Will a shower head filter with the KDF-55 remove all of the arsenic we have or only part of it? We have .014 or 14 PPB arsenic. Does the arsenic also give off a gas in the shower that will also be taken care of?

The need to remove arsenic from drinking water is undisputed.

Bathing and showering in water with that level of arsenic is another question.

You don't have to worry about inhaling arsenic vapors unless your shower temperature approaches the boiling point of arsenic, which is 1,137°F. No concern there.   :o)

Arsenic absorption through the skin when bathing is estimated to be about 1% in a paper published by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The above paper sites others that conclude absorption of arsenic from water via bathing is "unlikely to be of health concern" with the caveat that more research should be done.

One percent of 14 PPB seems like a very small amount, but because there is little research and no established standards for exposure to arsenic in the shower or bath, you'll have to make your own decision.

Back to shower filters. KDF does reduce arsenic, the question is how effective a shower filter would be at arsenic reduction. Shower filters are designed and tested to filter chlorine.

I am not aware of any shower filter that has published test results for arsenic reduction. Fortunately, arsenic does not appear to be much of a concern in the shower.

In many cases, you can identify the shower filter by looking at pictures, but lots of people hesitate to buy a cartridge until they are really sure it will fit their shower filter.

Here's a process and resource to help you find the right cartridge for your shower filter.

1. Scroll down the page and find a shower filter that looks like yours
2. If you are not sure that is the same shower filter, click on the picture and look at larger pictures and descriptions to make sure
3. Hit the back button to get back to the page that shows all the cartridges
4. Repeat steps 1-3 until you have identified a likely cartridge fit
5. Click on the picture of the shower cartridge and look at the pictures, measurements, and description
6. If you are still not sure, you can remove your shower cartridge and compare to the info provided
7. Once you are sure you have the right shower cartridge, just add it to the cart and checkout

If you don't find a cartridge that you think is right for you, just use the Ask Mr. Water Filter link at the bottom of the page to get some help.

Many Sprite shower filters are offered in different finishes. The finish has no impact on which cartridge fits, just select the same model and you will be fine.

One thing to remember, if you get multiple cartridges at the same time, most come with a discount to save you some money.

OK, here is the page where you start the above process:

Shower Filter Cartridge Guide

Let me know if you have any questions or trouble finding the right cartridge for your shower filter.

Here are the major benefits for which people have shown the most interest:

For details on these shower filter benefits, you can see the
benefits of shower filtration page.

Can you tell me how to back flush my shower filter?

The idea is to have the water flow through the cartridge in the opposite direction so the filtration media does not get compacted towards one end of the cartridge.

Back flushing also reduces the chance of "channels" forming, which allow water to flow through the filter without proper contact with the filtration media.

Note that back flushing does not dump chlorine back into your shower water, because chlorine is transformed into harmless chloride by KDF, rather than being held in the filter media.

Backflushing is not magic, but it can lengthen the effective life of your shower filter.

Usually, the news is about some town that decided not to add fluoride to their water, but to actually vote (229 vs. 42) to remove fluoride is something new. Even more amazing is that the local water officials are happy about the vote.

It will be interesting to watch and see if this is the first of many, or just an isolated case.

You can read the full story at Maine Coast Now.

If you live in a town where fluoride is still added to the water, I've got a solution for you.

There are even several shower filters available without shower heads, so you don't pay for something you don't plan to use. Shower filters available without shower heads are:

Rainshow'r CQ-1000
Sprite High-Output
Sprite High-Output All-Brass
Sprite Slim-Line
Sprite Slim-Line All-Brass
Sprite Perma Seal
Sprite ShowerUp Double Extension
Sprite ShowerUp Single Extension (not with a screw on shower head)
Sprite Hose Filter (for use with your hand held shower)

See our how to choose a shower filter page for more info and a link to each of those shower filters.

Several websites want you to believe that chloramines are dangerous and need to be removed from your shower.

Truth is that chloramines are not a concern in the shower or bath tub. Here's why...

Chloramines are much more persistent than chlorine and have a much higher boiling point, so they don't evaporate as easily as chlorine.

This means that chloramines don't readily evaporate into the air as you shower, so one major problem with chlorine is eliminated. Many people don't notice the smell of chlorine after a shower, but if you have asthma, the amount of chlorine in the air after a shower can impact your breathing.

Because chloramines are more stable than chlorine, they don't react with your skin and hair as chlorine does.

The main reason that the EPA approved use of chloramines is that it disinfects water and produces fewer disinfection by-products than Chlorine.

Three cautions about chloramines:

1) Just because your water company uses chloramines does not mean that there is no free chlorine in the water. A shower filter can still be helpful.

2) Chloramines are dangerous to your pet fish, special care must be used to eliminate chloramines from water used for tropical fish. The same is true for chlorine, however chlorine is much more easily eliminated.

3) Water used in kidney dialysis should have chloramines removed. There are strict standards for dialysis water quality. Use only a specially designed, medical quality filtration system to purify water used in dialysis treatment.

This information will be used by water system planners and as an exposure assessment in an epidemiologic study of bladder cancer in the region.

Interesting facts from the abstract:

In eastern New England, 20-30% of private wells exceed the arsenic drinking water standard of 10 micrograms per liter.

Previous studies suggest that arsenic in bedrock groundwater may be partly from past arsenical pesticide use. Variables representing historic agricultural inputs do not improve the model, indicating that this source does not significantly contribute to current arsenic concentrations

Indications are that the arsenic is from naturally occurring sources.

You can read the abstract here.

England is using hexafluorosilicic acid, which is also the most common fluoridation additive in the United States.

The fluoride water filter uses fine a mesh activated alumina media to remove 95% of fluoride from typical municipal water, which has 2 parts per million of fluoride.

DeLonghi Espresso/Cappucino maker

I plan to run water line teeing off from the line to my refrigerator ice maker. It is 1/4" compression fitting, but then I must convert it to a 3/4" to the espresso machine. Since my refrigerator does not have a filter for the ice maker, I plan to put the filter BEFORE doing the tee.

I would like a filter I can neatly tuck behind the refrigerator, with an easily changeable cartridge, cost effective to replace filters, and that will do a fine job removing sediment and calcium (if that is possible.) I live near Seattle WA and we actually have what I consider very good tap drinking water – at least it tastes great, and we don’t need water softeners, etc, though I know there is some calcium in the tap water.

Answer:

You are right, calcium is difficult to filter, and when you do, it leaves the water with a flat taste because you also remove all the other great tasting minerals.

To remove most of the calcium requires reverse osmosis...not exactly something you can stuff behind the refrigerator and forget about for a while.

The reason for removing calcium for water to an espresso machine is to avoid calcium buildup in the machine. When the water is heated, it evaporates and leaves calcium behind.

Personally, I'd leave the calcium in the water and clean out the espresso machine from time to time. If your water is not that hard, it may not have that much calcium anyway.

For your filter, here is one that will fit nicely in a small space:

A Living waters refrigerator filter. This will remove sediment, lead, bad taste, odor, chlorine, and many other chemicals. This is a ceramic filter that needs to be replaced about once a year and can be washed if clogged with lots of sediment (unlikely with city water).

http://www.mrwaterfilter.com/refrigerator/mwfrf-01.shtml

If you had any other concerns about your water, you could use any other under sink filter (e.g., fluoride removal, nitrate removal, etc.), but additional clearance behind the fridge would be needed.

If you live in the Big Apple, don't worry, a third tunnel is under construction. Expected completion is in 2020.

So much for trusting your city infrastructure.

Here is a snip of the article (emphasis added):

Kate Ascher: The two main water tunnels serving the city lose many thousands or millions of gallons of water that just pour out of them each day because they are leaking. But they can't really attack those leaks, and do the maintenance work that is required, until there is a backup system.

I'm not an expert on this, but as I understand it the tunnels essentially can't be maintained, can't be checked, because we're so dependent on them. Nobody wants to shut off the water moving through the tunnels because we're reliant on them, but also in part because they're afraid the tunnels may implode when that pressure is removed.

So the idea is to have this third water tunnel, start using it, and then be able to take those other tunnels out of service to be maintained in turn.

You can read the full article at the link below, lots of other fascinating stuff about NYC infrastructure.

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/fea/20060213/202/1755

KDF-55 is a mixture of Zinc and Copper, as certain impurities are removed from the water, Zinc and Copper ions are released.

Zinc and Copper are both essential minerals for the human body, however it is possible for some people to get too much copper, because a small percentage of the population retains copper. Getting too much zinc on a modern diet isn't likely at all.

Now to the answer, and the good news: the amount of zinc and copper added to your water by KDF-55 is insignificant.

Here is part of a test report from an independent lab, which was commissioned by the makers of KDF (emphasis added):

Sample 2 contained water that had been eluted through the KDF column prior to inoculation and there is substantial die-off of the bacteria compared to the control water. This die-off is very likely due to small amounts of copper and zinc ions that are eluted (less than 0.025 ppm copper and less than 1ppm zinc). This result is not unexpected since it is well documented that copper is toxic to bacteria.

You can read the entire report here: http://www.kdfft.com/lab_biological.htm

That is the opening paragraph of a story on the Washington D.C. lead in the water scandal in the Washington Post.

Unfortunately, all municipal water systems are run by humans, and we humans all make mistakes.

Kind of obvious that Mr. Water Filter sees an opportunity to protect yourself from this sort of problem. ;-)

When a filter cartridge is first put into service, it is full of air, instead of water.

As water moves into the filter cartridge, small air bubbles are trapped and released over time.

You can see that the cloudiness is caused by air bubbles by pouring a glass of filtered water and letting it sit for a few minutes.

It's easy to see the tiny bubbles that cause the cloudiness move to the surface and escape to the surrounding air, then the water is clear.

The small bubbles (and te cloudiness they cause) go away as you use the new filter, usually in just a day or two.