We are thinking of putting a water filter in the island where there is a bar sink in our kitchen. Anyone have experiences, positive or negative? The water quality if okay in our city, just the taste is the typical chlorine/fluoride blah taste, and we are hoping this would help improve it.
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I'd suggest that you mount a cartridge type filter canister in the line to that sink, be it under the cabinet or prior, and be sure use a granulated charcoal filter in it, not a charcoal paper filter. Be sure to change out that filter cartridge every 3-4 months whether it "needs it" or not.
Put in two cartridge filter canisters.
Use the granulated charcoal in the second cannister, like GoldHiller says.
In the first cannister, before the charcoal, use a string filter. String is much better than paper.
Do it. You'll be very surprised at the gunk that will get filtered out. I did this in Seattle. The water was supposed to be some of the best in the nation at the time. In less than two months, the string filter looked like it had been filtering a sewer.
Don't bogart the Ghost
Quittin' Time
Maybe some of the others can clear this up but, isn't running water through activated charcoal a bad thing?
I buy my drinking water from a filtration outlet. [Not bottled spring/tap water] I think the odds of contaminates getting through a system I couldn't even dream of installing ( reverse osmosis, ultraviolet etc... ) was much safer than the Mickey Mouse home under sink/ tap-mount whatever system. If you really look into these home systems I think you'll find the only thing they give you is a false sense of security.
now the best coffee I taste all day is the one I make at home
To address the "typical chlorine/fluoride blah taste", an activated carbon filter will work fine. Few of them give you a weight of the carbon in each filter, but it is directly related to how much chlorine will be removed. I don't mind you removing chlorine at the tap, because once it is there, it has done its job (prevented you from getting cholera, giardia, etc.). But if you have kids, leave the filter off for the benefits of of the flouride. Talk to any dentist whose career spanned the introduction of flouride. Night and day differences in tooth decay. Even the British can have decent teeth with flouridated water. To all those black-helicopter, conspiracy whackos: Yes, flouridation was a communist plot. Communists have univerisal health care and they didn't want to pay for all those cavities!
Carbon filters often put out higher bacteria counts than the incoming water. That's because their tremendous surface area provides a lot of space for little bugs to live, raise a family, etc. But the bacteria that increase there are generally not pathological ones. Still, if the taste gets a little funky, change the filter. It may be that although there is plenty of chemical adsorptive capacity left, the dead bug bodies are gumming up the works.
Physical filters (paper, string)? If you put one in, then you'll get freaked out about what can come in the pipes. Without one, you just assume that rust flake or rock or leaf was already in the glass. Best thing I've found in a homeowners filter was a frog. Admittedly a pretty small one, but not a tadpole - a complete adult frog.
I definitely believe in the value of fluoridation. This would be for the bar sink in the kitchen for the drinking water only, basically for the adults. There are people here, too, who think that fluoridation of the water will kill you, etc etc. I'm sure they would say the same about chlorine if it wasn't already done. The biggest problem we have with the water is that we used to live outside of town, and had our own well. Other than the fact that we had to shock it four times to pass the zero bacteria count for the sale to go through, we loved the water.
Remember things such the fluoridation of water is done from the perspective of public health--which means dealing with risks associated with populations, not those of an individual child or children. We do not need much fluoride, many systems contain it from natural deposits, and there are potential negative side effects. Not knocking it, but believe 4LORN1 is correct in recommending the toothpaste and dental rinses, which are both meant to be spit out...
Not to be a crank but sometimes the State overdoes it. An example, in Massachusetts all couples must have syphilis testing prior to issuance of a marriage license--the cost of tests per case detected is over $70K. Kicker is that the state then mandates that antibiotic be put in the newborn's eyes so that they don't catch this same disease (guess it was better than the silver nitrate they used to mandate). Latest thing is that all children must have Hepatitis B vaccine prior to enrolling in daycare. Really affronted by this. Both my wife and I have been vaccinated due to job risk (health care); however, neither of us has unprotected sex with strangers, don't use intravenous drugs, and don't think many of our classmates do either. Yes the risk for a vaccine is low (e.g.: severe adverse to measles-mumps-rubella about 1:1.4 Million). But why expose children needlessly to any risk?
Regards,
Rework
Our Municipal water supply isn't flouridated.
Ithaca, NY is a thriving town of conspiracy thinkers, and every couple years the issue comes up for debate again... cracks me up.
I do agree with someone above who said that fouridation is for the masses. Specifically underprivliged youth who may not see a dentist often (or at all) while their teeth are developing.
Back on the main topic, I'm encouraged about the positive comments on these types of filters. I'm about to install a string filter and carbon filter just ahead of my water softener system for whole house (I'm on a well, so I'm not concerned about taking chlorination out that doesn't exist in the first place). The price is reasonable (only $25/canister unit). I don't see any downsides, and haven't heard any so far on this thread either.
Some water is naturally 'flouridated' - that's how they discovered the benefits in the first place, so it is possible that some folks get their flouride from well-water or from the city water supply without any action by the state. However, for folks who don't have that benefit, or if you're like me and live in a place where a local rotten construction company keeps screwing up the water supply, you can get flouride supplements prescribed by the dentist or your pediatrician. As I understand it, for adults the biannual treatments at the dentist are sufficient, but children need a little more. They only get one chance to make teeth, well OK they get two but even so, don't you want to spare your children 32 root canals?
This is a general reply to the direction of the thread, and is not aimed at anyone in particular. Since I'm the one that asked the question in the first place, let me weigh in here. I'm only going to filter the water at one sink, and only for taste reasons.
Fluoride in the water is a great idea. So is chlorine. These things are important for "the greater good" of all users of the system. I've been to China, and seen the difference. If you wish to avoid chlorinated/fluoridated water, you can buy bottled. If you feel this way, what do you do about salt? It has iodine added. Milk? It's been pasturized. All of these, you have no choice about. But they are for the greater good of society as a whole. At some point, people in this world have to realize that there are cases where you need to put your personal "liberty" aside for the good of the society as a whole. Otherwise, what is "society"? If you are only going to look out for your self, don't expect anyone else to look out for you, either.
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At some point, people in this world have to realize that there are cases where you need to put your personal "liberty" aside for the good of the society as a whole. Otherwise, what is "society"? If you are only going to look out for your self, don't expect anyone else to look out for you, either
Interesting that you also mention China, a society where theoretically everything is done for the greater good, and where personal liberties are quite constrained. Are there successes? Sure, the admirable wearing of face masks probably does reduce the respiratory transmission of infections. Are there failures? Also sure, you noted the dental issue...My posting was that indivuals should be interested in balancing their personal risks with public health needs, and not blindly accept mandates as they may not be founded on hard science. Arguably spending $70,000 to detect one case of a disease is a waste; putting silver nitrate (the active chemical in photographic film) in neonate's eyes is probably unwise; vaccinating anyone with anything carries a risk which should be balanced against the associated risks of infection and transmission.
IMHO some public health decisions remain egregious: example, the government distributed condoms to teenagers to reduce the risk of STDs among the high school population. This was primarily driven by HIV. After becoming aware that shipments of defective condoms had been made, they balanced the risk of individual infection due to defect, versus the risk associated with non-use due to warning of the defect, and decided not to warn...Public health remains based on population statistics; unfortunately in most cases, the individual risk remains different. For example, if a vaccine carries a 1:1.4 million risk of death, that is for the population. On an individual basis, the risk may be better described as either 0% or 100%. To use a non-vaccine related example. Let's say the risk of suffering a fatal reaction after eating lobster is 1:100,000. We go to the town where Piffin lives, which remarkably has that exact population, and hold a lobsterfest. Everyone will eat. Piffin has a 0% risk of dying, as do another 99,998 of the diners. However, that last poor chap will be sitting down to his last meal...Would you some drawn butter with that, Sir?...
Regards,
Rework
Most of this thread went right over my head. I'm cornfused. Somebody mentioned individual rights, which kept me reading since it's one of my pet issues, but maybe my mind is just dull today, abused as it sometimes is. I didn't see much of anybody making a caase for whatrever it is they were saying except tha carbon filters can help a little on the sink supply.
What have black helicoptesr in China got to do with the water I steam my lobster in on Islesboro(which, incidentally has a year round pop of about a thousand) and whether those lobster get cavities or if they have to get tested for syphilis before getting married to a crab?
My goodness! I've been drinking mostly un-treated well water for fifty some years and it hasn't given me any STDs yet! I guess the communists just haven't gotten to all the wells yet. This is AMERICA where the govt doesn't tell us what to put in our beer, it just taxes it at point of sale. AMERICA where we subsidize tobacco growers and sue the sellers. AMERICA where we invent diseases so we can sell drugs to cure them.
Somebody please straighten me out here. Should I drink water or raise fish in it? Milk? That's for bathing in, right? Maybe it's this fever from that last innoculation I got....
Excellence is its own reward!
ROFLMAO, well said...
Regards,
Rework
Huh? What'd I say?.
;)
Excellence is its own reward!
Edited 10/18/2002 5:17:42 PM ET by piffin
We've been using a countertop distiller for years and we love it, the water is perfectly pure and taste great, good for coffee also.
I wouldn't worry too much, check with your dentist, about your kids not getting enough fluoride to protect their teeth if you use a carbon filter. Just make sure the toothpaste you use has fluoride, most do, and consult with your kids dentist about in office fluoride treatment. The stuff they use is more effective than what is in the water. With professional treatment and the toothpaste taking up any slack my dentist has said that even kids teeth would be fine. I asked about this when I installed a filter.