What Do Your Filters Take Out?

Kitchen Canister and Whole House Filters: What is Filtered?

     To see details on specific filters, go to the Shop tab above, and select category.

Many people want to know exactly what contaminants are filtered, and exactly in what amounts. Sorry friends, but water chemistry is far too complex for a simple lists claiming specific removal rates to be reliable across varying situations.

 

There are many variables, including: 

  • How many contaminants are in your water?
  • How much of each of those 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:

  • How much filter material is in your filter?
  • Are the filter materials top quality?

The solution is to get a water filter with the right (high quality) filter materials.

If you are on a municipal system many of the potential contaminants are actually not tested or known. But they are addressed by the wide-spectrum filter cartridge all of our standard kitchen filters listed in the online store. 

You do need to know if your water is fluoridated and if you have chloramines.  For fluoride and for chloramines, you want an additional canister for each.  These are more difficult to filter and need more filter material to do it effectively.

BELOW ARE LISTS OF SPECIFIC CONTAMINANTS BY MEDIA TELLING YOU WHAT IS FILTERED REPORTED TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY.

This is a realistic listing of what is filtered.

For simplicity’s sake, we’ve just made one list that includes both categories and individual contaminants. Those listed are the contaminants normally of concern. There are hundreds of other potential contaminants. Very nearly all will be filtered by the filter materials in our kitchen and whole house filters. 

THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF CONTAMINANTS.  THE FILTERS WE SELL HAVE THE FILTER MATERIALS TO WORK ON ALL THE CATEGORIES OF THESE CONTAMINANTS. THEY ALSO HAVE MORE QUALITY FILTER MATERIAL THAN MOST, AND A PATENTED PROCESS ON KDF, SO THERE IS MORE FILTRATION.  THE IDEA IS THAT WHATEVER GETS IN THE WATER SUPPLY, YOU HAVE THE BEST FEASIBLE DEFENSE ALREADY IN PLACE.

This chart shows what each FILTER MEDIA does.

The filters we sell COMBINE the right media to address what is needed for your water.  

                                                          Fair                    Good            Excellent

What Is Filtered by Activated Alumina?                                              (This is just ONE of the filter media combined our filters!  Scroll down to see what OTHER filter materials take out!)

Fluoride                                                                                                             x

Arsenic                              x

Selenium                                                                                                            x

What Is Filtered by KDF?
(This is just ONE of the filter media in our filters!)

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 done)

Radon                                                                            x

Selenium                                                                                                            x

Silvex                                                                                                                  x

Toxaphene                                                                                                         x

Hydrogen sulfide      (kdf 85 is better)                                                         x

Lime scale                                                                                                          x

Chloramine   (kdf 85 is needed; followed by catalytic carbon)               x

Iron                                                                                                                     x

Bacteria                                                                                                              x

Algae                                                                                                                   x

Fungus                                                                                                                x

Hydrogen sulfide                                                                                              x

Fluoride                                                x

Nitrate                                                   x

What Is Filtered by Granulated Activated Carbon?
(ONE of the filter materials in our filters! )

Bad taste                                                                                                          x

Odors                                                                                                                x

Atrazine                                                                                                           x

Chlorine                                                                                                           x

Chloramine (catalytic carbon)                                         x   (but if you use only carbon, there won’t be enough)

Triholomethanes                                                                                            x  
  (dangerous byproducts of disinfection.  Granulated coconut carbon is particularly effective.)

Glyphosate                                                                                                       x

Haloacetic Acids   (disinfection byproducts)                                             x

Heavy Metals                                        x                             x

Hormones                                                                                                          x

Organic based pharmaceuticals                                                                    x

Organic based illegal drugs                                                                            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

Organic pesticides                                                                                             x

Herbicides                                                                             x

Organic based industrial solvents                                                                  x

PCBs                                                                                                                     x

pfoa                                                                                                                       x

Perchlorate                                                                            x     (not a lot of testing done)

Organic arsenic complexes                                                x

Organic chromium complexes                                          x

Inorganic mercury                                                               x

Organic mercury complexes                                              x

Chlorofluorocarbons                                                           x

Hydrocarbons                                                                                                    x

Chloro-carbons                                                                     x

MTBE                                                                                                                   x

Poisons

Aldicarb                                                                                                               x

Chloroform                                                                                                         x

Chlordane                                                                                                           x

Heptachlor                                                                                                          x

Lindane                                                                                                               x

To learn more about these filter materials, both in granular form and as disks or cubes  used in many of the filters we sell – click on:  Filter Media.

All the filter media used in our kitchen canister and whole house filters are NSF certified.

We do not get every configuration of the same filter materials re-certified, which would be wasteful and increase our and therefore your costs.

To see some certifications of filter materials used in our filters see Certifications.  And look under the education tab / certifications to see other test results. 

 Our canister kitchen filters all have a Wide-Spectrum filter cartridge that uses sediment filters, kdf and granulated carbon – and you add the specialty cartridges appropriate for your water, like fluoride or chloramine.

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Friends of Water is a family-owned and family-run business founded in January 2006. We work to save water, filter water and celebrate water.

  • In Business for 19 years
  • Free shipping on orders above $250.
  • All our products have a 90-day return warranty in addition to manufacturer guarantees. Return any purchase within 90 days for a full refund.
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