What Do Your Filters Take Out?
Kitchen Canister and Whole House Filters
We know that many people want to know exactly what contaminants are filtered, and exactly in what amounts. But friends, life – and water filtration – just isn’t that simple. There are many variables, including:
How much of the contaminants are in your water?
How new is the filter material?
What is the rate of water flow?
How have contaminants combined in your water, altering the chemistry? - particularly with pharmaceuticals and drugs
Other factors that we determine:
The solution is to get a water filter with
the right (high quality) filter materials.
If you are on a municipal system, the contaminants, tested and not, are largely known, and they are addressed by our standard kitchen filters listed in the online store.
You also need to know if your water is fluoridated and/or if you have chloramines. For fluoride and for chloramines, you want an additional canister (for each) since those need more contact time with filter material to be removed.
BELOW ARE LISTS OF SPECIFIC CONTAMINANTS FILTERED
REPORTED TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY.
For simplicity's sake, we’ve just made a list; it includes categories and individual contaminants.
Fair Good Excellent
What Does Granulated Carbon Filter?
Bad taste x
Odors x
Chlorine x
Chloramine (catalytic carbon; best combined with kdf) x
Triholomethanes x
(dangerous byproducts of chlorine. Coconut carbon is particularly effective.)
Heavy Metals x
Organic based pharmaceuticals x
Organic based illegal drugs x
Hormones x
Radon x
Sediment x x
Volatile Organic Compounds x
Benzine x
Endrine x
Lindane x
Methoxychlor x
Dichloroethane x
Trichloroethane x
Toxaphene x
Trichloroethylene x
Para-dichlorbenzene x
Chloramine x
Organic pesticides x
Herbicides x
Organic based industrial solvents x
PCBs x
Perchlorate x (not a lot of testing yet)
Organic arsenic complexes x
Organic chromium complexes x
Inorganic mercury x
Organic mercury complexes x
Chlorofluorocarbons x
Hydrocarbons x
Chlorocarbons x
MTBE x
Poisons
Aldicarb x
Chloroform x
Chlordane x
Heptachlor x
Lindane x
What Does KDF Filter?
Chlorine x
Heavy metals x
Lead x
Aluminum x
Arsenic x
Manganese x
Mercury x
Iron (kdf 85 better) x
Copper x
Zinc x
Cadmium x
Chromium x
Barium x
Endrin x
Lindane x
Methoxychlor x
Perchlorate x (not a lot of testing yet)
Radon x
Selenium x
Silvex x
Toxaphene x
Hydrogen sulfide (kdf 85 is better) x
Lime scale x
Chloramine (kdf 85 is better; followed by catalytic carbon) x
Iron x
Bacteria x
Algae x
Fungus x
Hydrogen sulfide x
Fluoride x
Nitrate x
What Does Activated Alumina Filter?
Fluoride x
Arsenic x
Selenium x
Notes:
Our canister kitchen filters all have a wide-spectrum Standard filter cartridge that uses sediment filters, granulated carbon and kdf.
The most commonly-added second filter is to remove fluoride.
The third most common added filter cartridge, since 2009, is to filter chloramines.
But you can combine canisters as you need.
For example, you can get a standard, a fluoride and a sediment filter.
Or you can get 2 standard filter cartridges for extra protection against most contaminants, and have a fluoride removing cartridge.
For municipals systems, the range is limited. You can buy from what is in our store, or email us with questions.
For wells, you should have your water tested first.