Water Filters-What Do You Buy
By Holistic And Organix Pet Shoppe
What Do You Buy when you don't have the knowledge and information of any brands or costs.
For someone that's overwhelmed and confused and has no clue where to start, I have some recommendations for you. This also will be budget friendly. Many water filters are not affordable such as whole house water filters. If you cannot afford a whole house filter or possibly live in an apt and need a portable one or add on, they are available. There are smaller more affordable alternatives. Make sure you filter out the fluoride.
Also I have seen many people buy a cheap 'stick on your faucet' filter that really doesn't do a lot for you.
There are good filters that you can use as portable, counter top, or under sink type filters. I am here to tell you what I use and how you can manage your money on buying filters.
What Do You Buy when you don't have the knowledge and information of any brands or costs.
For someone that's overwhelmed and confused and has no clue where to start, I have some recommendations for you. This also will be budget friendly. Many water filters are not affordable such as whole house water filters. If you cannot afford a whole house filter or possibly live in an apt and need a portable one or add on, they are available. There are smaller more affordable alternatives. Make sure you filter out the fluoride.
Also I have seen many people buy a cheap 'stick on your faucet' filter that really doesn't do a lot for you.
There are good filters that you can use as portable, counter top, or under sink type filters. I am here to tell you what I use and how you can manage your money on buying filters.
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First, I started off with having a whole house filter installed on my home. My huge mistake that cost me a lot of money was, I didn't do the research nor ask enough questions. I was brand new at searching. I bought a filter that reduced my water pressure so much that I couldn't run water or even flush a toilet the same time I was washing clothes or doing dishes. What I am mostly upset about is the fact that the guy I had to install it KNEW it was a low GPM (gallons per minute) and yet failed to explain what it was I was installing. If he had of told me, I could have bought a different one. He was so hard up for cash that he didn't say a word. Now it is him I am mad at..to this day. I spent a ton of money for both filter and install for nothing. I have since removed this filter and it went to the trash. He ALSO installed the wrong type of pipe. I also discovered it could have been installed next to my water heater. I was told by this guy and another plumbing company I needed to tap into my main line and where it was to be done. Upon more research and someone that had bought the same exact whole house filter, had installed it next to the water heater using copper pipe. My guy used PVC. You do not want PVC pipe for your clean water to travel through. So everything was a complete failure.
The plumbing company was even trying to sell me a new filter instead of the one I had purchased already. They did not explain the GPM to me either. No help at all. All they could see was dollar signs. This is why it is critical to learn before it ends up costing you a fortune. The seller of the filter didn't explain either about the gpms. It was all a failure of educating the consumer. I assumed since it was a whole house filter that it would not reduce my water pressure...but it did. I no longer buy from that company either. Ok, that was my total disaster for me. Now since then I have switched to a different company that I buy from. Would LOVE to have a whole house filter again but I don't have the funds any longer to have this all redone. So I have pipes coming into my garage that are capped off. The ONLY thing good about them is..the installer guy added a main shut off along with the piping so now, I don't have to run out to the street curb in the middle of the night with a water key and flashlight in the weather to shut off my water if needed. I simply step into my safe well lighted garage and turn the ball valve to open or close. That sure was an expensive shut off valve.
Not my picture but gives you an idea. Notice this is not directly under a sink.
Ok, so now this is my set up and I will also give you options. Most people don't realize that they also need a fluoride filter as well. First you should test your water...whether it is well water, city water, or co-op water. It doesn't matter. It should be tested. Find out what's in your water and focus on what needs to be removed. Some water contains a higher amount of arsenic, others may contain lead or iron or something else. Also know, Reverse Osmosis tanks are great. They are big and bulky and usually will not fit under sinks though. They also remove minerals. You need the good minerals so you will need to add on a natural alkalizer/ionizer, mineralizer cartridge. You should do this anyway on all filters. They also make UV lights for killing bacteria in the water.
For my home I have purchased a triple filter under sink filtering system. Remember, they do make these for countertops but you must connect to the faucet. To me that seems like a lot of inconvenience but it is clearly your choice but a great option for renters. You also will need a handyman or a plumber to change out one of your shut off valves (cold water) under your sink. I am pretty handy so I did this myself. It just saved me some money. You will need a triple connector that connects to your pipe from the house, the size needed for your faucet and a 1/4 inch connection for the third connect as well. This is a compression fitting and goes onto copper pipes. Normally your other connection goes to your faucet and is a 3/8s (the other connector seen on the side. Buy it here.
Then you need to locate an area, preferably on the right side under your cabinet to hang this heavy filter. Yes it's kind of heavy especially when it is holding water. This triple filter contains a carbon block filter, a multistage filter and a fluoride filter. There are others that are triple stage that contain different types of filters that are custom to your needs. You can also add a separate housing and add on another filter you may need such as sediment or arsenic. But for now, I will tell you what I have. The carbon block filter is located on the right side and it will get changed out the most often (every 6 months). The cost is around $20 for these. The multistage filter gets replaced depending on which filter you buy and will last 1-3 yrs (10,000 gallon), the other (20,000 gallon) will last 2-4 yrs and a 30,000 gallon filter (3-5 yrs). A little more on cost for the 2-4 and 3-5 yr one. The fluoride filter gets replaced once a year. The prices range from $59-$99. Depending on your usage and how big of a family, you may need to change out filters more often or less often. Your initial purchase cost for this with the lower gallon multistage cartridge is about $200.
You will also need an EXTRA hole in your sink next to the faucet to install the spout to use your filtered water. This will be connected below to your filter via 1/4 tubing.
This image contains shut off valve and a connector. You most likely will NOT NEED these for this particular filter. But I will discuss this later on another filter.
I also added an INLINE natural alkalizer/ionizer, mineralizer cartridge (seen below and laying on top of other filters). The do also make them to go into a standard housing as well.
These are very easy to install and are not heavy. No opening these. They are all built in. At end of its life, simply discard in trash. Also a great easy way to do an add on filter if available for what you are looking for like this fluoride one below.
Natural alkalizer/ionizer, mineralizer helps to replenish the good minerals such as magnesium, calcium etc back into the water that may have been removed or wasn't in there in the first place. Reverse Osmosis strips all minerals out so you will need to add one of these to an RO system but my filter is NOT an RO system as you most likely will see a TANK along with the filters.
These are very easy to install and are not heavy. No opening these. They are all built in. At end of its life, simply discard in trash. Also a great easy way to do an add on filter if available for what you are looking for like this fluoride one below.
Natural alkalizer/ionizer, mineralizer helps to replenish the good minerals such as magnesium, calcium etc back into the water that may have been removed or wasn't in there in the first place. Reverse Osmosis strips all minerals out so you will need to add one of these to an RO system but my filter is NOT an RO system as you most likely will see a TANK along with the filters.
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Once you have it installed, run the water for 5-10 minutes thru the newly installed spout to get any bubbles or alike out of it. Then you are ready to use. If you need an added filter such as one specific for arsenic that's heavy in your water, you can add another housing unit. The multi-stage filter will filter out arsenic but if you have a heavy amount in your water, you may need an extra filter.
Housing unit
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If you purchase a separate housing not included in a whole filter purchase, you will need these connectors. Two per housing unit.
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These are countertop triple filters.
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You can also purchase a single or double filter. If your space and budget is limited, you can purchase a single or double filter.
For my refrigerator, for dispensing ice and water, I have added a single multistage fluoride filter externally. I removed the inside filter and have plumbed a new filter connecting onto the back tubing to the frig. You will need an extra connector. If I remember correctly, I added an elbow and I believe a three-way as well. Without going behind frig and looking, I know I used some sort of added connector. I cannot recall if these came with the initial purchase of filters so you may have to run down to your local Home Depot. These are all 1/4 connectors and easy to find in stores.
For my refrigerator, for dispensing ice and water, I have added a single multistage fluoride filter externally. I removed the inside filter and have plumbed a new filter connecting onto the back tubing to the frig. You will need an extra connector. If I remember correctly, I added an elbow and I believe a three-way as well. Without going behind frig and looking, I know I used some sort of added connector. I cannot recall if these came with the initial purchase of filters so you may have to run down to your local Home Depot. These are all 1/4 connectors and easy to find in stores.
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3-way connector
I drilled a hole in the bottom of my overhead cabinet to run the tubing
above to hide the filter.
above to hide the filter.
Then I screwed the housing into the cabinet wall to help hold the filter. It's really not needed to do this as they will sit upright on their own. Below is a picture of above my frig inside the cabinet. You can see two housing units. One is screwed to wall and the other is sitting there upright. I will explain in a moment why there are two. The one on the left is the multistage fluoride removal filter. It is replaced every 12 months or so. As you can see, I took a piece of tape and wrote the install date on it. The housing on the right contains a natural alkalizer/ionizer, mineralizer (not inline like on under my sink). I didn't put a date on this but I will next time. Do you see the blue and white shut off valve? I have two (one not seen in this pic) for shutting off the water so when I go to replace these, I don't have to pull out the frig to do that. Now what I am going to do is replace this extra housing with an INLINE filter. It's smaller, and easier to replace and not so heavy. This extra housing I am looking into adding another filter to my filter systems. An added filter to remove Chloramine. My tap water is a lot higher with this chemical and so I need added filtering for this. Now I have clean drinking water and ice and I sleep good at night knowing me and my dogs are drinking clean water.
If I were to buy a whole house filter, it would probably be this one. The cost is under $2000. This is for 1-3 bath homes. They do make smaller less expensive whole house water filters also.
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For a super quick fix until you can purchase better and bigger, try a pitcher. Upgrade it to a fluoride removal filter ($40)
Here is your UV light to kill bacteria
Other filters
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There is a question about using distilled water that many feel it is the best water. Distilled water is good for short term use. The disadvantage to drinking distilled water is that most of the natural minerals in the water are gone much like reverse osmosis. If you feel the need to use distilled water or a reverse osmosis system, you should add the 'natural alkalizer/ionizer, mineralizer, and oxidation cartridge' simply because it gives back minerals such as ionized calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium ion, which were taken away by reverse osmosis or distillation.
