drainoil
drainoil HalfDork
1/24/18 8:18 a.m.

Looking for any firsthand advice on what you use to filter your home drinking water.  My old Commers reverse osmosis until is no longer doing the job. Lots of choice out there so trying to narrow things down. Ideally I'd like the added ability to filter out PFC's (local water source has been contaminated for years) but realize that may be cost prohibitive. We drink a about 3-4 gallons a day between the whole family. 

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler GRM+ Memberand UberDork
1/24/18 8:59 a.m.

I put in an under-sink RO system from these guys a couple of years ago, and it's been awesome.  Compared to the cheapo Lowes Depot system we had before, it's night and day.  I have a separate line running to the fridge for the ice maker, too.

MazdaFace
MazdaFace HalfDork
1/24/18 9:03 a.m.

Ours is in the cupboard next to the fridge. Only connected to the water from the fridge. Weatherford water is terrible. 

RXBeetle
RXBeetle Reader
1/24/18 9:38 a.m.

I installed a "big blue" 20-inch whole house filter with a rebuild-able cartridge that I load with ~4lb GAC and 1lb KDF-85. If drinking safety is the only concern a point of use filter will be cheaper. I'm on a well so it's nice to have the filtered water for the whole house. I change the filter media once a year for less than $40 vs $160 for a disposable filter cartridge. 

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt PowerDork
1/24/18 9:40 a.m.

Depends on what you're trying to filter out and for how much of the house. I just have a cheepie cartridge filter on the kitchen faucet since the water where I live isn't really full of weird minerals or any real hazards, just tastes lousy.

bgkast
bgkast GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
1/24/18 10:08 a.m.

Anybody treat water for the whole house? My wife has been complaining that our new house has hard water that makes it hard to wash her hair.

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler GRM+ Memberand UberDork
1/24/18 10:15 a.m.
bgkast said:

Anybody treat water for the whole house? My wife has been complaining that our new house has hard water that makes it hard to wash her hair.

Yeah, we have a commercial softener.  It helps a lot.  My system goes well->whole house particulate filter->softener->RO.

frenchyd
frenchyd Dork
1/24/18 10:24 a.m.

In reply to bgkast :

A good salt water filtration system will take out the bigger stuff and let a smaller more restrictive filter work on tap water.  

However since almost all water since 1945 has trace amounts of radiation  to be really safe you need to get water from deep underground caverns that take centuries for water to filter through to.  

While I’m sure there are others I buy Water from Buhl. Minnesota. It’s only $1.29 a gallon at my local grocery.  Almost all water has chlorine and fluoride in it except Buhl. In fact Buhl isn’t even filtered.  They pull it out from the multimillion gallon underground cave and bottle it!! 

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand UberDork
1/24/18 10:25 a.m.

For our drinking water we use the Big Berkey and are happy with it.  For appliances, etc we just use foam filters for sediment filtration since that's a common problem out here.

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess MegaDork
1/24/18 12:29 p.m.

We use one of these:

zen filter

 

 

It's great.  The rocks (granite) add "mineral" flavoring.  5 gal a day would probably be about max capacity once it is fully saturated.  Two of them would probably be more convenient.  The filter element is a ceramic/carbon unit designed originally for missionaries to third world countries.  You can literally pour swamp water in the top and get water clean enough for an IV out of it.

ncjay
ncjay SuperDork
1/24/18 6:11 p.m.

The recent cold wave exposed a few flaws in my water system, so while I'm doing some upgrades and repair work, I decided to filter all the water coming in using this - a Whirlpool water filter.  The water where I am is nasty and most of the pipes are full of crud, crap, and neglect, so I'm hoping this will put a stop to that. Still not going to drink it, no matter how filtered it gets.

Johnboyjjb
Johnboyjjb Reader
1/24/18 9:42 p.m.

Berkey filters for our drinking water. Very happy.

sleepyhead
sleepyhead GRM+ Memberand Mod Squad
3/11/19 3:04 a.m.

zombie thread, canoe deleted

T.J.
T.J. MegaDork
3/11/19 3:46 a.m.

Zombie thread be damned, I'm gonna post in it anyway. 

Like Tom Spangler above we have a under sink RO system from APEC. It's been good for the couple-three years we've had it. 

EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter)
EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand Mod Squad
4/8/20 5:50 a.m.

Got zombied again

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
4/8/20 6:26 a.m.

Funny, a water filtration system zombie thread over on the Garage Journal board got spammed overnight as well.  Probably the same spammer.

RevRico
RevRico GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
3/1/21 7:21 p.m.

So any brands or recommendations changed over the past couple years?

I'm looking for an under sink solution, mostly trying to get rid of chlorine taste and smell. 

Let's call it a $200 budget with easily replaceable filters or media.

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter)
lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
3/1/21 7:28 p.m.

Charcoal filter, the bigger the better.

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