I’ve just moved into a new apartment in Central Taipei. It’s kinda modern, at least compared to my previous places. There is apparently a water filtering system installed: an extra tap in the sink and a big shiny tube underneath. I’ve never dealt with any such system before hence this topic.
When I looked at it closely I found a little plastic box on top of it (but not attached to - you can put it anywhere) which what I figured out is basically an alarm for the filter, with some sort of wireless connection. I suppose the idea is that when the filter expires the alarm goes off.
The landlord and agent said that I should change the filter, but they don’t seem to know that much about technical things in this place, and din’t know anything about this alarm. Also, I don’t speak Chinese and all communication is done via Engrish/translator apps/friends, so I’m never quite sure how exact the info is.
So I’m wondering if any of you has used this kind of system before. Should I change the filter immediately, or keep using it and wait for the alarm? The tube says Everpure Ql2 S100. I looked it up but there is a bewildering array of options ranging in price vastly. Also my friend suggested some non-brand replacements. They’re all not that cheap, starting at about 1200NTD, so that’s why I wonder if it’s ok to still use it maybe?
Another question is more meta: is there any consensus in 2022 on water safety in Taipei? I read this thread and I agree with some of the OPs points - mainly that perhaps a lot of the solutions could be perhaps unnecessary (like Brita pitchers) but also am super cautious when it comes to water and so far buy bottled (which in TP is kinda expensive from 7-11 and there aren’t any other options near by).
So what if you’re on vacation for 3 weeks does it the alarm just keep going and going and going?
I just add a reminder to my own electronic digital calendar with an alarm to remind me.
If you’re really conservative, and what I would do is just change the filters upon moving in. And don’t rely on whatever could have happened before you arrive but at least you know you have new filters to start out with.
Looks like you have an excellent filtering system. I would change the filters, because you don’t know how long they’ve been in there. The new ones should last for half a year or even longer, even if the alarm tells you to change them after 3 months.
Well, yes, but that’s kinda obvious. The whole point of this thread is me trying to avoid doing this unnecessarily if possible. The cost is one thing - ~40-50 USD might not be a fortune but these things pile up - but it’s just annoying to throw away a good filter which might have many months of life in it. This is why I was hoping to hear from somebody with actual experience of these alarms. But it seems unlikely to happen so I guess I will just have to buy a new one.
About Brita/boil I don’t think this is something I’d ever bother with. About Brita itself it has been said said not to actually purify anything and just make the water “taste better”, whatever that means. I guess you need to change filters in it too, so there’s an extra cost. Boiling and cooling is a lot of fuss in itself, plus there is no consensus on how many times you should boil, etc. Think I’d rather stick with buying bottled, which previously was never that a big deal for me, because I had access to very cheap ones in a nearby shop, and carrying it is just an exercise. I’d probably still just do that, maybe look around my area bit more closely than 7-11, but seeing as I have this filter system installed I might as well use it.
Is it really going to be cheaper to buy bottled water than getting your filter replaced and using it for 6 to 12 months? I have a good filter system and for me that works out cheaper, even though I pay quite a bit for the filters.
But I really use a lot of water, as I also use it for home brewing.
I had similar thoughts but I got so tired of getting bottled water to home and getting rid of plastic bottles that I tried Britta and never looked back.
Just keep in mind Brita doesn’t filter out heavy metals, which is basically the one thing I worry about in my water (lead). Not sure it’s even going to filter out the nastiness that is whatever probably died in your water tank. As said above, Brita is basically only supposed to make your water taste better. It’s either Brita or ZeroWater that actually explicitly states that you should only use potable water.
I use a Grayl bottle and replace the filters whenever the water starts to taste funny, usually ~every six months or so. Those filters are supposed to filter out everything except a few viruses that are only known of in really remote areas of Africa, so I trust the bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, microplastics, etc. will at least be much smaller in quantity than the other filters I’ve researched.
Also keep in mind bottled water doesn’t necessarily need to meet any safety standards at all. In the US I know there is a shockingly high amount of tolerance for fecal matter, etc., much higher than is accepted by municipal water regulations. Might want to look into whether or not Taiwan is equally lax (though I assume my pipes are lined with lead here)
Brita filters out some percentage of heavy metals I think less than 50% closer to 25%.
Water reaching the tap in Taipei, and depends on where you are in Taiwan, doesn’t have a lot of heavy metals to be filtered so you know you’re going to put that in perspective.
If you’re in Changhua, then filter is probably not going to be sufficient in the long term so you know do whatever you got to do to make your water clean and healthy which may or may not be bottled water.
Bottled water in taiwan, don’t even trust that people think they can but you can’t trust it.
They’re doing the cheapest thing they can do to sell you a container bottled water.
It isn’t, which is why I said I will get that filter eventually. It’d be silly not to use it when it’s already been fitted there. The context about bottled was vs the Brita/boil solution.