Home water filter for faucet or refrigerator

[Loren Booda]

What do you recommend for a water filter that either fits on one's faucet or utilizes a pitcher?

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

We have both. We use the pitcher more, simply because the water is colder when it has been in the fridge compared to out of our tap. Not much difference though except that :-). Whichever is cheaper.

 

[Evo]

My refrigerator has a water filter in it so all of my ice and water are filtered. The downside is is, the damn water filter picks up all of the refrigerator odors, so now all of my ice and water smell like fish. Don't get a fancy fridge with a built in filter, it's a rip off, unless you never put anything in your fridge.

 

[russ_watters]

In other words, in-fridge filters work fine for single males, like me..

 

[Moonbear]

I never had a problem with an in-fridge filter picking up refrigerator odors. The filter isn't actually IN the fridge, it's usually on the water line leading into the fridge. You do, however, need to change the filter periodically, which I don't think a lot of people know to do or bother to do, and that sort of defeats the entire purpose.

 

[Chi Meson]

The Brita pitcher filters are fine, and we have some odorous water in this town. Use filtered water for your cofee & tea...what a difference! Pur filter-pitchers are also good.

 

[Evo]

I never had a problem with an in-fridge filter picking up refrigerator odors. The filter isn't actually IN the fridge, it's usually on the water line leading into the fridge. You do, however, need to change the filter periodically, which I don't think a lot of people know to do or bother to do, and that sort of defeats the entire purpose.

Mine is in the fridge. It has a digital readout showing status of the filter and when to replace it, and believe me, it picks up the fridge odors.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here is what I prefer to use

http://img106.echo.cx/img106/885/wellsyslabeled3bo.jpg

 

[Evo]

All hail Ivan, Lord of the Water Filter. :!)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

All hail Ivan, Lord of the Water Filter. :!)

Yeah, I probably get to lay claim to that one. But the title only comes with the price of the next twenty years of water all at once, and really bad water.

 

[Cyrus]

Oh dear Ivan, you know MS paint went away with dos, right?

How sad,

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh dear Ivan, you know MS paint went away with dos, right?

How sad,

You are so cute. You wouldn't be one of those hobbits would you?

 

[Cyrus]

Hairy toes my f'in achin arse!

 

[Loren Booda]

I settled on the Consumer Reports featured (May 2007) best buy and top rated countertop filter, a frugal Kenmore model. It cost me $50.00 w/1 filter, and $15.00 for each additional filter (which lasts about one year).

It works quite well, with neutral taste, although I would prefer colder water. My previous, bottled water tasted as if its plastic container leached after awhile.

Thanks for y'all's feedback.

 

[Donski]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170109282090" , an under the sink NSA water filter that lasts three years. The quality of my water coming out of the tap ends up as good as bottled water without any plastic taste. You can also get NSA filters for your frig.

I was first sold on having a water filter when my sister bought a goldfish and it died as soon as she changed the water. She took it back and the 2nd one died too. While the 3rd one was dying she ran out and bought one of the attach to the faucet type filters. When she put the fish into the clean water it lived. And to think I was drinking that crappy water for years before that.

If I made iced tea with unfiltered water, the taste would change after one day. When I used the faucet filter it would last three days. But with the NSA filter the tea doesn't go bad at all. All I can suggest is don't go with one of the attach to the faucet or pitcher style filters, because they don't do half as well as a good under the sink type filter.

 

[edward]

I use an under the counter dual cartridge filter form the Home Depot. I used to use a faucet mount ,but my wife was always banging the thing wih pots and pans.

Home Depot carries the GE line of water filters. Its hard to tell who actually makes the filters. I have a GE water heater from Home Depot that was made by Rheem in Mexico.

 

[Moonbear]

I was first sold on having a water filter when my sister bought a goldfish and it died as soon as she changed the water. She took it back and the 2nd one died too. While the 3rd one was dying she ran out and bought one of the attach to the faucet type filters. When she put the fish into the clean water it lived. And to think I was drinking that crappy water for years before that.

That's not crappy water, that's normal chlorinated water! All you needed to do was let the water sit out a day before using it for the chlorine to evaporate out. This is common practice for changing water in aquariums. Anyone's tap water will kill a fish.

The only reason one really needs a filter is for taste, not because those do anything much for water quality (with the exception of set-ups like Ivan's that are filtering well water rather than city water). For example, the water in this town has a high mineral content. Out where I am, it's not so bad, but in other areas, the water has a distinctly metallic taste from the iron content. I sometimes wonder if it's a bioavailable iron that will keep everyone around here from becoming anemic, but it sure tastes bad. So, yeah, someone with that water would probably want a filter. Nothing harmful about the water, just bad taste (and discolors stuff). I've also lived in places very close to water treatment plants, and they were obviously chlorinating in the line, so my water smelled like it came straight from a swimming pool. I used filters then too (or just let the water sit in a pitcher a day, but filters were faster). Again, nothing wrong with drinking it, but it just didn't taste good.

Hmm...Evo, I've never seen (or at least didn't realize it if I did) a refrigerator with the filter inside it like that. I'll make a mental note to never buy one of those now that I know they have that problem of picking up food odors. Bad enough when your ice cubes pick up odors, let alone the drinking water too. (I would never consider the fridges with the water in the door anyway because I don't like my water cold. I prefer room temperature.)

 

[Donski]

That's not crappy water, that's normal chlorinated water! All you needed to do was let the water sit out a day before using it for the chlorine to evaporate out. This is common practice for changing water in aquariums. Anyone's tap water will kill a fish.

Yeah, I figured that out later. It's also the reason some dogs prefer to drink out of the toilet instead of the water you just put in their bowl. The water in the toilet had time for the chlorine to evaporate while the water in their bowl smells like a swimming pool to them.

But still, filtered water tastes better.

 

[Loren Booda]

edward,

my wife was always banging the thing wih pots and pans

I hope her helpmate also bangs pots and pans.

 

[Danger]

W brought a Culligan cooler (which takes 20+- litre bottles) when she moved here. The bottles are about $5 each and last a few days. The cooler is now being used as a planter, and we drink tap water. There's no difference in the taste. I plan to fit an input valve to the top of a bottle to refill from the tap and utilize the cooling function of the base. Just for the hell of it, I think that I'll put a ****load of plastic plants and fish inside to make it look like an aquarium.
Every once in a while too many moose **** in the river and we get a 'boil water' advisory, but after boiling it still tastes better than the crap in the bottles.