Brita is a company that manufactures and markets reusable water pitchers for drinking water. They’ve been in business for over 70 years, which means they’ve made the water better for generations of people.
The company sells premium water filters that filter out impurities and lead and have a great reputation for quality. I have a Brita water pitcher that still works. And even though Brita’s filters may not be as effective as they once were, they still do work.
If you’re considering buying a Brita filter, or you’re just curious to know if this filter is still good, then I’ll be going over everything you need to know in this article.
How Do Brita Filters Work?
Brita filters use two different kinds of filter technologies. The standard Brita pitcher contains a standard filter while the Longlast+ pitcher has a Longlast+ filter. Both pitchers will do an excellent job of cleaning water from your home.
The Brita Water Purifier uses a coconut-based activated carbon filtration media. It also uses ion exchange resins, which is a great combination for your next water purifier. This set of 5 tools is a great value for anyone looking for the best at-home deep cleaning for their home or business. The tools are made of stainless steel, making them highly durable.
The Brita Longlast+ Filter has a patented pleated filter design, and it’s upgraded to include a proprietary active filtering agents, which can remove a few more contaminants, including lead and asbestos. As the name implies, the Longlast+ filters also have a longer life than the standard filters. Brita doesn’t only offer filtering pitchers, although these are what Brita is known for.
Brita’s bottle filtration system uses a carbon block cartridge that attracts heavy metals, pesticides and other harmful substances from your water, but leaves beneficial minerals like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and more. One of the great things about Brita is that they use a carbon block cartridge to treat the contaminated water in your home.
What Contaminants Does Brita Filter Out?
Brita has three different lineups of water filtration products, each with their own design. Each filtration system is designed to remove contaminants from your water. See the chart below to see the contaminants removed by the Longlast+, Standard, Stream Bottle and Faucet filters.
Contaminant | Longlast + | Standard | Stream | Bottle | Faucet |
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1, 2, 4 – Tricholorobenzene | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Asbestos | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Benzene | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Cadmium | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Chlorine | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Copper | ✔️ | ||||
Lead | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Mercury | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Particulates | ✔️ (Class 1) |
✔️ (Class 6) |
✔️ (Class 6) |
✔️ (Class 1) |
|
Select Emerging Contaminants | ✔️ | ||||
Select Pesticides & Herbicides | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
Select Pharmaceuticals | ✔️ | ||||
TTHMs | ✔️ | ||||
VOCs | ✔️ | ||||
Zinc | ✔️ |
Importance of Replacing The Filter Cartridge
The life span for most Brita filters will be at least 5 years and can last longer than this depending on the condition of your filters and the amount of usage. If you wanted to avoid getting sick, you’d never touch a dirty or unhygienic object. With each batch of water filtered through the sieve, the pores of the filter become more and more clogged with contaminants.
Eventually, the sieve’s pores would become so clogged that it wouldn’t let any water pass through. Brita filters work because tap water contains impurities that get trapped in the filtration material, making it clog up and unusable.
If you choose a 5-10ml bottle instead of a 50ml one, you’ll be wasting much more of your precious time and water. As the filter allows the contaminants to pass through, it may let some good things (like dirt or germs) come through, too.
Replacing the filter cartridge is a good idea. It should be replaced whenever the water flow becomes slow, or if your water quality starts to deteriorate. Without the Brita Water Purifier Filter, your drinking water won’t be as clean as it could be.
Old Filters Can Add Bacteria To Your Water
Most water filters don’t prevent bacteria buildup, although some do. Brita’s filters are one of the best-quality filters on the market. The moist environment inside a water filter is the perfect bacteria breeding ground.
If you allow the filter to sit idle for months or years, then bacteria will build up inside the filter, and could make you sick. You should change your water filters every 3 to 6 months, based on the manufacturer’s recommendations.
When Should I Change My Brita Filter?
There are three basic types of filters you’ll find on most water filters: carbon, ceramic and resin. Not all filters are created equal. Most filters last longer than others, and that depends on the filter’s design and intended purpose. It’s not uncommon for filters to last longer than 6 months, although it depends on the pitcher.
Faucet filters and water bottle filters have a similar life span. This filter cartridge is not as durable or long lasting as others because of its design, but it’s still an affordable option for those looking for a great-looking filter. The table below shows when you should change your Brita filter, depending on which filtered water system you own.
Filter | Replacement by Gallons |
Replacement by Time (Months) |
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Longlast+ | 120 | 6 |
Standard | 40 | 2 |
Stream | 40 | 2 |
Bottle | 40 | 2 |
Faucet | 100 | 4 |
So, Do Brita Filters Work & Are They Safe?
The answer is YES: Brita filters do work. They effectively remove impurities from your tap water. Brita water filtration systems work well for you, but they only work for the specific problems that they are designed to solve. For example, drinking filtered water won’t work for you if your tap water contains fluoride, because the water filter does not remove fluoride.
However, if you’re just dealing with lead or chlorine in your tap water, the Longlast+ filtered water pitcher will remove these impurities and give you the solution you’re looking for.
Are Brita’s filtered water systems safe? Yes, they are, but you have to use them correctly. Monitor usage and replace filters as recommended by Brita to avoid a buildup of bacteria that could get into your tap water and make you sick.
All Brita products are safe for home use. You can safely use Brita filters, pitchers, and bottles to improve the quality of your tap water, and you should replace your filters every 2-3 months.
How to Choose The Best Water Filter For Your Needs
Hundreds of water filters on the market today ensure that you can find the filter that is most appropriate for your needs. There are many different types of water filtration systems out there, but how do you choose the right one for your needs?
There are three steps to follow:
Step 1: Test Your Water
The first step in the water supply chain is to test the tap water for contamination and contamination. There are several ways to test your product, and not all are effective. Some are more effective than others. If you get your water from a municipal supply, you should look at your annual water quality report.
If you take your water in a reusable bottle, don’t worry about whether or not the water picks up any impurities. You could test your water using an in-home testing kit.
These kits are $20 or less, and they check for the most common sources of water contamination, such as lead, chlorine, fluoride, hardness minerals, and harmful chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides. The most thorough and accurate testing strategy is laboratory testing.
This method will give you the most detailed data about what your water contains. Laboratories can provide you with information about the contaminants that could be affecting the water in your lab. They will also provide you with guidance on the most effective filtered water solutions to use.
I recommend SimpleLab Tap Score for testing your drinking water. It’s never been about the weather and the conditions. It’s always about the people.
Step 2: Narrowing Your Options
Once you know what your water contains, you can narrow down your options based on what you want to remove. You can also use this chart to help determine the right size for your tank, and this one to determine what kind of filters to get. These charts will help you make an informed choice.
There are over 100 different water filtration systems available. Some are more powerful than others, so be sure to shop around. I have plenty of guides, like my best gravity water filters, that showcase a selection of the best gravity filters available on the market. Best Sellers What do you think? Why choose us?
All the guides you’ll find here can cut your search time in half. They’ve already filtered out the systems that aren’t worth your money.
Step 3: Reading Reviews
This is the last step in choosing a tap water filtration system. You’ll find out whether the reviews are good, so you know you’re going to get a high quality system.
To get the best results for your home water treatment needs, you need to know which products will work best and which are a waste of money. Read customer reviews and unbiased expert reviews to make the right choice.
Customer reviews of water filters can give you an idea of the experience that people just like you have had with these products. Check out these reviews to learn things you won’t find in the product descriptions, like how easy the system is to use, and whether it really delivers on its claims.
You can find trends in negative reviews that may raise a red flag about a product. To learn more about a product you have to read 3rd party reviews that aren’t biased by a company’s marketing department. It can be tough to find all the information you need on a manufacturer’s product page.
Most product descriptions don’t go into enough detail to help customers make a purchasing decision, so they leave them with the feeling that they have no choice but to buy the product.
A good review must be unbiased and complete, telling you everything you need to know to decide whether a product will meet your requirements and compare it to other products on the market. You should now be in a position to confidently purchase a water filtering system that meets your contaminant removal needs.