I am in the process of totally remodeling my kitchen. My family drinks
only natural spring water that we bug either in 1 Gal or 2.5 Gal
containers. What I don't like is containers themselves.I would like to
have another faucet next to regular faucet that would deliver drinking
natural spring water from some big container hidden in cabinets or
elsewhere. Note, I do not want to use filter.I also do not have space
for those bug coolers with 5 Gal jars. Can someone point me to any
resources or links with natural spring water delivered via a faucet?
On 08/20/05 05:35 pm Sasha tossed the following ingredients into the
ever-growing pot of cybersoup:
Oh, you mean that municipal water that they filter and label as "Pure
Mountain Spring Water" and sell at x00% profit? There's one born every
minute. Do you use Monster cables for your stereo as well?
Perce
There used to be lots of places to get "spring water" in the rural parts
of my area. Typically they would be constructed of stone with a pipe
sticking out of them that had "natural" water pouring out of it. People
would bring jugs and fill them up thinking they were getting good
water. A local TV station had the water tested and none of them were
found to meet drinking quality standards and then the department of
health stepped in and had all of them shut down.
Then there is the nearby spring fed lake that was used as a public water
supply. It was taken out of service because of pollution. Now they truck
that water to a local bottling plant where it is processed and bottled.
There are dozens of Wally tractor trailers going in and out of the plant
each day. Its interesting because they can truthfully put "mountain
spring water" on the label.
Just as a counterpoint to this, some rural springs (as described: pipe
sticking out of the ground, with maybe some stonework or a concrete
basin) are actually fine. We have several in our area that historically
have been used as "health springs" back in the day, and are now used
mainly for local drinking water, especially for those of us who eneded
up with sulfer-tasting water (about half the wells around here, it
seems). A close friend happens to be a water expert for the nearby
city, and as part of her job, she regularly tests several of the
springs for bacterial and chemical contamination, and other water
quality issues. Seing as our well water was tested exactly once, when
we bought the house, I'd say it is a lot safer. And not bad compared to
the city water system, which seems to be regularly sending out notices
about "above the legal limit" ratings for chemical contamination,
choliform bacteria, pesticide contamination, and last year, even a
small gas spill related contamination. The notices are worded something
like "For the 5th consecutive month we have been at 3x the legal limit
for w, x, y, and z pollutants, and are now required by law to inform
you again of this fact. This is in addition to the previous
notifications concerning other pollutants or contaminantes that you may
have recieved recently. Don't worry about it though. Have a nice day."
Sulfur-smell and in-content water can corrode copper piping and anodes in
hot water heaters. Its harmless to drink though.
Hydrogen sulfide gas in the water is usually the product of anaerobic
bacteria. Smells like rotten eggs.
But Monster Cables are worth every penny because they have no oxygen in
them. Maybe he needs some of that no oxygen water too. How about using the
Monster Cables to purify the water?
Oh, you mean that municipal water that they filter and label as "Pure
Mountain Spring Water" and sell at x00% profit? There's one born every
minute. Do you use Monster cables for your stereo as well?
************************************************************************************
To make it compact, I was going to suggest just run his water line to the
"Pure Spring Water" faucet.
Hi Sasha,
Excuse the slightly jaded replies, though based in truth, they don't
really give you a solution. In reality, I agree that tap water may not
be the best thing to drink in some areas. There's actually a little
town about 10 miles from me where they actually shut down the public
water supply for a few weeks due to contamination. Who knows how long
it was going on before discovered. I also agree that bottled spring
water is a flat out hoax, having read some revealing reports by
reputable firms.
Probably the best thing you can do is install a filteration system in
your house. A good one is a couple of grand if they "treat" water along
with filtering it, but for what you are now paying for bottled water,
it'll pay for itself quick and the water in your tap will be cleaner
than the bottled water.
You can run tap water through a coffee filter and fill a bottle in
April and call it pure spring water. It really is a scam. You need to
take control of your water purity yourself, onsite. That is the only
way to be sure. Test kits are also available.
In fact, maybe you should get a test kit or get samples of both your
tap water and the bottled water you use and compare. You may be shocked
at the results.
Here's a link to get started. I don't personally know anything about
this particular model, but it's a good site to get an idea of what the
project entails.
http://www.equinox-products.com/EquinoxEQ-300RhinoWholeHouseWaterFiltrationSystem.htm
Gurgle, gurgle...
abi
http://www.equinox-products.com/EquinoxEQ-300RhinoWholeHouseWaterFiltrationSystem.htm
If there is truly a bacterial contamination problem, running water through a
coffee maker isn't a bad idea. Though just running through a paper coffee
filter is ridiculously stupid for removing anything but undissolved
particles.
A caution on water testing. Water samples may not be consistent. Your
water supply contents may change from time to time. Some may "burp" salts,
then remain clear for long time, then do it again if not procesed by a
municipal system.
Am using a whole-house, sediment, oxidizer, carbon filtration staged system.
In a rural area without a municipal water supply. Using a one gallon
pitcher filtration by Brita for drinking and cooking water. Intially, its a
bit costly, but pays off quickly. I keep this transparent pitcher in the
kitchen window over the sink. Filters are changed every 3 months for the
whole house system, and every 2 months for the pitcher. A air venturi
injector is used just before the water reservoir to aid the oxidizer further
downline.
I might be misreading just what you have sitting in the window --
but a few years ago I had a britta pitcher and also had it
near a window, not in direct sunlight, but getting some light
from the sky.
One day I looked in the pitcher more carefully than usually and
saw this 3/4-inch diameter brown blob (sphere) hovering near
the bottom!
And you can bet your sweet A that it's been a *long* time
since a drink out of a britta pitcher.
The moral, I think, is "keep it out of (outdoor) light".
David
While I tend to agree with those who feel the designer water craze is a
rip off. I do suggest you contact your local supplier(s) of the water you
like and see what they might have to offer.
Sasha,
Do a Google search but be warned, these are really pricey. Not very
common in the USA. You could find a cheap plastic faucet and arrange to
gravity feed.
Dave M.
I've got seriously mineral-laden well water that's unsuitable for drinking
and impractical to sufficiently filter (tried one of those under-counter
filtration systems -- the water was still a bit salty (with a powdery
residue of salt on ice cubes made from it*) and the drain tube through which
the filter was back-flushed once a week silted up with iron and calcium
residue after about four months; nursed it along for maybe eight months
before chucking it).
I've considered cutting down an old water-cooler stand to fit the large
cabinet I have above my fridge (so gravity would feed the bottled to both a
kitchen sink and to an icemaker in the freezer), but decided hoisting the
bottles up there would be a pain.
I also considered, after browsing through a boating supply catalogue, using
a pump intended for the potable water on a small boat -- you might try that.
The boat supply catalogues have all the parts -- pumps that work with a
pressure switch (open the faucet, pressure drops, pump comes on), a device
that seemed essentially to serve the same purpose as a pressure tank on a
home water well (to "cushion" the water to a more even pressure), tubing and
little single-lever faucets that could probably be put through a standard
knock-out in a stainless kitchen sink; you might have to but a transformer
to supply the 12-volt power elsewhere. Seems to me when I was thinking
about it (several years ago) it would've cost around two hundred dollars to
do it.
As it was, I just recessed my old bottled water dispenser into a tall
cabinet beside my fridge. I raised it up about a foot on a shelf (the
coolers are all seem to have the spigots inconveniently low), with a
pull-out drawer below to hold extra bottles of water. The part with the
taps is open, and the part with the up-ended bottle has a cabinet door
across it, with a handy message board mounted on the front of that.
They make lots of attractive stoneware dispensers these days, and I've seen
decorative fabric sleeves that slip over the bottles on them (a bit too
cutesy for me).
--
Robert
* No, the salt-dusted ice cubes were *not* really perfect for frozen
I would love to do the same thing. I have looked into a few things and have
not settled on exactly what I am going to do yet.
Here is my progression....
Gravity feed - This did not work for me. I could not get enough pressure. I
used a barrel on second floor and pex tube to faucet. Barely a trickle of
water.
Add a pump - I bought a 120V demand pump from Sureflow. It did as designed -
pumped the water when the faucet was open and shut off when closed. The
problem was the pump was loud and vibrates too much for me. The advantage
though is you could put the pump in a basement or something. I did not have
that luxury, my pump was inder the sink. I still have the pump. I will sell
it to you for 1/2 price of new plus shipping. I still have the box. Adding
an expansion tank would further improve the system and even out the flow of
water.
OK - I have now abandoned the pump. I am cyurrently using just a water
cooler that I can sit on the counter top.
I may ultimately go for this....
http://www.h2opump.com /
Good luck and reply here if you want my pump. Here are the specs. (Its the
"park" model)
http://www.shurflo.com/pages/RV/rv_categories/potable_water/electric_automatic.html
Actually it can be done reasonably cheaply. Any marine supply store will
have the necessary components. Essentially what you are looking at is a
potable water delivery system for a boat. They are typically operated via a
small battery operated pump hidden in the cabinet. They are about the same
size as 2 packs of cigarettes.
try West Marine
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