Build a water filter.
Make Your Own Water Filter
Instead of buying expensive bottled water or having it delivered, you can easily make a filter at home using cheap and readily available materials and equipment.
This method uses the 'candle' type ceramic filters, which are two-stage filters.
These are the type normally used in expensive terracotta towers.
As lovely to look at as those terracotta containers are the same device can be made at home for around $Au 50 - 70.
Compare that to the $200-$400 price-tag of the genuine article and you are beginning to get the picture. ;)
Ideally, you will have an unemployed home brew container or other lightproof food-grade container knocking about (cleaned of course!).
In the absence of such a convenient resource, we recommend buying one; comparing the price of such a container with it's ceramic counterpart will simulate an excellent bargain!
There are 3 parts to the system.
The Bucket
The reservoir, which must be new and/or clean and undamaged.
Our bucket is a black PVC type. Black is the cheapest and hasn't had any colours added, as black is the natural color of pvc plastic.
While most children would disagree, it is best to use a dark coloured or opaque vessel so that light can't get into that lovely moist environment and start growing algae or bacteria.
The Filter
A white-clay cylinder containing carbon, attached to a plastic base.
It's water outlet is threaded and includes rubber washers and a nut for sealing it into the base of your reservoir.
We buy ours at a department store in Fremantle.
There are two brands that we know of, both around Au $25.
They aren't always easy to find, however they do last a long time, so unless there's plenty of other folk buying them they might stop stocking them.
"What's that?" asks the store manager, "It doesn't need replacing after two weeks! What sort of a product is that?!!"
We put two filters in our bucket, so it takes longer for them to require cleaning or replacement.
Cleaning is done monthly or whenever they stop letting water through and replacement is usually around 3 to 5 months. The older the filter the more frequently cleaning is needed.
The Base
The dispensing container, which must have a tap to dispense your newly filtered water.
This container must be non-reactive food-grade plastic or ceramic.
We use a homebrew container, which seems perfect, it is large enough (25 L) to prevent overfills and is also a good size if we forget to fill up the bucket on top as there is usually water left in it!
Many folk have an existing dispenser container from previous dealings with water delivery companies.
The container itself must be able to support the top section, or reservoir, which in our case is simply a black plastic bucket with two holes in its base.
Putting the filters into the bucket.
This is the only tricky bit, as it involves making a very neat hole in the base of your bucket.
This is important so the filter's threaded outlet can be poked through and done up without leaving any leaks.
We used a hole punch made of metal; its hole is about a centimetre wide and the shaft tapers wider.
When heated using the stove, it neatly melts a circular hole in the bucket.
Then it is pushed further in until the hole is big enough for the filter's threaded water outlet.
Take care it doesn't tear the plastic (VERY IMPORTANT).
If this level of engineering is beyond you, try asking someone with experience in making round holes in plastic containers to make the hole for you.
Also, make sure that the base of your bucket is reasonably flat.
This is important to avoid starting with a leaky vessel!
Some tips...
Always pre-soak the new filter in water and turn it upside down a few times to disturb the carbon inside which may have compacted during transport.
Cleaning the filters when they stop filtering is easy.
They can be gently scrubbed with a pot scourer or toothbrush, or even each other if you are using two!
You can tell when it is clean, it will no longer be a horrid brown colour as you will have actually removed a little of it's surface revealing the
original bone colour of the ceramic.
It pays to be careful not to remove an excessive amount as it could shorten the filter's life.
Take a little care to not screw the nut up too tightly as they seal very well and will become difficult to undo for cleaning and replacement.
While unscrewing the nut on the underside, do not grasp your filter by the ceramic, as it can be snapped off its base.
Believe me, the carbon within will make a nice mess if you let it out!!
Put your set-up as near to the tap in the kitchen as practical.
You won't want to be carrying it too far to top up your reservoir.
You'll be surprised how much water that you go through when you start to use it for tea and coffee and cooking.
We keep a large ice-cream container handy to top up the reservoir, which is usually once a day.