Specialty Water Filters

Distillation and ceramic water filters

Other types of countertop filters include larger non-electric dispensers designed to handle third-world water that's contaminated with bacteria, but they're not certified for this in the United States. For example, the editor of Metaefficient.com likes the Doulton British Berkefeld SS Gravity Filter (*est. $230), a large stainless-steel container that filters water through ceramic filters. The filters are washable but need to be replaced after filtering about 2,000 gallons. Several different types of filter cartridges are available. Certain Doulton filters are certified by the NSF to filter out cysts and turbidity (fine particles). A similar big dispenser, the Stefani Elegance terra-cotta water purifier (*est. $125), is certified only by the manufacturer's tests, and a filter lasts only about 300 gallons.

Distillation filters boil water and condense the pure steam, leaving almost every impurity behind. This method kills microbes as well as eliminating contaminants such as arsenic, lead and mercury, although not volatile organic chemicals and chlorine. Owners reviewing water filters at Amazon.com like The Countertop Water Distiller, White Enamel (*est. $150), which includes a charcoal filter to handle volatile organic chemicals. Some people prefer a distiller because it filters out fluoride, but not all experts believe that filtering out all minerals is healthy. Removing the minerals also makes the water taste flat. Distillers work very slowly and require electricity; also, owners say the fan on The Countertop Water Distiller is quite noisy.

The eSpring 100188 (*est. $580) uses ultraviolet light in combination with a multi-stage carbon-block filter. It can filter MTBE, a gasoline additive that can get into groundwater. Before spending this much on a water filter, however, experts urge that you have your water tested to see which contaminants you need to filter out -- if any. If you do, it might be worth installing an under-sink water filter to get this much effectiveness at lower annual cost.

Shower filters

Shower water filters are becoming more popular, since chlorine (and the chloramines used by some water systems) can affect skin and hair. Most shower filters are designed to filter out only chlorine, not other contaminants, but even the best reviews we found seemed a little vague about the science behind how these filters work. Two popular models by Vitashower and Sprite are reasonably inexpensive and get good reviews so far. The Sprite High Output Shower Filter (*est. $40) gets good reviews at HomeDepot.com, where owners say it provides a better flow rate than the Paragon P2201 (*est. $35). A comparison chart at the Best Water website notes that the Sprite is also far more effective in filtering out chlorine.

Both the Best Water website and a review at Metaefficient.com recommend the Vitashower SF-1 (*Est. $40), which claims to use vitamin C to absorb chlorine just as effectively as the Sprite, and doesn't drop the shower head height as much. (Owners report that this is an issue with shower water filters, at least for tall people.) The reviewer at Metaefficient.com finds the Vitashower filter a better bet because the KDF filters (made with copper and zinc) used in the Sprite (and indeed in many water filters) can clog quickly if water pressure isn't high enough. The vitamin C works well at any water pressure. The manufacturer of Vitashower claims that one filter lasts about a year or 15,000 gallons of water -- but then you have to replace the whole unit.

For this reason, Metaefficient.com also recommends the Sonaki Vitamin C Handheld Showerhead Chlorine Filter SBH-104CR (*est. $100). This model includes the entire shower head, not just the filter. This water-saving shower head is the top-rated shower filter at Amazon.com, where owners say it works well even at low water pressure and filters out chlorine well. The main drawback is the short life of the filters (*est. $45 for five), which some owners say can last as little as a month.

The filter on the less expensive Culligan ISH-100 Inline Shower Filter (*est. $20) is rated for about 10,000 gallons. This shower filter gets good reviews from the handful of owners reviewing it at Amazon.com, who report no loss of pressure or flow rate after installing it. Replacement filters, the WHR-140 (*est. $13), are also less expensive. We didn't see any tests, however, of how well it actually filters out chlorine.