Water & Air – Filter Systems News

Humans shed their entire layer of skin every 2-4 weeks. Skin flakes contain skin oils – cholesterol and “squalene” – which are major components of household dust. Recent research shows that dust, though often a nuisance and the source of allergies and respiratory problems, may actually be beneficial at reducing indoor air pollution.

It sounds contradictory, but it’s true. Squalene actually reduces ozone levels from 2 to 15 percent.

So… to dust, or not to dust? That is the question. Previous research shows the mere presence of humans in a room can reduce ozone levels. Ozone is a major component of smog, and exposure to it may increase one’s risk of lung irritation, asthma, heart attacks and death. The removal of ozone from indoor spaces seems to be a good thing. However, other studies show that the reaction between skin flakes and squalene produces byproducts which are known to be lung irritants and may be just as or even more harmful to your health.

Until more research is done, we are going to recommend dusting and using an air purifier to remove dust and other allergens from your indoor spaces. Just make sure the air purifier does not emit ozone.

From dust we came, and to dust we shall return…

Consumer Reports recently stated that refrigerator manufacturers, including GE, LG and Whirlpool, are adding new technological features that will help keep your food fresh longer. If you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, this may be something worth considering before you buy. Here are some highlights of the new features being added:

Whirlpool’s Freshflow Produce Preserver

This technology will be in select models, starting this year, and consists of ethylene absorption packets located in crisper drawers. These packets contain potassium permanganate, which neutralizes ethylene – a naturally occurring, odorless, harmless, tasteless gas, given off by fruits and veggies, causing them to ripen more quickly. Whirlpool claims that FreshFlow will make your produce last 25 percent longer, but the packets must be changed every six months.

GE ClimateKeeper Dual Evaporator System

As the old saying goes, “two heads are better than one.” The same goes for evaporators in your refrigerator. Older fridge models have one evaporator in the freezer, so that all of the cold air for the fresh food section in the refrigerator comes from the freezer. This causes the airflow from the fresh food section to mix with the air in the freezer. If you notice that your ice cubes taste like onion or broccoli, this may very well be why. (That, or you need to change your fridge filter.) With a dual evaporator system like GE’s ClimateKeeper, there are two evaporators, rather than one, so that the fresh food section and the freezer cool independently from one another. The humidity inside your fresh food drawers is also significantly higher, allowing fresh produce and unsealed foods to retain moisture and stay fresh longer.

Bosch VitaFresh Technology

With Bosch’s VitaFresh system, a high-tech lining inside your fresh food drawers works with climate sensors to maintain ideal temperature, humidity and air circulation, so that your food stays fresher longer. Bosch also claims that this technology also preserves vitamins and nutrients.

Viking’s Plasmacluster Ion Air Purifier

Similar to room air purifiers for the home, a Plasmacluster Ion air purifier inside your refrigerator helps eliminate odors associated with airborne pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, mold and fungi, helping your food to stay fresher, longer.

LG Push ‘N Seal Crisper Drawer

This drawer uses a vacuum to seal your produce inside, apparently keeping it crisp and fresh for longer.

Despite freshness claims from various refrigerator manufacturers, Consumer Reports recommends that you first look for a fridge that has excellent temperature performance. You can keep your produce fresh through proper food storage, eliminating the need for advanced refrigeration technology. And, of course, remember to replace your refrigerator water filter every six months.

We just wanted to post a quick update on the status of the OasisPlaces iPhone App. Two days ago, we wrote about WeTap – an upcoming Android App that maps water fountains. In that post, I mentioned the OasisPlaces app – another application that maps water fountains – for the iPhone. I had tried to find the app on my iPhone that morning but didn’t see it in the App Store, and wrongly assumed that iPhone users would not have access to this sort of feature until WeTap expanded its reach to other mobile devices.

A representative from Thermos came across that post and saw fit to contact us with an update on the status of OasisPlaces. I received the following e-mail today:

Hello Selwa,

I hope all is well. I represent Thermos and saw your post today about not being able to find the OasisPlaces water fountain finder app they launched last year:

I wanted to let you know that OasisPlaces is only down from iTunes temporarily for some app upgrades, and will be reposted to iTunes very shortly. I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s back up and running, as we have some exciting things planned for this summer.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks,

Betsi

So, as you can see, Android phones are not the only devices that will enable you to locate the nearest water fountain. iPhone users, don’t forget your reusable water bottles when you leave the house!

Perhaps you hadn’t thought about Filters Fast as the place to buy your mom that special gift that says “I love you.” But, we do carry a few items that are practical and will manage to make mom feel extra-special too. Even if you don’t buy one of these in time for Mother’s Day this year, there’s always her birthday, Christmas, next Mother’s Day, or even “just because.”

1. PUR 3-Stage Horizontal Silver Faucet Water Filter

This faucet filter removes or reduces lead, mercury, sediment, dirt, microbial cysts, and the bad taste and odor of chlorine. A stainless steel finish makes it the perfect addition to mom’s kitchen, and best of all, installation is easy. Simply snap the PUR 3-Stage faucet-mount filter onto your faucet with just one click. No messy, under sink installation for dad this Mother’s Day.

2. Mavea Elemaris Filtered Water Pitcher

Recently dubbed “the sexiest water filtration pitcher in town,” the Mavea Elemaris filtered water pitcher has a soft, rubber grip handle and a sleek look that is perfect for entertaining guests, while providing fresh filtered water, free from contaminants like chlorine, mercury, copper, benzine, atrazine, limescale, rust and more. This is one gift that mom will use over and over again.

3. Reusable Water Bottle

As we stated in a recent post, reusable water bottles are the perfect active wear fashion accessory. Besides that, they will help mom save money that she’d otherwise spend on single-use, plastic bottled water. A Klean Kanteen filled with already-filtered tap water, or a Brita bottle that comes with a built-in filter are the perfect gifts for moms who are constantly on-the-go.

4. Sprite Shower Falls Multi-Position Filtered Shower Head

Sprite is known for manufacturing some of the highest-quality water filters, and this particular filtered shower head not only reduces harmful chlorine; it features a beautiful chrome finish along with a 5-way massaging spray. Here is a gift that encourages relaxation and good health, all in one system.

5. Rainshow’r Gard’n Gro Garden Filter System

Help mom out with her garden this summer with a Rainshow’r Gard’n Gro Water Filter System. This non-toxic dechlorinator promotes healthy plant growth and nutrition by removing harsh, toxic chlorine from your water, before it reaches your plants. Those garden-fresh tomatoes, squash and zucchini will be better than ever, this year.

6. A Year’s Supply of Filters Fast Air Filters

Has mom been suffering from allergies this spring? A 6-pack of Filters Fast 1″ MERV 13 air filters will efficiently improve indoor air quality for at least an entire year. Give mom a gift that will last through next Mother’s Day.

7. A New Microwave Filter

This is one set of products that many people don’t know we carry. In fact, it’s one of the most neglected items in the home, as most people do not even turn on their microwave & hood range vents while cooking. Even if they do, the filter likely hasn’t been cleaned or replaced in quite some time. To learn more about the necessity for range hood filters, check out this post we did last year. In the meantime, mom’s microwave filter probably needs replacing, so buy her a new one from Filters Fast.

All the moms out there: which one of these items says I love you, best?

Until now, I was struggling with a topic for today’s blog post. This one is going to be very brief; I thought it was so outrageous that it deserved a featured spot in The Filtered Files.

Last year, we wrote a post on the top 10 most disturbing things in our drinking water. “Crickets” held the number one spot for the worst contaminant ever found in bottled water. The lesson learned was – don’t drink bottled water. Contrary to what the bottled water industry would have you believe, it is no better in terms of taste, quality or safety, than tap water. In fact, most bottled water is nothing more than filtered tap. Aquafina and Dasani are both, admittedly, municipally-sourced.

Well, I just ran across an article headline that makes the bottled water industry look like a saint. “Man Sues Over Mouse in His Energy Drink Can.” The article was posted on April 1, but sadly, this is not an April Fool’s Joke. Crickets in bottled water is nothing when you consider that Stuart Little may have died inside the can of Monster you bought at the convenience store a few minutes ago. I’d think twice before “Unleashing that Monster.”

The moral of the story: drink filtered tap water.

84 year old, Henry Morello, was found alive in an Arizona desert after five days of being stranded there. He took a wrong turn while driving home from the Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek on Feb. 7, and ended up in a ditch after making a U-turn.

We thought his survival skills were especially good for a man his age, and worth noting. First he ripped a chrome piece off of his car and put it on the roof hoping someone would see the reflection and find him. His phone and car battery went dead, so he used car mats to stay warm and read a car manual from cover to cover to pass the time. But the most interesting part of it all is how he chose to stay hydrated. Since he didn’t have access to water, he filtered windshield wiper fluid through a napkin and drank it as a substitute.

He was found alive by a group of hikers after five days. Though his kidneys are damaged, he arrived at the hospital in good condition, considering all that he had been through. He learned a few lessons from this adventure, the main one being to never drive without water.

We’d like to reach out to Morello and let him know that his story is a lesson to all. Do not leave the house without your reusable stainless steel water bottle, and make sure it’s full of filtered water before taking a trip. And, in case of an emergency, make sure you have some napkins on hand, in case you do need to drink windshield wiper fluid. (We’ll soon be testing out the filtration skills of a napkin, so stay tuned for a video on that.) In the meantime, get prepared for any emergency that may strike, by stocking your survival kit with these items from Filters Fast. Clearly, Morello would have been much better off with a Katadyn Bottle Water Filter.

Just like bottled water companies, clean water advocates in nonprofit efforts have caught on to the best advertising tool in the market: Celebrities. Many celebrities have given their fame and money to good causes. (Sadly, many celebrities endorse bottled water, also, but that’s a post for another day.) The latest trend among stars like Mark Ruffalo, Adam Lambert, Alyssa Milano and Matt Damon is clean water. We thought we’d take some time to highlight what these celebrities are doing to ensure access to clean water in the U.S. and beyond.

Mark Ruffalo – The Fight Against Natural Gas Fracking

The grassroots organization, Frack Action, was struggling to garner media attention for their opposition to natural gas drilling in New York State, until they brought Mark Ruffalo on board. Fracking is a process that involves injecting water and chemicals under high pressure into rock formations, in order to extract natural gas. Filmmaker, Josh Fox, recently portrayed the consequences of fracking in his documentary, Gasland, in which farmers across the U.S. can be seen to light their tap water on fire from natural gas contamination.  Ruffalo dedicates himself to the cause with full force, as an unpaid volunteer. He has attended meetings and hearings, lobbied with activists and visited colleges to raise awareness among students. His fame is helping to bring attention to an issue that, otherwise, may have received very little. In fact, it was rumored several months ago that his private screening of Fox’s film may have landed him on the government’s Terror Watch List. Whether or not the rumor is true doesn’t matter; Ruffalo is one celebrity who won’t sell out. He is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in.

Adam Lambert and Alyssa Milano – Happy Birthday to the Less Fortunate

2009 American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert is donating his 29th birthday to charity: water – one of many water charities dedicated to bringing clean water to those in developing countries. The concept is simple: instead of asking for gifts for your birthday, ask your friends and family to make donations through your mycharity: water website (which is very easy to set up). All of the proceeds will go toward funding clean water projects in countries like Africa, Asia, Honduras and Haiti. With the mycharity: water website, everyone can follow in Adam Lambert’s footsteps. In fact, Lambert is not the first celebrity to donate his birthday to water charity. Alyssa Milano’s mycharity: water campaigns raised over $92,000 for her 37th birthday in 2009, and another $39,551 for her 38th birthday at the end of last year. Lambert’s goal, is $290,000 by the 29th, as he said in a recent tweet.

Matt Damon – Water.org

If you follow us on twitter, by now you probably know that we are big fans of Water.org. Like charity: water, this organization is dedicated to funding clean water, hygiene and sanitation projects in developing nations. Matt Damon co-founded Water.org with Gary White, and has since been heavily invested in its work. Recently, he accepted the Joel Siegel Award for his work with Water.org, at the Critic’s Choice Awards. We think you should follow them on twitter: @Water.

IMAGE CREDIT: emerginggreen.wordpress.com

You wake up one morning,  head to the kitchen and place a tea bag in your cup. Are you drinking green, black, oolong? Or is that tea bag filled with activated carbon, leaving you not with tea but with clean drinking water?

The newly designed “Tea Bag Water Filter” does just that. The filter uses a basic tea bag design to contain activated carbon, which can remove chemical contaminants. This is why so many of our water filters use some form of carbon. Carbon can adsorb (not absorb) chlorine, lead, mercury, zinc and more, and it is  used in Brita pitchers, inline filters, fridge filters, RO systems and even air filters.

But the tea bag water filter doesn’t stop there. The prototype, designed by Stellenbosch University’s Professor Cloete, also uses a biocide on the outside of the bag to kill off bacteria. Cloete cautions that “all technology has its limits,” but he also says that they have yet to find a bacteria the tea bag water purifier can’t kill.

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of the water filter is its ease of use. The filter attaches to the neck of a standard water bottle, so you have only to place it in your bottle, fill it up, and you’ve got filtered water at your fingertips.

So where can you buy the tea bag water filter? Not at FiltersFast— yet. The tea bag water filter is currently in production, though Cloete is working with manufacturers and hopes to have a version ready for sale by next month.

When you do purchase the teabag filter, you might be able to take comfort in the fact that your purchase also supports clean water initiatives in developing countries. Cloete hopes that a surcharge can be added to the purchase price so that a portion of all sales will lessen costs of the units for citizens of developing countries who may not otherwise be able to afford them.

Update: It appears this filter is not widely available at online and retail stores. We will keep you posted.

We talk a lot about “greening” your lifestyle by dropping unnecessary habits like bottled water. But, perhaps you’re wondering about some other ways to live a more eco-conscious life. Using more efficient air and water filters is just one step in building an eco-friendly home. Erick, a writer for San Diego custom home builders, Murray Lampert construction, shares with us a few more simple, and fairly inexpensive things you can do to reduce your home’s carbon footprint:

The Simple Stuff

Recycling – One of the easiest ways to help green your home is to start recycling. It’s simple, and most communities today offer recycling services to their residents. All you have to do is set up a recycling system with your family. Label different containers for the various recyclable waste products instead of throwing them all together in the trash. Recycling is also a great way to get children involved in eco-friendly practices and to help them learn about environmental issues and ways to live healthier, more eco-conscious lives. Recycling with your kids gives you a chance to explain to them how decreasing the amount of wastes in landfills helps the planet.

Eco-Friendly Light Bulbs – Another simple way to make your house greener is to save on energy by changing your light bulbs. Replace those old incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. They’re inexpensive and will make a difference in your monthly energy bill.

New Hot Water Heaters – You can also save power by switching from conventional hot water heaters to solar hot water heaters or on-demand tankless water heaters.

Shower Heads – Conventional shower heads can waste a lot of water. Switching your old shower heads to pressurized and low-flow alternatives can save you gallons of water per day and will make a huge difference in your monthly utility bills. A low flow shower head typically uses about 2.5 gallons per minute or less, as opposed to 6 GPM from old shower heads. Filtering your shower water can also help you maintain a healthier home, as it removes toxic chlorine from your water supply. Most Sprite filtered shower heads are low-flow.

Optimize Water Use – Another good way to save water is to place containers outside to capture rainwater to use for garden irrigation. You can also save your shower’s “gray water” and use it to irrigate your garden as well.

Eco-Friendly Landscaping

Landscaping your yard or garden with local, native plants is a great way to make your home more eco-friendly. Because native plants are acclimated to the local ecosystem, they’ll grow without much soil amendment. This means less pesticides and artificial fertilizers that harm the environment. Visit your local nursery to learn more about native landscaping options.

Eco-Friendly Home Building

Next time you’re planning a home remodeling project, look for remodeling companies that have LEED certification, or some other type of government green building certification. Most eco-friendly builders use natural products that don’t contain harmful chemicals. These will not only help the environment, but will make your home safer and healthier for your family.

To learn more about other eco-friendly ways to remodel your home, shop around with various local home builders and remodeling companies for advice, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

If you suffer from asthma and allergies, you may be more sensitive to the irritation caused by Christmas trees and holiday decorations this year. Trees have been known to trigger allergies for several reasons. Some people are allergic to a substance in evergreen sap that is released when the branches or trunk are cut. Trees may also carry mold or pollen on their branches. Moreover, artificial trees will collect dust in the time leading up to Christmas, unless stored in airtight containers.

One article suggests several ways to ensure your holiday is allergy-free. Make sure all holiday decorations are cleaned outside before bringing them into indoor living areas, as air quality is often worse indoors. In addition, cleaning regularly can help you avoid breathing in air contaminants. Consider a HEPA vacuum filter, as these are most efficient, and make sure to change your air filters after your decorations go up!

Christmas is only a week away, and you don’t want to be coughing, wheezing, and sneezing when it’s time to open up your gifts.

Speaking of gifts, check out our top picks for unique Christmas gift ideas that you can buy online. If someone in your household is suffering from bad indoor air, FiltersFast.com just might be your one-stop shopping place this holiday season!