water purifier?

[spencersmommy]

OK, trying to go "green"...gave up water bottles, but we still buy the big jugs of water since we don't care for the taste of tap...but now we want to stop buying those and get a water filter for the faucet. Can anyone recommend one? Thanks!

[brittone2]

Are you primarily concerned with taste? Do you have concerns about fluoride? I think what you want to filter out specifically will make a difference in what type of filter you should buy.

[spencersmommy]

Mostly taste! :-)

[writermama]

Are you looking for an undersink model or one that mounts on the faucet?

How handy are you (or your DH)?

What price range are you looking for?

For taste only, an activated carbon system should do what you need. The simplest is the Brita or Pur kind of pitcher you refill.

Pur and others also sell small faucet-mounted models that are easy for most homeowners to install (but they tend to break and leak easily).

An undersink water filter would mount a separate faucet for filtered water next to your regular faucet. These are more expensive upfront to buy and more difficult to install (drilling sink or countertop and some basic plumbing required), but generally more effective and less costly over time. We have a 2-stage system that is made by Pentak that is the same as a Culligan model. It also has a function that monitors how many gallons of water have been filtered and lets you know when to replace the filters. I'm generally happy with it. (I've bought filters several times from filtersfast.com and been happy with the products and the service.)

This is the one we have:
http://www.filtersfast.com/Pentek-US-1500-lead-reduction-filter-system.asp

[Tondi G]

I've been thinking about a filter either on the faucet or a pitcher too.... we rent so we can't put anything in permanently. DO the Pur or Brita pitchers filter for lead? we have lead pipes in the building and I always try to run the water for a while before I fill pots etc cause the water looks a little rusty. whats the best thing for that???

Thanks... sorry to barge in on the post!

~Tondi

[writermama]

DO the Pur or Brita pitchers filter for lead? we have lead pipes in the building and I always try to run the water for a while before I fill pots etc cause the water looks a little rusty. whats the best thing for that???


Yes they do filter out 93% of lead and 75% of chlorine, at least according to this website -- http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.net/WaterFilter_Comparison.cfm

A caution about the website above, it is operated by the maker of the system that it gives the highest ratings, a fact that is not disclosed anywhere on the site.

[newbiemom]

We use a Brita pitcher which works well for us. What I usually do is fill up the pitcher, then take the filtered water and put that into a larger sized container to put into the fridge (we drink so much water that I was getting tired of always filling up the pitcher).

As for the lead, we once had a water guy come and test our water (he was trying to sell us a bigger water purification system) and it turned out that our Brita filtered water was just about as purified as the water from his system. he also tested for lead and our Brita water tested clean for that.
ETA - we have lead pipes as well