Homebrew Filters

Fix a Water Problem

Settle what is wrong with the water and which treatment mechanism can address it.

16 articles.

Identify the Problem

  1. Why Water Tastes Like Metal and How to Trace the Cause Taste alone cannot identify a metal or show whether water is safe. If unrelated sources and foods taste metallic, your sense of taste may have changed.
  2. Tannins in Water: What Color Can and Cannot Prove A sudden post-storm change calls for testing and evaluation of the source, not simply a stronger color-removal filter.

Match Treatment to the Contaminant

  1. Ultraviolet Light Disinfection Is Application-Specific UV can inactivate susceptible microbes, but doubling lamp distance can require about four times the exposure in an ideal point-source example.
  2. 8 KDF Filter Checks: Uses, Limits and System Fit KDF can be useful when its formulation matches a measured water problem and the system supplies enough media, contact time, service flow and backwash capacity.
  3. Does Boiling Remove Chlorine? The Type Matters Fifteen minutes may reduce free chlorine and improve chlorine-related taste, particularly in a wide, uncovered vessel, but it does not guarantee complete removal.
  4. Do Fridge Water Filters Remove Fluoride? The Model Decides Most built-in cartridges target chlorine, taste and odor, not fluoride. Fluoride-specific evidence must match your household's actual operating conditions.
  5. Most Refrigerator Filters Don't Reliably Remove Fluoride Without an explicit fluoride claim in the exact model's performance data or certification listing, reduction is unproven. Fit alone is not evidence.
  6. Best Chlorine Injection System for Well Water Compare pulse-meter, pump-linked, flow-switch, and hydraulic dosing by flow, pressure, pump controls, contact time, filtration, and maintenance.
  7. Spring Water vs Mineral Water: What Really Differs Neither is automatically better. Compare each bottle’s source, mineral analysis, sodium, treatment, taste, price and quality evidence.
  8. Does Your City Already Filter PFAS From Tap Water? Find your utility’s PFAS treatment status, read its water report correctly, and decide whether to skip, delay, or buy a certified home filter.
  9. Water Filter for Coliform Bacteria: What Actually Works By Erik Sandoval, water-treatment technician Updated August 29, 2026
  10. Testing for Iron in Water: Home Kits, Lab Tests & Results By Erik Sandoval, water-treatment technician and homebrewer
  11. How to Test pH Level in Water: Strips, Meters & Results A practical, repeatable way to measure your water’s acidity.
  12. Certified RO Systems Can Reduce Lead The certifier's current listing must match the exact model, and its Performance Test Data Sheet must explicitly name lead reduction.
  13. Water Filters for Chloramine Need Exact-Model Evidence Catalytic carbon is the common starting point. Decisive evidence is exact-model performance at a tested flow, concentration and capacity endpoint.
  14. Boiling Water Leaves Fluoride Behind: Ways to Reduce It To reduce fluoride, choose equipment designed and documented for it. The exact model must carry an explicit reduction claim supported by applicable evidence.