Is there such a thing as a good faucet filter?

Holy cow, I just spent an hour looking for a filter for my faucet and they all get TERRIBLE reviews. The Pur,Brita,kenmore, all of them. They all state that they start to leak quickly and they are a pain to take on and off.

This doesn't sound fun when you need to hook up things like a wort chiller.

What has your experience been with using a faucet filter? Have you found a reliable one? Should I consider an under the sink job?

Can you tell a difference since installing it?

Why are you filtering water for your IC? :cross:

Most of us have opted to just buy the largish (whole house) canister type filters and necessary fittings to connect to a RV hose or garden hose as needed.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Why are you filtering water for your IC? :cross:

Most of us have opted to just buy the largish (whole house) canister type filters and necessary fittings to connect to a RV hose or garden hose as needed.

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Could you elaborate on this setup?

lol. I'm not filtering my IC water, I'm talking about having to take off the filter to hook up the chiller.

So does anyone actually use the faucet filters??

If i could make a sugestion i would buy a pitcher filter that you dont have to take on and off all the time they are slightly slower then the facuet filter but they dont leak, you dont have to change it, they are cheaper,easy to replace filter, you can choose you take out the filter and inset sediment filters if needed, they are infinatly versitile and the filters are a fraction of the cost of the faucet models. Brita makes a very good one but it is more expensive then the pure or walmart brand model(1/2gallon model), but i bought 3 walmart brand (i dont remember what its named but its the cheapest one) so i could filter up a whole gallon at a time, cost about the same as a mid level brita faucet filter (thats with out extra filters for the pitchers your gonna need) and i used them until they basically fell apart and they worked great for what i used them for (filtering water, removing filters and put in sediment filters to filter beer, etc) Eventually bought brita one gallon model pitcher filters and those are great but also cost about 30 bucks a piece but i think alot less hassel then taking a faucet mount filter off and putting it on again and again, because they break, you lose O-rings, you break O-rings, they leak more everytime you take them off, the replacement filters are horriably expensive, and they only have one function... so i would sugest a 1 gallon brita filter picture and just filter a gallon at a time.... i have heard that Brita has a Water dispenser which holds 2.5 galons and has two 3 stage filters in it you might try that... hate to sound like a broken record but Faucet filters just dont cut it with me

cheers
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Primary
5 gallons Irish Red ale
3 gallons Irish Stout
5 gallons Dark Hard Cider
3 gallons Eternal Ale
Secondary
None

I've got something like this NSA Model 100S Replacement Water Filter and it filters all of my cold water in my kitchen - no need for a separate tap with mine and it lasts a few years

+1 on the pitcher. Only down side is having enough water on hand. I have two milk crates- one with four gallons of filtered water, the other with unfiltered, as well as two gallons of filtered in my fridge. I use the unfiltered in my boils, and filtered for topping off to five gallons(only doing 2-3 gallon boil). Pain in the butt, but doesn't take too long to refill after a brew session. Cheaper.

A Campden tablet works swimmingly.

One tablet crushed between two spoons will effectively treat 20 gallons of water, removing both free chlorine and chloramine.

The big problem with faucet filters is the cartridges are small and expensive. Small means high flow rates, poor filtration and a short life. My house in Las Vegas had them on all of the sinks. I yanked them and installed a house filter.

I just got one of the whole house filters but I didn't mount it under the sink. I use it in the garage with hoses attached. The best part is it has a bypass so you can leave it on the hose while using your chiller but you aren't filtering the chiller water.

mangine77 said:

Could you elaborate on this setup?

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Brewing Water Filter - Lustreking Brewing

I picked up a Royal Doulton countertop filter really cheap at a yard sale a while back (actually before I even started brewing). Our water is pretty good to begin with (right from Lake Superior), but it's pretty heavily chlorinated. This filter takes all the chlorine taste away, makes good brewing water.

While the water quality is excellent, the filter does have to be disconnected prior attaching anything else to the sink (IC, bottle washer, etc.) so that's one drawback. Another is that my diverter valve doesn't work so well, so flow of water often switches to the filter at unwanted times (like when you're in the middle of doing dishes or trying to rinse your hands), but I think this is just due to failure of the O-ring.

lustreking said:

Brewing Water Filter - Lustreking Brewing

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That's the one. Or atleast very similar. Mine is a Whirlpool product, from WalMart, but is prolly cast by the same factory in China using the same melamine laden pvc. LOL. It came with a 5 Micron activated charcoal filter and has a 2 micron available too but, WalMart doesn't stock those nor does Lowes that I have seen.

+1 on the whole house canister filter. I use to use a sink mounted filter, a PUR i think, and it filtered water SOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOWWWWWWWWLY. I had to factor in an extra 15-20 minutes just to prepare my water for the mash. If i was doing a 10 gallon batch....ouch. I have pretty good water pressure and was filling at the maximum rate I could push into the filter.

I installed a whole house filter this weekend in my brew area and what a difference it made. I can now fill 5 gallon jugs in the time it use to take me to fill like half a gallon(and thats with only allowing like 50% water flow - manufactuer states filter can be run up to 5gal/min). Not to mention the replacement filters are like 1/3 the price and probably last much longer then my sink mounted filter.

I got the Omni filter from walmart as a number of others on the forum have. The upfront cost of the filter is a little higher($7 more) then some of the filters at HD or Lowes, but the replacement filters are only $4.50.

I have a PUR filter sink attachment.

I can tell you from experience that the reason they leak, especially at the viewing window, is the water pressure is too high. Turn down the flow and it'll last longer.

I have a Pur faucet filter, but I recently got this:
MoreBeer | Water Filter Kit - 10 inch
Best thing about the block filter is that, since it has hoses, I can fill my HLT as slow as I want without having to swap jugs under the faucet.

Since my wife and I drink only from one faucet in the house I installed an under-sink filter. It really is just a whole house filter housing but with an under-sink filter (good for 3 months, 250 gallons). It filters really well (water tastes so much better) and I got to pretend I was installing it so we could drink better tasting water instead of the real reason which was to use with brewing

(total cost for all the parts I needed to install it was around $50 including the $6 filter)

Walmarts around here have a clear acrylic housing for $28 and a two pack of carbon filters is only $9 and lasts for thousands of gallons. It comes with 3/4" compression fittings, but you could work in any kind of fitting you need.