Water Filters

[dfspcc20]

Has anyone found a water filter they recommend? Preferably someone who has tested their water before and after.
I'm considering a whole house system. I'm also considering drinking-water only systems, such as Berkey.
Currently we have some 2.5 gallon glass jugs that we fill up at the grocery store with RO water. It works, but it's kind of a pain, and I'm worried my wife or I will drop one of those eventually. And that doesn't take care of showers or baths. We generally don't drink much plain water, but I'd like to reduce our exposure as much as reasonably possible.

I know distilled is probably safest, but I'm not sure if it takes too much out of the water and has any other negatives. I suppose I could add baking soda and/or magnesium back to it. Has Ray recommended for or against distilled? Why or why not?

I remember the Herb Doctors recommending Royal Doulton. Others on this forum recommended Friends of Water before.

And does anyone have any experience with testing your own water? Testing for things like chlorine, chloramine, fluoride, glyphosate, etc. Kits seem kind of pricey, so I want to make sure I do it right.

 

[charlie]

I use to be sold on RO water but now am hesitant. It seems minerals are needed in the water.

I have a friend who lives down the road, vegetarian, tries to live as healthy as possible(with the info she has) and she started testing her body PH. Well her PH was super low, and she was doing all she could to get it up and more akaline. She was really struggling with it, and on a whim she stopped drinking the RO water and her PH immediately came up. She is a really good person so I tend to believe her experience happened.

 

[Such_Saturation]

But carbon filters also remove minerals...

 

[dfspcc20]

I did find this, which was helpful about distilled water- I should have searched for "distilled water" instead of "water filter" originally- Distilled water | Ray Peat Forum

I'm hesitant about drinking much in the way of plain water in general. Much of what we use goes to cooking, coffee, making magnesium bicarbonate, etc. I'd still like to reduce to toxin burden as much as reasonably possible.

 

[Blossom]

I have a small countertop berkey that seems fine but I've never tested the water filtered from it. I chose it originally because it is supposed to retain the minerals and I could use it in a camping situation. * it might be a decent option depending on what your looking for*
For my shower head I just use a chlorine filter you can purchase at the hardware store for $20-30.00.

 

[Sheik]

I asked Ray about distilled water.

"Do you know if it's alright to drink distilled water? I want clean water with no fluoride but I've heard that distilled water might be dangerous."

"Distilled water is fine. The idea that distilled water is harmful probably derives from the fact that in areas where the water has a high mineral content, people have been healthier on average than in areas with naturally “soft” water, but that involves several factors, especially the fact that hard water doesn’t dissolve as much lead from the plumbing (such as soldered connections of copper pipes), and also that agricultural products in those areas are likely to have a higher trace mineral content. Generally, water is softer in areas with higher rainfall, and that means that people in those regions are more likely to have less sunlight, and a vitamin D deficiency affects mineral metabolism. In general, it’s best to drink water only when you’re thirsty."

I've been using distilled water for months, and I can't personally say whether it's had any negative effects because I can't tell.

 

[Adnada]

I am happy with my Berkey filter (carbon filter plus flouride removing filter). I have not tested mine personally, but I have seen independent tests online performed by others. Hopefully they are accurate. I just bought a Sprite shower filter which claims to remove chlorine even at high shower temps.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

I've been researching the water issue for quite some time. I don't drink a lot of plain water, but I do make a lot of coffee, soups and jello.

There are several artesian wells around here (most delicious water ever), but I got sorta tired of hauling water jugs, plus sometimes the waiting lines are long and sites are super muddy.

So then I had a GE Merlin RO system set up on my house, but it wasted a TON of water and my water bill went through the roof. It would be a great set up for a person on a well, where ya didn't have to pay for water. I'm gonna try to sell my RO system and install a water distiller, I'm in the process of researching systems made in America at the moment, both counter top models and basement models that service the kitchen sink and refrigerator. They're definitely on the pricey side.

My two cents on the mineral thing is this: My diet is very rich in minerals so I think it's a non-issue. I think the minerals obtained from water are negligible...again, that's only my opinion based on nothing more than what I've read so far.

I added a carbon filter on my shower which helped with the overwhelming stench of chlorine when bathing, but it's filtering abilities are limited.

Anyone want a GE MERLIN??? I got three extra filters to go with it......

 

[seano]

Found this while researching water filters:
Troubled Waters: Removing Estrogen from Our Water Supply -- Luke Dery, The Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science

Compares different filter mediums. GCB & Coarse Carbon (charcoal?) were the only ones that worked.

 

[Rahmon]

Has anyone found a water filter they recommend? Preferably someone who has tested their water before and after.
I'm considering a whole house system. I'm also considering drinking-water only systems, such as Berkey.
Currently we have some 2.5 gallon glass jugs that we fill up at the grocery store with RO water. It works, but it's kind of a pain, and I'm worried my wife or I will drop one of those eventually. And that doesn't take care of showers or baths. We generally don't drink much plain water, but I'd like to reduce our exposure as much as reasonably possible.

I know distilled is probably safest, but I'm not sure if it takes too much out of the water and has any other negatives. I suppose I could add baking soda and/or magnesium back to it. Has Ray recommended for or against distilled? Why or why not?

I remember the Herb Doctors recommending Royal Doulton. Others on this forum recommended Friends of Water before.

And does anyone have any experience with testing your own water? Testing for things like chlorine, chloramine, fluoride, glyphosate, etc. Kits seem kind of pricey, so I want to make sure I do it right.

This is a few months old....but I would suggest you check out this company out of NY....I highly recommend them: Pure Effect Filters | Radiation Water Filters | Fluoride, Pharmaceuticals, Heavy Metals, Viruses, Bacteria

I stumbled across them when I was doing a looong search. They have various systems and I ended up getting the Ultra-UC which is a three stage under the counter filter. It removes Radiation....yes, Radiation....Flouride, Pharmaceuticals, Chlorine, Pesticides...etc etc. I even contacted the lab which the company had claimed to have done an independent test and it all checked out. Small company but awesome customer service and quality products...It seems like its just one guy there that runs it ...lol, but his service is awesome. It's quite amazing when you drink from the water for the first time as it is so different than anything I've had before. Anyhow as you can see I think they are the best...lol.