Water Filter

Off Topic
#1

Exciting times here, looking at getting a new toaster and kettle. Whoop. :roll_eyes: :rofl:

We have pretty hard water down here, and have previously used a brita filter kettle. Downside being the kettle is only 1l, and we never change the filter!!! Kind of makes it a bit pointless. I also circumvent the filter and just pour the water straight in as iā€™m too impatient.

Mrs GB isnā€™t keen on moving away from a filter kettle, despite the above.

I seem to recall someone, and iā€™m pretty sure it was @poet talking about an inline filter on their cold water pipe coming into the kitchen.

Does Poet or anyone else have any experience of these solutions? Are they any good? How often do you have to replace the filter? Can you do it yourself or does it need a plumber (bearing in mind i am incredibly good at breaking things)?

Ta

despite knowing itā€™s a total waste of money iā€™m sorely tempted by the posh Sage toaster that isnā€™t spring loaded, but has a mechanised loader and little cool features (that will probably just break and cause headaches!!)

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#2

Not me!
I think it was @Jorgan ?

We have hard and soft water, it depends where it is coming from, as we have multiple water sources.
Can always tell when itā€™s hard as the toilets start to get dirty after flushing.

We drink coffee or cordial, so canā€™t tell the difference in ā€œtasteā€
I rarely drink ā€œrawā€ tap water - itā€™s mostly got something in it!

Toaster? Get a Dualit. Never buy a toaster again :+1:t3:

#3

Yeah, lot of my family have a Dualit . They are very good. Just a bit boring :joy:

#4

I got a John Lewis own brand toaster as a wedding present 11 years ago and still going strong.

Iā€™d youā€™re inpatient, get a hot and water tap. They come with a built in filter and can do filtered cold water too. I love mine!

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#5

I think you have to be careful about the terminology, as you have water softeners and filters.

Typically if you just want water you can drink then itā€™s a filter you want. I think these normally get fitted as an additional tap on the sink.

When we had our kitchen re-done I went for a 4-in-1 tap (cold-unfiltered, hot-unfiltered, boiling & filtered) which cost about Ā£500.

A softener is usually treats the water for the whole house and will stop the toilet issues (plus shower heads, etc.) scaling up like @poet referred to. Quite often these involve adding salt to the water so itā€™s not recommended that you drink it (though many people do and Iā€™m sure itā€™s not legal been deemed unsafe), so you keep a normal cold feed to the kitchen tap.

I believe you can get simple in line softeners that use magnets and electric.

Sorry, bit long and I didnā€™t really answer your query!

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#6

Just be prepared if it ever bursts and lubricate your stopcock. And donā€™t be asleep in just your pants when it does.

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#7

Nah, thatā€™s good info thanks.

Think iā€™ll just stick with a Britta on the kettle, or tell the boss to suck it up :rofl: ā€¦ yeah right.

We do have scaly showerhead and the toilet is totally scaled up. But i have much bigger fish to fry having discovered our damp/mould problem is much worse than we thought! May have to actually pull our fingers out and get this one sorted!! Though it would help if any of the roofers weā€™ve tried to contact would actually have the common courtesy to return a call or a text, even if itā€™s to say no!!! :angry: probs one for the rant thread!

#8

We bought a Smeg toaster and kettle. Theyā€™re stealth grey, so no obnoxious branding. We did double the value of the kitchen by getting them!
We have very very hard water in Winchester (River Test area) and have always used a jug with a filter. (Britax Maxim I think). We use the jus to fill the kettle and change filters every 6 wks. Our just used to have a timer for filter change but it stopped working but we just know when to change them now.

Dad used to work for Permutit many many years ago, a water softener company, back then the units were huge. Nowadays they are smaller and take salt ā€˜bricksā€™ but you have to store them somewhere and our kitchen is too small for a plumbed in softener.

The ā€˜inlineā€™ ones can be often mistaken for softeners and even folks that have them sometimes call them softeners but they are ā€˜water conditionersā€™ and not the same thing.

If I want a quick drink of water Iā€™ll drink from the tap otherwise itā€™s the jug for everything. The biggest hassle is wiping down both showers every time and I also worry about how much our Megaflo system is rocking up.

For the kettle itself, even with filtered water, it still rocks up, we use some stuff from Robert Dyas about every two months to de-rock it.

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#9

cheers FP, sounds like similar to us then (but a bit worse again). But you keep on top of jobs like wiping down and cleaning stuff. Weā€™re terrible at all that, like really bad! haha.

#10

Yeah, it really bugs me, everything feels ā€˜roughā€™.

#11

We have a Softener, that treats the whole house. Was Ā£500 plus 10kg of salt about every 2 months. Tbh we still get some limescale around the house, itā€™s not a silver bullet.

@joex thatā€™s a very good point with the stopcock! I must go and check the ā€˜newā€™ one we had installed 2 years ago with the Softener.

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#12

Do you use bricks or loose salt? Store in the garage?

#13

Tablet salt from Screwfix (BWT same make as the machine). We donā€™t store it anywhere, I just get a bag when itā€™s getting lowā€¦or run out!

#14

Hadnā€™t considered doing that. I read that folks were storing it but with the moisture in my garage, I donā€™t think that would work.

#15

We get loads of damp in the two utility room cupboards next to the external wall where the water comes in. The constant changes in temps, and the softener with a water reservoir in it; it mainly comes off the pipes though. Other than to heat it, thereā€™s no cure!

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#16

I buy these 25KG bags (seem best value for money I could find), and generally buy multiple (4 of them last time) and keep in my garage. That being said, due to mold issues in the past I do have a dehumidifier running in there.

https://www.buildbase.co.uk/tablet-salt-25kg-bag-11109-2829300