[afton]

Do you guys use any water filter for your tap water
at home? Does it actually make any difference?

 

[Deiz]

I do, and it makes a huge difference, solely because I live near a water treatment plant and thus the water is chlorinated to hell.

Therefore, there's a huge taste difference.

 

[AuroraProject]

I've been using a Brita for years, works fine for me. I can't stand the taste of regular tap water now.

 

[Sovkiller]

The filters only remove the oddors, if your water is OK for drinking before filtering, it will be Ok after, with a better taste, and less oddors from the chlorine...Chlorine is not too healthy, so removing it will be nice.
Now if there is any contamination on the tap water, and you need any further treatment, filtering will do absolutelly nothing...

Brita works for me till now...

 

[atsang]

brita>PUR. what do you guys think about that?

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atsang /img/forum/go_quote.gif brita>PUR. what do you guys think about that?

I think that's the most generalized stereotype I've heard....well apart from Sovkiller's statement that water filters can only take away odors

Substances are what cause odors. Filters remove hard metals and chemicals by filtration and absorption. If you look up stats, you'll see that pitchers remove different contaminates then the faucet filters...as well as 3 stage filters vs 1 stage. Neither "Brita" nor "Pur" can remove all contaminates. It's best to look up what contaminates you want to reduce.

http://www.e-clipse.com/articles_gareth_july2904.htm

 

[Dork Knight]

I've used a Brita for a couple of years now, I really don't like the taste of my tap water but I would knock back a glass of cold water which has run from the tap for a while if needed.

 

[FallenAngel]

Never drank or plan to drink straight tap water, I simply get bottled water, but tea made from filtered water does taste better.

 

[StevieDvd]

Brita filtering used a home for years. The kettle is almost free of scale when we use the filtered water but if straight from the tap we'd need to de-scale it monthly instead of once a year.

So it's not just odour removal.

 

[Darth Anzi]

Our refrigerator at home has a filter built in (that needs replacing every so often). It makes a ton of difference. I'm afraid to drink tap water at our house.

 

[mrarroyo]

Every time I see a post of this nature I love it. I mean the water bottling company and the filter manufacturers have done a fantastic job at discrediting the water companies.

Yes I am biased because I work in the water and wastewater business. However do not take my word for it, independent test show that bottle water may have some kind of contaminant that prevents it from meeting primary water drinking standards, while the tap water meets them. Go ahead and so a search you will be surprised!

As far as taste yes you either have chlorinated or chloraminated water. Some people are very sensitive to its odor/flavor.

 

[KenW]

I installed filter on my homes line in and change the filter every couple of months. For drinking water, the wife has one of those pitcher deals with the filter built in. Fill the top and it filters down to the bottom of the unit from which you pour/drink. Really only use that to make coffee in the morning. Otherwise, she buys bottled water in bulk. Guess my "layered" filtering wasn't enough. JMO but I think we get too paranoid and carried away with all these filters. How did we ever survive without them?

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes I am biased because I work in the water and wastewater business. However do not take my word for it, independent test show that bottle water may have some kind of contaminant that prevents it from meeting primary water drinking standards, while the tap water meets them. Go ahead and so a search you will be surprised! As far as taste yes you either have chlorinated or chloraminated water. Some people are very sensitive to its odor/flavor.

Well I'd say bottled water companies can be ridiculous at times...especially since a lot seem to be no different then tap water

I've had some bottled water that clearly has a taste. And I'd never spend over $1 on a bottle of water.

My current tap water doesn't have much of a chlorine taste, but I have lived in areas where tap water was not drinkable. The water companies might have done a good job at killing the bacteria and nasty stuff....but the water tasted AWFUL. That's when I first tried filters....and found it made a night and day difference as to eliminate that awful taste. So my thought is that a water filter can take out impurities the water companies had to put in to kill the unhealthy contaminates. What harm is it to filter some of those out to have water that's drinkable?

Even though my tap water is perfectly drinkable here, I just recently got another water filter.....I figure I'd use it for my home brewing hobby: anything that helps baby my brew

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Every time I see a post of this nature I love it. I mean the water bottling company and the filter manufacturers have done a fantastic job at discrediting the water companies. Yes I am biased because I work in the water and wastewater business. However do not take my word for it, independent test show that bottle water may have some kind of contaminant that prevents it from meeting primary water drinking standards, while the tap water meets them. Go ahead and so a search you will be surprised! As far as taste yes you either have chlorinated or chloraminated water. Some people are very sensitive to its odor/flavor.

I live in a city where 80% of the water supply is surface water.

The place i used to live, the part of town that was built up in the early 70's, the water tasted a bit like licking the pavement out on the street.

What really worked best for it was to let it sit in a pitcher in the fridge for a couple days. Let it outgas. Let the solids precipitate.

Now i live in the oldest part of town, build up in the 30's, and the water is much better, but not exactly perfect.

You know this, because of your job, but most people don't - "hard" water isn't all the same.

My parents have incredibly hard water that comes from a limestone spring up the mountain from them. It tastes excellent right from the tap. Better than 9/10ths of bottled brands. Their hardness is almost entirely calcium. The crusty buildup in their electric kettle is pure, chalky white.

Three miles away, where i live, the water has some calcium but a whole lot of magnesium. Not nearly as tasty. the buildup in *my kettle is pale, dirty yellow.

I use the elusive 2.5 gallon PUR dispenser, which lives in my fridge, and is fitted with the much cheaper Brita carbon cartriges. I like my water ice cold - brainfreeze cold, so i would use the dispenser even without the filter cartriges, but i bought the filters when i lived at the old place. I have i think five of them left and at the new place i get six months out of them before they start funking up the water.

 

[Jubei]

Practises differ from country to country. I use a filter primarily because I live in a high rise apartment block that is quite old and the pipes are definitely rusty. Without a filter, you can actually see the water has a slight brownish tinge on a bad day. So, yes, filters really do make a difference.

And I always boil water before drinking.