I have one of those pitchers that I mainly use to get rid of the chlorine taste in the tap water, but are the actual health claims about drinking filtered water actually true? There are claims that these dinky little passive filters can get rid of things like lead and PFAS which I honestly don’t believe. Especially if you’re using it with tap water which I’d assume would always have some kind of active filtration before it gets to your home, so the idea that whatever got past the industrial grade filter at the water treatment plant can be caught by a little plastic one sounds more than a little fishy to me. Anyone have knowledge about this.
Pour Mountain Dew through a fresh Brita filter and watch what happens.
Brita filters are just carbon filters. They make water taste less like the minerals in your water. There are some filter pitchers that filter out more things, such as lead,
Honestly that fits what I use it for then. I’ve got into debates with my family about not changing the filter when the pitcher tells us to and doing it only when we taste the chlorine in the tap water (since the only reason I didn’t want it in there was because I didn’t like the taste). I always just saw it as a way to make the water taste better but they think there’s a health benefit and that it filters out more than just chlorine.
they think there’s a health benefit and that it filters out more than just chlorine.
Depending on where you are they’re not wrong. It’s a carbon filter, and carbon filters remove plenty more than just the chlorine taste, but what they’ll remove from your water depends what’s in your water. Like I wouldn’t ever bother with a filter when I’m in Edinburgh, but in America I’d probably want all my water filtered.
There’s a lot of pipeline between the filter at the plant and your home which is where something like lead contamination would happen. However from wiki,
When filtering water, charcoal carbon filters are most effective at removing chlorine, particles such as sediment, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), taste and odor. They are not effective at removing minerals, salts, and dissolved inorganic substances.
And The EPA, make it sound like Carbon filtering is not an effective solution to PFAS contamination at an industrial scale. So I doubt your Brita pitcher is going to do better.
They are irrelevant, except for a few compounds that affect taste, if your local water treatment plant is doing its job properly. I’ve had the misfortune of renting in an area that did a half-ass job with water treatment, so I used those attachments as a precaution. The water did taste better, but hard water deposits were still about as bad as without it. Didn’t run any tests beyond that though.
The issue really comes in with the lifespan of the filters. If you’re intent on staying hydrated, you’ll burn through cartridges (and $$$) like nobody’s business and it’s tempting to put off changing out filters for weeks at a time. And after several months, the attachment itself will leak quite profusely from the filter/passthrough toggle.
If you actually do need to treat your water, such as in the case of well water, and have access to your plumbing, it’s much more economical to install an inline or whole-home filtration system.
I don’t know anything for sure, but always thought it was more likely to filter out contaminants in your pipes?
I just use those filters to get rid of the hardness in the water due to drinking tea.
Britta filters can reduce water hardness to a little margin but I wouldn’t bet on those to reduce water hardness…
Better have specific filters under the sink to reduce those carbonates or if you have some money to spare (~1000$) a specific machine directly connected to your water income in the basement !
The ones we use, lasts for about 2-3 months.
Usage is 1L every two days with moderate hard water.
You definitely see the reduction from the tea I have at home vs work.
If I leave the tea at home to cool on the desk, it still hasnt developed the thin film of (I believe) tannins in comparison to the tea at work which looks like I could walk on it.
I think you need a zero water filter I think they’re supposed to be the best.
