Chlorine is commonly used in water treatment before it is piped into houses. If your house is connected to the municipal grid, there is a good chance you have tasted or smelt chlorine in your water. Sometimes, the chlorine even makes the water to be almost whitish in color instead of the clear colorless liquid it is supposed to be.
A water filter will get rid of a chlorine taste in water if it uses carbon-based charcoal filtration or reverse osmosis filtration methods. Activated carbon in the filtration system will absorb up to 98% of the chlorine taste and aroma from tap water. Pitcher water filters, refrigerator filters, under-sink water filters, and whole-house filtration systems will all get rid of chlorine taste.
Read on to learn more about why water has a chlorine taste, how to get rid of it naturally, and other helpful tips!
Why does tap water have a chlorine taste?
Most water treatment facilities rely on chlorine to treat their water.
Chlorine is introduced at the final stages of water purification, and its main purpose is to kill pathogens that could cause diseases. This is why bleach is a common DIY solution for purifying water in emergency situations – the chlorine in the bleach does the trick.
If you think about it, the presence of Chlorine in your tap water is actually what makes it safe for drinking and food preparation. Without it, bacteria, viruses, and other disease-causing pathogens would cause a lot of health issues.
That said, the chlorine smell and taste can be a nuisance as it affects the taste and smell of the water.
How long before chlorine disappears from tap water?
The amount of time it takes for Chlorine to disappear in tap water will depend on what method you use to remove it. Off-gassing is the most practical solution for household water. This is where you fetch the water in an open container and then leave it undisturbed for the chlorine to disappear into the atmosphere.
However, off-gassing should only be used for water that is to be used for drinking and food preparation because some traces of chlorine will remain in the water. If you intend to use the water for other sensitive purposes, like putting it in a fish tank, you will have to take more drastic measures.
So, how long before chlorine disappears from tap water?
Many variables can affect this, including the quantity of Chlorine in the water, the container used, etc. As a reference, it will take approximately 110 hours for 2ppm of chlorine to vanish from 10 gallons of water.
Which is The Most Effective Way of Dechlorinating Water?
There are many ways of dechlorinating water, and not all are equal.
For instance, if you use the de-gassing method, you will still be left with some traces of Chlorine in your water. This could be undesirable when you want to drink the water or if you are looking to use it for gardening or for your fish tank.
The most effective way of dechlorinating water is by using a water filtration system. a water filter will not only take care of the chlorine problem but also deal with other contaminants in your water – including heavy metals that could lead to serious health complications.
Here is a detailed explanation of the different home-use filtration systems (follow the link). Apart from its effectiveness, a filtration system is also less laborious and quite efficient – just install it and enjoy your dechlorinated water on auto-pilot.
Useful Tips on Dechlorinating Drinking Water
- Use a triggered carbon filter to dechlorinate your drinking water. A triggered carbon is a unique filter channel which gets rid of organic solvents, chloramines, and chlorine from your water. While some triggered carbon filters can be linked directly to your water supply at home, you can still purchase a filtered pitcher which uses a triggered carbon filter. Additionally, triggered carbon filters can easily get rid of both chloramine, and chlorine. Likewise, be careful not to pick other triggered carbon filters except those which are certified by NSF International.
- Install a reverse osmosis filter at the house. Simply put, reverse osmosis is the process of removing small particles and ions from the water. These systems can be connected where your water supply is entering the house or attached directly beneath your kitchen sink.
- Replace your filters as needed. It’s critical that you replace all your filters in due course. Yet, the amount of period it usually takes before changing your filters depends on the size of your filter, and how heavily you’re using it. Confirm with the product’s manufacturer to ensure that you’re using or replacing your filters with the proper frequency.
- Boil the chlorinated water for at least 20 minutes. Boiling water works in a similar principle as off-gassing. The liquified chlorine turns into gas and vanishes in the air. This method is sufficient to remove unstable chlorine, or chloramine from water in 20-minutes or slightly more. However, this technique can’t work in dechlorinating a large volume of water.
How to remove chlorine taste from water without filtration
Even though water filtration is the most effective way of dealing with chlorine in water, you can still use other methods.
These include:
- Off-gassing
- Charcoal filtration
- Stripping with fresh air.
Off-gassing Technique
One of the easiest ways to dechlorinate your water is to leave it in an open container for chlorine to evaporate. Of course, chlorine is only a gas that has been compressed to take the liquid form.
As such, chlorine is only a liquid gas at room temperature, but the gas vanishes if you leave the chlorinated water out in the atmosphere.
Activated Charcoal Filtration
Did you know that if you let the water run through activated or triggered charcoal, the charcoal will absorb the chlorine? Perhaps, this is yet another fast method to use, as it takes only a matter of seconds to flash out chlorine. This technique, however, will require you to change the triggered charcoal regularly.
Stripping With Fresh Air
Well, it’s possible for chlorine to vanish into the atmosphere if water is transferred from one vessel to the other.
In this method, the chlorine is stripped from the water with the fresh air while you’re repeatedly transferring water from one container to another. But this technique only allows you to dechlorinate a small amount of water.
Final thoughts
In conclusion, the smell or taste of chlorine in your water is actually a good thing – it indicates the after has been treated and is therefore free from disease-causing pathogens.
That said, you can still dechlorinate the water before drinking it or using it for other domestic needs. The best bet would be using a reverse osmosis system although you can still use the other methods discussed above.