Which is the better filter?

I pose this question to those of you who are water experts. The water where I live is pretty bad so I always filter it, even if it's just for drinking. I've been using a Britta filter for my homebrews so I could use clean water, and it looks like it's just a charcoal filter. I also have a cartridge filter that I use to filter out apple particles when I make cider. I noticed they have sterile 0.5 micron filters that they sell. Which do you think would filter out water better?

The Brita may look like just a charcoal filter but besides the carbon it also contains ion exchange resins that pull out cations and replace them with H+ and anions and replace them with OH-. Thus it removes minerals from your water as well as anything organic, chloramine... I believe they also pass the water over metallic silver to stabilize it against bacteria. The particle filters, conversely, remove only particles. They do not change the chemical composition of the water.

Ok cool, thanks for the info! That was very helpful.

ajdelange: Brita filters do not do any of that. They are a simple charcoal filter followed by a 1-2 micron filter.

http://www.brita.ca/

To the OP, what are you trying to filter out?

No kidding? When did they change the design?

I could have sworn that I just saw that Brita included the ion exchange components AJ mentioned. Maybe they pulled them since they increase the cost?

Well they certainly did the ion exchange when I tested them but that was years ago. The world has become a crazy place. Some bureaucrat may have decided the colloidal silver was too toxic and a clever marketing department might have figured out that you can sell as many units based on hype as you can with ion exchange. I remember when they shipped with 2 teabags so you could make a cup of tea with your tap water and your tap water softened by the Brita.

I figured maybe they had swapped out the general exchange resins for KDF but a recent review I found definitely mentions resins. I'm sure the appeal now is that they remove harmfull stuff (like heavy metals) but their website certainly doesn't say anything about softening - or really much about anything other than that water lubricates your organs. I lubricate my organs with beer as does, I imagine, most of the readership of this forum.

One of the problems I have always had with Brita filters is that they never seem to specify what is actually in their filters. I can understand not wanting to confuse the public with information they do not want/need, but it would be nice to be able to compare what features are available from different companies.

I guess when you have a monopoly on the market you can do whatever feel like.

Britta and other cheapo filters are using the cheap razor/ expensive blades model. The filter medium is GAC, granulated activated charcoal. They are also known as CTO filters for chlorine taste odor. They do a good job, but the filter has to be replaced every few hundred gallons. Ridiculous.

The way to go is to get something that uses standard 9.75 x 2.5" cartridges. $21 for 5000 gallons. Carbon block does a better job than GAC because it won’t tunnel. It doesn’t remove the minerals like distilled or RO.

They recommend replacing the filter annually, but mine is years old and still going strong. The water here has a strong algae taste most of the year, if the filter quit working I’d know it. Practically everybody uses bottled water here, but filtered water is the same thing for less than a penny/gallon.

The best deal I have found is just up the road in Denton TX. Nice people and they know what they’re doing. $77 for a countertop model, they pay the shipping.
http://www.pwgazette.com/model77.htm

Britta and other cheapo filters are using the cheap razor/ expensive blades model. The filter medium is GAC, granulated activated charcoal. They are also known as CTO filters for chlorine taste odor. They do a good job, but the filter has to be replaced every few hundred gallons. Ridiculous.

The way to go is to get something that uses standard 9.75 x 2.5" cartridges. $21 for 5000 gallons. Carbon block does a better job than GAC because it won’t tunnel. It doesn’t remove the minerals like distilled or RO.

They recommend replacing the filter annually, but mine is years old and still going strong. The water here has a strong algae taste most of the year, if the filter quit working I’d know it. Practically everybody uses bottled water here, but filtered water is the same thing for less than a penny/gallon.

The best deal I have found is just up the road in Denton TX. Nice people and they know what they’re doing. $77 for a countertop model, they pay the shipping.
http://www.pwgazette.com/model77.htm

ajdelange said:

No kidding? When did they change the design?

Click to expand...

Turns out they didn't. I just happened to see Brita filters at Costco yesterday and pondered getting one to see if they still do ion exchange. The package explicitly refers to ion exchange resins in the product so I guess it is still the same as it always was.