If you really care about your health you should spend some time investigating the quality of water your currently drink. It was only years back when I discovered that I was drinking fluoride from my tap water which really annoyed me as it’s something I would not voluntarily agree to. Now, I live in another location and luckily my water is not fluoridated, and I am just a little bit happier.
Anyway, I realised that the water quality in the UK really varies from location to location. It even varies in taste. In one area of Manchester, I drank water and I felt like I was drinking a swimming pool. There was definitely too much chlorine in it and I could taste it. Now, where I live I cannot taste chlorine in my tap water and my water is not fluoridated so in general, I think it’s quite good quality water. However, I would still want to make it better if I could (and I am making it better!).
I used to use a water filter jug from Brita to make my water a little bit healthier and I thought, at that time, that Brita was the best water filter I could buy. Maybe it was, at that time.
I’ve had Brita jug for many years but now, there are other tap water filters available, including Zero Water filter. I didn’t actually know about ZeroWater until I got contacted by their PR representative who sent me Zero Water 12 Cup for me to test and review on my blog. So what did I think of it? Was it better than Brita’s jug? How did the filtered water from ZeroWater jug taste like? Read on to read my full review and comparison of ZeroWater and Brita.
Quick navigation:
About Zero Water
Zero Water filter review
Zero Water vs Brita
How long does a Zero Water filter last?
Where to buy Zero Water filters?
ZeroWater filter jug – The final verdict
About Zero Water
First of all, who are Zero Water and how are they different? I always love reading companies’ backgrounds to learn more about how they got started, their values and how they distinguish themselves from the competition. It’s also interesting to read their customers’ reviews and what people really think about their products.
ZeroWater is an American water filter brand founded by Rajan Rajan who is also the inventor of the Zero Water product.
Rajan used to live in in a small town in Michigan where the quality of drinking water was really poor. So, his family and he had to resort to buying bottled water regularly. But Rajan wanted to change that and started looking into various water filtering solutions.
After some research with his son, Rajan, being an engineer, took the best of water filtration technologies and put everything together to create a water filtering system suitable for consumer use.
The company’s first product was actually the countertop water purification system but then they started to focus on pitcher filters as the market for this was bigger.
Free TDS meter
To stand out from competitors, ZeroWater decided to include Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter as part of the package and this is something that I really love about the brand. TDSM is a little gadget that tells you the number of impurities in your water and after filtration, the gadget will show 000. This just shows that this type of filtering really does work.
What are Total Dissolved Solids?
Dissolved Solids are a measurement of compounds like minerals, salts and organic compounds that are dissolved into water through contact with rock and other surfaces. TDS can be made up of several different types of compounds (including but not limited to): calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium chloride and sulfides (which are compounds frequently found in groundwater supplies). – zerowater.com
How ZeroWater filters are different
Zero Water claims to be the only brand that removes 99.6% of all dissolved solids in tap water which is the equivalent of purified bottled water. Brita filters, in comparison, leave over half of those solids behind. That’s because ZeroWater uses 5 stages of filtration while the other standard water filters such as Brita only use 2 stages. So if you want to drink cleaner water and reduce the number of plastic water bottles you buy, then Zero Water is definitely the way to go.
Zero Water filter review
I’ve been using Zero Water filter jug for quite a few months and now I am well familiar with the product, its pros and cons.
The exact Zero Water product I’ve been using is the ZeroWater 12 Cup Pitcher which can hold 2.8 litres of water. This is a rather large jug which does not fit in UK fridge doors. I think this jug would suit a family but I also found it great although we’ve been using it only between two people.
If you want a water filter jug that would fit in your fridge doors, then you should go for ZeroWater 7 Cup which is a jug that’s been featured on Phillip Schofield’s “How to Spend it Well at Christmas”. ZeroWater 6 Cup pitcher is also great for your fridge but it’s smaller so better suited for 1 or 2 people.
ZeroWater Filter Jug – Assembly
The ZeroWater jug is supplied with a filter which you have to assemble correctly before using the product. All the instructions are provided and I recommend you follow them carefully to make sure you have no issues.
It took me two tries to secure the filter correctly into the bottom of the reservoir. The first time I tried I screwed it in horizontally instead of vertically, that’s why it leaked. I followed the instructions the second time and tightened the filter correctly so it didn’t result in any leaks at the end.
Assembly is easy enough, as long as you follow the instructions.
ZeroWater 12 Cup – Filling and Pouring Water
To fill up the reservoir of ZeroWater 12 Cup jug, you simply take the lid off and hold the jug directly under the water tap. But the reservoir can hold only so much water at any moment. You have to wait for all the water to pass through the filter before filling again. I estimate you would have to fill up the reservoir about 3 times before the jug will be full.
You don’t always have to hold the reservoir under the water tap though. Alternatively, you can take a large glass of water or something similar, fill it up and then pour it into the ZeroWater reservoir.
The water will slowly filter through and I learned the hard way that when there’s still water in the reservoir, I should never try to pour the filtered water into my glass. That’s because the jug’s lid is not sealed, so the unfiltered water will start to leak out. Luckily, there is a small tap at the bottom of the jug which I can use instead to pour myself a drink.
It seems that ZeroWater 7 Cup doesn’t have this leakage problem with the lid, and hopefully, some other ZeroWater jugs are the same but I am not sure. It’s better to do your own research to see what kind of lid each ZeroWater jug has.
I actually really like the small tap on the ZeroWater jug and it’s something I haven’t seen in standard water filtering jugs. It’s something to use when your jug is heavy and full of water and you wouldn’t want to lift it. But water doesn’t come out very fast and you can only use it up to a certain water level.
ZeroWater – Water Quality
The most important thing about ZeroWater filter jug is the quality of water it produces. The jug can be forgiven for its sloppy design (the 12 Cup jug) as the quality of water is so great.
I used the TSD meter to confirm that water was indeed filtered through effectively. The TSD meter showed 000 which is exactly what you want.
Our tap water measured around 50 TSD, which is not bad, but the ZeroWater filter improved our water further. And I could taste it.
Honestly, the taste of filtered water is really different from the taste of tap water. Now, when I drink tap water I can taste the things which were not supposed to be there and it bothers me. I think my taste buds got really sensitive and I totally dislike drinking tap water now.
Zero Water vs Brita
If you are wondering what the difference is between ZeroWater filters and Brita filters, here is a summary:
| ZeroWater | Brita |
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How long does a Zero Water filter last?
Finally, you may be wondering how long a ZeroWater filter will last you. This depends on many different factors, for example, on your water usage and the quality of water you have at home.
If your water quality is poor and the contaminant level is high (TSD = 301-400), then one filter will last you for up to 15 gallons (or 68 litres).
If your tap water is of decent quality and TSD meter shows you 50 or less, then your ZeroWater filter will last you some time – 40 gallons or more (151+ litres).
I’ve been using my ZeroWater jug for some time now and the filter is still usable – the TSD meter still shows 000 which is amazing (you should replace your filter when it shows 006 and above).
So it really depends. If you fill up your ZeroWater jug only once a day and the quality of water in your area is not too bad, then the filter will last you for many months.
On the other side, if you fill up your jug many times a day and the water quality is really bad, then you may find it you have to change the filter once a month. And this brings us onto the next question…
Where to buy Zero Water filters?
So you come to the stage when you know you want to use ZeroWater filtering jug but where you do buy the filters from?
This, actually, is not a problem at all, in case you were worried.
ZeroWater jugs are getting more and more popular so now you have more choice than ever before on where to buy the filters from.
At the moment, you can buy ZeroWater filters from the following online shops:
- Amazon (US / UK)
- Directly on the ZeroWater website (US version / UK version)
ZeroWater filter jug – The final verdict
ZeroWater filter jug delivers what it’s been designed for – pure water that’s good for your health and tastes great. When you drink this filtered water you are not only doing something good for your health but you are also helping the environment by using fewer plastic bottles.
The water filter jug that I tried (ZeroWater 12 Cup jug) is in no way perfect but there are other jug sizes available if it bothers you the fact that it doesn’t fit into the fridge doors.
The question whether ZeroWater is the best water filter jug you can buy, I cannot answer, but what I do know is that it’s better at filtering water than Brita and you might want to buy it if better quality of water is important to you.
You can buy ZeroWater filter jugs directly from Amazon with free delivery.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means I may get a small commission if you purchase a product after clicking on a link. This does not cost you anything. I have not been compensated to write this review and you will only find my honest thoughts about this product here.
