Do these filters make the water have a strong bitter taste, or taste differently?
1593090
Well as it is a pet fountain I have drank from it, but my cats will only drink from the pet fountain. I had a regular water bowl in the kitchen with tap water. I set the fountain up in my greatroom and they will walk out of the kitchen and over to the fountain to drink. I imagine the water tastes like that from a Britta pitcher or a Pur tap filter since they are carbon filters which is what Britta and Pur use.
1593091
I've never tasted the water since it is in the cat's bowl, but they sure seem to like it.
1593092
I have never tried it but my three cats like it fine. They like drinking from the bubbly top part, and generally will drink from the fountain before they will drink from a plain bowl of water. Now if I leave *my* glass of water in reach, they will try to drink from that! :-)
1593093
My cat will drink from mud puddles. I assume that she likes this fountain, because the water level keeps going down and she remains healthy. The funny thing is that this cat and a previous cat would not drink from the fountain if they knew you were watching them. I think that they think they are getting away with something; but they're cats; who knows what they think!
1593094
Avalon: The cats drink freely, so I'm assuming the water's OK. In any event, NYC water is notoriously pure. My problem is that one cat ends up with wet food residue on his lips which gets in the water and eventually backs up the filter. The filters don't really rinse out or clean up and I end up using 2 a week.
1593095
All 7 of my cats love them (I have 2). They drink more water than they used to with just a sitting bowl of water. Since they drink so often from it, I would assume that the water tastes good to them.
1556671
In my experience with water that had a moderate level of chlorine, it had removed it well. I've never had any taste make it through the filter other than crisp water.
309572
It tastes significantly better than our city water. I have never tried either of the waters you mention, but many people who visit our home gave commented on the good (clean/fresh) flavor of our filtered water.
2142958
I haven't been following a strict schedule for changing filters. My bride is my "canary in the coal mine" for determining when to change. When she says the water doesn't taste right, I change the filters. If that doesn't help, I change the membrane. I would expect, and this is an off the wall guess. If your TDS reading gets above 30, it might be time to change.
1862798
Mine doesn't taste the same at all. I can tell when the filter needs changed because of that. If I were you, I would check first to be sure the filter is inserted correctly.
2196489
I did not use the filters as we have a whole house system on our home as well and a reverse osmosis drinking water system. I only used the RO water in the fountian. My bulldog puppy has they unit chewed up with in a week :(
605820
In my opinion, yes. The filters are very cheap and do the final step in the distilling process.They are also long lasting. but I doubt that you could ever tell the difference between the filtered and unfiltered
138871
I have not, but this is a 2 stage filter which is good for almost all water. If you have really bad water, then changing this filter as recommended might not be a bad idea since they recommend you change them frequently, or using a 5 stage filter if possible. You should find out what kind of contaminants are in your water and what these filters are capable of filtering. Just my opinion, but any water that is distributed to the public and doesn't need to be boiled first should be fine when using this. My water here has an almost sweet or bitter taste and the filter gets rid of that and I haven't changed the filter yet for a couple months.
1759577
Naturally, it depends on how much you use it, but we get at least a month or two out of each filter. We can tell by the taste when it needs to be changed.
1651512
I noticed no discernible difference in the taste and quality of my water. The filter certainly does filter a lot of particulates in the water.
1440091
These filters are basically usede as sediment or first level filters, in other words they remove larger particulate but do not affect flavor nor do they remove bacterial issues. You should always test water intended for consumption before "trying it out".
1981562
Of course there are. The quality of the water before it is filtered, age of the filter and water consumption. I live in a two person apartment and I change it every year... That's about when water starts to get a taste I do not like. Somewhere I read that activated carbon losses its ability to filter after being wet for a year, but I do not know if that is true.
2064419
The problem is probably being caused by your water conditioner, not the filters. Try another water conditioner and see of that eliminates your problem.
2050671
The water doesn't have any taste that i can discern. There is a charcoal filter in the spout that should remove any bad taste
27966
I have been cleaning the equipment each time the water starts tasting different. I change filters according to time, but if for some reason, the water continues to take differently, then I would replace it earlier. There isn't any type of indicator on the equipment, just your own site, taste, and time.
249780
No I have not notice a sweet taste after filtering my water. Look at from this angle, it is far better having sweet water than having to drink water that has the rotten egg smell/taste. If you are really that concerned about the sweet taste of the water call up or email Sawyer and get their official say on the matter or send a water sample to a public water testing facility and see what they determine is in the water that you are filtering. That's about all I can say on the matter. Good Luck.
1292206
If they remain in the sun or car and get warm, the water tastes like plastic. But I rarely have that issue. I have 3 sets in my home (2 for adults and one for my child) & he has never complained about taste. I wash mine in the dishwasher and an extra rinse by hand after each use.