Best Faucet Water Filter 2021

Photo: Michael Murtaugh

Our choice

Pur Advanced Faucet Filtration System

The Pur Advanced Faucet Filtration System is our choice for tap mounted filters. It’s ANSI / NSF certified to bring 71 contaminants, including lead, mercury, several pesticides and industrial chemicals, and a dozen emerging EPA compounds in drinking water, including pharmaceuticals, BPA and estrone, below EPA limits. a form of the human hormone estrogen. That’s significantly better than its Brita competitor, who has 56 certifications, none of which are for up-and-coming connections.

We found the Pur Advanced easy to install, non-drip and durable under heavy use. We preferred its sleek design to that of the Brita, which is functional and visually bulky. In addition to filtering the 71 certified impurities, the Pur improved the taste and smell of our Catskills tester’s sulphurous well water for several weeks after the in-house carbon block filter, which he normally uses to control the problem, stopped working. This was a pleasant surprise as sulfur compounds are not part of the pur filter’s certifications and removal of these compounds from water is not expected by this type of filter.

The full list of contaminants for which the Pur faucet filters are ANSI / NSF certified can be found in the instruction manual (PDF). multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs); several pesticides, including 2,4-D; and 12 “emerging compounds” that are increasingly emerging in the water supply, including the plastic additive BPA, the insect repellent DEET, and the widely used flame retardants TCPP and TCEP. The filters are rated for three months or 100 gallons, and the case includes a flow meter so you know exactly when they are reaching their 100 gallon limit. A small LED on the housing changes from green to yellow (the time is almost up) to red (time to replace).

The installation of the Pur Advanced is easy – but here, too, no faucet filter works on faucets with integrated pull-out spray devices. For normal faucets without a sprayer, simply unscrew the aerator (where the water flows out of the faucet) and screw in the correct adapter. Pur supplies several adapters to match the various sizes and thread patterns of most aerators. (Our tester had no problem installing his test model on a fairly old faucet.) Then just screw the filter housing onto the adapter.

To use the Pur Advanced faucet filter (and any other), flip a switch on the case to route water through the filter and out of a separate dispenser, and flip it back the other way to get regular, unfiltered water from the housing to direct faucet. This is a practical design for several reasons. For one, the filtered water flow (0.52 gallons per minute) is less than normal faucet flow (typically around 2 gpm). So if you need a lot of water quickly – like filling a saucepan or doing the washing up – this is helpful in having the option of using the faucet yourself. Second, you need to be able to bypass the filter if hot water is leaking from the faucet, as hot water can damage many water filters – anything over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the case of the neat filters. Of course, this also means that you have to be careful when switching to the filter setting: if you’ve just drawn hot water from your faucet, first turn the faucet on for a few seconds to clean the pipes.

The Pur Advanced filter cartridge

The Pur Advanced filter cartridge lasts 100 gallons, or approximately three months of typical household use. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

Adapter for tap-mounted water filters.

The package contains several adapters so that you can attach the filter housing to faucets with different diameters and thread sizes. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

The Pur Advanced filter cartridge lasts 100 gallons, or approximately three months of typical household use. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

The Pur Advanced filter cartridgeAdapter for tap-mounted water filters.

The Pur filter withstood heavy use without problems such as leaks – which was not the case with the Brita filter that we also tested. “Because we have many power outages that affect our ability to get water from the well, my husband and I make a habit of filling two 1½-gallon water bottles regularly so we always have extra water on hand.” , so our Pur tester wrote in his summary notes. “We refill them about every two days, so we worked the filters pretty hard.” Under this workload, at which our tester regularly filled glasses and coffee pots every day, the filters reached their 100-gallon limit in about six weeks, compared to the rule of thumb of three months proposed by Pur. Just something to consider if your household runs a lot of water. Replacement filters cost about $ 10 (Basic) or $ 11 (MineralClear) each.

Our choice

Pur Basic faucet replacement filterPur MineralClear faucet replacement filter

The Pur Advanced model we tested is available in three versions: shiny chrome, brushed metallic gray and a tropical blue called Seaglass. Each Advanced model is supplied with a MineralClear filter. The otherwise physically identical Classic model is available in black or white (and contains the basic filter with the same ANSI / NSF certifications). Our tester installed an Advanced Chrome Finish and liked its “almost deco” design, although he was quick to point out that other surfaces, such as the metal gray version we photographed for this test, do not achieve the same effect.

All Pur faucet brackets fit both the Basic and the MineralClear filter. The latter contains a calcium carbonate filter (limestone filter), which is supposed to give the filtered water a pleasant, mineral spring water taste. Our tester didn’t notice the effect, but adding flavor isn’t as tricky as it sounds. In fact, it is common for filter manufacturers to add flavor enhancers to reverse osmosis filters that will remove virtually all of the minerals from the water going through them, making it tasteless and flat.

Defects, but not deal breakers

Our tester found that “the constant light pressure you put on the filter’s valve to turn on the filtered water caused our faucet to come loose at its base a few times.” He continued, “Another factor is that the shiny chrome gets dirty easily, so you keep wiping it clean, which puts more pressure on it. It was easily fixed by tightening the faucet base when we noticed it, and I’m not sure the same would happen for someone with a better faucet, but it was a slight hassle. “

He added that keeping the Pur horizontal can be a problem with very small sinks, as the filter takes up a lot of space under the faucet. For example, if the sink is shallow, it can be difficult to get a glass under the spout with something else in the basin. For our tester, it was a good incentive not to pile up the dishes.

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