Comparing Water Filters
How do we compare one water filter to another?
Source: http://whatsthebestwaterfilter.com/CompareWaterFilters.htm
Written by Yolanda White
Comparing water filters is hard because most of them do not clearly have the information on their web site as to which chemicals their filters remove, and many are not even certified by NSF. Beware of companies who make claims which are not backed up. Anyone can make a claim about anything.
There are hundreds of water filters and to compare all of them would take a very big web site!
That number is vastly reduced when you consider only the ones that are Certified by the NSF, and it is reduced even further when you limit your search to the carbon filters that reduce lead, mercury, asbestos, toxaphene, PCB’s and MTBE. (That leaves only Multi-Pure).
For this reason I am going to concentrate my comparison on two of Multi-Pure’s most popular competitors, Aquasana and Brita.
|
Brand
|
Multi-Pure
|
Aquasana
|
Brita |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Model Number
|
MPAD
|
AQ-4000
|
FF-100 |
|
Retail Price
|
$225.00
Before Discount (**See Below) |
$99.99
|
$29.99 |
|
Cost Per Gallon
(Filter Replacement Cost) |
$59.95 / 750 Gal.
Cheaper and better |
$72.00 / 750 Gal.
Costs more and doesn’t reduce as many contaminants |
$112.50 / 750 Gal.Costs more and doesn’t reduce as many contaminants |
|
Per Gallon “Cost Of Use”
|
8 cents
Per Gal. |
9.6 cents
Per Gal. |
15 centsPer Gal. |
| NSF CERTIFIED | YES | NO | YES |
| Iowa, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Colorado Certified | YES | NO | NO |
| Flow Rate (how fast water comes out of the filter – A low number means water comes out of the faucet more slowly) | .75 gal/ per min. | .50 gal/ per min. | .58 gal/ per min |
|
Removes
Asbestos |
YES >99.9%
|
NO
|
YES >99.9% |
|
Removes
Mercury |
YES > 99%
|
NO
|
NO |
|
Removes
Toxaphene |
YES > 92.9%
|
NO
|
YES >87.5% |
|
Removes PCBs
|
YES > 99.9%
|
NO
|
NO |
|
Removes
Chlordane |
YES >99.5%
|
NO
|
YES 98% |
|
Removes
Turbidity |
YES > 99%
|
NO
|
YES 99.1% |
|
Removes Chlorine
|
YES >99%
|
YES > 99%
|
YES 99% |
|
Removes Lead
|
YES >99.3%
|
YES > 99%
|
YES >99.3% |
|
Removes Cysts
|
YES > 99.95%
|
YES > 99.99%
|
YES 99.99% |
|
Removes THMs
|
YES > 99.8%
|
YES > 99%
|
YES 94.8% |
|
Removes VOCs
|
YES > 95-99%*
|
YES > 94-99%
|
YES 99.6% (but less total # of VOC’s than MultiPure) |
|
Removes Lindane
|
YES > 99%
|
YES > 99%
|
YES >98.9% |
|
Removes Alachlor
|
YES > 98%
|
YES > 98%
|
YES >98.8% |
|
Removes Atrazine
|
YES > 97%
|
YES > 97%
|
YES >76.2% |
|
Removes Benzene
|
YES > 99%
|
YES > 98%
|
YES >96.9% |
|
Removes TCE
|
YES > 99%
|
YES > 99%
|
YES 99.1% |
|
Removes MTBE
|
YES > 96.6%
|
YES > 87%
|
NO |
| SATSIFACTION GUARANTEE | 90 Days | 60 Days | 30 Days |
*NOTE: All Aquasana figures based on “Performance Data Sheet” from their own Company web site
**NOTE: Percentages for Contaminants Reduced by Brita are not currently available. I will add them when I find them.
One thing Aquasana does – which led me to turn away from them – is that they have a web page called “Water Filter Comparisons” in which they show Aquasana as beating out 9 other water filters and therefore being “the best”! There are 2 big problems with this:
1) Nowhere on that page does it state that the page is affiliated with Aquasana! However, if you click the very small About Us link at the very bottom of that page, it takes you to a page that has this statement: “This site is owned by Sun Water Systems, Inc.” Guess who “Sun Water Systems, Inc.” is? You guessed it! They make the Aquasana filters! But they don’t tell you that, – you have to Google it, like I did, to learn the truth.
2) Their page does not include Multi-Pure in its comparison chart. If it did, you would see that Multi-Pure not only filters all the things that Aquasana does, but additionally, the Multi-Pure filters 5 potentially disease causing contaminants that Aquasana does not!
And if it showed you the price comparison to Multi-Pure it would show that although Multi-Pure’s lifetime warrantied housing costs a bit more, their replacement filters cost about half the price of an Aquasana per year based on recommended changing of the filters (twice a year for Aquasana, about once per year for Multi-Pure).
As you can see, their counter-top model is certified by the State of CA (but NOT NSF) to filter:
Cysts, Lead, MTBE, and VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds is a whole group of contaminants, and is the same for both units under CA’s certification system, so I have not included the list here, for either filter. You can find it in the full .pdf document, linked at the bottom of this page).
Now let’s look at Multi-Pure’s State of California Dept. of Health Services Certificate for their counter-top model MPCT, and others:
As you can see Multi-Pure’s MPCT counter-top unit reduces more contaminants. To be exact, the Multi-Pure systems are California-Certified (AND NSF-Certified) to reduce six contaminants which the Aquasana does not:
(The following information is taken from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s web page re potential health effects of each contaminant that Aquasana does not filter and Multi-Pure does:)
Turbidity – “Higher turbidity levels are often associated with higher levels of disease-causing microorganisms such as viruses, parasites and some bacteria. These organisms can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.”
Asbestos – “Increased risk of developing benign intestinal polyps”
Mercury – “Kidney damage”
Chlordane – “Liver or nervous system problems; increased risk of cancer”
PCB’s – “Skin changes; thymus gland problems; immune deficiencies; reproductive or nervous system difficulties; increased risk of cancer”
Toxaphene – “Kidney, liver, or thyroid problems; increased risk of cancer”
Multi-Pure’s carbon systems filter all six of the above contaminants in addition to ALL the ones that Aquasana filters.
Another thing: Aquasana says their filter is “Certified by independent laboratory testing to exceed ANSI/NSF standards 42 & 53”.
Note that they are not saying their filter is “certified by NSF”, but rather they are just saying that their filter has passed some other lab’s testing.
The simple fact is, with Multi-Pure you are getting a filter that filters more contaminants, for a lower cost per year. While the original cost of the Multi-Pure is indeed a little higher, you are getting a product that filters more of the potential disease-causing chemicals and is certified by the NSF and certified or registered by the states of California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Colorado (all the states that regulate drinking water systems)..
And you get a 90 day Satisfaction Guarantee with your Multi-Pure – that means you can return it if you are not satisfied for any reason within 90 days, for a full refund of the purchase price. This is compared to Aquasana’s 60 day guarantee.
OR IF YOU PREFER, CALL MULTI-PURE CORPORATION AT 1-800-622-9208 and give them one of the following coupon codes above, or you will not get the discounted price!
If you have any questions, please contact me here. It is my hope that everyone will get off the plastic bottle habit and Go Green by using a filter that is certified by NSF to reduce the widest range of contaminants!
Thanks! And good health to you!
*This calculation is based on paying average discounted prices on Multi-Pure’s cheapest counter-top system, and $59.99 every six months for an Aquasana replacement filter vs. paying $59.95 every 12 months for a Multi-Pure replacement filter. At the end of 2 years you will have substantially less money invested into the Multi-Pure than the Aquasana. From that point forward the Multi-Pure will cost about $59/year to operate whereas the Aquasana will cost about $96-120/year to operate.
Yolanda White,
Multi-Pure Independent distributor – ID #424611
website: http://whatsthebestwaterfilter.com/
Thank you to Yolanda for allowing me to place her article on my blog.
Thanks for inserting this comparison table with numbers, so good that all the info in one place. It’s a pretty hard job to collect pieces of info and then choose a good filter.