I was concerned about the effects of chlorine in my tap water. I wanted to find a simple way to get rid of chlorine. So I did some research on how to remove chlorine from tap water without chemicals.
Here’s the answer:
You can remove chlorine from water without chemicals by using any of the following methods: Stripping with fresh air, Off-gassing, boiling, charcoal filtration, using an air-stone and Reverse osmosis.
Let me dig deeper and explain each of these methods in detail.
Off-gassing Chlorine
The simplest method of dechlorinating water is to let the chlorine evaporate. Chlorine is a gas that has been compressed to make it a liquid. At room temperature chlorine is a gas, so if you live chlorinated water exposed to the atmosphere, the chlorine will evaporate. How fast it evaporates depends on the surface area of the container.
The advantage of this method of eliminating chlorine is that it is free and straightforward. The downside of this method is that it might take up to 24 hours for the chlorine to evaporate. Also, if the municipality uses chloramines, this method will not work.
Boiling water to remove chlorine
Like Gassing off, boiling works using the same principle of letting chlorine turn into a gas and escape into the atmosphere. Boiling water speeds up the evaporation process. The method is faster than the first method although it requires a lot of energy more so if you are boiling a lot of water. Boiling will also not be able to get the lid of chloramines.
Activated Charcoal filtration
When water runs through activated charcoal, chlorine is absorbed by the charcoal. This method is fast because it takes just seconds of chlorine to be filtered out. This method is good because it also removes chloramines from water.
The downside of this method is the activated charcoal filters needs to be replaced regularly. Most filters will not last for more than six months. When you buy new filters, you have to let the water run through them for some time to remove charcoal dust from them.
Stripping with fresh air
If you have two vessels and your transfer water from one vessel to the other, atmospheric air strips chlorine from the water as water moves through the air. You can do this about ten times to remove all the chlorine in the water. By using this method, you can only dechlorinate a small amount of water.
Reverse osmosis
Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a method of removing chemicals from water by using a membrane filtration. The technology was developed for submarine by U.S navy. Water is first filtered out using a carbon filter to remove organic material. Next, water is filtered using a semi-malleable membrane which allows water to pass through but not chemicals which have dissolved in the water. RO is effective in filtering out all chemicals including chloramines from water. One disadvantage of using reverse osmosis is that it is expensive to buy and install.
Air-stone
If you have a fish tank, you can remove chlorine by placing air-stone inside the tank. The air bubbles will help speed up the evaporation of chlorine.
Effects of chlorine
Like many people, I can’t bear the sharp smell of chlorine. Although I tolerated it for a long time, this changed when I read an article by a respected Doctor talking about health problems associated with chlorine.
Chlorine is put in the water by city water departments because it is good at killing micro-organism found in water to prevent water born diseases such as chlorella and typhoid.
Although chlorine is effective in killing pathogens, chlorine should be filtered out in Aquarium-keeping water and home brewing water. Some people will dechlorinate water for their plants but drink water with chlorine without knowing the adverse effect of chlorine on their health.
Did you know?
When you drink chlorinated water, chlorine kills the friendly bacteria found in your intestine that help in the digestion of food. Some of these bacteria are essential for the body to make vitamins.
Chlorine leads to the production of toxic chemicals in the body that can cause the production of free radicals that cause cancer.
You may be thinking, I don’t drink chlorinated water.
But showering with chlorine water is as dangerous as drinking. We absorb more chlorine through our skin when we shower with chlorine water than when we drink.
By its nature chlorine is bleach. In fact, chlorine is an ingredient in most brands of home bleach. When you shower with chlorinated water, it destroys the protective oily layer that protects our skin. That leaves your skin feeling dry.
Showering and drinking dechlorinated water is a remedy for skin conditions such as acne and eczema.
Methods of removing chlorine from water without chemicals
How to remove chlorine from tap water without chemicals
- the easiest way to remove chlorine is simply to let it evaporate (Off-gassing
- boiling
- Remove chlorine by charcoal filtration
- Using an air-stone
- Transfer water between two vessels ten times to remove chlorine
- Reverse osmosis water filtration system
Conclusion
Before you decide on which method you will use to filter out chlorine you need to verify if your municipality uses chlorine or chloramine. If they use chloramine then you have to use activated charcoal filters or reverse osmosis. There are chemical filtration methods that are effective in filtering chloramine like the use of ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
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ABOUT LEON SMITH
Leon is a 27-year-old blogger from Mauritius who is currently studying for a Masters degree in chemical and processing Engineering at the University of Eldoret in Kenya. Read more about him.