Water filters
 

Hi,
How much does it cost to have a fixed water filter in you kitchen?
Currently we use bottled water to drink cold and make hot drinks with. This probably costs about 4-5€ per month.
It addition to this there is the cost to the environment with the amount of single use plastic consumed for this.
Do any of you have any pros/cons of fixed water filtration?
I'd be interested in your views.
Thanks

Re: Water filters
 

Mains tap water is perfectly potable in Spain, although sometimes the minerals in it may make it taste different from UK tap water. In any case, boiled for hot drinks will do you no harm and if you get used to the flavour so will drinking it cold.
I myself do drink bottled water because it's easy to keep cold in the fridge. We have vacuum flasks to take cold water down to the beach etc., (and a cool box for the beer ;) ) We do buy the biggest (8l) containers of bottled water and decant it into glass bottles (which we were given by a local resto)

I notice that an ordinance has been passed in some departments that water will be provided in restaurants.

Re: Water filters
 

You might want to consider a water filter jug?

Re: Water filters
 

We've been using a water filter jug since we've lived in Spain. Tap water is perfectly drinkable and meets all eu regulations. After boiling it's very drinkable with tea and coffee.

Spain's water is very different to 10 years ago and it's often the bottled water companies that use scare stories.

Re: Water filters
 

By fixed, I assume you are referring to a proper in line water purifying system using reverse osmosis.

These work really well and you can input really horrible water and get very safe water out of it. We had one fitted in our yacht and it would happily produce potable water in a sewage rich marina! However it is really overkill in a domestic environment especially if you are on town water which is always safe to drink. Town water is sterilised with added chlorine so it is safe but may taste odd. Purified water has no appreciable taste at all.

A slightly cheaper alternative is an inline carbon/silver based filter. They are cheaper than a RO system and very effective unless the water is seriously poluted.

I would think a Brita type water jug would achieve the same end result at a much lower cost.

Re: Water filters
 

Thanks for the replies.
I will give the Brita water jugs a go.
My place is inland and on mains water. I just don't like the taste or smell of it
In my coffee.
Thanks again

Re: Water filters
 

I feel your pain! I'm a tea drinker and can't stand tea made with mains water. We're near the coast in Alicante and the kettle element gets full of calcium, also the tea has a slight scum on the surface. :thumbdown:
We currently use bottled water for drinking but I'm looking at fitting Reverse Osmosis kit under the sink. They're around €80 from Brico Depot but they waste a lot of water unless you have good water pressure(min 3 bar). Some of the kits have a built in pump to increase the pressure.
The running costs ( 5 refills) are about the same price we pay for the bottled water but it would save me from carting bottles back to our apartment. As far as I'm aware the (5 stage) Reverse Osmosis is the only water filter that removes calcium from the supply. If your water is very hard then you'll need to change the fine membrane filter quite often (not cheap), it could be worthwhile researching water softeners.

Please do let us know how you get on with the brita water jug, could save me a bit of money. :thumbup:

Re: Water filters
 

Brita jug works for me

Re: Water filters
 

And me!!