You filter your drinking water & your shower water. Did you know you can improve your child’s bath water too? There are several bath tub water filters to choose from that can neutralize chlorine & condition your water so that the skin of you or your child feels softer.
We are going to cover three different methods that you can use to neutralize chlorine and two of these methods can also neutralize chloramines.
If you are on this page then you most likely have chlorine or chloramines in your water. Not only does your skin absorb the chlorine but you are also breathing in the vapors that are released at an increased rate when tap water is warmed up above room temperature. These filters do not actually remove chlorine but create a chemical reaction, particularly with the free chlorine, that alters the element into a harmless form that cannot be absorbed or inhaled into your lungs.
There are two challenges to bath and shower filters. The first issue is (1) Heat, certain filtration media does not work well when the water is warm nor with a (2) fast water flow as filters are most effective at removing contaminants when water spends more time traveling through the filter. For a bath filter to be as effective as a drinking water filter, it would need to be about 60 times the size it currently is So bath filters are basically limited to neutralizing free chlorine & combined chlorine, those pesky disinfectant by-products, and some other heavy metals like iron oxide (rust) & hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) that can make your water stinky.
#1 Dechlorinating Bath Salts
So this method is not a filter at all in the conventional sense. If you just need to neutralize chlorine, I believe this is one of the most cost-effective methods (Vitamin C being the cheapest) as it just requires pouring a cap full of the salt into the water.
Plus if your tub faucet doesn’t have a stopper on top, you cannot hang a ball filter as it will only slide off.
This method means you do not need to hang an attachment from your tub faucet. Also you do not need to remember to change the filter cartridge after 25 to 30 baths as is required with the ball filters. When you run out of salt, you just need to recycle the container and open the next one.
There are several brands of dechlorinating bath salts to purchase from, although Sprite Mediterranean Blue
These salts also contain epsom salts which will help soften the water too!
Depending on the hardness or chlorine odor of your water, you may want to add more or less salt, to compensate.
As a fringe benefit, you can also add a capful to your wash during the rinse cycle will help fight against chlorine as well.
#2 Bath Ball Filters
These filters can remove chlorine, sediment, and other heavy metals that can cause odors such as iron oxide (rust) and hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell).
One brand can also remove chloramines, VOCs, and pesticides. View the glossary for more information on these terms.
The one drawback to using a ball filter is that you need a faucet with a stopper on top. See picture at left for an example to compare to your tub faucet.
There are two prevalent brands when it comes to ball filters.
- The cheaper product, Sprite, goes for approximately $30-35 and can remove chlorine, sediment, and odor-causing heavy metals. Filter life expectancy is estimated up to 50 baths & a replacement filter is around $20.
- The ball filter that can remove chloramines and pesticides is offered by Crystal Quest
and costs about $50-55 depending on what color you choose. It’s filter lasts about 12 months and needs to be flipped about halfway through. The replacement filter costs $35.
#3 Vitamin C/Ascorbic Acid
I believe this is the most cost-effective chlorine removal method.
Therapeutic grade vitamin C (ascorbic acid) 
You add a Vitamin C tablet to your bath water. Although you can buy a filtered shower head, a filter media is not available for bath faucets.
Vitabath Tablets
You can use these tablets for your bathtub, hot tub, or add to the rinse cycle when washing clothes.
Due to the acidic properties of vitamin C, the ph level of water can be altered slightly. Another potential hesitation for purchasing these tablets, is that they contain sorbitol.
Do You Want Chlorine or Chloramines Removed From You Water?
After reading this article, I bet you didn’t think bathing in pure, chlorine-free water was this easy and affordable. Plus there are two methods where no installation is required. Even the ball filters are easier to install than filtered shower heads where you need to use plumber’s tape (teflon tape) and might even have to buy an adapter to fit your new head.
Do you use a bath tub filter or a filtered shower head at home?
I did not know that there are so many types of filters to remove the chlorine and chloramines from water. I also did not know that chlorine could be absorbed by your skin and heated water makes it worse. There are certainly a lot of choices to filter the water and your post provides a lot of options and some that require little work to bathe in pure chlorine-free water. I usually take showers and would install the ball filter into my shower head. Great info though.
I didn’t know there were so many choices either until we started researching all the different options for our family. Nobody really knows what the long-term effects of chlorine & chloramines in our water is, except they are linked to cancer & can irritate your skin and hair. Sadly they are a necessary evil to provide clean, drinkable water to the population and it’s up to us individuals to filter our water to get the excess out. Half of your daily exposure to chlorine is by your daily shower & the other half is drinking water (assuming it’s unfiltered municipal tap water). So if you only have one or two filters, drinking water & bathing will be the most effective steps you can take. Visit this link for information on filtered shower heads.
Hello! Thank you for the information. I had a question. We have a big problem with Iron in our water and I wonder if the same will work for it? We did buy a filter, but it did not last half as long as I expected.
Iron can be a big issue. My extended family lives in Wisconsin where their water is high in iron, they are on well water & only have a softener and depending on the day you can taste the iron & one house has accumulated red stains in one of their showers over the years. I wish they had some other filters so I could offer some first hand experience.
The Crystal Quest ball filter would be your best bet for a bathtub filter because it’s filter is a combination of carbon & KDF (Zinc/Copper mixture that fights against Iron oxide). With your Iron content being so high, I don’t know if it would last the estimated 12 months. As I’m sure you have found out, most of the published life expectancy of filters are for more ideal water conditions that are not particularly high in a specific element. Regarding filters, any filter with the KDF material will be your easiest, most cost effective option.
Your most complete (& most expensive) option for addressing Iron, would be a reverse osmosis whole house system.