Any water filter knowledge here?

[julianf]

Note : I'm not asking for discussion on heavy metal halm or otherwise.


I'm looking for a water filter, permanently installed, to remove heavy metal contamination from drinking water.

Do I need to go for a reverse osmosis system, with storage tank etc?

I only want to filter a small amount for cooking and drinking water. Just one single kitchen tap is fine.

If it makes any difference, the water here is very soft, so any filter would not have to deal with limescale.

Thank you.

 

[Seadog]

I use a LIFF with CR10 activated carbon filter. It makes my tap water taste sweet and does wonders for ttea.

 

[julianf]

I use a LIFF with CR10 activated carbon filter. It makes my tap water taste sweet and does wonders for ttea.

Thank you. I'm a little dubious of the claims of carbon filters (etc) at removing heavy metals. I notice the website for the filter you mention talks about "reducing" (rather than removing) the heavy metal content (which is a little too hazy for me, as that's all I'm really interested in).

 

[winchman]

25% of the RO water will go to drain, are you on a water meter?
RO is not exactly cheap if its only for drinking and cooking why not use bottled?

 

[Blobber]

I would want to know why you have a problem with heavy metal in the water? if its mains then thats down to the supply company to sort isnt it? If you are are on a bore hole our local council has a testing service to test for contaminates so you know what your trying to filter/remove

 

[julianf]

25% of the RO water will go to drain, are you on a water meter?
RO is not exactly cheap if its only for drinking and cooking why not use bottled?

No water meter here.

 

[julianf]

I would want to know why you have a problem with heavy metal in the water? if its mains then thats down to the supply company to sort isnt it? If you are are on a bore hole our local council has a testing service to test for contaminates so you know what your trying to filter/remove

If we start disusing this, then we will spend time discussing this, and not what i actually want to be discussing.

Apologies if this seems very "strict" however, i asked this same question on another forum, and i have got wise to the way the conversation goes without very clear constraints.


Again, the removal of lead from water is what i would like to discuss. Not any other red herring that will detract from this.

 

[winchman]

Have you a lead main? I believe water people replace them for free?

 

[julianf]

Have you a lead main? I believe water people replace them for free?

Please see my prior comment.

Again, I've been through this before and am aware of how the discussion can get derailed.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Didn't @brewdexta install a filter system?

 

[fizzy]

Activated carbon has been used for many years and is well proven if you pardon the pun. Or use the more modern resin ion exchange filters.
Reverse osmosis typically makes the water so pure it is like drinking distilled water which is yuk!

 

[Kayos]

RO is expensive and in my experience not necessary

 

[fizzy]

Didn't @brewdexta install a filter system?

I have installed several - at my old place in the Brecon Beacons and in my place in Portugal.
sediment filter first followed by finer filters and activated carbon. Then a UV system to get rid of bugs. If you need a big flow rate it gets expensive.
Water still tastes nice.

 

[Domdom]

Our water is awful and I keep tropical fish. The water is so hard that I had to move from tropical to Malawi Cichlids as they love hard water in the rift lakes.

I still put the fish water through a HMA (heavy metal axe) set of filters and it does remove the traces I used to get. Also removes Chorine, more the Chloramine they use to sterilise the water, but it still makes lousy tea with a sort of scum on top.

For drinking I use a full reverse osmosis system with an extra set of pre filters to remove as much as possible before the RO membrane sees it. This goes to an under sink boiler tap which is purely for hot and cold drinking water and it's as water should be. The filters are 2 x 5 micron sediment first, and you should see these after 3 months - full of rust, scale and nasty stuff. Then 2 x active carbon cartridges for HMA and Chloramine, then 2 x crushed coconut shell cartridges. Then the RO membrane and last a polishing resin to remove any flavours the filters might have put in. Some people are not keen on RO water for drinking though as there is no flavour. It's a long way from mineral water in bottles. I prefer unpolluted water myself but it's a personal thing.

This system needs 2 things to work well.
1. Good water pressure - over 30 PSI
2. A storage tank if you want to use it for water on demand. The RO membrane is a slow thing.

 

[julianf]

I don't care what the water tastes like.

The RO setups have a holding tank for post membrane water -

How is this then pressurised to the tap?

The post RO filter - I feel like this is almost an admission of failure (of the RO)?

Thanks to all so far.

 

[Domdom]

The RO setups have a holding tank for post membrane water -

How is this then pressurised to the tap?

The post RO filter - I feel like this is almost an admission of failure (of the RO)?

Thanks to all so far.

Tank is pressurised internally to about 10psi. Water pressure builds up inside it (against the 10psi bit) as it flows through the RO membrane. This creates available pressure to the tap to the max volume the tank can hold.

Post filter is for polishing, whatever that means. Total dissolved solids is the same before and after it. (Almost zero) It's called DI resin which I think is de-ionisation rather than filtration.

 

[Ross365]

I suspect that if you talk to any company that really knows about water purification they'll want numbers from you; what is the concentration of lead you are getting now and what do you want it to be? I guess that the answers will be in parts per billion? I think UK max lead is 10ppb.

 

[brewdexta]

Didn't @brewdexta install a filter system?

I did, but probably for slightly different reasons. Our spring is very seasonal, and insufficient for modern life, but plenty for brewing and being low in salts, I can add the right salts for the brew in question. I do have a particle and UV filter on it, but only for when I drink it straight from the spring, this isn't needed for brewing as you boil it.

However our bore hole water is full of iron, and a bit of manganese too. It is clear when it comes out of the pipe, but leave it a while and the iron comes out of solution, then rusts, and you end up with rusty water. The filter takes advantage of this by injecting air into a venturi, the iron rusts when it comes out of solution and being a solid, it can then be filtered. It tastes lovely after filtration.

 

[Kayos]

I did, but probably for slightly different reasons. Our spring is very seasonal, and insufficient for modern life, but plenty for brewing and being low in salts, I can add the right salts for the brew in question. I do have a particle and UV filter on it, but only for when I drink it straight from the spring, this isn't needed for brewing as you boil it.

However our bore hole water is full of iron, and a bit of manganese too. It is clear when it comes out of the pipe, but leave it a while and the iron comes out of solution, then rusts, and you end up with rusty water. The filter takes advantage of this by injecting air into a venturi, the iron rusts when it comes out of solution and being a solid, it can then be filtered. It tastes lovely after filtration.

Im involved in a project doing this on a fairly industrial scale, not drinking water but the iron content of some open loop stuff is causing problems

 

[winchman]

With an RO for drinking you have to add some of the salts etc back as you shouldn't drink RO water.
Its also worth noting the UV will not remove Bacteria it just disrupts the DNA to stop it reproducing, you still have dead bacteria in the system so this must be considered in any storage. Any stored water must be kept cool too.