Advice on apartment water filters.
3I need advice on water filters or filtering systems for an apartment that are relatively cheap and people have had good experiences with. The choices out there seem really big and it is hard to tell what is good that is practical for an apartment (most things discuss houses).
The current controversy in my city is the state of the water. After 3 weeks without any water and then nearly 2 weeks more where we couldn’t drink it (after the storm that mostly made the news for hitting Houston) a letter the EPA sent to the city in 2019 has just come to light. Everyone involved is pointing the finger at everyone else why no one “knew” about it rather than focusing on how to fix it and pay to fix it.
In that letter they report numerous, repeated violations and problems in the city treatment plants and our water quality. These are things like unmonitored stations at the treatment plan, failure to keep records, failure to test, failure to report unsafe water issues to customers in a timely manner if at all, failure to address the issues, failure to fix in a timely manner components of the water purification system that breaks, consistent high levels of lead and other unsavory things (bacterial and other substances) in our water (to the extent that anyone knows due to failure to test)…The city insists it is safe to drink and there are no problems that affect the safety of the water even though the infrastructure of the water system is close to 100 years old, there are chronic problems with broken pipes all over the place (both drinking water and sewage pipes). Yeah… And the sky will rain money… Right.
I finally realized filtering the water will be cheaper in the long run than buying bottled water (which has its own problems with microscopic pieces of plastic - counts can be in the 100’s - in that). I am not happy I (and my poor kitties) have been drinking this water for 4.5 years with bacteria, lead, other chemicals and contaminants, etc. in it. These problems will likely not be fixed in my lifetime as no one wants to pay for it, the state and city are arguing about who pays… and it isn’t just that the water system is nearly 100 years old with a large number at any given time of broken sewer and water pipes - the city is corrupt in ways that make Chicago look good in comparison…
It is a 1979 apartment building (so likely some lead pipes) and I have little control over what goes on here. I can’t do anything that is a permanent modification of the water pipes in here. Likely I will need to keep quiet about anything I do (and thus will have to do it myself), unless it is just a manual filter of water from the tap into a pitcher.
I have read that a whole house reverse osmosis is the best choice but that is, obviously, not possible. All I really care about is water in the kitchen as I only live in two rooms and can bring drinking water into the bathroom. I need suggestions about what what might be my best choice that won’t break the bank, pros and cons… I don’t really want to remove the minerals and other “good stuff” that is in water, just the bad stuff (although I don’t know if that is possible). And fluoride does help protect even adult teeth so it would be nice to keep that in there too.
Any suggestions appreciated (and yes I am looking into moving out of this city). Thanks.
- 10 comments, 36 replies
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An under the sink filtration unit is really going to be your only real option. The snap-on-the-faucet ones are okay, but, flow rate will suck and you’ll need to replace then filters often.
Here’s the one I use and have been really happy with:
https://www.amazon.com/iSpring-RCC7AK-Capacity-Drinking-Remineralization/dp/B005LJ8EXU/
It’s super easy to install too.
Unfortunately, you’re going to lose the minerals and fluoride, there’s no way around it unless you add it back in. Those can be supplemented with food/pills though.
@PHRoG Thanks for the specific suggestion.
Is this then easy to take out and put what came with the apartment back in or are you making modifications that will make it hard to reverse the process? I see that you have to have space under the sink for a 5 gallon reserve tank. That might be tight in this place. I’ll have to find/call to ask about the height and diameter of their tank and measure. Also are filters expensive and how often do you need to change them?
@Kidsandliz nope, no modifications needed.
Under the sink is two valves, one for hot and cold. You just turn them off and disconnect the two lines, a stubby crescent wrench and some teflon tape is all you’ll need for tools. A regular crescent wrench will work too, it’s just a bit tougher as it’s a tight fit. Or, if you have a set of standard/metric wrenches, that’d be best to absolutely ensure no stripping.
Connect those lines to the filter and then connect the lines from the filter to those same two valves. Turn them back on and you’re done! Simply reverse the process and it’s 100% back to normal.
The systems dimensions are 14.5" W x 16" (H) x 5.5" (D). The dimensions for the tank are 11" x 14"(H).
You can get systems with a smaller tank or no tank…but, the tank def helps with flow.
For replacement, they suggest once a year but that’s dependent on usage IMHO. For heavy usage, sure…but, if not you can go 2 or 3 years easy (or until output starts to slow). The replacement filters are very reasonable. Here’s a full set of 2 replacements for the 6 stage filter for under $120: https://www.amazon.com/iSpring-F19K75-Water-Filters-White/dp/B00BOAYUO2/
@Kidsandliz actually, forgot it’s only for cold water so you’ll only have to disconnect and reconnect one line, not two.
@PHRoG Thank you!!! for all that extra info and taking the time to measure things!!!
@Kidsandliz you’re welcome…one other thing I just noticed, it appears they’ve upgraded the one I linked since I got mine and it has remineralization!!
I eat a toooon of fresh veggies so I’m not too concerned but I may just upgrade now, lol.
@PHRoG Well cool. If I, in the end can afford to, go this route I will have to make sure I get one of those.
@Kidsandliz @PHRoG Doesn’t a drain need to be connected ? I’d also recommend something like the above. We have large whole house carbon filter for well water, water still tastes funky. We use the Zero Water pitcher for drink. And large dispenser one for refrigerator… Filters are kind of expensive,and when they need changing (use the TDS meter) the water smells like dead fish…
@gfreek @PHRoG However I solve my dangerous water but the city doesn’t want to tell us, we only found out due to a leaked EPA letter, problem it can’t be one that has to connect to the drain since I can’t modify the apt’s plumbing.
@gfreek @Kidsandliz yup…my bad, it’s been a couple years since I installed it and forgot about the drain connection for the waste water.
However, even though you’ll need to modify it, it wouldn’t violate your lease unless you left it modified when you leave. The part of the drain it connects to is either a $2 piece of PVC or a $10 piece of metal pipe (unlikely) that would take minutes to replace when you go to move out.
There’s a ton of videos on YouTube on how to replace it too. Just loosen the top and bottom of the joints, take it out, slip in the new one and re-tighten them.
The easiest way is:
/image zero water pitcher
I have one of these. If you like purified bottled water, aquafina, etc, you’d probably like it.
I’m not a huge fan. I like spring water the best. This removes the minerals that make spring water taste good.
@RiotDemon these are ok for drinking water but they’re nowhere near as good as a multi-stage pressurized filter system.
Plus, they’re really slow and suck for cooking things soups/water for that pasta drop you haven’t cooked yet.
@PHRoG they are slow, but there’s no installation necessary. That’s why I said easy. They filter out way more than a brita pitcher.
@RiotDemon I would agree that spring water is better than purified bottled water (which also has a plastic undertone to the taste in my opinion as well regardless of what kind of bottled water). Good to know it does a better job than a brita pitcher.
Short of a RO system (which is more of a permanent installation), perhaps a two-fold approach? A pitcher filter for the sediments and minerals, and then boiling the filtered water to kill any remaining microbes. Not the most convenient, but no installation necessary either.
@narfcake I think there are some filters that take out microbes too. When you look at the filters (dead slow water flow though) that are used by backpackers they remove microbes too. I’ll have to see what the price is of those unless the pitcher ones also can do that.
@Kidsandliz Yeah, those types of filter definitely take longer.
For boiling the water, an electric kettle may be considered. They can be had for under $30.
/image electric glass kettle
@narfcake My problem is that I don’t want to spend time on “water prep” unless I have no choice. Of course I don’t really like to cook either. I had to do far more of it when I had a kid in the house as DHS takes a dim view of not cooking meals for your kid.
@narfcake While the two step approach you describe might***** work for prepping “contaminated” water for brushing your teeth or washing & prepping foods, you wouldn’t find the water very palatable to drink.
For drinking water, you’d need to add a third step…
You see, when you boil water, it releases much of it’s dissolved oxygen, and the water doesn’t taste very good after it has cooled off. It tastes “flat”.
You can improve the water’s taste somewhat via aeration. This can be accomplished via transferring the water between two containers several times.
Try it yourself and see…
(***** Note: I say might, because it all depends upon what contaminants are in the water in the first place, and what the contaminant removal capabilities are of the particular filtering pitcher.)
@ELJAY Hmmm … I guess I must be used to it because it doesn’t bother me.
@narfcake Even so, I’ll bet you’d be surprised by the difference in taste after following the procedure I described.
But also note that “source” waters vary greatly in dissolved oxygen (DO) content in the first place.
Groundwater (well water) is significantly lower in DO than water derived from surface reservoirs.
I have drank water that come from the same (upstate NY) surface reservoirs all of my life, and am accustomed to the level of DO, so I definitely notice when it’s missing…
Back when I was using well water, I tried a few different systems to get rid of rust and possible contaminants, including a couple of different water distillers - which I don’t recommend for a long list of reasons. The best filtration system I had was from ZenWater. It filtered the water but left it tasting good. The biggest headaches with Zen: remembering to refill it at night because it is slow, and finding replacement filters that were not fakes. (Never, never buy them from Amazon Marketplace sellers!) After converting to municipal water, I still used the Zen for a few weeks to make sure the water lines were clean, then started using filter pitchers (like Brita) for drinking water.
@rockblossom Thanks for the suggestion and comments about taste.
I have been gradually wandering down the rat hole of learning everything there is to know about private wells and water treatment. I’m not too far in yet, but what filter you want depends entirely on what you want to filter. Most of the filters out there are “microfilters”, with pore sizes around 0.1 microns. “Ultrafilters”, “nanofilters”, and reverse osmosis filters are finer, and thus filter out more things.
https://www.freepurity.com/blogs/resources/micro-ultra-nano-filtration-vs-reverse-osmosis-whats-the-difference has a chart that looks representative of other charts I’ve come across.
Depending on the contaminant in question, there’s other chemical and physical interventions you can do to water, including UV light, various forms of oxidation, ion exchange (softeners and the like), and then carbon filters do a lot.
I’d guess your best bet is to get a state-certified lab to test your water so then you have a place to start. That can be expensive though. Reverse osmosis plus maybe a carbon filter would capture a lot (most or all?) of the kinds of things you’re probably worried about, but it might be worth putting something upstream of that in order to extend the life of the RO filter, depending on the water.
I’ve seen something about some RO systems having “remineralization” things on the end, don’t know what that’s about… maybe dump some magnesium and potassium in there for flavor?
@InnocuousFarmer Yeah I probably need to know what the problems are beyond the EPA report. Consumer Reports was going to use water from me for their water report but then they cut back on the number of cities they were doing and cut this one. Too bad. They tested for everything under the sun. I’d suspect we would have come in last after that EPA report. What was disheartening was the number of cities (big and small) that had numerous contaminants. Not sure when that report is going to be published but I was invited to watch the video they created.
I use an Aquasana Clean Water Machine. It sits on your countertop. I replace the filter every five months or so for thirty bucks. There’s a tank that filters my water on demand at about half a gallon per minute flow rate. There’s also a pitcher so I can filter half a gallon at a time. It’s a powered filter, so it’s not quiet, but not too loud.
Aquasana Clean Water Machine
@Nate311 Thanks for the suggestion. What I need the clean water for is just me drinking, cooking and the cats so a slow flow rate really isn’t much of a problem. I don’t think it matters for dishes, etc.
@Kidsandliz That’s exactly what I use it for.
I can’t find the ones I used to use, but when I lived in a town that had bad water I used a filtration pitcher that had a quick connect on the sink and it would use the water pressure to filter through an activated charcoal block so it was instant. The closest thing I see now is the Clear2O pitchers, but I can’t vouch for them personally. I did like the concept of filling it instantly on demand instead of having to fill a traditional pitcher and wait for it to drip down.
Funny thing, the city across the river where I grew up and still work used to have the good water but now it sounds like your city. Aging system in disrepair, lots of corruption keeping it from being efficiently fixed, and so in many parts of town the water smells and tastes like dirt. It affects where I will go for lunch as the water or drinks taste terrible lots of places. So I’ll go across the river to the place that used to be known as the bad water town. Even in my office building when you flush a smell of dirt from the water gets kicked up. It’s awful.
@djslack the single worst tasting water I have ever had was in Yulee, FL. Sulfur smell. You had to let it sit a day to get rid of the smell. Then when the well was running dry tar like stuff would spit out of the spigot. Of course I was young and dumb and drank it anyway. Of course I also drank water out of the St. Mary’s River, the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee River. We’d treat with iodine tabs it but that was about it. Well and filter it through a bandana (probably dirty since these were long canoe trips with adjudicated youth) first to get much of the particulate matter out.
@Kidsandliz that’s like the water we have at some family property in Texas. Well water that smells like rotten eggs. I hate showering in it much less doing anything for consumption.
Who knew selling off municipal water systems to private for-profit companies would pocket all the revenue instead of planning and saving to make good on their responsibility to replace aging infrastructure.
Which they knew exactly how old it was when they did their due diligence and purchased the aging water systems from the munipalities trying to unload it on the private market, just to be equally guilty/corrupt/incompetent in the situation.
The sad part? Most of the people hurt by this don’t believe in the science of water treatment, public health, or that private for-profit corporations are the universal solution for every government service because they don’t believe the government has any real purpose in a “free” society, nor any need to collect taxes to pay for such unnecessary services (to them), like public health and spending resources to keep poor people alive.
We’re getting ready to vote on a bond issue to bail out the mismanagement of the privatized water and sewerage systems here (100+ year old infrastructure in many parts of the city) under threat of post-pandemic price hikes of 20% per year for the next five years.
@mike808 HAHAHA we had a private company put in new meters and some people haven’t gotten bills in years, others get bills for thousands thousands of dollars which is pretty unrealistic in a private home. City just got something like 90M in a settlement from the meter company. Allegedly some was spent to fix the computer side of the billing system. No one seems to be able to figure out why the rest of that money isn’t being put to use to start to fix the infrastructure. Likely the rest of the money will “evaporate” like lots of other money the city gets for things that then never happen.
@Kidsandliz I would swear you live where I live but I know we’re in different states lol. Same thing happened in the city here. Water isn’t privatized at all it’s still a part of the city. I didn’t follow closely enough to know if a meter company was to blame or just mismanagement.
Where I live we are on a water co-op. They are hiking prices for repairs to an aging infrastructure as well, but it seems to be handled pretty fairly.
@mike808
Ummm… @kidsandliz. Did I miss something in your post or is this just conjecture?
Is the water company private or did they contract out the meter replacement?
@chienfou @mike808 They contracted out replacing the meters.
@Kidsandliz
OK, so it isn’t a non-municipal water company then. Of course, neither was Flint Michigan, so… YMMV.
@djslack It is never going to get fixed here due to corruption, embezzlement, kickbacks, nepotism, and good old fashioned incompetence. This is a third world country here in this city after all.
@chienfou
Flint, MI had all sorts of additional problems from criminally incompetent anti-science state govt interference in the municipal water system.
Clueless/corrupt politics and stupid ideologies “won the day” for lead poisoning etc.
Fortunately, that level of political horror is not (yet) the norm.
@f00l
Yeah. That was a real shit show. My point was more that it was NOT a private system so the private = bad inference was erroneous.
Not sure if this will get out all the things you want filtered, but we use an Omni under counter filter for the kitchen and another for the wet bar and fridge. Have had great service from them, change out the cartridge yearly and all is good. Hook-up is pretty straight forward (install a “T” and take off from there) and we have the spigot running thru the sprayer hole in the sink . Where we really notice it is if water sits out overnight in a glass, or if we set the coffeepot up to go on automatically in the morning. If it isn’t filtered it definitely smells ‘chemically’
@chienfou Hmm not much info on the website. You know what it filters out?
Brita - get faucet attachments
Change the filter every month or so depending on your use.
@jmhsrv Thanks. That is a simple solution (screw to the sink faucet) provided it filters out what I need filtered out. Hopefully filters are inexpensive.
@Kidsandliz replace every 100 gallons or so (I was wrong above), which comes out to about ever 4 mos. Filters are about $10 each so $30ish/yr which isnt bad. The attachment is $20 and comes with a filter. https://smile.amazon.com/Brita-Filtration-Reminder-Reduces-Standard/dp/B00006IV0P/ref=sr_1_6?ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-a0027-win10-dsk00-smile-us000-pcomp-feature-scomp&dchild=1&keywords=brita+faucet+filter&qid=1619498504&sr=8-6