The number of alternatives and claims about water filtration – particularly on the internet – can be befuddling.  Lots of folks would just like to get good filtration without having to get a degree in chemistry.  Here are some thoughts on the process:

1.  If you are on municipal water, then the highest levels of many things to be filtered is known.  Violations happen occasionally.  What can vary and what you need to know are:  1. Is there fluoride and 2. Is the disinfectant chlorine or chloramine?  Learning those two answers will inform what you need for filtration if you are buying from Friends of Water.  The other things to be filtered are known and are worked on by all the filters we sell.  You can also give a quick check to nitrates (especially if there are children in the house, and to arsenic.

2.  If you are on well water, you need to have your water tested to know what you are dealing with, before you buy.  Don’t think you’re doing yourself a favor by getting a ‘standard’ filter.  Filter what needs filtering.  Don’t spend money to filter out problems you don’t have, and make sure that you are investing in removing the real problems.

3.  In ‘classic’ filtration, the amount of the right filtration material determines how much filtration you get.  Filtration happens by contact time between water and filter material.  More media means more filtering.  The patented process we call the Foam Advantage, used on the kdf in these filters, means more contact between water and filter material – so more filtration.

4.  Follows from #3.  Notice how most sellers of water filters don’t tell you how much filter material is in their systems?  Why do you suppose?

5.  Quality parts matter, too.  There is a difference between cheaper parts and materials and better parts and manufacturing processes that do cost a bit more.  Better filter materials means better filtration for a longer time.  The kitchen and whole house filters we sell are made in the US, with good quality parts and ingredients

6.  Most kitchen canisters look very similar in photos on the web.  Do you think that means that they are all of the same quality and have the same quantity of filter material inside?

7.  Give it the ‘common sense’ test.  One brand has 3/4 of a pound of activated alumina, for example.  Another has 1.5 pounds.  What do you think?

8.  Tests can be indicative of what filters will do.  But do you really think that a one-time test in a lab tells you how your filter will perform after 6 or 10 months of use?   Remember – the amount of contact time between water and filter material determines amount of filtration.  More of the right filter material means more filtering.

9.  Here’s a bold statement:  In addition to the science of it all, do you have some faith in your own intuition?   Who do you want to buy from?