Water Filtration Systems for Home | GTAMotorcycle.com

Water Filtration Systems for Home

nakkers

nakkers

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Ok folks.


When we bought our house, it already had a Rainfresh system. A double filter thingy under the kitchen sink for drinking water and another single job down at the meter. Looking at replacement filters, it is $42 for one under the kitchen, $29 for the one by the meter and the ceramic job next to the carbon filter under the sink is another $49. All available at CTC plus tax. Plus new seals at $8 for two plus tax. I’ll have to buy 2 packs of 3 to swap out the 3 I have.

The cost of water is getting out of hand!


So, the question is, junk the system and revert to ala whatever the city pipes in and hope Covid gets me before the crap in the water does?

Cheap out Amazon order the equivalent filter that will fill the space. They have a 4 pack of 1 micron filters but, the reviews don’t look promising.

The ceramic filter says you can wash it with a special pad that I don’t have. Everything in the owners instructions says to replace each component 6 months to a year, including seals and ceramic filter.

I feel like a need a shower after being violated with the sticker shock!


Is this just a gimmick or is there value to all this?

I’d rather buy more expensive oil for my bike over this stuff.

Appreciate your input!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Lol on the bike oil. First thing I’d do is check the city water quality. It’s an additional cost but you can have someone test the water quality before your filters.

Another option is scrap the filtration and worst case 5gal jugs, not my preference.

How long does the filtration system last. That’s worth factoring in as well

Edit: I’ve used amazon filters in the fridge but it’s just a simple carbon filter. Tbh I drink the tap water here in Scarborough without concern.

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nakkers said:
Ok folks.


When we bought our house, it already had a Rainfresh system. A double filter thingy under the kitchen sink for drinking water and another single job down at the meter. Looking at replacement filters, it is $42 for one under the kitchen, $29 for the one by the meter and the ceramic job next to the carbon filter under the sink is another $49. All available at CTC plus tax. Plus new seals at $8 for two plus tax. I’ll have to buy 2 packs of 3 to swap out the 3 I have.

The cost of water is getting out of hand!


So, the question is, junk the system and revert to ala whatever the city pipes in and hope Covid gets me before the crap in the water does?

Cheap out Amazon order the equivalent filter that will fill the space. They have a 4 pack of 1 micron filters but, the reviews don’t look promising.

The ceramic filter says you can wash it with a special pad that I don’t have. Everything in the owners instructions says to replace each component 6 months to a year, including seals and ceramic filter.

I feel like a need a shower after being violated with the sticker shock!


Is this just a gimmick or is there value to all this?

I’d rather buy more expensive oil for my bike over this stuff.

Appreciate your input!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Any tap water in Ontario is fine to drink probably better than what would be in bottled water. Junk the system save the money

Sent using a thumb maybe 2
 
I'm with Steve. Scrap the filter and trust the tap.
 
Scuba Steve said:
Any tap water in Ontario is fine to drink probably better than what would be in bottled water. Junk the system save the money

Sent using a thumb maybe 2
Click to expand...
Walkerton would like a word....

I was in the water and wastewater industry for a few years...those guys are so terrified of a repeat that the water will bleach your skin from all the chlorine that they dump in.
 
Our municipal water is safe but tastes meh and has a lot of ferrous iron. Pour a bath or fill the hot tub and you get oxide red water that precipitates out. It's also really hard. Currently drinking water goes through fridge filter or brita to improve it.

I picked up a triple filter (20" filters) that will then go to an iron removing filter (capacity TBD based on sample analysis). Then it will split and cold will head out to house and hot will go to a softener and then the tank. That should keep the tank from getting so much sediment and crap in it but still provide decent drinking water.

As for OP, I would pull the filters (leave the housings for now, just run them without filters) and see how you like the water. The filters will not improve water safety (if anything they will reduce it as they could have stagnant water). They are just there for taste/smell/sediment/paranoia and may not be necessary for you.
 
mimico_polak said:
Walkerton would like a word....

I was in the water and wastewater industry for a few years...those guys are so terrified of a repeat that the water will bleach your skin from all the chlorine that they dump in.
Click to expand...
I occasionally test our tap water. Every time has been 1ppm total chlorine, almost no combined chlorine.
 
I use the Rainfresh system and quite like it. Don't go overboard though. Buy the blue cartridge for $15 at CTC and you're good for 6 months. Buy a two pack and it's slightly cheaper and you're good for a year. Although in your case you would need to buy a ceramic cartridge to get the cleaning pad that comes with it. The ceramic filter is easy to clean and lasts for years. Only takes a minute to do. I have never had to replace any of the seals although I do occasionally lubricate them. I would scrap the unit at the meter, that's just overkill.
 
I used to call on some small town utilities and picked up a few stories. One was a woman complaining about the water quality and a sample was really bad.

Upon investigation it turned out that they had purchased a house that had an undersink filter but weren't aware of it or that the filters nneded to be maintained. The filter was an in-line petrie dish. Pulled it out and the water was OK.

West Toronto here and all we do is use a Brita for drinking water. Coffee and cooking water comes straight from the tap.

Some places along Lake Erie have poor ground water, sulpher IIRC, and other places leave rust stains on vinyl siding if you hose down the house. For rural homes in those areas cisterns and water delivery is the norm.

Ottawa had pathetic city water for ages due to cancer related tri chlorides or??? Many times the WHO recommended limits. IIRC it had to do with too much chlorine being needed to compensate for too much organic matter.
 
Previous owner could very well have had a water company come in and tell them they need this and that so just because it’s there doesn’t necessarily mean it’s needed.
Get a reputable place to test the water then decide if/what you need.
 
Water chemistry professional here. Personally I'd just junk the filters and go straight from the tap, barring any significant taste/odor issues. As has been stated already, in-line filters are a biological disaster waiting to happen. They really should be flushed and disinfected regularly, as in at least monthly, but probably 90% of homeowners don't do that. Those ceramic filters just trap bacteria, they don't kill them.

Contact a water chemistry lab directly, we use Bureau Veritas, but there are several others in the GTA (AGAT and ALS are both good). If you're in Durham Region, the Regional Lab does this kind of analysis for very reasonable rates. Remember that those water treatment companies are in business to sell treatment systems and will probably spew nonsense about the dangers of this, that and the other thing...

You'll need to be able to collect samples of unfiltered water. Just follow the directions provided by the lab.

If you don't have any specific concerns/problems, I'd start by testing for residual chlorine and total dissolved solids. You could add in dissolved metals analysis if you want. Ask the lab to provide an interpretation of the results (ie: safe/not safe). Shouldn't be much more than $50 for a couple of basic tests.
 
KLR Junkie said:
Water chemistry professional here. Personally I'd just junk the filters and go straight from the tap, barring any significant taste/odor issues. As has been stated already, in-line filters are a biological disaster waiting to happen. They really should be flushed and disinfected regularly, as in at least monthly, but probably 90% of homeowners don't do that. Those ceramic filters just trap bacteria, they don't kill them.

Contact a water chemistry lab directly, we use Bureau Veritas, but there are several others in the GTA (AGAT and ALS are both good). If you're in Durham Region, the Regional Lab does this kind of analysis for very reasonable rates. Remember that those water treatment companies are in business to sell treatment systems and will probably spew nonsense about the dangers of this, that and the other thing...

You'll need to be able to collect samples of unfiltered water. Just follow the directions provided by the lab.

If you don't have any specific concerns/problems, I'd start by testing for residual chlorine and total dissolved solids. You could add in dissolved metals analysis if you want. Ask the lab to provide an interpretation of the results (ie: safe/not safe). Shouldn't be much more than $50 for a couple of basic tests.
Click to expand...
We're in the bush and used Caduceon labs here in Kingston. They are a laboratory, and don't sell treatment, so they have no horse in the race when they tell you what you need to fix your water. Looks like they have a lab in Richmond Hill.
 
Lyndsay said:
We're in the bush and used Caduceon labs here in Kingston. They are a laboratory, and don't sell treatment, so they have no horse in the race when they tell you what you need to fix your water. Looks like they have a lab in Richmond Hill.
Click to expand...
If someone wants to test your water for free and give you a free gift they will find something wrong and you will only have minutes to sign a lease for the last life saving filter on the planet.
 
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