Winston Kao writes:
I am often asked for recommendations of shower filters.
I don’t have one. Why?
Several reasons:
1. The effectiveness of all water filters drops sharply when exposed to HOT water. Most people shower at temperatures above 120F. But that is the limit of temperatures at which most filters are rated.
2. Shower filters tend to be SMALL. Small means that the water lacks sufficient contact time with the filter media to effectively remove certain stubborn contaminants, especially chloramines and fluoride, which are common in most tap water in the U.S.
3. Shower filters may not contain the correct media to do the job even if we don’t consider the problems with hot water. Especially true of fluoride – I know of NO shower filter which contains materials that would effectively remove fluoride.
4. Shower filters vary widely in quality and I would hesitate to trust some of the cheap, Chinese-made filters.
5. Shower filters need to be changed frequently if they are to be worth anything. This jacks up the cost.
6. The “best” shower filters aren’t cheap. I have seen quotes of $200 to $300 or more to purchase a new unit, with a cartridge replacement cost of $150 or more, and the recommended replacement intervals of every 3 months! Cost for a year of ownership on the order of $800 isn’t a good deal, is it?
Paying so much for a filter which cannot remove chloramines and fluoride, two of the toughest and very harmful chemicals, makes no sense.
My solution is always to suggest one of two things:
1. Ideally, purchase and install an Ideal Earth whole-house water filter system. This way ALL of your water from every tap is clean! You can shower or bathe in very hot water without any problems, because the water is filtered BEFORE it goes to your water heater and then to your shower.
2. A few people have connected a filter in the bathroom COLD water supply line and then fed this already filtered water into one of those “on-demand” water heaters to supply the shower. I have designed custom bathrooom filter systems for this purpose for those who, for some reason, cannot get the whole-house filter system. The cost of this custom system works out to be very reasonable compared to the cost of the premium shower filters and their replacements. The MAIN point, though, is that this system will GET THE JOB DONE PROPERLY, while conventional systems will not.
Yours in health,
Winston Kao
Natural Health Researcher,
Inventor & Educator