COMPLETE Water Quality Test Kit

This article comes from our own personal experience and involves shower water that caused dry, flaky and sometimes itchy skin.

Each time we visited a family member’s home our children’s skin got really dry… and so did ours. We knew immediately that the water which the family member said had no issues that would cause the conditions we experienced — did actually have an issue.

We suspected chlorine as the skin irritant (due to our having to remove it from the shower water at our own home) and performed water testing using the COMPLETE Water Quality Test Kit to try and confirm our suspicions.

To our surprise, we did not find anything terribly out of line regarding the water’s chlorine content but we DID find that the water had unusually high pH and total alkalinity levels.

Had we not tested, we would have installed a filter geared more towards chlorine removal and possibly wasted our money!

So what did we end up doing?

At home we previously installed shower filters using the Austin Springs Premium Shower Filter (after doing water testing, of course!) to correct higher than desirable chlorine levels in our shower water. We noticed a positive change in the water almost immediately. The chlorine smell went away, soaps lathered up better, and the water seemed to take on a sweeter taste.

In that case we knew we would need a shower filter designed more for chlorine removal (hence the reason we opted to install shower heads that utilized Austin Springs Premium Shower Filters) but at our relative’s house we believed the issue dealt more with the pH and alkalinity of the water — despite neither parameter’s test value having strayed too far away from the norm.

The next time we visited our family we installed the Basic Austin Springs Shower Filter and immediately noticed a change in shower water quality. The water felt less ‘abrasive’ and we none of us needed to slather up with several layers of moisturizing lotion after a shower.

Moral of the story?

Testing your water (or a family member’s water) before selecting a water treatment option empowers you with the ability to correctly pick the water quality improvement device best suited for your unique water quality situation.

NOT testing the water before picking a water filtration device may result in a person installing a water filter that will not directly address the water quality issue at-hand… and that means money wasted on a solution that solves nothing.

Simply taking a few minutes and performing simple at-home water testing may save you hundreds of dollars and hours of aggravation!

I have city water and want to know if the austin springs water filter will clean my water so it is safe. The under counter and countertop models look like they will work but how can I can I tell for sure?

First and foremost, Fred, before you start deciding on a water filter, we think you should consider getting your water fully tested for typical water contaminants in your area. Contact your local water department for a copy of the most recent annual water quality publication and then locate a certified water testing laboratory in your area that can perform any testing that appears necessary.

We suggest using a qualified (and certified!) local water testing laboratory because they may have the ability to recommend testing based on their experience with the local water supply over a number of years.

If no local lab exists, then you may want to consider the mail-in water testing services of a company like National Testing Laboratories that currently offers three levels of what they call ‘City-Check’ ranging in cost from $140 for the Basic City-Check up to $250 for the Deluxe City-Check.

After completion of testing?

With any luck, Fred, your water will receive a clean bill of health! But, if not, then make a list of all the things found in your water that you would like removed (or in some cases reduced) and compare that list to the list of water contaminants removed/reduced by any of the water filters you have considered purchasing.

Moral of the story?

Rushing into a water filter purchase without knowing exactly what, if any, contaminants your water supply contains makes no sense. You could very easily make one of several foolhardy things:

• Spend money on an expensive, complicated water filtration system when your water does not require anything more than simple chlorine reduction for taste and odor improvement.
   
• Spend any amount of money on a water filter that does not address your specific water quality issues.
   
• Spend money on point-of-use (i.e. shower, faucet, countertop, or undercounter) water filters when in actuality, only a whole house filter has the filtering power to meet your water quality improvement needs.

What about simpler drinking water test kits?

The cost of water testing by a laboratory may not fit a lot of people’s budgets these days — and we can FULLY appreciate that!    🙂

So… will more economically feasible water test kits like the WaterSafe City Water Test Kit, WaterWorks COMPLETE Test Kit or SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit work just as well? Not for complex contaminants like VOC’s (volatile organic contaminants) and harder to test for environmental elements, no, but for folks on municipal water systems one would HOPE that none of those would exist in the water supply to begin with since those folks PAY a company to clean up the water before distributing it!

Interested in learning more about Austin Springs water filters?

If you would like to learn more about the filtration capabilities of the Austin Springs product line, then the links below will take you to pages containing more facts about each of the products shown:

Most recently we added two new test kits that MANY of you have asked for: The WaterSafe Lead in Water Test Kit and the WaterSafe City Water Test Kit.

We think these two test kits bring a lot to the water testing table in terms of utility, ease-of-use, accuracy, and affordability. Look for us to begin carrying more of the WaterSafe Brand in the new near future!

Point-of-Use Water Filters by Austin Springs

By now you have undoubtedly seen us mention a new product line that we will begin carrying in just a few days now called Austin Springs Water Filters in recent articles — and you will see us bring it up more and more as the official company release date gets closer.

If you have considered putting a water filter in your home — after testing your water to make sure you actually need a water filter, of course — we highly suggest taking a look at the benefits offered by the Austin Springs line of water filters which include NSF/ANSI 42 Certification for chlorine reduction (countertop, undercounter & whole house) as well as NSF/ANSI 53 Certification for the reduction of unwanted water contaminants like VOC’s (volatile organic compounds), lead, cysts, mercury, MTBE (a gasoline additive), asbestos, and turbidity (countertop & undercounter).

With pricing in a range that most home and small business owners can certainly afford and benefits that most people can use, we believe the Austin Springs product line will quickly become one of te most sought after brand names in the point of-use water filtration market!

Interested in learning more about Austin Springs water filters? You will find information on them in our online store (Shop.WaterTestingBlog.Com) and in the following data sheets: Austin Springs Countertop/Undercounter Data Sheet & Austin Springs Whole House Water Filter Data Sheet.

New Test Kits for Oxidizer Levels

Over the past few months we also added new water testing products from the SenSafe and WaterWorks brands of water test strips for ozone, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine dioxide, high range free chlorine, high range total chlorine, and iodine — and we hope to have even more oxidizer testing products available in the next few months!

Creation of a Clearance Section in the Water Test Kit Store

As happens in ANY retail business where products have assigned shelf lives, invariably some products don’t sell as quickly as store owners would like… and since we hate to see perfectly good water test kits go to waste, well, we created a special clearance section where you will find water test strips and water test kits whose shelf lives have become short offered for drastically reduced prices.

So, if you find yourself with immediate testing needs and you won’t need test strips with longer shelf lives, definitely take a look at the current offerings in the Water Test Kit Store Clearance Section!