Water & Air – Filter Systems News

The term “Daylight Savings Time” is generally understood to mean the time when we either set our clocks forward or back one hour, and the 6 month period of time in between these points. Although this term is widely used, the correct term is Daylight Saving Time, and the actual period that is Daylight Saving Time lasts from spring until fall. The period from fall to spring is actually referred to as Standard Time. So as the time approaches for us to fall back to Standard Time on Sunday, November 6, at 2 am, this is a good way to remind ourselves to do some yearly maintenance around the home, such as changing batteries in smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, and changing the filters in our furnaces and air conditioning systems, as well as any other filters around the home, such as water filters.

We offered many of these suggestions and tips in our October 24th and November 1st blogs. Some of these bear repeating, such as changing smoke alarm batteries. Changing furnace and air conditioning filters is a good way to ensure the air in your home stays clean and fresh, that your heating or cooling system doesn’t use excess energy, and to extend the life of your heating or cooling system. Filters Fast offers a wide selection of furnace filters and air conditioning filters for your home.  We also offer water filters for your water purification system, refrigerator, and ice maker.

The approaching time change reminds us all to do those household maintenance tasks that might otherwise go undone. This is also a good time to prepare our homes for the coming winter months. Winterizing is a simple yet effective way to ensure that energy isn’t lost through cracks and other escape routes in the home. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Taking this time now to ensure our homes are safe, clean, and energy efficient will keep winter outside where it belongs.

Thinking of going camping this fall season? Across the country the leaves have changed and there are a multitude of beautiful colors to be seen.  The cool, crisp air means less bugs and clear night skies full of stars. If you, like me, are not THRILLED at the prospect of sleeping outside and not having clean fresh water to drink, the following products will save the day.

Katadyn MyBottle Water Purifier- Blue Splash

This sleek and stylish Katadyn water bottle does more than simply hold water. This water bottle features a personal filtration system directly inside the bottle. The built in virustat and cyst filter will remove bacteria, viruses, cysts and other impurities from virtually all fresh water sources. In addition, the carbon cartridge removes chemicals, making your water taste better. The MyBottle is even registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its efficiency at removing impurities.

Use the Katadyn MyBottle to filter the following water sources:

1)      Lakes

2)      Ponds

3)      Rivers

4)      Streams

Katadyn Mini Ultralight Series Microfilter- Black

                The Katadyn Mini Ultralight Microfilter is ideal for camping and hiking. This filter removes protozoa, cysts, sediment, dirt, viruses, spores dirt and bacteria down to 0.2 microns in size. This microfilter has a 2,000 gallon capacity before needing a filter replacement. Weighing less than a pound, this easy to carry filtration system is great when you do not have a readily available fresh water source.

Klean Kanteen 18 oz Bottle & Loop Cap- Red

    The Kleen Kanteen 18 oz Bottle is BPA free and is manufactured out of the highest quality stainless steel. This is an eco friendly alternative to bringing a 24 pack of bottled water to your next camping trip. The convenient loop cap makes it easy to attach to backpacks and camping equipment.  This water bottle comes in a variety of colors.

 Nite Ize Carbiner, Klean Kanteen S-Biner # 3

         The Kleen Kanteen Carbiner will make it easy for you and your family to attach your Kleen Kanteen water bottle to belts, backpacks and camping equipment. Manufactured out of the same stainless steel as your Kleen Kanteen water bottle, two snaps is all it takes to bring your bottle everywhere you need it to go.

Vapur Anti Bottle Water Bottle- Pink 16 oz.

Perfect for the little campers in your party,  this reusable water bottle  features a space saving design. They are extremely flexible and almost completely collapsible, making this water bottle ideal when you are tight on space. The matching clip on the water bottle makes it easy to clip onto hiking bags and camping equipment. This water bottle is made out of BPA free plastic and holds 16 ounces.

With these easy to use products, you can be sure that your next camping and hiking trip will be a great success!

Is the fall air making your child a restless sleeper? Oftentimes the dry air can lead to chapped lips, dry skin, cold symptoms and severe congestion that can easily disrupt sleep.  Rather than treating your child’s symptoms with cold and cough medicine, consider using a humidifier. A humidifier will increase the moisture in your child’s room, making it easy for him or her to breathe clearly. In particular, a cool mist humidifier will release fine droplets of cool mist into the air. To protect your child and keep him or her sleeping soundly, consider these fun, kid friendly humidifiers by Crane:

Crane EE-8189: The Crane Owl is my personal favorite! This sage owl will provide your kids with the cool, humidified air they need, while blending nicely into their room. This humidifier has a 2.1 gallon output of humidified air per day.

Crane EE-4139: The Crane Pig will help prevent flu, cold and cough symptoms. The EE-4139 features a 10 hour running time and is perfect for rooms up to 250 square feet in size.

Crane EE-4109: Hello Kitty enthusiasts will love this humidifier! The Crane Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier, Hello Kitty includes a night light and variable speeds.  The pink and white Hello Kitty humidifier is perfect for your little girl’s room!

Crane EE-5063: For  Sponge Bob lovers, old and young, the Sponge Bob humidifier is a great appliance. This humidifier will provide relief from sinus congestion and flu symptoms. The fun Sponge Bob design will look great in any room and it includes a night light.

Crane EE-3186: The Crane Elephant will alleviate cold and flu symptoms without the use of medicines. The blue and white elephant humidifier features an automatic shut off and water level indicator.

If Sponge Bob or Hello Kitty isn’t your thing, take a look at our other Crane humidifiers. Be sure to keep a clean humidifier tank with the use of the Humidiclean Humidifier Cleaner and Descaler. It is important to maintain the inside of your humidifiers tank as a dirty tank will lead to a build up that can be released into your homes air.

With Fire Prevention Week starting on October 9^th, we thought it would be a good time to discuss the simple ways you can protect both your home and your loved ones. Oftentimes, fires in the home start as a result of poorly maintained electrical equipment and appliances such as dryers. With the dry fall air taking over the hot days of summer, take a look at this checklist and make sure your home is safe!

1)      Maintain Dryer Lint Filter Screens: Busy moms and dads often leave laundry in the dryer while at work or picking the kids up from school. However, it only takes an extra piece of lint to start a dryer fire. Be sure to have a lint filter screen for your dryer, and make sure that you clean it every time you use the dryer! Consider the Whirlpool 349639 Dryer Lint Filter Screen, which  fits numerous name brand dryers.

2)      Keep Fireplaces Clean and Maintained: Ensure that you have a spark screen or glass door for your fireplace. If you have furniture close to your fireplace, a spark can easily start a fire.

3)      Regularly Change Furnace Filters: In the long list of things to do, remembering to change your homes furnace filters regularly probably falls to the bottom of the list. However, a clogged air filter can lead to poor indoor air quality at best, and carbon monoxide poisoning and chance of fire at  worst. These filters should be changed every 3 months. To take the stress out of remembering, purchase a 6 pack of filters (which is enough for the whole year!) and sign up for a free reminder service from Filters Fast!

4)      Be Careful with Cigarettes: While you might not be able to prevent Uncle Jim from smoking when he visits, you can make sure that it won’t become harmful to your home. Be sure to have a designated smoking area and be sure to completely put out ALL cigarettes and frequently clean the ashtray.

If you are concerned about smell, consider the Holmes Smokeless Ashtray Smoke Grabber, which traps smoke from a lit cigarette before the smoke gets dispersed throughout your home!

These simple solutions will help protect your family from the dangers of fire. Of course, it is also crucial to keep batteries changed on smoke detectors and to have an escape plan in place should a fire occur. However,  something as easy as cleaning your dryer lint filter and your furnace filters regularly will guard your home, belongings, and family.

Remember: Fire Prevention Week is October 9th- 16th 2011!

With fall just around the corner, I wanted to focus on a FRESH AIR charity for this Charity Tuesday. There is really nothing better than stepping out onto your front porch to breathe in the cool, clean, crisp air of fall. As the leaves begin to turn into beautiful reds, oranges and yellows, I would like to feature The Fresh Air Fund as Filter’s Fast Charity Tuesday pick. With many charities focused on providing fresh water to people around the world, it is refreshing to see a charity that understands the importance of fresh air. In particular, the Fresh Air Fund in New York City has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1 million inner city children since it began in 1877.

The Fresh Air Fund provides two different avenues for inner-city children to experience the country. For many children, this is their first time under America’s starry sky without the interruption of harsh city lights. Fresh Air Fund camps host 3,000 children between the ages of eight to 15 yearly. These camps are split up by age, special needs, and gender, allowing parents to choose the most suitable camp for their child. Many children who have never been outside of the city are able to experience swimming, milking a cow, cabin living and fishing among many other activities. There are also year-round day and weekend camping trips available.

The Fresh Air Fund also provides 5,000 children with the opportunity to spend two or more weeks with a host family in 13 Northeastern states through their Friendly Town Program.  Here, children from disadvantaged New York City communities have the opportunity to live in a small rural/suburban community.  Being a host family for the Fresh Air Family means that you are providing a child with the opportunity to experience life outside of the city and it is rewarding for both you and the child you are hosting!

The Fresh Air Fund is a nonprofit organization that is able to provide these great opportunities due to peoples generous donations. It is easy to make a tax-deductible donation in any amount on their secure website. If you understand the importance of clean fresh air, and outdoor activities for children, then The Fresh Air Fund is the charity for you.

*Speaking of fresh air, the Fall can bring unwanted air contaminants into your home, decreasing your homes indoor air quality. If you are concerned about the air quality inside your home, an air filter or air purifier will help significantly!

Nowadays, it seems as if most of the world has been mapped and all unknown lands visited. However, the cold and inhospitable land known as Antarctica has always seemed a bit mysterious to most of us. Recently NASA announced in a press release that it has “created the first complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica.”

Creating the map took a lot of effort and time. Using radar and a collection of international satellites, Eric Rignot, Jeremie Mouginot, and Bernd Scheuchl, scientists from UC-Irvine, “used billions of data points captured by European, Japanese and Canadian satellites to weed out cloud cover, solar glare and land features masking the glaciers. With the aid of NASA technology, the team painstakingly pieced together the shape and velocity of glacial formations, including the previously uncharted East Antarctica, which comprises 77 percent of the continent.”

The scientists discovered a new ridge between the 5.4 million square miles of land between East and West Antarctica and unknown formations of land that move 800 ft. ever year towards the Antarctic Ocean. The findings will give these scientists plenty of data to pore over, including “tracking future sea-level increases from climate change.”

Check out the map for yourself:

Did you know that Filters Fast has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau? There are currently only approximately 300,000 accredited businesses nationwide that carry an A+ rating. Filters Fast has been accredited by the BBB since May 3, 2006. Accreditation means that Filters Fast pays a fee for the Better Business Bureau to review and monitor, as well as support BBB services to the public.

There are 16 factors that determine how the Better Business Bureau rates a business:

1. Type of business

2. Time in business

3. Competency licensing

4. Complaint volume

5. Unanswered complaints

6. Unresolved complaints

7. Serious complaints

8. Complaint analysis

9. Complaint resolution delayed

10. Failure to address complaint pattern

11. Government action

12. Advertising review

13. Background information

14. Clear understanding of business

15. Mediation/arbitration

16. Revocation

Some of the specific factors used in our evaluation include: the length of time in business, the number of complaints filed against Filters Fast based on the company’s size, response and resolution of any complaints filed, and the fact that the BBB has sufficient information about Filters Fast available so that the bureau can accurately evaluate our business.

Filters Fast opened for business in early 2004, and was incorporated in April 2005. Our Excellent rating with Stella Service independently confirms the BBB’s decision to give us an A+ rating.

Cool, crisp, clean, clear water. In the hot summer days of August, there is nothing better. We run to the faucet or Brita Pitcher when temperatures reach over 100 degrees. Imagine a truly sizzling hot day, running for the tap, turning on the cold faucet and the water that comes out is not the regular water you are used to, but cleaned wastewater. As the name implies, cleaned wastewater is water that “has been used in your toilet or sink or shower is purified through a variety of technological processes that make it clean enough to drink” (Alix Spiegel, NPR Article)  Would you feel the same relief from the heat? Or would your mind stop you from enjoying the cool glass of water?

Some scholars say yes.  Dr. Carol Nemeroff, of the University of Southern Maine speculates that many people are not able to get over the “ick” factor of drinking water that could have previously been found in their toilet. The scientific term, contagion, refers to the phenomenon of people thinking that once something has contact with another thing, those two things are always joined. In this case, water and your toilet.  Significant research of over 2,000 people suggests that it is difficult for people to dispel this kind of thinking; regardless of if it is scientifically proven that the cleaned wastewater is safe for consumption.

Therefore, getting Americans on board for the use of wastewater as drinking water may involve less science, and more psychology. The key it seems is to change the identity of the filtered water by connecting it closer to nature. As water reuse expert Dr. Haddad says, people feel more comfortable if the treated water sits in an underground aquifer for a significant period of time. However, this brings up additional problems, as exposing already treated water back to nature can have negative effects on the quality of the water.

It is clear that our water thinking has a significant impact on the way water is used and distributed in this country. Now that we have the science to turn wastewater into drinkable water, we need to find a way to change its identity so that people no longer have visions of drinking water formally found in the bottom of a bath tub or toilet bowl.

Coconut water has exploded in popularity as claims of its being as good as or better than sports drinks at hydrating and replenishing electrolyte levels have been tossed around.  But now those claims are being called into question.  A 2011 report by CNN states that of the three most popular U.S. coconut water drinks—O.N.E., Vito Coco, and Zico— only Zico lived up to its claims of boosting electrolytes.  The others were found to have 82% lower sodium and 35% lower magnesium levels than those stated on the products’ labels.

As of this writing, coconut water represents a $200 million dollar industry.  As we reported last December, many celebrities have been shown drinking the various brands of coconut water, and many people have been trying it as an alternative to calorie-laden sports drinks.  But according to the CNN report, coconut water may not be the appropriate choice for refueling after exercise. In fact, it turns out that ordinary water is usually the best choice as an after workout drink. Unless you workout over 90 minutes, or under strenuous conditions, electrolyte levels don’t fall very much.

So another trend may be losing the wind in its sails. Although coconut water by itself may not be as good at replenishing electrolytes as sports drinks, if it is enriched with sodium, coconut water may be an appropriate choice for after workout refreshment.

When most people think about icebergs, visions of the Titanic teetering precariously in the Atlantic Ocean often pop into their heads.  These gigantic sources of frozen, fresh water dot the oceans around the world. More than just a site to see from the bow of a cruise ship, French eco-entrepreneur Georges Mougin, sees icebergs as a solution to the world’s water crisis.

Over 40 years ago, Mougin first began exploring the possibility that the world’s icebergs could be used as source of fresh water for those in need. Today, it may become a reality.  Mougin has invented a way to transport these gigantic icebergs with an insulated harness that will reduce melting.  With the assistance of a tow, the iceberg will ride on ocean currents to those countries that need it most. To assist with this invention, 3D computer simulations have been created to demonstrate that one tugboat from Newfoundland can transport as much as 7 million tons of iceberg to the Canary Islands in as little as five months.

Watch a simulation of towing the iceberg here:

The drawbacks of this amazing technology are as you might have guessed, cost. To tow the iceberg from Newfoundland to the Canary Islands would cost approximately $9.8 million dollars. However, Mougin is hoping to raise enough funds to sponsor a smaller trip from the Antarctic to Australia. If successful, the iceberg, weighing in at 30-million tons will provide enough water for 500,000 people for an entire year.