Which water filter?

[mamagrigsby]

We are getting rid of our Culligan water filtration system and soft water so we can save money. Can someone recommend a cheap way to filter our water. Right now Culligan filters out fluoride and that is very important to me. Not sure if those Britta filters do that. Also, we only pay $25 a month for the water filtration (an extra $23 for the soft water) so I'm wondering if we shouldn't just keep the filtration. Would we really be saving that much by the time we purchase whatever water filter we buy and the cost of replacing the filters. Right now we don't pay to have the filters changed, Culligan pays for it.

[Denvergirlie]

We have a Crown Berkey filter... but it's an investment upfront. I think we got set up for $300 or so, but filters are washable to a point. You would need both the standard black filters and the additional white filters to take out the flouride.

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/ 

We've had ours for a few years, and haven't yet needed to replace any filters.

More techical information here: http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-learning-center.htm  and here: http://www.berkeyfilters.com/waterfiltercomparison.htm 

I know it's a larger upfront investment, but it had paid for itself many time over so far, compared tot he PUR filter we used to use, and Berkey water is basically purified water, removes almost everything from the water. I highly recommend.

[kittywitty]

I've been looking for a good filter, too. Our local water is atrocious and has had multiple violations a year. That and I need to filter out fluoride for dd's thyroid condition. I will check the Berkley filters. Are there any others? I don't think we even have a Culligan around here...

[CrunchyChristianMama]

We use the Pur filters, but they do NOT remove flouride, unfortunately.  We're in a rental though, so I'm not sure what other options we really have.

[kittywitty]

That's what we had but they crack every time. We've gone through 3 in one year and they don't remove fluoride or chlorine, so we're not buying another.

[Denvergirlie]

Originally Posted by CrunchyChristianMama 

We use the Pur filters, but they do NOT remove flouride, unfortunately.  We're in a rental though, so I'm not sure what other options we really have.

We live in a rental, no issues with moving the Berkey from house to house. it's countertop, gravity fed, no electricity, no hooking up anything. We even took ours camping a few times to be able to filter water from the river next to our tent. It did slow down, due to being at 11,000 in elevation, but works anyplace.

yes, it was a bit shocking to pay $300 or so for a water filter, but would make the same choice again in a heartbeat, and it's paid for itself many times over the years now that I don't have to pay for the PUR filters each month. Not to mention, that Brita and PUR don't really filter out the bad stuff, so why bother to use that if it doesn't give one what they want.

[treeoflife3]

I've only ever heard good things about berkey and want one myself.  However zero water looks like maybe it gets out flouride but at a much cheaper cost.  They specifically say they've never tested it for flouride removal but that it should be removed since it would be under the measurement testing that goes to zero.  It can't hurt to check it out.

I'd still go for the berkey though.