We're Not Going to Make It, Are We
28 minutes ago
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Filter failure
My lovely wife noticed a few floaties in our water bottle. My first thought was that I'd done a poor job cleaning it -generally a pretty safe assumption. Later I filled a glass of water from the tap and discovered more floaties in the water.
My water comes from a shallow well. For years we got by just fine without any sort of filter in the system. Just to be on the safe side I installed a whole house filter a few years ago.
With a powerful hand light I looked though the clear filter housing and examined the filter. The plastic mesh on the filter had a tear in in. Bits of filter paper were breaking off and getting into the water lines. I'd never had one fail like that before. Once I changed the cartridge and flushed out the water lines my water was crystal clear once more.
It did get me thinking. What if there was a known hazard in my drinking water? One filter would not be enough. Single failure points are not a good idea on critical systems like drinking water. Two solutions came to mind. A second whole house filter could be installed downstream of the first or a filter could be set up right at the kitchen tap.
-Sixbears
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The filter at the tap was our choice, but it does take up some counter room near the edge of the sink. The challenge is finding the adapter that fits the faucet aerator - I had to go to store twice before I found a match. Other than that - works well.
ReplyDeleteI've used those in the past but my lovely wife didn't like them. That's how we ended up with the filter system we have now.
DeleteIf the wife ain't happy . . .
That's the only downside to our well water - the darn filters.
ReplyDeleteBet it's a whole lot cheaper than city water.
DeleteA second whole-house filter seems excessive to me; unless you're dealing with nuclear waste, fracking fluid, acid mine drainage, or the like, once-filtered should be fine for non-drinking purposes.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, for the water I drink, even though I am on a municipal water supply, I still run it through a pitcher filter and then either boil it or run it through another pitcher filter (depending on whether I am having a hot or cold drink).
Implemented that the first time the water came out brown from the tap. I found out later that was from flushing the rust, but still....
I'm not worried too much about my water, but other people have some nasty stuff to worry about. I put a filter in when the neighbors were doing a lot of work on their property. It's a shallow well so I worry about surface disturbances.
DeleteGo with the tap filter cheap easy and fills your goal . I would bet the cold and it being stored dry this winter degraded the old filter.
ReplyDeleteHad not thought about the cold, but that might have caused problems. I was handling the filter when it was still cold and the plastic might have been brittle.
DeleteWe use a filter similar to a Berkey because Hubby would not drink tap water and I refuse to buy bottled water. I do admit when I'm cooking I'm not as fussy as Hubby about whether or not the water is out of the filter or tap.
ReplyDeleteWhat? You don't like chewy water?
ReplyDelete