Do Any Water Filters Remove Fluoride?  Yes!

Fluoride can be filtered from your water with the right filters.  Be aware, however, that most filters don’t remove fluoride.  You need to be sure to get a filter that has the right filter materials.  For example, granulated coconut carbon alone will not reduce a significant amount of fluoride.

There is one type of carbon that works well on fluoride.  It’s called calcium-based carbon or bone char.  It’s also known as natural carbon.

Another filter material that does a good job against fluoride is activated alumina.  This is the natural resin, not the highly-processed product we know as aluminum.   These two filter materials are both safe and equivalent in effectiveness.   Activated alumina and bone char are recommended by the EPA for fluoride filtration.

2-canister Kitchen Fluoride Water Filters

Combining a fluoride filter cartridge of  either of these filter materials in a filter that also includes kdf and granulated carbon, will normally result in removal rates starting above 90%.  Over the life of the filter, that is apt to trail down a little bit.

Be aware of a few things though.  Firstly water chemistry is complex and variable.  What else is going on in the water will effect fluoride removal.   Also, nobody likes to hear this, but it is hard to get accurate fluoride test results.   We seen wildly different test results from the same water in a short time.

Another type of filter that can significantly reduce fluoride is reverse osmosis.  We very rarely recommend reverse osmosis,  however, due especially to the amount of water waster.  Click here for lots more on reverse osmosis.

Fluoride filtration takes time.  So the contact time between the water and the filter material impacts removal rates.  Slower flow means more fluoride removal.

That means it is hard to filter fluoride at the shower, which has a high flow rate and a small amount of filter material.  Unlike with chlorine, however, the greatest risk of fluoride is from ingestion, not showering.

The high flow rate at the whole house level also means it is hard to consistently remove the 90% plus rate as with other contaminants.  The Advanced Upgrade whole house systems we sell at www.Friendsofwater.com can start fluoride removal at close to 90%, but will trail down to an estimated 35% by the time to replace filters.  Read more at this link.  See the Filtration tab.