NSF, a short term for the National Sanitation Foundation which is found in 1944, is an independent third-party certification body that tests, certifies, and audits products to verify whether they meet public health and safety standards. The American certification organization changed its name to NSF International in 1990.
Products that meet NSF certification will be allowed to display the applicable NSF certification mark, showing that they have been tested by one of today’s most respected independent product testing organizations. And these products can be described as “NSF certified” or “NSF listed” products.
NSF Standards
The foundation of NSF standards is set up by not only the NSF International but also The American National Standards Institute, a private non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the voluntary standards and conformity assessment system in the United States.
The NSF Standards for testing water quality are deemed as the highest standards in the filtration industry and have been adopted as an important criterion by many countries. In the United States, one essential point to decide the reliable quality of a water filter is that it comes with NSF certifications.
NSF testing standards include many items, and the most related ones to the filtration system are shown below.
NSF/ANSI 42: this standard is the benchmark for evaluating the capacity of residential water filters. It requires that a filtration system can reduce contaminants such as chlorine and other health-related particulates to a minimum level and the filtered water should be ideal for human consumption in terms of taste, odor, and purity. The NSF/ANSI 42 standard is one of the main standards to determine whether your water is drinkable.
NSF/ANSI 53: this standard establishes the minimum requirements for the design of water filtration systems. It tests the safety of filter materials and the integrity of product construction, validates product specifications, and trials the filtration capacity of water filters. It focuses on the elimination of health-related contaminants such as cryptosporidium, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), and asbestos. The NSF/ANSI 53 standard weighs heavily when it comes to choosing filtration systems.
NSF/ANSI 58: This standard mainly tests the safety and energy efficiency ratio of reverse osmosis components. When buying a reverse osmosis water system, NSF/ANSI 58 standard helps to determine which one tops the others.
NSF/ANSI 60: It is a test exclusive to the chemicals that are used during the process of drinking water treatment. The standard sets health effects criteria for many water treatment chemicals including corrosion and scale inhibitors, coagulants and flocculants, disinfection and oxidation chemicals, pH adjustment, softening, etc.
NSF/ANSI 61: This standard mainly tests whether the toxic substances in the components of water purifiers or even in the filtered water meet the drinking water and food safety standards
Why We Should Buy NSF Certified Product?
The quality of drinking water is highly associated with our health. The municipal tap water, well water, river water, or even the rainwater contains harmful contaminants, due to industrial activities and waste disposal. As our faucet water has been treated in the water supply plants, some treatment chemicals can be found in it, such as chlorine and fluorine. The water of some areas could contain a higher level of calcium, magnesium, salts, and heavy metals while some others could include an abnormal level of acid. All of the above can bring health issues after long-term consumption.
When it’s time to get a home-use water filtration system, to search out one that works properly among a sea of products intermingled with the good and bad is not an easy project. However, the existence of the NSF mark will streamline our job, giving us the best confidence that the certified water filter is highly excellent in the filtration capacity, and thus allowing us to choose NSF certified products with peace of mind.
The Best NSF Approved Water Filtration System
Clatterans.com, a dedicated water filter online supplier, offers reliable water filters. Its water filter systems use state-of-the-art technology to remove chlorine, lead, mercury, cadmium, and thallium effectively. Our online store provides a wide variety of refrigerator replacement options for name brands like Maytag, Whirlpool, GE, Frigidaire, Amana, KitchenAid, Kenmore, Jenn-Air, or LG and other different types of water filtration systems. Whether you need indoor filtration systems or outdoor filtration solutions, Clatterans has high-quality and NSF certified products to provide.