4 ms·

i rent a room in a very old house and i wouldnt be surprised if there were higher than acceptable lead levels in the tap water here. so it got me thinking about

by bronz 10y ago

i rent a room in a very old house and i wouldnt be surprised if there were higher than acceptable lead levels in the tap water here. so it got me thinking about water filtering. a reverse osmosis filter and charcoal filter working in series seems to be the most thorough method. does anyone have experience with filtering their water?

dharma1 10y ago
You can get the water lead levels tested for relatively little money. I would. And if it turns out the house has lead pipes, you should get them changed
goldenkey 10y ago
Ive never done reverse osmosis but Ive built water filtering fountains for my cats. You'll want NSF grade (food grade) carbon from either bone or coconut shells with a fine enough mesh to provide resistance. I bought 10 pounds of this one and its still lasting over a year: http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/granular_activated_charcoal/coconut/20x50_mesh http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/granular_activat... Next you'll want to get silver tubing and adapters to kill all bacteria. You'll also be able to connect your carbon filter inline with the tubing and use a pump to push your water through the filter. This is the best NSF antibacterial silver infused tubing money can buy: http://www.newageindustries.com/clearflo-Ag-47-antimicrobial-pvc-tubing.asp http://www.newageindustries.com/clearflo-Ag-47-antimicrobial... I recommend NSF Eldon James antimicrobial tube fittings: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=550 http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=550 You can also find the clearflo tubing on usplastics but only in 100 feet rolls. I can ship some if you need only a few feet, my email is in my profile. Next youll want a transparent/translucent inline refillable filter. I recommend a 1/2" FPT but you can get larger/smaller depending on how much water you want to filter and what your tubing, adapters, and pump size is, everything needs to match. 1/2" ID for tubing and 1/2" NPT / barbs is very compatible and provides enough flow for most purposes. Theres a lot of these on the market, here's a good google search that sources images from amazon, ebay, and some smaller vendors: https://www.google.com/search?q=inline+refillable+filter&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&biw=412&bih=652 https://www.google.com/search?q=inline+refillable+filter&prm... Unless you hook this contraption up to an actual water line( your sink), you'll need a pump to push the water through the carbon. No, gravity is not good enough - if the filter is worth its salt it will provide a resistance much greater than what gravity can provide. I recommend Danner steel pumps. Their plastic ones suck, trust me, I've burned through a few. This pump has really shined: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BJK3QQ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BJK3QQ Now if you choose to use this pump, go with 1/2" on everything. Here is a barbed adapter that will screw perfectly into the top of the pump and seal perfectly with 1/2" ID tubing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TSRZJE https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TSRZJE Let me know what you finally settle on and how it goes. Filtration is lots of fun!! Cheers! :-)
- nextos 10y ago
  I'm not very familiar with filtration technologies. Is this better than a simpler setup involving one Berkey filter?
  - goldenkey 10y ago
    I dont know much about Berkey filters. It looks like they are gravity powered. They might be weaker than the filtration you could accomplish with line or pump pressure.

by bronz 10y ago

dharma1 10y ago

You can get the water lead levels tested for relatively little money. I would. And if it turns out the house has lead pipes, you should get them changed

goldenkey 10y ago

Ive never done reverse osmosis but Ive built water filtering fountains for my cats. You'll want NSF grade (food grade) carbon from either bone or coconut shells with a fine enough mesh to provide resistance. I bought 10 pounds of this one and its still lasting over a year: http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/granular_activated_charcoal/coconut/20x50_mesh http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/granular_activat... Next you'll want to get silver tubing and adapters to kill all bacteria. You'll also be able to connect your carbon filter inline with the tubing and use a pump to push your water through the filter. This is the best NSF antibacterial silver infused tubing money can buy: http://www.newageindustries.com/clearflo-Ag-47-antimicrobial-pvc-tubing.asp http://www.newageindustries.com/clearflo-Ag-47-antimicrobial... I recommend NSF Eldon James antimicrobial tube fittings: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=550 http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=550 You can also find the clearflo tubing on usplastics but only in 100 feet rolls. I can ship some if you need only a few feet, my email is in my profile. Next youll want a transparent/translucent inline refillable filter. I recommend a 1/2" FPT but you can get larger/smaller depending on how much water you want to filter and what your tubing, adapters, and pump size is, everything needs to match. 1/2" ID for tubing and 1/2" NPT / barbs is very compatible and provides enough flow for most purposes. Theres a lot of these on the market, here's a good google search that sources images from amazon, ebay, and some smaller vendors: https://www.google.com/search?q=inline+refillable+filter&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&biw=412&bih=652 https://www.google.com/search?q=inline+refillable+filter&prm... Unless you hook this contraption up to an actual water line( your sink), you'll need a pump to push the water through the carbon. No, gravity is not good enough - if the filter is worth its salt it will provide a resistance much greater than what gravity can provide. I recommend Danner steel pumps. Their plastic ones suck, trust me, I've burned through a few. This pump has really shined: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BJK3QQ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BJK3QQ Now if you choose to use this pump, go with 1/2" on everything. Here is a barbed adapter that will screw perfectly into the top of the pump and seal perfectly with 1/2" ID tubing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TSRZJE https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TSRZJE Let me know what you finally settle on and how it goes. Filtration is lots of fun!! Cheers! :-)

nextos 10y ago
I'm not very familiar with filtration technologies. Is this better than a simpler setup involving one Berkey filter?
- goldenkey 10y ago
  I dont know much about Berkey filters. It looks like they are gravity powered. They might be weaker than the filtration you could accomplish with line or pump pressure.