How to Remove Chlorine From Drinking Water

What is chlorine?

Chlorine is a chemical compound that’s commonly used as a disinfectant. While chlorine also exists as a solid (in some natural compounds like crystalline rock salt) and a gas (at room temperature), you’d likely recognize it as a liquid primarily used as a cleaning agent and disinfectant for drinking water and water features like swimming pools, fountains and more.

Chlorine vs. chloramine

You might have also heard of “chloramine”, which is similar to chlorine but not the same. Chloramine is essentially chlorine that contains ammonia, another compound that’s primarily used as a fertilizer and cleaning agent. Chloramine in drinking water acts as a secondary disinfectant because it lasts longer and has fewer byproducts than chlorine.

Why are chlorine and chloramine in drinking water?

Chlorine and chloramine are added to municipal drinking water to control the presence of water-borne microbes (parasites, bacteria, viruses, etc.). Many cities are starting to use chloramine over chlorine because, in addition to lasting longer, it tends to have a less noticeable taste and odor.

Is chlorine safe to drink?

According to the CDC, chloramine and chlorine levels up to four milligrams per liter are considered safe—meaning you’re unlikely to suffer harmful health effects.

Chlorine becomes unsafe when exposed to high levels of it over a period of time, but that kind of exposure most commonly comes from household cleaning agents or chlorine tablets for swimming pools.

Many Cleveland homeowners want to remove chlorine from their drinking water simply because they don’t like the bleach-like taste and smell of it.

How to remove chlorine from drinking water

We’ll go over the three ways you can remove chlorine or chloramine from your home’s water supply.

1. Distillation or evaporation

Since it turns into a gas at room temperature, chlorine will eventually evaporate if you let your water sit before using it. How long you need to let it sit depends on the temperature. Chlorine in water sitting in the fridge will evaporate completely within 24 hours, but will do so faster in warmer temperatures.

You can speed up this evaporation through distillation, which is just evaporation by boiling. Boiling water for 15 minutes will remove the chlorine.

While evaporation is a natural solution to removing chlorine from water, it’s time-consuming and will increase your electric bill if you choose the distillation method.

2. Chemical neutralization (Campden tablets)

You can remove chlorine from water by neutralizing the chemical with Campden tablets. These tablets are made of potassium or sodium metabisulfite and primarily used by wineries and breweries to kill bacteria that inhibits the growth of wild yeasts in wine, beer and cider.

Campden tablets are also quick and effective at eliminating chlorine and chloramine from drinking water, with one tablet neutralizing about 20 gallons of water in 20 minutes—making it relatively inexpensive, too. But the tablets can be harmful if you or anyone in your family is allergic or intolerant to sulfite (the main ingredient). This method also requires space, like pitchers or other containers, for you to mix the tablets with your drinking water.

3. Filtration

The most effective method for cleaner, better-tasting water is to install a chlorine filter at your water supply. You can install either a:

• Whole-house chlorine filter: Attaches to your home’s water supply line (usually in the garage or basement) to remove chlorine from all of the water your household uses. These filters use an activated carbon filter, which is the most effective filter type for removing chlorine from drinking and cooking water.

• Reverse osmosis system: Attaches to a single fixture (most commonly the kitchen sink) to provide water that’s not only filtered for chlorine, but most of the other contaminants in Cleveland water supply. Reverse osmosis systems have a 4-stage filtration process, making them highly effective at removing additives and contaminants. You can learn more about the pros and cons of reverse osmosis systems in our blog.

Designed to remove the most common contaminants found in our city’s tap water, including lead, arsenic, barium, and many pharmaceuticals and pesticides.

Want to Remove Chlorine From Your Drinking Water? Call Global

Call us today at (216) 797-1230 or schedule an appointment for a free in-home estimate.

We’ve been offering the most Global water filtration service in the greater Cleveland area for 17 years and counting. Our Skilled Technicians will listen to your concerns, then go over your chlorine water filter or reverse osmosis system options. We’ll help you get purer, chlorine-free drinking water in no time.