Everyone loves the taste of fresh, clean filtered drinking water, but not everyone likes their water ice cold or as cold as it gets when stored in a refrigerator. How do we know this? Simple: Martha wrote in and asked,
I’m thinking of getting a water filter pitcher. Must it be kept in the refrigerator in order for the filter to work? I prefer room temp. water.
Thanks, Martha
We knew that hot water posed a problem for certain types of filters and filter housings — hence the need for special hot water filters & housings — and we knew that frozen water would not work all that well, either (obviously!), but as for whether or not a filter would perform all that much differently at room temperature versus the temperature of a refrigerator, we never gave that a whole lot of thought.
Until now.
Our quick research has determined that water filter pitchers ought to work just as well at room temperature as they would in a refrigerator. We do, however, suspect that one could possibly need to replace the filters more frequently since warmer temperatures in the filter would make an excellent breeding ground for bacteria. We suspect that water pitcher filters that use certain blends of KDF Media may prove more resistant to bacterial growth than filters that do not use KDF Media.
The Crystal Quest Pitcher Water Filter does something that similar products made by other leading water pitcher filter manufacturers do not. It uses a total of FIVE stages of filtration.
- A one micron sediment pre-filter takes out dirt, rust, sediment and any other large particles.
- In filter stages 2 & 3… Blends of KDF55 and KDF85 resin media reduce dissolved metals (i.e. iron, mercury, copper, nickel, chromium) and harmful bacteria. As we mentioned before, KDF resin media also has properties which help to prevent the growth of bacteria in the filter.
- In the fourth stage of filtration a bed of ion exchange resin further reduces heavy metals including lead, copper and aluminum. This stage also reduces water hardness (calcium and magnesium).
- The fifth stage of filtration contains granulated activated carbon (GAC) reduces chlorine (99.9%), bad taste and odors. It also reduces pesticides and chemicals that science has linked to increased cancer risks in humans (i.e. VOC’s, benzene, TTHMs and toxaphene).
