Do you have a WATER filter installed?

[Wolfgirl]

Based on this recent report The Independent Drugs in tap water

Im wondering if it is wise to go ahead and have one of the filters installed. We are having a kitchen installed in the next few days, and I have little time to do much research on this.

Soooo.... I would dearly love your comments and advice.

Many thanks in advance

anyone?

My sister has a filter and softner system set up in her house. They have lovely soft water and the kettle washing machine etc lasts longer/doesn't get furred up etc. However my nephew has a kidney condition (he had to have a damaged kidney removed when 4 days old) and he isn't allowed to drink the tap water because of high levels of minerals due to the softening process which his one remaining healthy kidney would stuggle to cope with (he is 2 btw). So they have an extra tap in the larder that comes straight of the mains proior to going through the system for him to use.

That is all I know about them tbh.

Awwwrrr.... re nephew. Mind you, can't win sometimes eh!

For myself, I am always fatigued and feel generally unwell. My diet is quite good, and I do try and look after myself... but still. And so when I read the above article, I thought, yeah.... it wouldnt surprise me. What with what our cattle /poultry are being fed, sprayed on our crops and whats being pumped into our rivers, which eventually lead out to the sea and hence in our little fishes tummies, we then digest.

So now I have to think about minerals in the filtered water. How funny. OK, back to bottled spring water, maybe? Oh but hang on... wasnt there a report about bacteria in the plastic bottles, or such like affecting the bottled water?

Thanks for your comments CoV, thats great

If you mean a brita filter but on a tap in the kitchen rather than a jug
it just filters the water like a jug would.

my PIL have just paid out over £3k for a reverse osmosis system. They were told alsorts by the rep like

There is only so much water in the world and we are using the same stuff over and over again and it's full of chemicals and bugs

you now need to use a flouride toothpaste as there will be no flouride in the water - truth is the probably do use a flouride toothpaste anyway as trying to buy one without is difficult and we don't have flouride added to our water here so not alot to remove and lastly my FIl has false teeth.

They were told that the system will clean their house pipes - I'm thinking the house is 200 years old, probably has lead pipes, you want them lined and if they are cleaned surely all the gunk will come out the tap so you'll probably end up digesting 'it' anyway and in much more concentrated levels and all your water will be in direct contact with the lead pipe.

They will save hundreds on using less cleaning stuff and washing powders.

they seem happy with it though so thats all that matters. apparently once you have one you never go back. I did a search on here when they first got it and everyone who had one said it was great.

We have an under the sink reverse osmosis system here for £165 as we have an extremely high level of e-Coli plus cryptosporidium in our private water supply.
We backed it up with a UV filter too (you can get a grant for the UV filter) but UV alone was not enough to kill our polluted supply.

We have a Maytag fridge/freezer which is plumbed in to the mains and dispenses filtered water (aswell as ice, both crushed & cubed). We have to change the filter once a year.

My parents have a water softening system installed in their house. They have an extra tap in the kitchen though, for mains water, as you shouldn't drink the softened water.

furball three thousand quid. Mmmm.... OK, where's that lotto ticket I bought yesterday

I expect there are systems out there that warrant that kind of dosh, but for the humble et poor home owner such as myself, either a basic water filter on the tap, or as you say... the Brita jug thingy, is all my pocket could afford.

It is scarry though. In the short time Ive posted this thread, I have decided against anyting, other than a jug at some point. Purely becasue I want to do more research. However, I do think there is something in this water m'larky thing and not sure its doing us all very good.

GentelCarotter ooooh £165, thats a darn sight cheaper than 3 grand. OK, so seems there are top and bottom end products out there, but surely they must do the same job at the end of the day.

btw LOL, whats the diff between a built in water filter (on your tap) and the Reverse Osmosis thingy?

The reverse osmosis filters are extremely fine and more than enough to cope with the cryptosporidium bacterium.
I am unsure of the built in water filters but if you are concerned, why do you not ask Environmental Health to do a bacterial and chemical report on your water?

The brita filter will not remove the impurities that is claimed are in the water (like hormones and cancer drugs) in the article you linked to.

Not sure what exactly the brita does remove but we live in quit a hard water area and I never get a build up inside the kettle like we would if we didn't use it.

gentlegarotter - I do think my PIL paid top end for theirs, yours probably does exactly the same and infact at that price it is very affordable for most people, don't know what the pro's and cons of it all are as obviously the sodium load is higher with an osmosis thingy.

Your PIL would have bought the one which deals with the whole house so showers, bathwater, drinking water is all purified.
These come under the 'small industrial' category and are suitable for guest houses etc or where there is a risk to health from the water supply.I think it copes with about 600 litres or so.
We put one of these units into my father's house and although it seemed really expensive, we had peace of mind that he would not become ill from the eColi or crypto.

The little under the sink one offers clean water to that tap only so bathwater would still be potentially contaminated.

We also have a fridge that's plumbed into the mains, and has a filter that gets changed twice a year - maybe consider that? Seems to work well. Water tastes nice. Also makes ice .

We have a water softener, and a filter for mains water, so you use a separate tap at the sink to get a drink of water.

The system was already there when we bought the house, and the filters cost about £70 a year. But - the water tastes so much better than unfiltered. Before it had a slightly chloriney sort of taste.

Our water comes straight from a burn (stream) and we get all sorts of interesting things coming through the main tap.....it is also high in peat so is a lovely dark brown colour and it tastes vile.
Now that it goes through the little RO system it is clear and tastes much better.
The company guarantee it is 100% clean and this is what we can give to the children without worrying or constantly boiling the water.

My oh my, you guys know your stuff. Thanks ladies, this has been interesting reading. If I can get a unit for under £200 it might be worth considering, so thank you.

I definitely would not advise getting a Brita tap. My £300 tap broke after 2 years. BRITA advised me they would send out free replacement parts but I was liable for labour costs. To make matters worse I was told it was likely this would keep happening but they wouldn't refund. Cartridges also started of at £34.99 but quickly moved to nearly £60. If you want filtered water a jug is much more cost effective and has far less chance of things going wrong. The leaky tap ruined my granite worktops!

omg, please don't use Brita! They're the cheapest water filters on the market. They barely remove anything from the water, and you always have to replace the filters. Spend a little more money up front and get a system like a big or royal berkey for your family. They're light years better! www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/royal-berkey-water-filter.html

I used to have only a faucet water filter on the kitchen, but recently I've installed a whole house water filter. Having looked through the Internet and read much information, I finally chose Home Master 3-Stage water filter. I should say, a review on waterfilteriq.com/reviews/best-whole-house-water-filter/ helped me a lot. Frankly speaking, I didn't know that Brita is not recommended, so I'm glad that I didn't buy it.

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