Water filter thread

[WRX]

Lets get this straight first. Singapore PUB water is very safe and very clean when tested at the water works and also at sampling ends in our HDB blocks (eg water tanks), no dobut about that.


However, whatever that you additionally install in your homes, they do not have any responsbility in that.
Recently i have come across a good research article done locally, allow me to share this.


For kids and pregnant women especially, the most important issue is really Lead. If you are using \"lead-free\" brass fittings and faucets, then the levels would be lower than those normal brass ones, but still you may get spikes above the WHO recommended limit of less than 10 ug/L. If you are not (eg old house, pretty old faucets that have parts that are made of brass), then it probably would be somewhat high.
You may wish to use search for a water filter that can filter lead and also a non-brass faucet, eg a stainless steel SUS304 one.


Share this very good article/experiment. It's been published recently.

\"Too long didn't read\" summary : Get a water filter that can handle lead, preferably that's NSF/ANSI 53 certified to reduce lead (the certification guns for over 99.x % removal), or there is a small number of filters that are WQA certified, like the Dupont faucet filters that you can get on Amazon.

NSF certified NSF / ANSI 53 for reducing lead equipment listing :
http://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/listings_leadreduction.asp?ProductFunction=053%7CLead+Reduction&ProductFunction=058%7CLead+Reduction&ProductType=&submit2=Search

WQA certified products (I linked the Dupont search result below)
https://www.wqa.org/Find-Products#/keyword/dupont

Can find the dupont products as well
Protect Plus, LLC NSF/ANSI 53 Matching Brands: DuPont Traditional Pitcher Filter, DuPont Premier Faucet Mount, DuPont Deluxe Faucet Mount (2)..... etc




Experiment was conducted in Singapore with pumbling stuff that are available here in SG (all are PUB approved stuff), simulating end-users taps' conditions.
Received: 12 December 2015; Accepted: 23 February 2016; Published: 27 February 2016




http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/3/266/pdf



2.1. Simulated Premise Plumbing System
To determine whether lead contamination in drinking water will occur in a “lead-free” premise plumbing system, a typical premise system was built using locally (Singapore) purchased materials as shown in Figure 1.
In Singapore, all water fittings used shall conform with the standards and requirements stipulated by the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and their use shall conform to the Public Utilities (Water Supply) Regulations and Singapore Standard Code of Practice (CP) 48. A water fitting shall be deemed to comply with the stipulated standards if it is certified by an accredited product certification body. The maximum allowable concentrations of metals leached shall not exceed the limits specified by the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality [28,29]. Copper pipes and brass fittings used in this study were microwave-digested and measured for lead content, and results showed that their lead content was <0.25% by weight, and thus can be considered “lead-free” according to the last “lead-free” definition by USEPA.


Residents moving into new buildings or renovating their plumbing systems are potentially at risk of lead contamination in their drinking water. Lead contamination due to the presence of a lead source is expected to persist for as long as many years if the situation is left untreated or the system is left untouched.


“Lead-free” brass fittings were identified as the source of lead contamination.


The system was assembled in the laboratory using all-new plumbing materials
and only certified copper pipes, brass fittings and stainless steel taps were used without any tapes, sealants and solders that may be present in field sampling. Many studies in the literature used either relatively short lengths of pipe (3 m) or single fittings to represent real distribution systems, while this study is specifically designed to represent real premise plumbing systems that use copper pipes.

The long experimental period allows us to show that lead contamination can be persistent in premise distribution systems and helps to fill the knowledge gap in the existing literature.


Acknowledgments: The authors thank the Singapore Ministry of Education (project number R-302-000-049-112) and National Taiwan University (grant number NTUCDP-103R7877) for financial support.
Author Contributions: Yi-Pin Lin and Ding-Quan Ng conceived and designed the experiments

PS. BTW, the addition of the chemical \"orthophospate\" is for lead control, it's added in the experiment to check for some stuff, and subsequent that chemical addition was stopped after a period
http://imgur.com/GN8rfcr.jpg\">

http://imgur.com/WEUH9Mv.jpg\">

[WRX]

Chlorine (ie Free chlorine), usually you won't get much of it at our tap end. Coz they are not very stable. What we are using that is much more stable and can persist till our end user taps is monochloramine. You can buy Total Chlorine test strips/test solutions which test for Chlorine + chloramines as a whole. Free Chlorine = Chlorine only.



You can find the monochloramine data for our PUB water here.
https://www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/waterquality/drinkingwater
2016 report : https://www.pub.gov.sg/Documents/WQ2016.pdf


Monochloramine is formed by the reaction of ammonia + chlorine, it's much more stable than chlorine and can persist in the water much longer, just google it up.....all the info is there. Along the way in our water distribution systems, it may change and exist as dichloramine or trichloramine....so usually we just say that chloramine is present (chloramine means monochloramine, dichloramine, trichloramine, or any mix of the 3)
Chloramines are quite a bit harder to filter out than chlorine by using activated carbon, but still most solid carbon blocks would do a good job.

No real issue here anyway, personal choice if you wanna filter it out or not, but basically any proper water filter with properly engineered flow rates can handle (you can manually turn the flowrate down so that it performs even better).

[WRX]

You guys can actually get cheap and good stuff from Amazon.


For NSF-53 certified lead reduction stuff, go search the following products....i share the below list just to start you off.
If you own a present water filter, it might be already be reducing lead....but i do not research on those stuff like Hyflux, Novita, Evopure, Cleansui etc. https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/index.php
Eg the Instapure F8 that some of you may have purchased from Self-fix can handle lead and is NSF-53 tested. (Instapure F8 used to be available on Amazon too).


100 gallons = 378 litres
Search on Amazon.com (read the reviews)
-Culligan FM-15 (uses 200 gal 756L cartridge)
-Dupont faucet filters (various models, 100 gal or 200 gal cartridge)
-Pur advanced faucet filters (100 gal)
-Brita faucet filter (100 gal)
-Aquasana AQ-4000 countertop filter (450 gal)
All the above contain very high quality highly spec solid carbon block filters that take care of many of the contaminants. Size of the product does not determine whether or not the filter is better. The only issue with the above is that the xxx number of gallons filtered is lower than the bigger filters (eg the 10-inch canister filters).

Do not be misled and think that ultrafiltration (0.01 microns) would take care of lead for example, it would not. An RO system would take care of soluble lead, yes that is true (however RO has its disadvantages).
And not all solid carbon block filters/granular activated carbon filters can reduce for eg soluble lead to a level that you'd care for (eg > 99%), though most do reduce to X amount and are effective to a certain degree, just that it's not certified and thus difficult to ascertain any reliable technical performance info.


For more advanced users, you can try the catridges or 10-inch solid carbon blocks with DIY 10-inch canisters. If really hardcore and kiasu, can try 20-inch canisters for the whole house, use some excellent chlorine/chloramine filter like some of the aquarium reef hobby solid carbon block filters which actually work much better than the consumer stuff that we get.
The 10-inch filter canisters are available from Taobao or Amazon, see which one you are more comfortable with.
Do note that the solid carbon blocks need to be NSF-53 certified. (not only NSF-42 certified, which is for safety of the materials used)


- 3M Filtrete Under Sink Water Filtration System (3US-MAX-S01). 1500 gals 5670 litres. Probably better for those big families and also intends to use filtered water (no chlorine/chloramines) for washing their veg etc.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L0ADH3K/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_14?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
...it uses 3/8 inch 3分管 so you might need to go taobao and get your own hoses to convert to 2分 coz Taobao sells the 2分

Tap diverter.
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0d.6639537.1997196601.323.3ZLAkP&id=41209541438
配件2分双切转换器龙头接头 双切 (search for similar terms, you will get results from other sellers)
https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i2/202695593/TB2zmaed9BjpuFjy1XdXXaooVXa_!!202695593.jpg\">



Just for additional info, i think the majority of us Singaporeans would not DIY
Some 10-inch filters, all are solid carbon blocks
Pentek P-250 Under Sink Water Filter Set by Pentek (1000 gals)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VTCPJG/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

DuPont WFDWC70001 Universal Drinking Water 550-Gallon Carbon Block Cartridge by DuPont
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007VZ2KN2/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_11?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

GE FXULC Drinking Water System Replacement Filter (600 gals)
https://www.amazon.com/GE-FXULC-Drinking-System-Replacement/dp/B0002HMV08/ref=sr_1_12?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1497458146&sr=1-12&keywords=ge+water+filter+cartridge



PS. The reason why you cannot use a big 1000 gal/3780L solid carbon block for > 6 months or so is because it's quite easy for bacteria to grow in the media. Hence even if your family only has 1 person, you cannot \"push\" the filter till for example 2 years before changing it, despite having ample capacity.



BTW, if you'd like to extend your filter life capacity for normal solid carbon blocks for chloramine performance, do run as low a flowrate through that as possible.
Chlorine is easy do filter, usually not an issue..

The best would still to run specific solid carbon blocks designed to filter chloramines (those with catalytic activated carbon). Thus, if you wanna do chloramines + lead, then you might need 2 cartridges in your 10-inch DIY canister system.

This is the PUB data for chlorine and chloramine. Note : Usually when the free chlorine hits out homes, most of it would have reacted with the organics in our pipes. So usually we'd have very low levels of chlorine in our pipes. Most of it is chloramines (monchloramine, dichloramine or trichloramine, whatever it has turned into along the way)
The good thing about chloramines is that there is next to no disinfection byproducts.
https://www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/waterquality/drinkingwater (inside got a PDF)


Those playing with aquariums/reefing would know about this......
Here's a good vid showing the very little chloramine performance capacity of standard carbon blocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQBDqZzu04

[WRX]

Seriously i would not be worried about the difference between absolute size filtration between microfiltration with 1 micron, 0.1-0.5 microns vs Ultrafiltraiton 0.01 microns vs Nanofiltration 0.001 microns vs RO 0.0001 microns. 0.5- to 1 microns more than adquately filters the sediments and very fine particles that may be present in the pipes etc.


Coz for that very small size we are mainly dealing with viruses (the smallest virus copy is about 0.02 microns if i remember correctly), which would be taken care of by boiling . Just touching 100 deg C rolling boil is more than sufficient with tap water, no need 1 min rolling boil, no need 5 mins…i heard "stories" about people needing 3-10 mins for infants, guess what we are not in the wild…coz WHO does recommend a 3-min rolling boil so that you have a very wide margin of safety, for water sources taken in the wild eg while hiking.

If you are sensitive or immuno-compromised or have infants, esp pre-term infants, it’s a good idea to boil even with an ultrafiltration or nanofiltration unit. Coz there might be some bacteria biofilm on the filter or filter housing surface that’s existing POST filtration ie contamination is POST filtration.

With that said, most healthy adults display no issues even without boiling, but if you wish you can boil after filtration.
Really personal choice. But IMO, no need to be that bacterially sterile. Unless if you do not change your filters once every 6 months or so. So actually having a big 5000 gallons rated filter does not mean that you can push the specs and go for a filter change only after 3-5 years, coz you only use 100 gallons per month.

[WRX]

WHO and other organisations already mentioned that there is no safe level with lead, definitely not with young kids and pregnant women.


[quote]Children are more at risk than adults when it comes to the dangers of ingesting lead. Children will absorb 30-75% of the lead they ingest while adults will absorb only 11%. Individuals with the greatest risk, even with short term exposure, are young children and pregnant women. Estimates are, on average, lead in drinking water contributes between 10 and 20 percent of total lead exposure in young children. Reduced intelligence, impaired hearing and decreased growth, are associated with blood levels as low as 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (ug/dL). A 10 ug/dL increase in blood levels correlates to a loss of 2 IQ points. Individuals will adsorb more lead if they have poor nutrition than those that have better diets.[/quote]http://imgur.com/W3aGqqS.jpg\">


Eg The below picture has the bottom part connection that's fully exposed to have contact with the water, is usually brass.

http://image.made-in-china.com/43f34j00YsRTpcHIRbgu/Modern-Brass-Single-Lever-Swivel-Kitchen-Sink-Mixer-Water-Faucet.jpg\">

[WRX]

Just to re-cap and give a full summary :



- RO systems (0.0001 microns) might get the TDS or Total Dissolved Solids to too low a concentration for drinking. Some systems which does ion-exchange resins filtration (eg Zerowater) might also get it a wee bit too low. WHO and other organisations have put warned about the long term health risks regarding this. When such overly soft ultra low TDS water is used in cooking, it's been found that micronutrients loss from the food is quite high.
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf


- As far as i know, the only health risk is with lead leached from brass plumbing, even the \"lead-free\" versions that's sourced locally conforming to PUB regulations and standard code of practice are still found to be leaching lead somewhat. It exists in both insoluble form as particulates as well as soluble form as a heavy metal ion. Some people may want to filter chlorine and chloramines too, that's fine as it usually improves taste. A solid carbon block or even GAC (granular activated charcoal) filter improves the taste and can reduce chlorine/chloramines. As far as possible, keep the flowrate down as it helps performance as well as filter life. At our end users tap, we might have somewhat higher levels of Cu from the indoor copper pipes (if that's being used by your plumber, but not necessarily so). But that's usually ok as it only presents an issue at very high concentrations. As we are not an agricultural country here, i don't think we have herbicides risks, nor do we have risks like mercury, arsenic etc.


- for Iron oxide (the brown stuff) particulates, it's easily taken care by even a 1 micron PP sediment filter. Your 0.5 microns solid carbon block easily provides mechanical filtration for it.
You do not need a RO or even ultrafiltration (0.01 microns) for this, just totally unnecessary. UF might filter most of the viruses out there, but the thing is that our chloramine in the water does have much better persistence than chlorine in our pipes and it does keep the water safe enough to drink. And anyway it may be better to boil the water still, just in case you have secondary biological contamination due to bacteria biofilm growing on the post filter surfaces. (not necessary if you change your filter regularly as recommended by the manufacturers). All surfaces that are usually kept wet have such risks, not rocket science.
And no, ultrafiltration 0.01 microns does not filter soluble lead, the lead dissolved in water as an ion. You'd need RO 0.0001 microns for that as the stuff is just too small. That is also why RO systems reduce the TDS by a lot, by name it already says it, Total DISSOLVED Solids.

- It's best to have NSF/ANSI certification for the product that you are getting. Usually NSF/ANSI 53 is the standard that you are looking for (not NSF 41 which is only for material safety). NSF/ANSI 401 is not necessary, testing for emerging contaminants. A rare few are tested by the WQA, that's fine too. Look for lead reduction specifically, for NSF 53 standard it's very tight, it states a minimum of 99% reduction and at twice the rated volume spec i think (for buffer), so if for a say 100 gallon/378 litre catridge, you are very safe even when you are using till 350-400 litres range.


- NSF certified devices are not expensive. Eg the cheapest NSF 53 device that i could find is the Dupont premier water faucet filter on Amazon. It's usd 13 for the device which comes with 1 filter. Filter replacements are at usd 16.99 for a 3 pack of 100 gal rated cartridges.
If you are changing at a frequency of one cartridge every 3 months (378 litres every 3 months, you can do 3.78 litres of water daily, shd be enough even for a 4 pax family unless all are staying at home and not working/schooling), the cost is just 8 Singapore cents per day. Assuming that you are taking advantage of Amazon's usd 125 free shipping Free AmazonGlobal shipping.

- The size of the filter device or filter cartridge usually does not determine filtration performance. To a certain extent, it might determine the capacity of water filtered. I feel that this is important to point out, a small tap faucet filter could easily outperform the lower tier undersink 10-12 inch cartridges systems. This is due to the many different qualities of solid carbon blocks.

[Ronda]

Thank you for such a lengthy post. Even though it seems to be a lengthy description, it will be very helpful for women like me. Installing a water filter in our house was a smart move by my husband. It helped our family to stay safe and secured. The contaminating harmful substances cannot be seen by our naked eyes. But I am facing some problems with my water filter and I should have to http://www.imagineplumbing.ca/plumbing/ to repair the whole system.

Even though they have informed that the water filter can improve the taste of water, it is not true from my experience. Most of the filters warranties are only for a lifespan, so it is not possible for us to change the system. So I would also like to add a small piece of information along with these lengthy post. Before buying a filtration system, it might be useful to research warranty lengths on the units that interest you.

[Janet32]

Me and my husband are planning to install a water filter system at home. We are currently doing some research as to which filter system we should get. Any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated.~

[janet88]

we are used to drinking filtered water…before we used to boil water. however there is a smell even with boiled water which I just dislike.


used Amway E-spring for several years, but the price of the filter increases a great deal yearly…otherwise it is no bad.
switching to Novita after we move to the new place.