Portable Water Filter Comparisons For The Home

There are many different kinds of water filters out now in order to combat all of the pollutants, heavy metals and chemicals found in even the most innocent looking and neutral-smelling public water supply. But along with the differences in filtration media, there are also big differences in size and price. Here is an easy portable water filter comparison for home units.

Cartridges

Although there are many water filtration units for the entire home or to attach to your faucet, there aren’t very many very small, portable units that can be taken from room to room or used in camping, hiking or in RVs. Many people can only afford a pitcher-type device that uses cartridges filled with different kinds of filtering material. This is where portable water filter comparisons concentrate.

One thing that is the same about these cartridges, no matter what type or brand you look at in a portable water filter comparison, is that they all need to eventually be changed. Of course, in order to save money, you want to find cartridges that need to be changed as little as possible. You also need to pay more attention to how much the cartridges cost than to what the bottle or pitcher costs.

Another thing to look at in making your portable water filter comparison is too look at what the cartridge unit is made out of. Is it made out of ceramic or durable plastic? Although ceramic is a lot more expensive, it also lasts longer and doesn’t need to be changed as often as plastic.

Drip, Drip, Drip

When making a portable water filter comparison, you also need to know how fast it can filter the water that you need. This writer used to have a Brita water pitcher in the 1990′s. It was a waste of money, in that the water was filtered one drop at a time to fill up a liter pitcher. This could take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour just to get a liter of water. By then, I’d just give up and used the tap.

If you don’t have time to wait, but you know for a fact that your tap water is pretty bad, then you need to seriously consider dropping a portable water filter comparison and going for a point of source filter or a whole house water filtration system. You could check with your accountant to see if this water system could be written off on your taxes somehow.

Portable Drinking Water Filters: Why Bother?

There are many different kinds of portable drinking water filters, but they all have one thing in common – they all cost money. Some cost a lot more than others. But why bother at all with any kind of portable water filter comparison when we can get water out of our home and public taps? We already pay our pubic water company for that. This is because the quality of pubic drinking water is getting worse and worse.

Shaken Not Stirred

Over decades of pollution, agricultural run off and lax government regulations about dumping waste into the sources of our public water supply, tap water has become an unappetizing cocktail. Included in this brew are carcinogens, chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, heavy metals, bacteria and even prescription medications.

Our under-funded and overworked water utility companies do not have the technology to filter out all of these pollutants, so until they can, we have to do it ourselves with the use of portable drinking water filters for our homes, RVs or vehicles. Because more and more people are concerned about their water, portable drinking water filters are getting easier to find and are steadily coming down in price.

Pollution Solution

Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies pollutants into two categories? They call things that can kill you “life-threatening pollutants”. Everything else that can get you sick are known merely “nuisance pollutants.” Over time, they really are the same kind of pollutant. If you are sick, your body does not have the energy to defend against disease and illness.

One of the most common nuisance pollutant found in your tap water is chlorine. You don’t have to be able to smell it in order for there to be too much in your water supply. If your skin has problems and your hair is becoming brittle and thin, then you could be having problems with chlorine in your water. (Be sure to see your doctor for a proper diagnosis, though!) The use of a portable drinking water filter and a shower water filter can help your skin, hair and overall health.

No Bottles

Although millions of people fell for the promise of getting pure and healthy drinking water from expensive bottled water, this has proven to be nothing but an elaborate scam. ABC News sent several famous brands of bottled water to a professional chemist in order to analyze what was different about bottles water compared to tap water. The study found no differences at all. And bottled water, in the long run, is far more expensive than using a portable drinking water filter.

Is A Brita Portable Water Filter Right For You?

Brita portable water filters are the world’s best known brand of portable drinking water filters. They are about the only brand that makes enough money to have television commercials. You can find Brita products, especially the Brita water pitcher, in just any department and hardware store in North America and Europe. But just because it’s popular doesn’t mean if Brita portable water filters are right for you.

Not A Purifier

One misconception that some people have about Brita portable water filters is that they can purify water. This is not the case. It can’t take the salt out of salt water, for example, but it can remove heavy metals and dangerous bacteria that can get into your tap water. A water purifier is a lot more expensive and a lot more complex because there are just so many incredibly tiny things to remove from water.

Besides seawater, other things a Brita portable water filter can’t remove from your tap water are radiation and many types of bacteria. However, these are problems the average North American and European homeowner won’t have much problems with in their home tap water. But don’t take a Brita pitcher with you to a campsite and try to use it for water from the local creek.

What Is It?

Brita portable water filters are similar to strainers or colanders. Except for letting the cooking water drain and keeping the cooked pasta ready for your plate, a water filter has very tiny mesh holes that can catch some large pieces of dirt, chlorine and heavy metals that you really don’t want in your drinking water. All of these things not only aren’t that great for you to drink, they also make the water taste peculiar.

The water filtration media in Brita cartridges tends to be a combination of activated charcoal and an “ion exchange resin”. This all acts like a colander with very, very tiny holes. The industry has units called microns, which is the size of a particle that’s held back from going into your water. The smaller the micron for your water filter, the better.

Disadvantages

Although a Brita portable water purifier is better than nothing for many homes, it’s not the most efficient water filtration system you can get. It’s a slow drip filter and needs to have the very expensive cartridges replaced every two to three months. You also have to throw away the first gallon or so of water because it has charcoal dust in it.

The Advantages Of Portable Ceramic Water Filters

If you hear or read about portable ceramic water filters, you may wonder just how heavy they are, even if they are described as portable. Ceramic is a lot heavier than plastic or even a family-sized Brita portable water filter unit. But you don’t have to worry about having to take a bodybuilding course in order to be able to lug around a water bottle claiming to have a portable ceramic water filter in it. Not all of the bottle will be made of heavy ceramic.

Not Lightweight In Filtration

The only part of a water bottle or device (or cartridge) that has ceramic in it is the actual filtration unit. Ceramic is considered a better holder for water filtration media than the sturdy plastics that most portable water filters are made out of. Ceramic is considered to be sturdier than even the toughest plastics and doesn’t need to be replaced as often as a plastic cartridge.

Portable ceramic water filters inside of water bottles, canteens or thermos-like containers will feel a little bit heavier than their all-plastic cousins, but it won’t be so heavy as to make a very noticeable difference. For example, the Katadyn ceramic pocket Micro-filter, a portable ceramic water filter inside of a camping water, weighs in it’s entirely about 21 ounces.

It Costs How Much?

Because portable ceramic water filters are longer lasting and excellent in filtering out dangerous water borne bacteria, they cost a lot more than their plastic cousins. In the long run, you will spend less on the portable ceramic water filters than the plastic ones, just because you have to replace the plastic ones a lot more often. But be prepared for sticker shock at the initial purchase.

Makers of portable ceramic water filters will not only make the bottles or containers, but the replacement cartridges for those containers. There doesn’t seem to be an expiration date for water filtration media, so you are encouraged to buy a replacement cartridge as soon as you know that you want to keep your portable ceramic water filter. This is just in case the company that makes the cartridges suddenly goes out of business. In today’s economy, you never know if that’s going to happen.

You are encouraged to get some kind of water filtration system to use in case of emergencies or natural disasters. They are also good for hiking, camping and trail riding, when you find a good but suspect body of fresh water.

With each passing day, more news stories and scientific reports come out about how bad bottled water is for us. We wound up spending millions for something we usually received for free. ABC News show “20/20″ famously sent famous brands of bottled water to a lab and they discovered that the contents were identical to tap water. The plastic bottles are also found to be not biodegradable. So, are portable water bottle filters the same bill of bad goods?

What Are They?

Portable water bottle filters are found mostly in sporting goods, camping and RV supply stores. They look just like a usual plastic water bottle – only they have an intricate logo and a small unit inside containing water filtration media. These are sturdy bottles to be used again and again. You definitely don’t want to use these just once, especially since the average price is $15 – and that does not include replacement cartridges.

Many times, portable water bottle filters are made of a plastic that is not derived from hard to decay petroleum but from corn oil or other botanical materials that are biodegradable. Others feature designs that don’t have many problems leaking, which stops any waste of the precious water inside.

Some feature a filtration media that’s in a plastic unit while others are portable ceramic water bottles. The ceramic bottles will usually be more expensive than the plastic, sometimes three or four times as expensive. These bottles will look more like small pumps or fire extinguishers rather than the typical water bottle.

How Safe Is The Water?

There are pros and cons to using portable water bottle filters. The pros are that it can filter out dirt, even asbestos and bacteria like salmonella. They also are lightweight and can be easily packed with you. They are also far less expensive than many other kinds of water filtration systems.

But you can’t live on strange bodies of water strained through a portable water bottle filter. For one thing, the bottle only holds about as much water as a soda can. You need to keep refilling all of the time. Also, many dangerous chemicals are much smaller than the filtration media can handle and will slip into your water anyway.

If you are taking a hike, twist your ankle and have to wait a couple of days for help next to a trickling stream, then a portable water bottle filter is better than nothing at all. But for more practical use in camping, you should boil your water and let it cool before drinking it.

In comparison to other types of water filtration systems, portable water filters don’t make the grade. They are usually slow to filter water, have expensive replacement cartridges and can only filter water about a gallon at a time. However, they do have a couple of things going for them. First off – they are portable. You can move them from room to room or house to house. Secondly, they are initially less expensive than getting many other kinds of water filtration systems.

You Can Do It Yourself

Another plus on the side of portable water filters is that you don’t need to hire anyone in order to install or remove them. However, there are also some POS water filters (point of use) that can be easily screwed onto the faucet, whether or not you are a plumber. But even POS water filtration units need filtration material changes. It’s that stuff that does the actual filtering of your water – not the actual unit that holds the filtration media.

Finding replacement filtration media is generally easier with portable water filters or even portable water bottle filters than with other kinds of filtration systems. Pitcher-type portable water filters are considered standard merchandise to sell in nearly any department or hardware store in America, Canada or Europe. All of these stores also sell the replacement cartridges or filtration materials.

What They Can’t Do

Portable water filters can make your water safer to drink – but only to a point. They’re not going to be able to filter out nuclear waste, for example. If your local government puts out a warning about not to use the water, don’t think that you are safe just because you have a Brita or another brand of small water filters.

There’s been a lot of talk about distilled water not being as healthy for you as mineral water. Distilled water is usually what public tap water is. It’s taken out things like dirt and bacteria, but also strips the water of healthy minerals. One of the advantages of portable water filters is that they don’t strip any more of these minerals from your water.

Is This For You?

If you need a lot of water filtered immediately, then a small portable water filter won’t fulfill your needs. If you’re just looking for drinking water for you, then it will fulfill your needs. Think long and hard before buying any kind of water filtration system.

Many individuals realize that the water that is released from water faucets is not necessarily without impurities. Some of those impurtities could include chlorine, pesticides or heavy metals. Some of those heavy metals could include copper, lead, mercury, etc.

Fortunately, there are products on the market that can help filter out some of these impurities. However, before investing in a particular product, it is important to conduct faucet water filter comparisons.

To accomplish a thorough faucet water filter comparison it is important to follow a number of important steps. Those faucet water filter comparison steps include conducting research and deciding on what style of filter system best meets the consumer’s needs.

Steps In Conducting A Faucet Water Filter Comparison

In order to conduct a thorough faucet water filter comparison it is important to take into account a number of options, considerations and tools. By accumulating data through this process the consumer will be in a position to make the best choice according to their needs and budget.

First of all, it is important to conduct research on what faucet water filter is needed. In order to understand what options the consumer wishes their unit to have it is prudent to do homework. That homework can be conducted by talking to salespersons at home improvement shops, researching these water filters on the Internet and taking to those individuals who own a unit. By conducting this thorough research the individual will know what units may work best, their ease of installation and use and their effectiveness in filtering out pollutants.

In addition, there are various websites available to the consumer that will provide a faucet water filter comparison on a number of units. Often these side-by-side comparisons take into account the various features, ease of use and compare the different types of water filters available. In addition, faucet water filter comparisons will indicate to the researcher the purchase cost of the compared units. Also, some of these websites will indicate the associated purchase cost of the unit.

Furthermore, the best types of faucet water filter comparison websites are ones that clearly state what pollutants are filtered out. Some of those pollutants could include the removal of chlorine, benzene, TCE’s, atrazine, etc.

Also, for those individuals who hike and camp, there are various portable water filters that can filter out bacteria and microorganisms from water supplies. When considering these types of water filters it is also prudent to conduct the same type of portable water filter comparisons.

Individuals who are concerned about the health of their families have discovered that certain communities do not often have a water source that is free of pollutants. Therefore, they may choose to utilize a water filter system. However, before purchasing a water filter system, as with all things, it is important to conduct research.

Subsequently, it is important to remember specific elements when conducting a faucet water filter review. Those specific elements include what type of system to review and where how to conduct a faucet water filter review.

The Advantages Of A Faucet Water Filter

There are many advantages to installing a faucet water filter in one’s home. One of the primaries advantages is that this type of water filtration unit is easy to install. Therefore, generally, the individual can easily perform this task on their own and therefore not need to employ a plumber to do the work. This then is not only convenient, but will save time and money as well.

Another advantage to installing the faucet water filter is that the unit is always in plain view. This is an important advantage because it will help to remind the individual about when filter changes need to be accomplished.

How To Conduct A Faucet Water Filter Comparison

Before deciding on a particular unit it is important for the consumer to conduct a full faucet water filter review. This means that the individual, in order to purchase a quality unit at the best price, should take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that the product that is purchased meets certain criteria. Specifically, the criteria that one needs to look at when conducting a faucet water filter review is the ability of the filter to perform. This means that the manufacturer should guarantee that a certain high percentage of the pollutants found in water will be filtered out through the purchase of their unit.

In addition, a faucet water filter review should indicate the durability of the product. Also, the faucet water filter review should address the issue of the number of times the filter needs to be changed. Moreover, the faucet water filter comparison should review each of these filters side-by-side in regards to what the advantages are and what the disadvantages are of the particular systems that are being reviewed.

Also, in today’s economy, the cost of such a system should be considered. Therefore, the best rule of thumb is to purchase a product that is the best product that the individual can afford.

Water is an essesential natural resource that is required by the body. In fact the human body can last days without eating food, but cannot survive without water for longer than three days.

Fortunately, there are not many households that need to go to the river or draw their water from a well. Often, households are able to simply go to their faucets, turn the handles and their efforts are rewarded with a steady stream of fresh water.

However, it is important to realize that there may be pollutants in many water supplies. Subsequently, it maybe advisable to utilize a kitchen faucet water filter system.

Possible Pollutants In The Water System

First of all, before considering the purchase of a kitchen faucet water filter system it is important to be convinced as to the importance of this type of unit being installed on the kitchen faucet. Therefore, studies have shown that even those cities that do a very good job in providing a clean supply of water to the community, may not necessarily be free of all pollutants.

In fact, it has been estimated that there may be well over 2,000 pollutants in any given water supply. Some of these contaminants may include bacteria, pesticides and chlorine. In addition, there is the issue of heavy metals. Some of those identified heavy metals that maybe in many individual’s water supply could include copper, mercury and lead.

Therefore, this can be an unhealthy situation for individuals and their families when drinking water from the water faucets in the home. This can be especially dangerous for young children. This is because the ingestion of lead has been shown to be a leading cause of learning disabilities.

What Kitchen Faucet Water Filter Is Best?

Subsequently, if looking to purchase a kitchen faucet water filter it is important to conduct a number of steps so that the proper product is purchased. Those steps could include asking individuals in one’s family or neighborhood about the particular product that they may be using. By taking this step, the perspective consumer can understand how well the product works, how easy it is to use, how satisfied the individual using the product is and how often the filters need to be changed.

In addition, the consumer that is looking into the kitchen faucet water filter system should conduct their own faucet water filter review. This faucet water filter review can be accomplished by simply going online and accessing many websites that have already reviewed these various products.

Also, it is important to note that there are many water filter systems available on the market today. Basically, the difference in these various kitchen faucet water filters is the way that they are installed and constructed. Generally, the rule of thumb is to purchase the best kitchen faucet water filter that one can afford. In addition, it is important to know often the filters needs to be changed, how difficult is this process, what is the manufacturer’s guarantee and how easy is it to install the unit.

There are many items that are taken for granted in modern day homes. An example of this statement can include the flipping of an electrical switch and a room is suddenly illuminated with light.

Another example of a modern day convenience is the turning on of a water faucet and having fresh water flowing from the faucet. However, it may surprise some individuals to know that there may be polluntants in their water supply.

Therefore, one may wish to consider a water filter system. In addition, there are different systems available. Specifically, one water filter system may be a counter top system or may be installed underneath the counter In addition, one type of system is a faucet mounted water filter.

Each of these systems has merit. However, it is important to understand what pollutants may be in the water system and, in particular, what are the benefits of a faucet mounted water filter.

Water Pollutants

Many communities do an excellent job in providing drinkable water to those that reside in those particular cities. However, it is important to note that not all pollutants can be properly filtered out of the drinking water that is provided to individuals and families. Additionally, it has been noted that there may be upwards to over 2,000 pollutants that may be in an individual’s water supply.

The pollutants that are being referred to in given city’s water system can include a variety of substances. Some of those substances could include organisms, pesticides, chlorine, or heavy metals. Some of those heavy metals could include items such as mercury, copper, lead, etc. In addition, it is very important to remember that ingestion of lead, especially in young children, has been linked to learning disabilities.

Benefits Of A Faucet Mounted Water Filter

Therefore, it is important to consider water filter systems that can help to filter out the harmful substances that may be found in the water supply. In addition, there are a number of water filtration systems available on the market for the consumer to consider.

For example there is a water filtration system that can be installed underneath the sink. Generally this system is installed between the water coming into the home and the actual faucet. Another type of water filtration system is a system that is placed on the counter. The process involved with this system is the water is drawn from the faucet and then poured through the filter and the contaminant free water is captured by a large container.

One additional water filtration system is the faucet mounted water filter. The faucet mounted water filter simply attaches to the faucet. When the faucet is turned and the water begins to flow it flows over the carbon filtration system and the water coming of the spout is therefore free of pollutants.

In regards to using a faucet mounted water filter there are two specific advantages. The first advantage is that the process is convenient. This is because the system is situated so that all the water running through that particular faucet where the system is installed is being filtered. Usually, the consumer chooses to install this device in the kitchen as part of a kitchen faucet water filter system. In addition, because it is in plain sight, one is more likely to remember to change the carbon filter according to the manufacturer’s instructions.