Friday, May 8, 2009

What Should You Know About Replacement Water Filters?

By Peter Abertoning

When you're buying a water filter should you worry about the cost of replacement cartridges?

With the Ralph Nader Institute estimating up to 2100 toxic chemicals in our drinking water there's no doubt you need a good water filter, the best in fact.

But when you look for water filters you'll find that some need regular replacement of the filter cartridge. Is this an issue?

What actually needs replacement is the filter medium that actually collects the impurities that you would otherwise be drinking. It eventually clogs up with these and doesn't work effectively any more.

This is good. This means that the water filter is working and the contaminants that you would otherwise be drinking are now captured in the cartridge. When you throw the cartridge in the trash youve just thrown out all the impurities that you would have drunk. You can feel good about this.

But sadly some customers look at the cost of buying replacement cartridges and end up buying a filter that isn't the best just because of the cost of replacing the cartridges.

You need the best water filter that is available and that should be the overall consideration when buying a filter, don't buy just based on the cost of the cartridges.

But for many people cost is an issue regardless. And for them there is great news.

The best water filters aren't in fact the most expensive water filters, even with the cost of the cartridges factored in.

In fact the figures show that the best water filters sell for around $100 and with replacements factored in costs 9.6 cents per gallon. Compare that to equivalent products from other manufacturers at 13 cents per gallon, 20 cents per gallon and 25 cents per gallon and you can see the difference.

With 10 water filters tested the best water filters actually came out the cheapest of all to use, and they use replacement filters.

So if you are at the point of deciding to buy a water filter and you've found that many replacement water filters do require the purchase of replacement cartridges from time to time, you can rest easy.

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