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A Clearly Filtered Water Pitcher Review

A Clearly Filtered Water Pitcher Review

Do you have fluoride in your drinking water?  There a lots of filtered drinking water pitchers to choose from to improve the taste and quality of your water, but only one is certified to remove fluoride from drinking water.  That filter is produced by Clearly Filtered and is the pitcher my wife and I have been using for two years now at our house.

  • Product Name: Clearly Filtered Clean Water Pitcher
  • Website: ClearlyFiltered.com
  • Price: $69.95 for pitcher & filter/ $49.95 for replacement filters
  • Filter Life Expectancy: 200 Gallons or 6 months
  • Pitcher Capacity: 64 oz (8 cups)
  • Noted Feature: Certified to remove up to 90% of Fluoride in Municipal Water & 70 other contaminants
  • Recommended: Yes

What Does The Clearly Filtered Pitcher Filter?

Clearly Filtered is effective at removing 71 chemicals while keeping minerals in your drinking water.  This filter is only designed to filter potable city or well water & too porous to filter out bacteria.

This pitcher is certified to remove up to:

  • 99% Chlorine
  • 90% Fluoride
  • 97.5% Lead
  • 98% Mercury
  • 96% Chromium 6

The filter also removes various heavy metals, nitrates, herbicides, pesticides, and VOC‘s like benzene.

Clearly Filtered has released a complete list of contaminants that it’s filter removes.

The reason my family chose the Clearly Filtered pitcher is because we have city water at our house and wanted a filter that would remove the fluoride.  We try to avoid our exposure to fluoride as much as possible because it does not provide any health benefits when ingested and can actually weaken your bones & cause harm to body organs.  Prior to Clearly Filtered, we were using a Brita water filter (primarily to filter Chlorine) that does improve water quality but cannot filter fluoride because their filter is only activated carbon.

Clearly Filtered is able to filter Fluoride and other drinking water contaminants because it’s filter is a two stage media: (1) solid carbon block and (2) proprietary NATCLEAN filter that removes fluoride, heavy metals, and other contaminants like pesticides and herbicides.

Because Clearly Filtered uses a solid carbon filter, it does a more complete job at removing contaminants than other common household filtered water pitchers like Brita and Pur that both use loose activated carbon.  This is because the longer the filtration process, the more contaminants are absorbed by the filter because they remain in contact longer with the filtration media.

It takes about 3-5 minutes to filter one pitcher of water due to the filtration process.  When the filter is due for replacement, it is designed to restrict water flow and will filter a lot slower because the filter is less porous.

I will not cover these additional products in this review, Clearly Filtered also sell filtered water bottles & a RAD countertop pitcher that can filter out radiological contaminant.


How Is The Filter Designed

Most of my complaints with this pitcher, is with the design of the pitcher.  So I will cover the good and bad of the pitcher design.

The Good

The pitcher is BPA-Free and leech-free plastic!  It is also easy to lift & pour due to it’s pistol-grip.  Compared to our loose carbon Brita filter, you don’t get carbon specks in your water or the bottom of the pitcher because it is a solid carbon filter.

The pitcher base (the clear plastic) is also sturdy and thick.

The Bad

A Clearly Filtered Water Pitcher Review

What The Replacement Filter Looks Like

Most of my complaint with the design revolves around the upper chamber, this is the white plastic.  In my opinion, the upper chamber could be thicker like the lid, base, or filter is.  It is sturdy, but likes to shimmy back and forth when you need to replace the screw-on filter.

My other complaint with this pitcher, is you need to wait for all the water in the upper reservoir to filter before trying to pour it.  If you do not wait, water from the upper chamber will spill out in your glass, all over your counter, and it can also get into the lower reservoir and make it taste like unfiltered tap water.

Other Design Features 

The one question everybody asks is how easy is it to replace the filter.  It is pretty easy to replace the filter.  You just need to flush it for 5 minutes with tap water to prime the filter.  You screw the filter to the bottom part of the upper reservoir and voila!  You now have filtered water.

Here is a short video as a walkthrough for flushing the filters:

 

By design, the filter restricts the flow when the filter is due for replacement.  It takes 3-5 minutes to filter a pitcher of water normally.

I wish Clearly Filtered produced a larger model.  We use filtered water for cooking too.  One pitcher barely keeps up with cooking and drinking for just my wife and I.  As our family grows we are going to need either (A) more pitchers, (B) switch to a different brand (Big Berkey) that has a family-size fluoride filter, or (C) install a whole house filtration system.

Ongoing Cost Of Clearly Filtered

Another big question people ask when choosing a water filter is “What’s The Ongoing Cost?”  The cost of a water filter is more than just the initial cost to buy the pitcher.  Are you going to use a water filter consistently if you cannot afford it?  I’m not.

I will show a graph below between that compares Clearly Filtered to two other brands & the ongoing cost (or average cost per filtered gallon).  The average cost per gallon using the Clearly Filtered pitcher is 25 cents per gallon, which is on par with Brita and Pur drinking water pitchers.  So you get better quality filtration at a similar price.

Individual household results are going to vary depending on your unfiltered water quality & how much water is consumed on a daily basis.

I e-mailed Clearly Filtered for more detailed information on the expected  life expectancy of a single pitcher filter for budgeting purposes.  And it can be real easy to lose track of when 200 gallons has been consumed.

Depending on your household size, you can expect your filter to last this long:

  • Families: 2-3 months
  • Couples: 3-4 Months (My wife & I say this is an accurate estimate for both of us)
  • Singles: 4-6 Months

A single replacement filter cost $49.95, but you can save 15% when subscribing to their VIP auto-ship program. Or you can purchase a 3-pack for $139.95.

Buying the replacement filters cost more than Brita or Pur, but actually have a lower ongoing cost per gallon and also filter out more contaminants.

Pros & Cons

I’ve already expressed some of features I like and dislike with the Clearly Filtered pitcher and I will summarize them here.

Pros

  • Certified to remove fluoride & lots of other contaminants that the average store bought filter cannot as effectively.
  • Keeps healthy minerals in the water
  • Cheaper than a whole house filtration system
  • Countertop pitcher doesn’t require a lot of space, compared to an under-sink or a whole house system.
  • Filter lasts several months, so it doesn’t require frequent replacements
  • Cost-effective method to get filtered, more pure water

Cons

  • Somewhat flimsy pitcher design with the removable upper reservoir
  • Have to wait for water to finish filtering or it will most likely spill and remaining water tastes like tap water.
  • Cost is somewhat high, but cheaper than buying bottled water & comparable with other filters water pitchers.

Closing Thoughts

I think the Clearly Filtered pitcher is a good purchase to make, if you want a pitcher that can filter out up to 99% of chlorine & tackle fluoride too!  And it removes more contaminants than the average pitcher you can buy at your local retail establishment at a cheaper ongoing cost.

Perhaps this pitcher isn’t for you, you might need a bigger reservoir than the 8-cup CF model or need a filter that can remove more contaminants.  I encourage you to consider the Clearly Filtered pitcher as it is pretty effective at providing you more pure water.

Drinking filtered water will improve your health & your body will thank you for it.

Are you filtering your drinking water currently?  If so, what type of filter do you use?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Josh

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