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I haven't done a lot of research but know several of you have. The city im in has tap water that may not be the best for drinking. I wanted to see what would be the best filtration system to use so we can have good clean drinking water.

Someone I know had one of these
http://www.zerowater.com/tds.aspx

The zero water tester. i wasnt sure if this is a good solution or not. I would really prefer something I can have tap into the line so Maybe have a seperate spout for filtered water. Also what is a good filter, is there a tester like the zero filter?

I remember CC posted something a while back on devices you can literally throw in the swamp that create drink water so I know i have to be able to.

My main concerns are, how can i safely filter the water, how can i verify (test) that it is ok?

Thanks for any tips

Oh yes, to clear it up, we are not looking for bottled water solution.

My mind jumps to something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/iSpring-5-Stage-R ... ion+system

and a tester like this:

http://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-EZ ... y_hi_img_y

A reverse osmosis filter will make swamp water drinkable, and there are plenty of options for hooking one into your plumbing. Your local Home Depot or Lowes should have everything you need.

Reading a little more, seems like reverse osmosis may be a good type of filtration system.

Engineer wrote:A reverse osmosis filter will make swamp water drinkable, and there are plenty of options for hooking one into your plumbing. Your local Home Depot or Lowes should have everything you need.

Ive really tried to focus on amazon, the customer reviews speak loads of a good product. Im waiting until I see the store figure it out and have some type of screens with product that link their online reviews to the product in the brick and mortar.

Our not-so-great well water goes through a UV light and a softener. Then we have a reverse osmosis system for drinking water that feeds separate spigots at the kitchen and bathroom sinks and feeds the fridge.

TXBullion wrote:

Engineer wrote:A reverse osmosis filter will make swamp water drinkable, and there are plenty of options for hooking one into your plumbing. Your local Home Depot or Lowes should have everything you need.

Ive really tried to focus on amazon, the customer reviews speak loads of a good product. Im waiting until I see the store figure it out and have some type of screens with product that link their online reviews to the product in the brick and mortar.

Amazon's "Price Check" app is helpful for that. Scan the barcode and it brings up the product on Amazon (if they carry it) to check the price and reviews.

We use a 2.5 Gal Big Berkey Stainless filter system an use this at home an also when we travel in Motor Home. Both Charcoal an Ceramic filters can be used, The replacements are not real expensive. This supplies both drinking an cooking water for US.

natsb88 wrote:Our not-so-great well water goes through a UV light and a softener. Then we have a reverse osmosis system for drinking water that feeds separate spigots at the kitchen and bathroom sinks and feeds the fridge.

Are you periodically testing the water? I saw how some people really get into on how how many PPMs you can have etc 0 or a little and how one is better than the other. Im more concerned about getting the best information to make that decision

natsb88 wrote:

TXBullion wrote:

Engineer wrote:A reverse osmosis filter will make swamp water drinkable, and there are plenty of options for hooking one into your plumbing. Your local Home Depot or Lowes should have everything you need.

Ive really tried to focus on amazon, the customer reviews speak loads of a good product. Im waiting until I see the store figure it out and have some type of screens with product that link their online reviews to the product in the brick and mortar.

Amazon's "Price Check" app is helpful for that. Scan the barcode and it brings up the product on Amazon (if they carry it) to check the price and reviews.

Forgot about that. Everytime Im at the store, I check the best amazon product and it has been too often a product not carried so ive not gotten into the habit to price scan.

Like last time I was at the store trying to get a stud finder (HD) I checked amazon and ended up buying this

http://www.amazon.com/CH-Hanson-03040-M ... tud+finder

They didnt have something like this at that HD and I had never even seen one that style .

any comments between a 5 stage system like this
http://www.amazon.com/iSpring-5-Stage-R ... se+osmosis

or a 6 stage system like this?

http://www.amazon.com/iSpring-6-Stage-R ... se+osmosis

looks like the 6 stage just adds back some of the important stuff in water.

Some good basic FAQs in case anyone else was looking on the topic

http://123filter.com/catalog/faq.php

I have a GE Reverse Osmosis system (overdue for a cleaning and filter change).

It's a good system filters aren't cheap and have be changes every 6 mos.

TXBullion wrote:

natsb88 wrote:Our not-so-great well water goes through a UV light and a softener. Then we have a reverse osmosis system for drinking water that feeds separate spigots at the kitchen and bathroom sinks and feeds the fridge.

Are you periodically testing the water? I saw how some people really get into on how how many PPMs you can have etc 0 or a little and how one is better than the other. Im more concerned about getting the best information to make that decision

Nope. We had it tested one time years ago. Had a high bacteria count so that's when we added the UV light. Cooking and drinking water goes through the reverse osmosis system so it's as clean as can be. The rest of the water still gets a bit of a sulfur smell if we get a period of heavy rain and can still leave some iron stains even after the softener. It is what it is.

At the shop where we do have city water, we get spring water for drinking anyway. Can't stand that chlorine taste

Oh, we have Culligan systems. But it's actually cheaper to buy the salt for the softener at Lowe's than to have Culligan deliver it on their route or even to pick it up from them.

I use a big berkey

http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/

I have really good well water atm. When we lived in town though we went with a distiller, and we would add a high end liquid mineral to that after it was done. I went that route because of issues a friend had when their reverse osmosis system had failed without them realizing it. Due to the nature of distilling, it either is working or it isnt. I dont believe there are any that are designed to use the tap, but the more expensive ones can have water piped to them, and always have distilled water at that distiller tap.

If you do go that route, I liked to pour the water from one containers to another, letting it drop a few feet. The water had a bit of a flat taste, and adding the minerals and letting it drop like that made it really nice.

Back in 1989 I sold silver impregnated, activated charcoal filters made by National Safety Associates (NSA). They were really good products.

What was best about them was (at the time) NSA filters were the only ones with silver in the filter. That killed 99.999% of all the bugs found in water.

I use the store bought ones now from Home Depot.

Backpacking... I use a good backpacker's filter. I can filter beaver pond water and not worry about Giardia. Old fashioned Iodine and chlorine tabs work in a pinch.