White Gel in the water tank and water filtering

[svetz]

Sister-in-law's hot water tank stopped working and I went over to replace the elements. Had a devil of a time draining the tank, opened the valve at the bottom and nothing came out, blocked by sediment? Took the valve apart and cleaned it, still no water coming out. Pushed a probe into it to dig some out and a white gel came out about the consistency of snot. I finally reassembled the valve, put the hose on the spigot, turned the water back on to force it out with pressure and then finished up the repair. But I wondered what that white stuff was (the old elements had hard calcium deposits, but were snot-free).

From my google search the white stuff is probably aluminum from her anode, but the state also puts it into the water, I think as a flocculant. Cleaned my tank when I got home as I've seen that same white stuff in much smaller quantities here. Our tank seemed to have just the regular sediment in it, but we also have a magnesium anode.

While searching I also came across the stuff about aluminum is possibly linked to Alzheimer's. Now if there's one thing that scares me, it's getting any crazier than I already am. That led me to...

Water Filters
Other than reverse osmosis or distillation, I've always thought water filtering was a gimmick that did little actual good. Ceramic filters are good at straining out microbes, but for aluminum ions it just isn't going to be practical. Filters also always seemed like dangerous breeding grounds for microbes. Reverse osmosis is expensive and removes good stuff (e.g., magnesium/fluoride) along with the bad.

But technology marches on, so I went up to the NSF to see what they had to say. Turns out the NSF has approved a lot of water filters.

First I looked up my local water TDS (total dissolved solids) here (scroll to the bottom then page up). TDS isn't the greatest measure of water quality, but it will give you an idea as to how long a filter will last. For example, the TDS here is 190 (FDA limit for drinking is 500, but 190 is pretty average) and a filter would provide about 25 gallons.

Purified water (FDA limits TDS to 10 ppm) from Walmart is about 1.25 gallons/$ and the filters work out to 1.7 gallons/$. Okay, so rough calculations aside it's cheaper to self-filter for me. It's also more convenient so as to not have to lug water bottles around and more environmentally friendly - but also takes up valuable fridge space.

Looked at some reviews by Good Housekeeping, Modern Castle, and best digs. ZeroWater seemed to stand out.

Independent lab test results for the ZeroWater water filter for metals:

• Aluminum reduction: 100%
• Copper reduction: 99.1%
• Arsenic reduction: 99.3%
• Strontium reduction: 100%
• Cadmium reduction: 99.2%
• Cesium reduction: 100%
• Mercury reduction: 99.4%
• Lead reduction: 99.2%
• Uranium reduction: 99.1%

Amazon reports seem to say the water still tastes good and I saw elsewhere an off-hand comment (unproven) that it only removed 50% of the fluoride.
So ordered the rectangular 20 cup.

Made me wonder what you might have as a water filter and what your thoughts on it were.

 

[Rider]

I use the under-the-sink cartridge filters with carbon, mostly for taste. When camping, I have a small bio-filter good for up to 100,000 gallons, because you never really know what's in that water.

I have to clean out my water heater every few years just for the calcium buildups.

 

[Boondock Saint]

Plastics, parasites etc . . you can't trust the water supply from anywhere. I have a 3 stage Brondell to install in addition to the new RV filters. I had it from when I lived in an apartment. I'm considering a reverse osmosis type unit.

 

[HRTKD]

Most house filters go inline before the water heater. So anything the water heater introduces isn't filtered out. At least that's how the filtering system was setup in my house.

 

[svetz]

Got an email saying delivery wouldn't be until next month. Went back to find a different supplier and was surprised to see the prices had jumped up. So, it'll be a while.

 

[newbostonconst]

I have heated my house with domestic hot water heaters for 20 years and I noticed the snot in the bottom of the water heaters came when they switched from chlorine to chloramine at the water treatment plants.

I recently switched to house that has a well and came across data that showed oxygenating the well helps gets rid of contaminates. I have a second tap in my well where I can dump water/chlorine/RO water discharge back down the well. So I hooked the RO dump line to an aeration pump and now the iron stains and well smell are gone.

Then a could weeks ago my softener stopped working(got stuck in regen mode) so I bypassed it and I couldn't tell the difference in the water(wife says she can slightly but is ok with it).

Because I make large amounts of RO water drinking, cooking, and salt water fish I have 6 large 20x4 inch filters. So along with the 6 filters and aeration I have got rid of my month softener salt costs of $30(we have 7 people living at home). The filters last a year before changing.

Just FYI for all.

 

[Boondock Saint]

Ace Hardware · 1 hr ago

Enviro Test Kits Safe Home Water Quality Test Kit

$20 normally $40
free delivery w/ $50

That's the best price we could find by $8. Buy Now at Ace Hardware
Tips

Opt for store pickup to dodge shipping charges (varies by ZIP code); Ace Rewards members get free delivery over $50, also depending on ZIP.

Features: tests 20 different contaminants

 

[svetz]

It arrived today! The meter said the tap water was 170 tds, and the filtered water 0. The filtered water is pretty tasteless, I'll have to check to see if there's something you can "drop" into it for drinking straight (in tea/coffee probably fine, I'll find out in the morning ).

Update: Might be more important than I thought, saw this (might be internet nonsense too):

Calcium and magnesium from water make up a whopping 20 percent of your total daily intake requirements.

The World Health Organization recommends...an optimum of about 40-80mg/l of calcium in drinking water for a maximum ...The... dissolved magnesium... optimum amount being 20-30 mg/l.

 

[Rider]

I'll have to check to see if there's something you can "drop" into it for drinking straight

In the grocery store where they sell instant lemonade and Crystal Light products, there's a series of powdered drink mixes of popular drinks like Sunkist Orange, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, A&W Root Beer, Gator Aide, Propel, etc...... Mix with 16 oz of water and it tastes just like the real thing, but uses fake sweetener. I take them camping. At home I mix with carbonated water and you can't tell the difference from the real bottled stuff.

 

[newbostonconst]

It arrived today! The meter said the tap water was 170 tds, and the filtered water 0. The filtered water is pretty tasteless, I'll have to check to see if there's something you can "drop" into it for drinking straight (in tea/coffee probably fine, I'll find out in the morning ).

Update: Might be more important than I thought, saw this (might be internet nonsense too):

Fyi, it isn't possible to go from 170 tds to 0 tds with just filtering. Filtering gets out solids and even if you have a huge carbon block you aren't going to get to 0 tds.....and RO membrane will get you close at 2 tds...

 

[svetz]

Fyi, it isn't possible to go from 170 tds to 0 tds with just filtering.

Why do I feel like the "UFO" wait...let me get my worst camera? Well, the tap water read 225 this morning and the filtered water was 0, so might just be the meter isn't that good. They did get approved by the NSF (see data in OP).

 

[A.Justice]

@svetz I have the same ZeroWater filter, it works great.

Make sure you clean the filters reservoir somewhat regularly though; once most of the chlorine is removed the water can grow bacteria inside of the tank and it gets a funny taste. I sterilize the inside of the tank every couple of weeks.

 

[svetz]

... I sterilize the inside of the tank every couple of weeks....

Thanks for the tip! What's your technique/chemical regime?

Do you notice different TDS reading from the tap at different times of the day?

 

[A.Justice]

Thanks for the tip! What's your technique/chemical regime?

Do you notice different TDS reading from the tap at different times of the day?

I use 70% isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle. Spray all of the surfaces inside and out, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse with clean water. I used diluted bleach once as well and it worked well too (there was a time not long ago when isopropyl alcohol was $100+ a gallon, if you could even find any ?). I let it go dirty for a month and got a funny taste, so I clean every 2 weeks now.

I picked Zerowater because of its (alleged) ability to remove SOME glyphosate from the water. Lots of farms here, and lots of nasty herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, and pesticides are used as well that run back into the ground.

I get anywhere from 80-170ppm TDS at different times of day from the tap. I didn't pay too much attention to time of day specifically, but there is a large fluctuation here in Tennessee.

 

[Supervstech]

In the grocery store where they sell instant lemonade and Crystal Light products, there's a series of powdered drink mixes of popular drinks like Sunkist Orange, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, A&W Root Beer, Gator Aide, Propel, etc...... Mix with 16 oz of water and it tastes just like the real thing, but uses fake sweetener. I take them camping. At home I mix with carbonated water and you can't tell the difference from the real bottled stuff.

Yeah...
I have a picky tongue... I Certainly can tell the difference...

 

[svetz]

I use 70% isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle. Spray all of the surfaces inside and out, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse with clean water. I used diluted bleach once as well and it worked well too.

Thanks!

I picked Zerowater because of its (alleged) ability to remove SOME glyphosate from the water. Lots of farms here, and lots of nasty herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, and pesticides are used as well that run back into the ground. I have to admit I was more like @newbostonconst when I first started down this path thinking an RO was the only thing that would work. If I hadn't come across an article saying how the NSF had tested them and seen independent lab results I never would have put any stock in them. I've no idea what's going on in their filter, but it does seem to work. Definitely more than activated charcoal. Of course, that also means I'll never buy knock-off cheap filters - fortunately, they have coupons for filters on their site (link).

Different filters filtering wine, they are not all created equal.

I get anywhere from 80-170ppm TDS at different times of day from the tap. I didn't pay too much attention to time of day specifically, but there is a large fluctuation here in Tennessee.

Wonder what causes that? Well, if I can figure out the time with the minimum TDS might be able to extend filter life! ;-)

 

[newbostonconst]

Must be DI resin in it which has a very short life in this use....

After the rated 20 gallons between cartige change what is the tds?

$15 per cartridge / 20 gallons = $0.75 per gallon.

An RO system is better for how my family uses it, we have 7 people and RO plumbed to refrigerator, pot filler, and sink.... Plus salt water fish...at less then $0.15 per gallon.

Neat " filter"
Thanks for sharing.

 

[svetz]

...After the rated 20 gallons between cartige change what is the tds? ...

They say to change it at a TDS of 6. Not sure how many gallons it will actually be as the TDS is both higher and lower than the original calculation. They have a chart here.

$15 per cartridge / 20 gallons = $0.75 per gallon.

I worked that out in the OP and it was cheaper than buying "purified" (TDS of 10) bottle water, but didn't look into the ROs.

 

[svetz]

Took a set of TDS readings throughout the day yesterday and most were around 184, only the early morning 7 AM reading was high (246) and this morning I tested it again at 7 AM and it was 183. So, doesn't appear to be a predictable number on my minuscule sample set.

 

[svetz]

I've been using the ZeroFilter for a few months now, on the second filter. I switched the filter because it was getting very slow to filter, but the TDS was still zero. Haven't gotten to the "funky" level yet mentioned, but when I changed the filter gave it a good cleaning.

Interestingly, the largest use of it has been for the pets, mainly because they get a lot of water and I swap it frequently. Probably running a 1/2 to 1 gal/d so I did better than filter life estimates.

The residue in the pet bowls disappeared so feeling pretty happy about that.

This came out, love this guy...

The Sawyer and lifestraw were surprising, I have them in the hurricane go-bag. Really happy with the ZeroFilter overall, but still early days really. Really amazed the ZeroFIlter did better than the reverse osmosis.