Do you use a water filter system? If yes, which one?

avatar33

e-Hustler
Dec 5, 2009
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Calgary, AB
Been using a Brita filter for years. Can't stand the taste of tap water without it, but I know there are probably much better options out there. I'm not much of a conspiracy freak that thinks the gov adds fluoride in our water to control our minds, but I do believe there is a lot of harmful shit in our water that should be filtered:

Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) such as pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals. These chemicals are found in most municipal water sources and even in well and other sources due to agricultural run-off and contamination. Research links certain VOCs to damage in the reproductive system, liver, kidneys and more.

Heavy Metals like lead and mercury are found in some water sources and have been linked to many health problems.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals are chemicals that may mimic or interfere with the normal hormones in the body and these chemicals are being found in increasing amounts in the water supply. From this testimony before a congressional committee on the issue: “Over the past fifty years, researchers observed increases in endocrine-sensitive health outcomes. Breast and prostatic cancer incidence increased between 1969 and 1986 ; there was a four-fold increase in ectopic pregnancies (development of the fertilized egg outside of the uterus) in the U.S. between 1970 and 1987 ; the incidence of cryptorchidism (undescended testicles) doubled in the U.K. between 1960 and the mid 1980s ; and there was an approximately 42% decrease in sperm count worldwide between 1940 and 1990 .” These chemicals are known to affect animals when they enter the water supply as well.

Fluoride This is perhaps the most controversial of the contaminants in water (if something like water contaminants can be controversial!) because it is purposefully added to the water and there is much heated debate about the benefits/harm of this. Anyone who listened to the Heal Thy Mouth Summit is well aware of the potential dangers of Fluoride thanks to Dr. Kennedy, but the short is: If fluoride has any benefit, it would be directly to the teeth, as drinking the fluoride has not been statistically shown to increase oral health at all. Additionally, fluoride has been linked to thyroid problems and other disorders when consumed internally.

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300 contaminants in tap water - Environmental Working Group
 


I use whole house sediment and charcoal filters. You can find them at any hardware store. Brita basically is a small charcoal filter.
 
hallo friend,

bill gates has filter better than brita, filters poop turd and turns into arrowhad mt spring water
 
I think BigWill has a nice setup, I know there was an earlier thread about it. Some people have crazy setups.
 
Here is my setup in the lower utility room. The 4 stage filter will get rid of almost 50% of the water as it filters out the crap. It uses a small amount to transfer anything extra in the water down to the drain. Then it goes into the holding tank and is routed into my fridge and then into other areas of the house.
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I have spigots at every sink with these(normal facets as well)
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That's pretty awesome. We just use the refillable Brita tank that stays in the fridge. How much to install all this?
 
I currently just get bottled water delivered. Couple large bottles a week, and that lasts me just fine for drinking water.

Thinking about getting a filtration unit though. I don't drink from the tap, but my dishes in this new house have streaks and white shit on them, which I'm assuming is calcium. Regardless of what it is, I quite confident I don't want to digest it. Not sure how long I'll be in this house, but will probably say fuck it, and grab a filtration system anyway.
 
Looks like bigwill has a water softener along with the filters.

The basic filters are $40-$150 each for the housing + depending on type of cartridge refill and you hook a few of them up with different fine-ness of filters cause they're more expensive the better they are, so you filter the bulk shit out first before it gets to the good ones.

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Water softeners cost a lot more. I've never installed one but bought a house that had one.

Here in seattle the city water kills marijuana plants, I know that much.
 
I currently just get bottled water delivered. Couple large bottles a week, and that lasts me just fine for drinking water.

Thinking about getting a filtration unit though. I don't drink from the tap, but my dishes in this new house have streaks and white shit on them, which I'm assuming is calcium. Regardless of what it is, I quite confident I don't want to digest it. Not sure how long I'll be in this house, but will probably say fuck it, and grab a filtration system anyway.

Are you in Uruguay now?
 
That's pretty awesome. We just use the refillable Brita tank that stays in the fridge. How much to install all this?

The main cost is labor it goes from water softener that removes the hard deposits then into the reverse osmosis system that removes the rest of the shit.

The system itself was like $300 and the water softener was another 700 bucks or so.

Waters softener is any hot water in the house (dishes, shower ect) then the bladder at the top holds water that goes through the back of the fridge into a 2nd tank that pipes off to other areas in the house via flex tube.
 
BigWill how hard is it to set up something like that for a total NOOB in plumbery? :) Did you notice any major benefits since you set up that system?

The other problem is that I live in a condo building so I don't even know if I can even get something like that installed.
 
Also a friend of mine swears by his distilled water, he bought this: My Pure Water - Premium Water Distillers

He says the distillation process is better than carbon filtering because it turns the water into steam first, then liquefies it again so it gets rid of everything in the steaming process. (At least that's what I understood from his explanation, I could be wrong)
 
Reverse osmosis also produces an extremely mineral-deficient water. Make sure your mineral game is tight and you get it from other sources or drink bottled water too.
 
Thames water - straight from the tap. Tastes fine. It's a hard water area though so we get quite a bit of limescale but nothing a quick treatment can't sort out every now and then.

Conclusion: London water is nicer than brine.
 
Here in seattle the city water kills marijuana plants, I know that much.

Most municipal water is chlorinated. The chlorine is what harms the plants. Should let tap water sit in an open container for 24hrs so the chlorine can evaporate off before watering plants with it. I usually wait 48-72hrs before using it on my plants just to be safe.

For drinking I used to distill my own, but use Zero water pitchers now because it's easier than running a still. Yeah, I know minerals, but I make a lot of tea and drink other things too.
 
Also a friend of mine swears by his distilled water, he bought this: My Pure Water - Premium Water Distillers

He says the distillation process is better than carbon filtering because it turns the water into steam first, then liquefies it again so it gets rid of everything in the steaming process. (At least that's what I understood from his explanation, I could be wrong)

Actually, its not. It will make the acidic and only removes about 50% of the crap while RO will pull about 80%
 
BigWill how hard is it to set up something like that for a total NOOB in plumbery? :) Did you notice any major benefits since you set up that system?

The other problem is that I live in a condo building so I don't even know if I can even get something like that installed.

Benefits? hmm. I think the water taste better. I don't get crap floating in my water from ice cubes anymore.

It would be very easy to setup. Most of the lines are self locking. It's more labor intensive than anything. Fishing tubes all over the house, drilling counters, installing fixtures.