I recently moved into a home of my own, but it's in the city so I'm no longer on well water. I normally drink tapwater, but in this new place it literally tastes like pool water. It's got a distinct chlorine-like taste.

I'd like some opinions to get started on looking into a water delivery service.

It’ll be cheaper to run the city water thru a filter system(if you will be there a few years) be that a Brita pitcher, filters on your faucet, or a filter system in the garage that taps into the water before it goes to anything in the house.

If you are just removing the chlorine smell/taste a charcoal filter will do. I had a “green sand” (potassium permangenate) system at my old house in NC to remove iron and it’s smell/taste. The only thing was I couldn’t run a couple of hundred gallons a day thru it(like filling a smaller inflatable pool for kids-600 gal)

Cost was around a grand, but I got everything at cost-my dad had it all delivered for me thru his business.

Price a filter and labor vs bottle delivery.

The water here in Temple is super heavy with limestone/calcium, but it doesn’t taste bad, just have to use limeaway in the shower once a week for spots…

Water in my area has high nitrate and pesticide levels, so put in a reverse osmosis system in the laundry room and ran RO taps to the bathrooms and kitchen. It was around $350 to install everything myself and I change the filters once every 3 years.

A friend has much worse water with many particulates in it, so he put a simple sediment filter about the size of a coffee can in the main water line after it enters the home. Those filters are under $5 to replace from a big box hardware store. He replaces that every few months and also uses an RO system for drinking and cooking water.

Absolutely second the idea of an RO system. Well worth the effort.

We have a office type water cooler in the house that holds the 5 gallon jugs on top. We don't have the water delivered but the place to buy them is about a mile away. So every so often we go pick up 3 or 4 jugs. Very good water. Tastes like fresh cool water and nothing else. I think Wal Mart sells something similar but not sure on the quality. We get ours from a place that selling water is all they do in addition to water softening systems and the owners are long time friends.

We usually have 20 gallons on hand which is kind of nice to have a back stock of water in case of some event. We pay $6 per jug with returning a empty.

A few years back, I remember talking about a whole home filter system here on SIGforum. We weren’t in a position to pay that much and I didn’t have the time to install it so I went with an under counter filter at the kitchen tap. It’s been much better than the Colligan we got in the past.

If anyone remembers the brand of the whole house system, post it here because I remember deciding on it and I’d like to look into it again and it will help Orguss with a suggestion as well.

I just put tap water in a Berkey. I don't use their filters though, I use Doulton Super Sterasyl but the correct filter depends on your contaminants.

I use a refrigerator filter and nothing more.

Perfectly adequate for my area.

I've used a PUR pitcher filter for years for all my drinking water. I'll cook with water out of the tap though.

One thing you might want to check before making an investment. It is common practice for municipal water authorities to alter their usual chlorination/treatment procedures at this time of year to "flush" the system. The excessive chlorine taste you are experiencing might be a temporary situation, check with your water company. This is done in my jurisdiction, and I can definitely tell a difference in the taste of the water from the tap.

The built-in filter system on the Samsung fridge I inherited when I bought my house stopped working (Samsung...), so I was able to by pass it with this filter, installed on the water line into the fridge.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E77I0Y/

Much better filter and cheaper than the damn inside the fridge cartridge filters.

You can get a filter system that connects to your faucet or under the sink. Jeff also has other filter systems and a lot of technical information on his site. I have used his products since the early 90's.

I use the "Double Counter Top Water Filter-KDF/GAC Plus Carbon Block"

https://pure-earth.com/countertop-water-filters.htm

He also has good prices on Nalgene water bottles:

https://pure-earth.com/nalgene.html

In Florida, they have to dump chlorine into the water to make it safe as it travels through the pipes to your home. The ground is super heated, thus the pipes and water are very hot, and this creates growth of organisms if the water does not have chlorine in it.

We use a charcoal type filter and it does a decent enough job removing the chlorine taste. We drink a TON of tap water.

We found that if you use lots of ice, the water seems to taste better and more refreshing. Either that or the taste buds are frozen and don't notice.

We used to go through a lot of bottle water, but now we get by with the filtered tap water. I would say that I still prefer bottled drinking water (not spring, gross), but we adapted to the tap and its just fine for us.

Costco Bottled water is the deal, sure Sams Club too, $4 a pack of 36. They also have the 5 gallon delivered water bottles. Like Bubbatime said, FL water is pool water from the tap, tastes like crap.

We use the charcoal filter in the fridge for drinking water, and you want to stay on top of that filter because it keeps the ice clear of the taste. Doesn't do any good to have an under counter filter if your ice maker is still connected to the grid without one. You need both.

Other than that any whole house water softener with filter is the most expensive option, but your clothes will clean better, showers will not get soap scum it's the best solution but not inexpensive but it takes care of the whole house...

I have good tasting tap water and I do keep four of the 5 gallon bottled water containers for emergency use. These are the ones you turn upside down onto the floor standing water dispensers like you might see on an office.

I didn’t want to spend $$$ on the dispenser stand.

I just leave the 5 gallon jugs sitting upright, take the seal off, and put in my Primo brand hand operated pump. They’re $9.88 at Home Depot, there are other brands, and you can get a battery powered rechargeable pump if you want. Fits the 3 to 5 gallon jugs.

Primo has been around for a long time and makes all sorts of water things. Primo Link

Got a friend who works in a business that fixes houses and businesses that had a flood inside.

He said that almost in all of the private homes with flooding, it was caused by an indoor R.O. system.

Something to think about.

Thanks for all the replies, gang. I don't have a refrigerator that dispenses water, so I think I'm going to look into a filter system for under the sink.

How much cooking (where the water comes in direct contact with the food) and drinking water do you realistically use? For myself, I get cheap drinking water from the grocery store in gallon jugs. This is my favorite, and at a dollar or less to boot.



It probably isn't available that far west that cheap, but you get the idea.

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
We have a office type water cooler in the house that holds the 5 gallon jugs on top. We don't have the water delivered but the place to buy them is about a mile away. So every so often we go pick up 3 or 4 jugs. Very good water. Tastes like fresh cool water and nothing else. I think Wal Mart sells something similar but not sure on the quality. We get ours from a place that selling water is all they do in addition to water softening systems and the owners are long time friends.

We usually have 20 gallons on hand which is kind of nice to have a back stock of water in case of some event. We pay $6 per jug with returning a empty.

This is what we do, we buy 5 five gallon bottles at a time and we drink a lot of cold water. Our city water is horrible for drinking. Worth it for the $20 it costs each time.