Testing Drinking Water
Does anyone know where I can find Test strips to check my incoming water for bacteria? I want to do the Bleach gig to my lines but really want to check the water afterwards.
Forum Discussion
bukhrn wrote:Shearwater wrote:It will if it's .05-1 micron, such as my whole house filter.
An inline filter will remove sediment but will pass bacteria and viruses.
That's a dangerous assumption to make.
Yes, the filter media itself may trap the organisms, what about the o-rings and sealing faces inside the filter. Are you sure they're free of defects down into the sub micron range? Is your filter housing laboratory grade, or something from a big box store / camping world? When you replace the cartridge, do you do so in a cleanroom, to avoid contamination of the filter media and housing?
There is reason consumer grade filter systems (even reverse osmosis) are not rated to work on contaminated water... the filter is as strong as its weakest links, and that's the housing, the seals and sealing faces.
Folks paranoid about cooties in the water, get an inline UV + Ozone system. Trying to filter out cooties is pointless, just kill them, then run the water through a deionizing filter to clean up the free radicals the UV and ozone will generate.
