Does anyone use a Brita filter? (1 Viewer)

[McPaul]

or similar?

Does it do a good job? or useless? I've just been drinking a lot of water lately (staying off the coke) and it's not that the water tastes bad, I'm just thinking it would be better for me if I used a Brita or Pur filter of some kind.

Which is best? one that mounts on the faucet? (I'm in an apartment with only one sink) or a big jug that sits in your fridge?

How expensive can it get? (I see London Drugs is selling a 3 pack of filters on special for $15.99 here in Calgary now). How often do you go through filters? and is there a way to tell you need to change them, or just go by months or jugs drunken?

I believe the big jugs sell for $50 or so, not sure. Is the expense necessary or should I just drink from the faucet?

I guess I'm just becoming more conscious of what I'm drinking.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We have a Brita pitcher that is rectangle-shaped, so it fits in the door of the refrigerator. We then fill up old water bottles with the filtered water. It's a lot cheaper than buying bottled water. I will usually drink water in the evening instead of Coca Cola. It's healthier, and I avoid the caffeine that would keep me awake at night.

My wife usually changes the filter, probably every 4 months or so. The water looks very clear -- a lot clearer than plain tap water. It tastes much better than tap water, IMO.

 

[nolesrule]

The filters have a "flow meter" that measures the amount of water to pass through it. But they recommend every 3 months if you don't use it up by the 3 months.

We (as in my wife and I) tried Pur first, but it wouldn't attach to the faucet. We even bought a recommended adapter and still couldn't get it to work.

We have a 1/2-gallon pitcher and a 2-gallon tank and we think they are great. Even if they don't get everything, it's certainly better than straight tap water.

 

[PatrickM]

We use a very large rectangular Brita container that holds a hell of a lot of water. It does taste better. We really started using it once our son was old enough to drink juice mixed with water.

Its inexpensive to operate and it does work.

Patrick

 

[Steve Owen]

Add me in as a believer. We have a pitcher for the fridge. Works great.

-Steve

 

[Dustin B]

I always hated filling the pitcher. I have a Brita filter attached to the faucet now. Filter gets changed every 3-5 months. It definately improves the taste of the water where I am.

As a side note, I really wish I had got the Pur filter, since it has a swivel nosel on it. I miss my swivel nosel sooo much since I got the Brita filter. I'm on my last filter that came with the Brita and plan on switching to the Pur one as soon as it goes.

 

[Mark Dubbelboer]

I use my brita like twice every day (as in fill it twice)

I've started carrying water bottles everywhere with me. A new years resolution of mine was to give up carbonated beverages, and even though it wasn't a cold turkey quit i'm doing really well thanks to water

 

[Philip Hamm]

Fairfax County water tastes nasty like drinking pool water. My Britta makes the water much better tasting.
And I use it for ice cubes also, that's important. Ice made from nasty tap water will make anything that it's in taste like ass.

 

[Jeff_A]

We also have a pitcher in our fridge and love it. Ice cold and great taste.

 

[Denward]

I've been a filter believer for a long time. The taste alone is enough to go for it. Cost is negligible even at $20 per filter. They last a long time.
We have the Pur Ultimate, which is a faucet mount. One word of advice on that: the original Pur mount has plastic threads on it and it easily got cross-threaded on the faucet. Once the threads were no longer perfect, it easily got loose and water would spray everywhere when we turned on the faucet. There's a new Pur horizontal mount that has metal threads and it works much better

 

[AndyVX]

You know, I think I got so accustomed to the taste of tap water, that once my parents bought a brita filter I wasn't able to drink it. I couldn't stand the taste of the water.

Just so I don't take up too much time here I'll sum up quickly. We bought a new fridge a couple years ago that has a water dispenser with a huge filter. The taste is nothing like the brita filtered water, so I always drink the filtered water now.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

We do the same as the poster above in filling old water bottles with brita water and leaving them in the fridge. its amazing how much more water I drink if its just a matter of grabbing a bottle on the way by the kitchen

 

[RicP]

I'm a double-filterer.
I use the faucet mount Brita filter and pour that into the Brita Pitcher and keep 2 of those in the fridge.
Better than ANY bottled water at a fraction of the price.

 

[Kurt B]

I had the Brita in my old home and liked it. Water was very good.

In the house we built, I added an RO (Reverse Osmosis) system and feed the water from it to the fridge where the ice cubes and drinking water comes from. The units can be added to existing homes easy enough also.

~Kurt

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Brita works pretty good. It's a small difference, and I think it's worth the price.

 

[McPaul]

Thanks for all the responses guys, I'll go out to Walmart and pick one up probably tomorrow. Are there different models of tank filters out there that are better than others?
RicP (double-filtering, sounds like a Seinfeld term), and others, do you find that the PUR's take up alot of room around the faucet for example when you're trying to rinse dishes?
Andrew, yep that's exactly why I was thinking of odoing this, reduce on the pop intake. Hopefully it works well.
Thanks all, and any further input is welcome!

 

[Max Knight]

I used to use a Brita, but now I use a big filter called a "Goldwater" (it has a see-through filter section, on part of which is faintly goldish in color).

It sits behind the faucet and connects to it with a short hose/widget. You pull a pin out on the widget and it routes the water to the filter, where it gets filtered and comes out a spigot. Push the pin in and the water comes out the tap. It's more expensive than the brita ($150 or so), but in the long run it's cheaper. There are two disposable filter sections that are really really cheap (you buy packs of 10-20), but the main section is good for something like 5 years of heavy use. For me this ended up being cheaper than a Brita or Pur because those could not stand up to my bad-ass Brooklyn water (the Pur would be on the red line asking for a change after only two weeks!). I fill up a jug and keep it in the fridge.

-Max

 

[Denward]

do you find that the PUR's take up alot of room around the faucet for example when you're trying to rinse dishes?

The original vertical mount definitely got in the way more than the new horizontal mount. On the old mount, you had to pivot the entire filter housing (about the size of a coke can) 90 degrees to route the water through the filter. On the new one, the filter is stationary and there's just a small twist handle. You could always return it if it's too obtrusive for you.

 

[Mike OConnell]

Just a comment:

As long as these filters are changed regularly they can do a great job of removing particulate matter and chemicals that can be absorbed onto activated carbon.

On the other hand, if proper maintenance is not completed, they can literaly be a breeding ground for various bacteriological contaminants.

One post above indicated that they use a sink mounted system and fill water bottles that are then put into the refrigerator for later refreshment. Not a good idea using water that the disinfectant has been removed from prior to use, unless the bottle has been thoughoughly cleaned before EVERY refill. The water taken from these filters has no disinfectant properties and can act as a breeding ground if put into empty bottles that themselves have not been well cleaned.

In regards to bottled water, it should also be consumed once opened and not kept cold in a frig once opened for days on end. (In addition, bottled water has significantly less regulatory control than tap water in both the US and Canada.)

These comments come from experience as I am a water supply engineer and have been working with regulatory compliance issues on a daily basis for 14 years.

Good Luck,

Mike

 

[Randy Tennison]

So, Mike, do I complain to you about the sulfur taste in my water???
All kidding aside, we use the Pur on our faucet, and love it. Makes the KC water supply much better tasting.