How long do you use a Brita filter cartridge for?
Discussion
A cartridge does 4 weeks or 150 litres of water according to the box. I only use it for tea and coffee so it could take me 4-5 months to get through 150 litres worth. Although I did use it to spot-rinse the car the other day after I'd cleaned off bird poo so I didn't get limescale spots.
How long do you really use a filter for? Does mould or something grow in it if you leave it too long?
How long do you really use a filter for? Does mould or something grow in it if you leave it too long?
I’ve noticed that although they recommend a change every 4 weeks their offers for “a year’s supply” only contain 12 cartridges, so I just use one a month without any noticeable side effects and a slight financial benefit.
I don’t see any problem with changing less often if you are a low volume user. Asda does a knock-off version which is a bit cheaper, others may do too.
I don’t see any problem with changing less often if you are a low volume user. Asda does a knock-off version which is a bit cheaper, others may do too.
Countdown said:
Ours has an LCD indicator in the lid that tells you when you need to change the filter. It seems to last about 4 weeks on average
So does mine but it's only a countdown timer. You need a conductivity tester to properly judge the water purity. I change mine monthly but it's probably too frequent. When scum starts to appear in green tea or other clear infusions is a reasonable guide. No-one died from hard water but it's unpleasant in some uses. Countdown said:
Ours has an LCD indicator in the lid that tells you when you need to change the filter. It seems to last about 4 weeks on average
I've got that one, although I either ignore the timer or just reset it. Gone 3 months and I'm still here. Only cleaned the jug and changed the filter because I could see mold forming
croyde said:
I've got that one, although I either ignore the timer or just reset it.
Gone 3 months and I'm still here. Only cleaned the jug and changed the filter because I could see mold forming
Can't be having mould in my tea. Do you keep it in the fridge? I might try for two months then give it a good look over and clean the jug when I replace it.Gone 3 months and I'm still here. Only cleaned the jug and changed the filter because I could see mold forming
I had to chuck out a mouldy tomato from the fridge last week, so I suppose it's fairly easy for the jug to get contaminated.
We've started buying the limescale specific Brita filters. Less good at filtering out all the rest (which I'm not worried about) but much better at the limescale. Has meant we've gone from changing every 3 weeks to every 5-6 weeks. Normally when you get that slight 'film' on the top of a cuppa.
Our filter jog has a red/amber/green light which I'm sure is just driven by volume rather than a quality sensor. We used to have to change the cartridge when it went amber now it's well after it goes red.
Our filter jog has a red/amber/green light which I'm sure is just driven by volume rather than a quality sensor. We used to have to change the cartridge when it went amber now it's well after it goes red.
We've used a jug filter for about 20 plus years now from when we moved from an area with soft sweet water to an area with harder water which really had a strong chlorine taste.
Started using a Brita filter jug, the one with the lcd timer on the lid. Tea now tasted properly like tea and not like something drawn from the shallow end of the local swimming baths after the local ne'er do wells had taken their 6 monthly wash and there was a tendency to get a sort of scum floating on the tea at times.
Everything fine though typically, like most people it seems, didn't stick rigidly to the 4 weeks, tended to reset the timer after one week then replace the filter when noticed the 4 week time expired.
Then I listened to this:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002flj4?partner...
It's an episode of the podcast Sliced Bread, on Water filters recorded live at Cheltenham Science Festival.
There's a lot of info to unpack but two things that I took from it were.
Only one person in the audience stated that they rigidly stuck to the 4 weeks. The water scientist from University of Sheffield iirc stated that really you should stick to the 4 weeks. Basically iirc if the filter has removed some bacteria from the water and that's trapped in the membrane or media that's a good place for the bacteria to grow.
The other item I took from it was the chlorine taste. This turns out to be governed by how near you are to the treatment works, more noticeable if you are close. However iirc the filter does not remove it, but if you put a jug of water in the fridge overnight any chlorine will have gone. This is what I do now, and it works.
Still stick with the filter jug to deal with the water hardness as it does seem to give the tea a cleaner taste and soften it, no scaling.
For anyone interested there are a whole host of subjects covered over the years. Relevant to this thread they've covered bottled water vs tap, boiling water taps.
Started using a Brita filter jug, the one with the lcd timer on the lid. Tea now tasted properly like tea and not like something drawn from the shallow end of the local swimming baths after the local ne'er do wells had taken their 6 monthly wash and there was a tendency to get a sort of scum floating on the tea at times.
Everything fine though typically, like most people it seems, didn't stick rigidly to the 4 weeks, tended to reset the timer after one week then replace the filter when noticed the 4 week time expired.
Then I listened to this:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002flj4?partner...
It's an episode of the podcast Sliced Bread, on Water filters recorded live at Cheltenham Science Festival.
Podcast said:
Can jug or undersink filter promising to soften tap water and improve taste, really take out what they claim?
The premises of the show is that a collection of scientists and experts are gathered to really comment on the detail of the subject.There's a lot of info to unpack but two things that I took from it were.
Only one person in the audience stated that they rigidly stuck to the 4 weeks. The water scientist from University of Sheffield iirc stated that really you should stick to the 4 weeks. Basically iirc if the filter has removed some bacteria from the water and that's trapped in the membrane or media that's a good place for the bacteria to grow.
The other item I took from it was the chlorine taste. This turns out to be governed by how near you are to the treatment works, more noticeable if you are close. However iirc the filter does not remove it, but if you put a jug of water in the fridge overnight any chlorine will have gone. This is what I do now, and it works.
Still stick with the filter jug to deal with the water hardness as it does seem to give the tea a cleaner taste and soften it, no scaling.
For anyone interested there are a whole host of subjects covered over the years. Relevant to this thread they've covered bottled water vs tap, boiling water taps.
I drink black tea, which leaves nice black scum marks on the cups once the filter is on its way out. I reckon the proper Brita ones last 4-5 weeks.
I bought some Chinese copy ones off Amazon, think they are made by Water Drop, they are poor and last 2-3 weeks before the cups get the marks .
Also re chlorine taste in your tea, never reboil any water, always empty the kettle and use fresh filtered water.
I bought some Chinese copy ones off Amazon, think they are made by Water Drop, they are poor and last 2-3 weeks before the cups get the marks .
Also re chlorine taste in your tea, never reboil any water, always empty the kettle and use fresh filtered water.
We use Waterdrop Brita Maxtra replacement filters from Amazon, currently six for £14.99. I last ordered at the end of February, replaced one today and have two left; I simply forget to replace them but we haven't succumbed to any water borne bugs - yet...
We use filtered water about 50/50 to drink as-is (maybe eight glasses a day in total) or make tea/coffee (five or six mugs a day each) so it seems pointless keeping the jug in the fridge as recommended by Waterdrop. However used, the water tastes OK to us and there's no visible scum.
We use filtered water about 50/50 to drink as-is (maybe eight glasses a day in total) or make tea/coffee (five or six mugs a day each) so it seems pointless keeping the jug in the fridge as recommended by Waterdrop. However used, the water tastes OK to us and there's no visible scum.
Riley Blue said:
We use Waterdrop Brita Maxtra replacement filters from Amazon, currently six for £14.99. I last ordered at the end of February, replaced one today and have two left; I simply forget to replace them but we haven't succumbed to any water borne bugs - yet...
We use filtered water about 50/50 to drink as-is (maybe eight glasses a day in total) or make tea/coffee (five or six mugs a day each) so it seems pointless keeping the jug in the fridge as recommended by Waterdrop. However used, the water tastes OK to us and there's no visible scum.
I find the Chinese Waterdrop cartridges do not work as well as proper Brita ones, I tried them and had to change them more frequently, better spending the extra on the real thing, plus they are UK made . We use filtered water about 50/50 to drink as-is (maybe eight glasses a day in total) or make tea/coffee (five or six mugs a day each) so it seems pointless keeping the jug in the fridge as recommended by Waterdrop. However used, the water tastes OK to us and there's no visible scum.
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