covered on the whole home water filtration page.
Fullerton Runs Two Disinfectants at Once
The city chlorinates the water it pumps from its own wells. The water it imports from Metropolitan arrives treated with chloramine, which is chlorine bonded to ammonia. Both are in the system, and the blend reaching a particular part of the city changes over time.
The practical result is a moving target. A household can go months finding the water perfectly acceptable and then notice a distinctly different smell in the shower. Nothing failed. The mix changed. Since chloramine is the more stubborn of the two to filter, the sensible approach is to specify carbon that handles chloramine from the outset, so the changeover stops being something you notice at all.
"Fullerton is the city where people most often tell me their filter stopped working. Nine times out of ten the filter is fine and the water changed. If the carbon was only ever specified for chlorine, the first chloramine spell walks straight through it. Spec for the harder one and the problem disappears permanently."
Gregg Stewart, Owner, Puronics of Orange County, CA C-55 #904801, (714) 545-3022
What SilverShield Does
The Puronics systems carry SilverShield HYgene, activated carbon with microscopic silver embedded in it. The carbon reduces chlorine and chloramine taste and odor. The silver inhibits bacterial growth inside the tank, which is worth having in a component that is permanently warm, wet and out of sight. The silver ion approach came out of NASA research into purifying water aboard the Space Shuttle orbiters.
Filter Replacement and Service in Fullerton
Carbon wears out, and a system past its service life is doing very little for you while looking exactly the same. On the iGEN equipped systems the valve monitors your actual water volume and tells you when the SilverShield is due, which removes the most common failure mode: nobody remembering.
We keep replacement carbon at the Irvine office. If you have an existing system of any age, including one that came with the house, call with the model number and we will tell you honestly whether it can be serviced or whether it has genuinely reached the end.
Filtering and Softening Are Different Jobs
Filtration deals with what you can taste and smell. Softening deals with calcium and magnesium, which is what leaves white crust on the faucets, spots the glassware and stops soap lathering. Fullerton sits inside the Orange County groundwater basin and the water here is hard enough that many households want both, which is covered on the Fullerton water softener page.
The free water test at your address measures both and tells you which is the real complaint. About one visit in five ends with the answer being neither.
If You Only Care About the Kitchen Tap
Treating the whole house is the right call when the shower is the problem. If the only water that bothers you is what goes in a glass or a coffee pot, an under sink reverse osmosis unit is a much smaller job, and that sits on the Fullerton drinking water systems page.
Water Filtration FAQ: Fullerton, CA
Does Fullerton use chlorine or chloramine?
Both, and which one you get depends on where you are and when you ask. The city chlorinates the water it pumps from its own wells. The share it buys from Metropolitan arrives already treated with chloramine. Those supplies blend differently across the city and across the year, so a Fullerton tap can be carrying either one at different times.
Why does that matter for choosing a filter?
Because the two are not equally easy to remove. Carbon strips free chlorine readily. Chloramine is more stable, holds on to its ammonia, and needs longer contact time with the right setup. A system specified for chlorine alone will seem to work beautifully until the blend shifts, and then it will not. In a city that runs both, you specify for the harder one.
Can a whole house filter work in a 1920s Fullerton house?
Yes, and it is worth planning properly. Older downtown homes have tight utility spaces and plumbing laid out long before anybody considered a treatment loop. The system itself is not the constraint, the location is. We work out siting and routing during the water test so nothing gets improvised on install day.
Will filtration fix hard water too?
No. Filtration handles taste, odor, disinfectant and sediment. Hardness is calcium and magnesium, and removing it needs a softener. They are two machines doing two jobs, and plenty of Fullerton houses end up with both. The water test tells you which complaint is bigger at your address.
How often do the filters need changing?
It follows household water volume rather than a fixed schedule. The Puronics iGEN valve tracks actual usage and reports when the SilverShield is due, which is more reliable than a note in a drawer. We stock replacement carbon at the Irvine office and handle the change on a scheduled service visit.
Can you service a filter somebody else put in?
Often, and it is worth asking before you replace anything. Tell us the make and model and we will be honest about whether it is still available for it and whether it is worth keeping. Older Fullerton homes turn up all sorts of equipment fitted by previous owners, and some of it is perfectly serviceable.
More from Puronics of Orange County: the Fullerton water treatment overview, salt free systems in Fullerton, plus whole house filtration in Orange, Yorba Linda, Irvine and Santa Ana.
