"Dirk" wrote
"Gary Slusser" wrote:
The only filter cartridge that can be used for "bio" is a ceramic.
Carbon is not to be used on water of unknown microbiological content.
Bacteria love to 'breed' in carbon unless it is silver impregnated,
which there is very little of. His concern should be disinfection
(chlorine/chloramines) byproduct caused THMs (trihalomethanes).

Gary
Quality Water Associates

Gary - and others... Thanks for all the great commentary so far.

Someone said that Mercury is not in "pipes".

Is that really true? I mean from my house to the acquifer - isn't it
very possible that some pipes or solder/welds could have mercury
content?

Nope, no mecury in solder, fluxes or any other approved for potable
water line plumbing or other materials of any kind now or in the distant
past. Now lead and copper yes; along with still in existance lead
service line and lead based solder which should not be used since about
1987 in the US. All brass is now 'lead free' also. That really means no
more than 2% by weight and many brass products are being replaced with
other materials due to manufacturing problems caused by the lead
reduction.

It is a moot point perhaps - because eventhough my water report does
not list Mercury (or Aresenic) contamination at my water supply, it
still could be there at very low levels.

Now arsenic is a very large problem in some to many areas; there are a
number of types of arsenic and the treatment varies depending on the
type.

I could spend ~$500 for a very thorough test of my water for all
detectable contaminants... To determine if there really is anything
detectable at my tap... But to me - even if I spend $150 for a
simpler test, it just makes sense to me to put that money into the
best carbon based filter I can buy. (E.g, it buys me insurance to
cover me on almost any serious non-radiological contaminant that is
there now and undetectable - or might show up in my water in the
future.)

That's what I've been telling people for 15 years, and $500 is about a
tenth of the cost of you testing for the EPA list of things that water
companies are to test for periodically.

Again - why Carbon? RO and distillation would remove Calcium,
Magnesium, and Fluoride. The relevance of magnesium intake to
cardivascular health cannot be ignored.

Take a daily vitamin or eat properly and you'll be fine. The human body
doesn't get much (uptake) of minerals out of the water we consume and we
can't drink enough water (it will kill you to try) to make up for an
improper diet.

So that still makes me come back to my basic question... I agree that
MLM products are usually crap. In this instance, I have yet to see
any data that suggests Multi-Pure, which makes carbon filters that
will remove Mercury and pentavalent Arsenic, are "overpriced crap".
They are overpriced - but if they are worthy in terms of quality and
performance, I would consider them.

Dirk

I don't agree when applying that to water treatment but will say all are
overpriced due to that type of distribution system. The mass marketers
are much more guilty of selling "crap" for many more dollars while
providing very little and questionable value. I refer to the 'toy'
faucet tip and inline 'fridge filter type folks.The MLMers usually are
very knowledgeable about the needs and use of their products and very
passionate about their use. And on average their products are very high
quality. A problem is that the parts etc. for their products can be
pulled out of production creating orphaned consumers. Yes that can and
does happen with other types too but many of them can use open market
replacements due to their use of that type material where MLM usually
can't. In many instances the MLM stuff will carry a patent and the
manufacturing is done by them or very exclusively for them as opposed to
normal industry channels. That also increases the cost.

Gary
Quality Water Associates