What exactly does Brita or Pur filter out of water?
Trice asked:
I’ve been thinking about buying a pitcher to filter water but I’m wondering what exatlcy will it remove? Does it remove chlorine and flouride because that’s my main reason for buying one.
Randell
I’ve been thinking about buying a pitcher to filter water but I’m wondering what exatlcy will it remove? Does it remove chlorine and flouride because that’s my main reason for buying one.
Randell
October 22, 2006 - 8:22 PM
malyss
October 26, 2006 | 2:13 AMIt looks like both will reduce the chlorine in your water, but they will not do a lot to reduce the fluoride in it.
Brita’s pitcher filters removes “only small amounts of fluoride over the life of the filter.” The Brita pitcher filters also reduce the amount of chlorine in the water, reduces copper by 88%, reduces mercury by 91%, reduces 99.99% of cysts (crytosporidium and Giardia), and reduces lead by 97%.
As far as the Pur filter pitchers go…
“The PuR 7-Cup Pitcher using The PuR 1-Stage Filter:
* Combines activated carbon to reduce chlorine, sediment, bad taste, and odor with an ion exchange resin that reduces lead and copper. It also reduces pesticides (lindane, atrazine, and 2,4-D) and chemicals that are linked to increased cancer risk (benzene, TTHMs, and toxaphene).”
On the topic of Pur Filters and Fluoride reduction:
“Our household water filtration products leave the benefical fluoride in your drinking water, which may already be present.”
TheWaterGuy
October 27, 2006 | 11:23 AMI won’t comment on “beneficial fluoride” by previous guy
just give you an alternative link, and mention that it is banned in 98% of the Europe. Also, I’d like to mention that NO micron-size pitcher filter is capable of removing fluoride from water, it’s a marketing gimmick. Unless it contains an Ultrafiltration cartridge, which none of the mentioned pitchers do. All pitchers mentioned here remove over 90% of chlorine from water. Also, since they use very similar technologies, they will remove the same contaminats.
The best pitcher filter on the market right now is Crystal Quest. It is a Consumer Digest’s Best Buy for 2006.
It looks like PUR contains Granular Activated Carbon, and a pleated sediment filter. Nothing really special.
The older Brita systems use the same technology. The newer, MAXTRA brita cartridges add ion exchange resin, and are a much better filtration cartridge, and finally getting closer to Crystal Quests’s technology, but it is not on par yet. As far as I know they are not sold in US yet.
Crystal Quest pitcher uses essentially 4 different processes - granular activated carbon, micron-size pleated sediment, ion exchange resin, and a KDF (which Brita and PUR don’t have). Their cartridge also lasts a lot longer.