Drinking water filter?

[veremchuka]

I'm on a well and have a lot of iron in my water. My water softener system cleans it up significantly but not completely. I stash 1 liter bottles with water here and there in the house, I drink a lot of water, but after a week or so the bottom of the bottle shows trace amount of settled iron. Sometimes my water doesn't taste as good as it does at other times, I hate the rust taste. This is especially apparent when one of the 2 tanks back washes because I have a slow drip at the kitchen faucet and during the back washing process it drips untreated water and that really is not good tasting or looking!

How effective are water filtering devices like Britta or Pur that you can fill from your faucet and place in the fridge or counter? They seem reasonable at the $20-$30 range and filters for Pur are good for 120 gallons so that seems reasonable vs buying bottled water. Do these or other manufacturer's products produce good tasting water at a reasonable cost?

Pros, cons? Your experiences?

 

[travelover]

I installed a reverse osmosis system for about $150 seven years ago and so far all I have had to do is change the filters. I'm on a well and DW doesn't like the untreated water. The RO water tastes great.

 

[John Galt III]

My parents have pretty bad tasting water, from the regular public water lines, and they use a "pour in" type of filtering pitcher, which makes the water taste a lot better. I attach a charcoal filter to my kitchen faucet. It takes out the chlorine taste, and supposedly some number of contaminants. Don't know if either my filter or my parents' would take out rust particles or taste.

 

[SteveR]

Read the labels on the various filters to see what they purport to remove. Many do not remove much iron or many other impurities. Most seem to be pretty simple activated charcoal filters that mostly reduce odor and organics in water as well as chlorine.

RO is a good way to remove many impurities at a reasonable cost. The downside is the cost of the membranes and various prefilters and the loss of water to the drain as it will lose about 20% or so of each gallon it makes. Otherwise, the water tastes and smells great. If you have hard water or lots of iron pre-treatment would help reduce pre-filter changes. Our water is really hard and even with a softener I replace pre-filters annually and the RO membrane every 2-3 years. Overall, I know we are saving money using RO and re-usable plastic bottles vs even the cheapest bottled water at Costco.

 

[easysurfer]

I love the filter pitchers such as by Brita (the most popular brand, I think) and Culligan. I can't tell the difference in taste between a glass of water run though the filters vs bottled water.

First time I ever tried the pitchers was when living at a place built in the 70's. Difference between night and day comparing the taste of the water out of the faucet vs one that was filtered.

When I travel, sometimes I'd even bring along a pitcher with filter so when staying at the hotel I filter that water first.

 

[veremchuka]

I love the filter pitchers such as by Brita (the most popular brand, I think) and Culligan. I can't tell the difference in taste between a glass of water run though the filters vs bottled water.

First time I ever tried the pitchers was when living at a place built in the 70's. Difference between night and day comparing the taste of the water out of the faucet vs one that was filtered.

When I travel, sometimes I'd even bring along a pitcher with filter so when staying at the hotel I filter that water first.

RO sounds too expensive, the pitcher filter sounds like it is reasonable and hopefully delivers good tasting water. Your comment

I can't tell the difference in taste between a glass of water run though the filters vs bottled water.

sounds very encouraging!

 

[Buckeye]

We use Brita. We have one pitcher and one of the larger counter containers. We get replacement filters at Costco for a good price.