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Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:24 pm
by MachineGhost
Maddy wrote: Don't reverse osmosis systems demineralize the water?  My understanding is that over time demineralized water causes calcium, magnesium, and other necessary minerals to be leeched out of your system.  I seem to recall some mention of adding Himalayan salt to RO-filtered water to avoid that problem.
That was probably me, but technically RO doesn't demineralize down to a perfect TDS of 0 so its not that acidic, but distilled is certainly 0 TDS and acidic.  It's not a problem to put in a pinch (1/16th teaspoon) of sea salt per 8 oz every time I fill up.  That's good practice for water anyway so you replenish electrolytes.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 9:18 pm
by WiseOne
Dualstow, have you tested your water for lead?  I did that when I moved into my 100 year old building, and was quite happy to get negative results on two tests.  The only other issue I'd be concerned about in a city apartment is Legionella.  A friend of mine (lived in my former building) had it twice in the past few years.  Glad I moved out of there!

If you held a gun to my head and asked me to which pitcher or faucet system is the best, I'd go with the PUR pitcher - tastes better than Brita, and uses a lot less counter space than the Berkley.  Of course, if you have the counterspace Berkley could be a great option - but then that probably means you live in a nice house and could have an undersink filter!  A cheap GE filter ($19 on Amazon) does the same job as the PUR pitcher.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 11:15 pm
by Benko
http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/p ... rt_compare

compares different filters and what they do/don't filter out.

Looks like time to replace my Brita.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 2:17 am
by MachineGhost
Benko wrote: http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/p ... rt_compare

compares different filters and what they do/don't filter out.

Looks like time to replace my Brita.
That site is managed by Aquasauna which just happens to be the #1 in every category.  And they probably don't include any possibility of filters that looks as good as their own.  But from my previous filter research, I do recall that they seemed to be head and shoulders above the rest of the competition if their data is to be believed, but it comes at a higher cost.  Their RO even includes a remineralizer.  $130 for a pitcher is bloody ridiculous when a true RO system is only $100 more than that.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:07 am
by dualstow
WiseOne wrote: Dualstow, have you tested your water for lead? 
I have actually been shopping for a company to do that. Wrote to the neighbor about it last week.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 1:48 pm
by bedraggled
I have been using the CWR creamic system for more than 15 years.

You can check their website.  They are based in Stuart, Florida.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2016 4:35 pm
by williswine
Regarding RO demineralizing water, I once suggested that my plan was to remineralize RO water by adding minerals back to it. This is what brewers do to "recreate" the water found where a given beer is produced. At least one person has posted recipes on how to approximate a large number of famous waters at http://blog.khymos.org/2012/01/04/miner ... -la-carte/. I haven't tried this yet since I am yet to switch to using RO but it sounds ideal to me.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 5:21 pm
by BearBones
williswine wrote: Regarding RO demineralizing water, I once suggested that my plan was to remineralize RO water by adding minerals back to it. This is what brewers do to "recreate" the water found where a given beer is produced. At least one person has posted recipes on how to approximate a large number of famous waters at http://blog.khymos.org/2012/01/04/miner ... -la-carte/. I haven't tried this yet since I am yet to switch to using RO but it sounds ideal to me.
How do you know that the additives do not have more toxins than regular drinking water? I guess if I were using RO and adding back minerals, I'd like to be sure the minerals have been tested. Especially those coming from other countries like China.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:57 pm
by Benko
From the reviews on amazon a lot of the aquasaunas leak and over 20% of people are unhappy with them.

Consumer reports review on water filters (this month and available online only if you are a member) is not that helpful, but it seems that if you want the majority of the bad stuff removed you need a reverse osmosis (or a distiller). 

How much work are the reverse osmosis units to use/maintain?  e.g. the one MG recommended?

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:37 pm
by MachineGhost
Benko wrote: How much work are the reverse osmosis units to use/maintain?  e.g. the one MG recommended?
It set it and forget it pretty much.  I never think about it except when I need to test the water with a TDS meter about once a year.

Then you just unscrew the housings on each of the four filters, clean it out best as you can, pop in the new filters and close 'em back up.  Just make sure you know what tubes go from whom to whom.  I'd tag 'em and its corresponding filter housing with colors or notes next time so its not so confusing.  The trickiest part is remembering to turn the cold water diverter valve back on!

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:45 am
by williswine
BearBones wrote:
williswine wrote: Regarding RO demineralizing water, I once suggested that my plan was to remineralize RO water by adding minerals back to it. This is what brewers do to "recreate" the water found where a given beer is produced. At least one person has posted recipes on how to approximate a large number of famous waters at http://blog.khymos.org/2012/01/04/miner ... -la-carte/. I haven't tried this yet since I am yet to switch to using RO but it sounds ideal to me.
How do you know that the additives do not have more toxins than regular drinking water? I guess if I were using RO and adding back minerals, I'd like to be sure the minerals have been tested. Especially those coming from other countries like China.
Good point! For some ingredients it's simple, e.g. baking soda (the famous orange box you put in the fridge). For others, you could look at brewing suppliers selling mixes since these are readily used in the brewing process and should meet strict standards. You could also look for individual ingredients generally sold as food supplements, seeking labels such as USP verified, extra fine food grade (or perhaps "pharmaceutical grade"), ISO 9001 manufacturing, GMP, FDA GRAS, etc. You could seek countries of origin other than "countries like China". At the end, as for anything else you put in your body, you have to do your due diligence: this applies to Himalayan salts or sea salts (those contain minute amounts of e.g. iron, which you may or may not ingest).

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:58 am
by williswine
MachineGhost wrote:
Benko wrote: How much work are the reverse osmosis units to use/maintain?  e.g. the one MG recommended?
It set it and forget it pretty much.  I never think about it except when I need to test the water with a TDS meter about once a year.

Then you just unscrew the housings on each of the four filters, clean it out best as you can, pop in the new filters and close 'em back up.  Just make sure you know what tubes go from whom to whom.  I'd tag 'em and its corresponding filter housing with colors or notes next time so its not so confusing.  The trickiest part is remembering to turn the cold water diverter valve back on!
What bothers me with RO is bacterial growth. I have not researched this aspect. As I believe bleach destroys the RO membrane, using bleach for disinfection of tubes and filters would require a very thorough rinse. So what to do? Use bleach only in the tubes and rinse them thoroughly while replacing the filters as recommended, or rinse and let air dry, some other method? Would love to see some studies on this.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:25 pm
by Maddy
Is there a reason why minerals have to be consumed in the water we drink?  I got to wondering whether salting food liberally with sea salt or Himalayan salt would accomplish the same thing, or whether there's a concentration gradient issue.  I don't remember much from College biology, but the principle that molecules in solution cross membranes in a direction that tends to equalize their concentration on both sides seems as though it might be relevant.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:29 am
by dualstow
Maddy wrote: Is there a reason why minerals have to be consumed in the water we drink?
I think if you were to drink mineral-free (say, distilled water) all the time, it would not be good for your body. Acidic, or something.

Re: Brita faucet filters

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:36 am
by Benko
Or at least mineral free water would lack the benefits of water with e.g. magnesium (which many people don't get enough of anyway).