DIY guideWater quality

Identify what's on your water line

A filter, a UV lamp, a softener, an RO or an iron filter: what each looks like on the pipe, and what each needs.

7 steps

Tap a step to watch it again.

Start at the main valve and follow the pipe. Anything on it before the water heater treats the whole house.
A clear or blue canister hanging from the pipe: a sediment or carbon filter. Its cartridge gets changed.
A long steel tube with a cord and a small light: a UV lamp. It kills germs, and the lamp is changed yearly.
A tall tank beside a wider one full of salt: a softener. A tall tank on its own, no salt: often an iron filter.
A small tank and a row of canisters under the kitchen sink, with its own little tap: RO, reverse osmosis.
Photograph each one's label, so a pro knows the model.
A UV lamp that's dark or beeping: drink bottled water. That, a leak, or water that smells or looks wrong: ask Handyman for a water treatment pro.

Handyman says: Lamp out? Drink bottled. I'll find a pro.

Free for every home. Handyman asks a few questions, then books a pro it trusts.