Re: Water?
 

:doh Yes :giggle typing way too fast :giggle

Re: Water?
 

I SOOOOO want Alkaline water!!!! We've done lots of research on that but unfortunately it's costly!!! It's one of our first purchases thought when we're "rich and famous" or just out of too much debt! LOL

Adrienne
Mom to Sarah and baby
:) :heart

Re: Water?
 

UPDATE:

We have gone back to our Microlite machine - we liked the santevia but we LOVE our water machine ;)

I am replacing everything for the santevia (filters, rocks, etc) to keep as "emergency no electricity filter" ;)

Re: Water?
 

We are in the market for a water filter as we currently just have a Culligan cooler with the jug on top. I can't find any info about what's in or not in that water, so I don't really trust it any more than regular bottled water. I have been reading all the threads that come up in search for the Berkey and watching youtube videos, but I'm not understanding how this works still. It sits on your counter, and you fill it up by just dumping water in the top and letting it strain. Do you just use a bucket to transfer the water? Is that annoying having to refill / how often does it need a refill on average?

So that filtered water just sits there available all day? Meaning it isn't going to be cold when you want some? Can you keep the unit in your fridge if you buy the smaller one, or will that mess with the filters? I know DH won't drink any of it and will think it a waste of money if it doesn't come out cold.

I have also been looking at the Crystal Quest, under counter, 8 stage w/ fluoride filter and am wondering if maybe that would be a better option, but I haven't seen too much mention of it here. Does anyone have this or at least one of their other filters? It hooks up to your taps so that when you turn the cold water on, it runs through the filters and comes out its own spout. It seems to remove almost as much stuff as a Berkey would. Maybe not AS GOOD, but it's about a third of the price and would do the job well enough. You only have to replace a $17 filter once a year, and the other 2 filters every couple of years for $49ea which is significantly cheaper than the upkeep of a Berkey. They have a shower filter too that we could get.

At this point, the only benefit I can see to the Berkey is being able to have a bit of water storage for an emergency, but for the price and the convenience of having one hooked up to the taps, I'm thinking the Crystal Quest would be a better option for our family as we'd dump water into a Berkey before work and come back after 9+ hours to room temperature, stale water that we wouldn't want to drink. We could definitely store water in other ways to prepare if that was the issue. I dislike that the 8 stage under counter filter doesn't come in stainless steal, just plastic. Not sure how durable that will be and if it's BPA free or not. I can only find on google that the fridge jug is BPA free, dunno if that extends to all their units or not. The one that goes on your counter I can get in stainless steel but am just hesitant to add more clutter. Silly reason though and can be swayed if plastic is a bad idea.

Any thoughts or advice? I don't want to cheap out on this but also don't want to invest a lot of money if we can get something that is maybe cheaper but still works for now, and when we move into a more permanent house than our current one, we could save up for a whole house system.

Re: Water?
 

Pretty sure that Cullegan water is just RO water. RO, like distilled, leaches the minerals out of your body instead of adding to them... or something like that.

I am using our RO water and adding minerals to it because that is what I can do right now.

Re: Water?
 

Oh, hmmm. That's good to know. I hadn't considered the possibility it might be RO. Thanks! All the more reason to switch.

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Just for the record, I no longer like the santevia. Having used it for a short time, it developed some kind of nasty scum very quickly that we couldn't get out of it :( We ditched it!

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What are you using...?

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we use tap water - but it's comes from our own well & is good water, no flouride or other junk. When we lived in other places, I got that britan thing & it made the water taste better at least.

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Not sure if this is to me or not but we are back to our microlite :) the $900 water machine ;)

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yup was for you.. :giggle

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We buy spring water for drinking. If we owned a home I would go collect spring water.

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As an update, we ended up just with the Crystal Quest :) I found someone on ebay who ships to Canada, and the replacement filters will be cheaper than buying a new Culligan jug every month anyway. So we'll see! I'm so excited for it to arrive, haha. We also got the shower filter that takes out chlorine. I'm hoping my skin won't be so dry and itchy this winter. I never had any issues before moving away from the "great lakes" area. Too dry up here.

Re: Water?
 

Hmmm. The link is not working. It's been 6 years since this post. Does anyone have an updated link?

---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 AM ----------

I, too, am concerned about the negatives of RO water. We used one for 8 years. Tastes great. However, I'm particularly concerned about lacking minerals. And the pH.

Re: Water?
 

I threw out my Santevia within months of buying it, too. I followed the directions EXACTLY and mildew grew in it. :sick

We are absolutely IN LOVE with our Berkey. Just in love. When we first moved out here, the house we rented had very rusty, acidic well water. The pH was 5.0!!! And it tasted bad. We ran it through the Berkey. Came out clear and delicious with a pH of 7.5. :hearts We are in a different house, now, with much better well water but we still run it through our Berkey.

---------- Post added at 09:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 AM ----------

And a Berkey is an excellent way to be prepared. You can put non-potable water in a Berkey (i.e pond or river water) and it will come out purified and drinkable. The filters last about 5 years, too.