Can anybody make recommendations on the best affordable water filter/purifier for home use?  I started off seeing the plug for TivaWater on youtube and it sounded great, but there isn't a lot more reviews on it and I've seen a couple comments about it takes time to activate the filtering components...kinda vague.  Then there is the Berkey Light, but I've seen comments about it leaking and having to replace filters.  I ordered a couple of lifestraws to check them out for portable systems.  But I'm looking for something home bound, which isn't difficult to move and puts out more volume.  Of course this is for something that can take lake, pound, creak water and clean it for safe drinking.  Thanks.

search expy37 post.

he has one for a cheap ro setup.

2x 5 gallon buckets and couple filter elements will clean a lot of water.

For something piped in, use something that takes standard water filters.Most of the stuff out there is proprietary and of dubious origin/reliabilty. Water filtration is not an emerging technology so it doesn't make sense to buy something that is unique.

Portable / gravity is a whole different story.

I like the Berkey units, but there are a number of people I respect that recommend the Katadyn Gravidyn. The berkey is the only one I have personal day-to-day experience with, and it's been fine. There was a bad run of bad berkey filter elements, but that's been several years ago.

Water from my wife's parents' new well couldn't be used for anything that involved heating of the water. It wasn't toxic; just nasty tasting if it got heated up. Making coffee, tea, cooking in general, the water took on a funky bitter taste that wasn't there when drinking cold from the faucet. The county extension office found nitrates & iron in it, but couldn't definitively say what specifically was causing the temperature-related nastiness.

For several years, they used bottled water for drinking & cooking purposes, but in 2011 my wife and I bought them a Big Berkey for Christmas and it totally solved their problem. I cleaned the original two filter elements twice over the years, and finally replaced them this past fall at four years old.

I am leaning towards the Berkey Light.  There seems to be more information out there about it, some good, some not so good.  I'm hoping all the bugs have been worked out.  I'd rather have a stand-alone system instead of one that relies on water pressure.  If anybody else knows of something better, please let me know.

Katadyn ceradyn here. Over 6 years now daily use....works great...

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justwater.me filters.

Use daily, all our drinking/cooking water.

Portable, just stick with any of the major brands.  Stationary/whole house, avoid anything that removes chlorine.  You can develop strong colonies of things like legionella if you remove the chlorine.

FYI, I decided to go with the Katadyn Ceradyn water filter.  I liked the fact that it is plastic and the quality looked good.  It won't be everyday use, but a backup system.  I got it from highwater filters and they were great.  I talked to the owner and she was very helpful in answering my questions.  She shipped it out same day and I received it in a couple of days and everything was in order (doubled boxed).  I also got an extra filter for backup.

http://www.highwaterfilters.com/Katadyn-Drip-Ceradyn-p/2110070.htm

I think you will be happy with the Katadyn.  I have been using a Katadyn Ceradyn for years, trouble free, with great water.

I too am looking for a whole house water filter. Any ideas??
Thanks

I built the two bucket set up and used two Doulton filters.  We go through about 5-7 gallons each day.  It will filter 5 gallons overnight.

To me it came down to Berkey Light, Aqua Rain and Katadyn Ceradyn.  I came away think all 3 were quality brands which I don't think you could go wrong with.  If you wanted the extra filtering of the Berkey Black filters, that was a consideration.  If you are going to start using it in a fancy kitchen immediately, you might like the shiny steel containers instead of the plastic ones.  I decided on the Katadyn which came with 3 filters and I got an extra thinking I'd go 2 at a time.  To me, this reduced the concerns about storing bottle water which takes up space and doesn't last indefinitely.

I'm still don't consider this a 100% fool proof water supply system (depending on what water source is available).  Because depending on whats in the water, it may not be totally safe to drink...but it gets me a hell of a lot closer to drinkable water then without it.  I'm now looking into additional purification on top of this filtering.  For example, using Pool Shock as a better solution then bleach to purify the water if I can't boil it.  Or maybe I get the Berkey Light Black filters unit down the road and essentially run my water through 2 systems which may increase the the quality of the water and provide some redundency.  Or maybe I'll just get a couple of Berkey black filters and make a secondary home-made unit with my food buckets to accomplish the same thing on a budget.

Doulton ceramic filters are less expensive than berkey. Check them out.