Yesterday I had a very bad experience with the Zerowater water filter that people should know about BEFORE they waste their money on one. I wish I had read a review!
My significant other(s.o.) bought a Zerowater pitcher and we've been using it to make our coffee for more than a month. The coffee started tasting bad, so for the first time I drank Zerowater by itself: God, was it awful!!! It even made my mouth feel irritated and this irritation lasted for for several hours.
I had my s.o. try some and she had the same result: horrible taste, irritated her mouth. She was going to pour the Zerowater down the drain, but I stopped her and said we should keep it in case we get sick and need to get it tested for bacteria or whatever.
We both agreed the predominatnt taste (besides VERY bad) was acidic. Now I'm a guy who dumps obscene amounts of vinigar on my fried fish and love its taste - and it never irritates my mouth.
I have a modest background in chemistry and wanted to figure out what made the Zerowater so bad. All I have on hand is my swimming pool testing kit which includes a Ph (acid or base, base = alkaline) test in a very narrow range. The Zerowater tested acidic - beyond what this test can quantify. But how acid was it? I took the Zerowater and added alkaline water to it to try to gauge some measure of how acid it. Four times the original volume of Zerowater did not neutralize the Zerowater's acidity, so I added 10 times the volume and still it was acid. At 24 times the volume it was STILL acid. That was the point where my container ran out of calibrated markings, but I keep adding alkaline water to well more than 40 times the original Zerowater volume before it would finally change to neutral.
We both got on the Internet and read the Zerowater reviews - if we had done this before we bought the Zerowater pitcher, we never would have wasted our money. One review mentioned talking to several water purification experts who said that untreated water can not be made free of total dissolved solids (the TDS that the Zerowater tester measures) without using an acid process. AHA! - thought I!!! Many reviews by people who had been using Zerowater over time said the same things about the same bad taste that we experienced and pegged it to the filter needing to be replaced. We had already replaced it once. The consensus seemed to be that the Zerowater filter had to be replaced way too often and at very high cost. We decided that we were going to throw away the Zerowater pitcher because we never wanted to taste water this bad tasting ever again. However, we still had a spare filter, so we throughly cleaned the pitcher and we replaced the filter yet again.
For the hell of it, I repeated the pool Ph test and found that even though our tap water tests shows an alkaline (opposite of acidic) result, the new Zerowater was also acid and beyond what the test's range could measure. Let me stress that this range is VERY limited and that even vinigar would test acid well beyond its range. But this time when I added the alkaline water it only took 2 or 3 drops (a small fraction of the volume of the Zerowater in the test)to make it neutral. So that was reassuring enough that I braved drinking the new Zerowater: it now had no bad taste, but it tasted no better than the tap water, which itself has no bad taste. (Note: Oklahoma City has very good public drinking water and some years back the city entered its water into a national contest and our water came out 5th best in the nation. Some place in Alaska took 1st place).
We have still decided to throw away the Zerowater pitcher. I don't like what happened, don't want any chance of tasting water that bad ever again, don't want Zerowater in my body. And we certainly are not going to spend so much money to replace the Zerowater filters so often. The only reason we use a filter on the coffee water is so that the expensive pod coffee maker doesn't get damaged by minerals in the tap water. Who knows?, water made that acid by a used filer may have done more damage to the coffee maker than tap water ever would.
I feel totally ripped off that so much money was wasted on the Zerowater pitcher and replacement filters. We will change to a different brand of water filter - but this time we are going to research what we are buying.
BTW: know what else I found when I researched Zerowater on the Internet: they had been sued by the bottled water association in Federal Court and Zerowater settled out of court!!! Here is a bit of the article:
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http://www.foodbev.com/news/zerowater-agrees-to-settle-false-ad-lawsuit-brought-by-ibwa
ZeroWater agrees to settle false ad lawsuit brought by IBWA
Filed by Shaun Weston
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and Zero Technologies (ZeroWater) have settled a lawsuit IBWA brought against ZeroWater.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleged that ZeroWater made false and misleading statements in its advertisements regarding the health, safety and taste of bottled water products, as well as the capabilities of ZeroWater's products.
The parties have resolved the lawsuit. As part of a confidential settlement between the parties, ZeroWater agreed to certain restrictions on its advertising. Specifically, ZeroWater has agreed to a consent order, enforceable by the federal court, that requires ZeroWater to not make certain statements relating to its products and to bottled water products that it had previously made in its advertisements. In addition, Zero Water has agreed not to make certain other statements relating to the health, safety or taste of bottled water, either explicitly or by implication...
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24 comments:
You are perfectly describing my experience with ZeroWater filters - 3 strikes and it's out of my house. The third filter (1 original and 2 in the replacement box) generated a bad odor along with a bad taste, and didn't even last a week before that started happening. And its measurement with their sensor was 018. The source water smells just fine - so it was the filter generating the problem. Never again!
Thanks for taking the time to post your experience about the "filtered" ZeroWater. After a few weeks with the first filter I experienced a gradual decline in the taste of the water, but assumed it was because I leave the pitcher out more than my Brita because it takes so long to filter down into the pitcher and if I put it in the fridge with the cover on and my s-o doesn't know I just filled it and attempts to pour, the water comes gushing out of the top. Anyway, I changed the filter assuming it was moldy from being unrefrigerated. Second filter went in and about 2 weeks the same horrible taste. So, I'm also done with this pitcher and share your pain over the expense. I should have googled this topic BEFORE I bought it! Well, as they say - misery loves company.
Thanks so much for this post. You should copy and paste it on Amazon, which is where Zerowater is getting a lot of its business. I have had the exact same experience and am really glad that you got to the bottom of things. I had no idea that they put acidic compounds in the filter and will email their customer service about this right now.
I should have read some reviews but I thought that since the T.V. commercial showed all of the great things this pitcher does I will try it... I bought this yesterday and I have washed it out three times and refilled the entire 23 cup pitcher about 8 times and keep draining it because the water tastes terrible!!!!!! It tastes like chemicals! I am air drying the entire thing out on the drain rack and packing it up to take back to the store as soon as possible. DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE unless you want to drink nasty water.
The water taste like sh++ after about a month!!!
same thing in my house after a couple of weeks! Something is definitely wrong with ZERO WATER!!!! It simply can't be normal, and even if the filter needed to be changed (just for the sake of argument because they should not expect folks to change their filter weekly), the water shouldn't have started tasting worse than it ever did before. toxic and acidic- YUCK! Customer service is no help without the receipt they wont give me a refund. I just worry it is going to really adversely affect someone. I developed some severe GI issues and also strange mouth taste and tenderness after just two weeks of using it. Now I know why, all tat damn acid! Thanks so much for the info. I really feel like Zero Water should be pressured into abandoning this terrible venture, as, highly acidic water is actually toxic over time.
Tasted like lemon water. I thought I had left some sprite in my cup but the second fill up I got confused and figured it was the filter. Once i found this site it matched up perfectly. I vomited after dinner and still have a knot in my stomach the next day. Switching back to brita for sure
Wow, thank you for this information. The acid nature of the zerowater explains why I was having issues. I was just telling my father i suspected the filter. I noticed my lips statred becoming soar and irritated after I started drinking the zerowater. I thought it was my solid food diet, so I keep changing it. I did notice It would get worse with acid foods, so I thought I was allergic to these foods now. I went on vacation for a week and my soar lips got better. I thought that was odd. Then within two days of being back from vacation my lips were irritated again. A few more months go by before I narrow it down to the zerowater. I just never thought it could be the water. So,to testablish my theory, I stated drinking bottled water. Within three days my lips were back to normal. I could eat salsa and things with no issue. The high acid level (based off your findings) would explain why my lips were so irritated. I drink about 50 oz. Of water a day. I also noticed it was worse with my coffee. I used my zerowater to make coffee and coffee is acidic. Between the water and coffee it was over load.
Wow, thank you for this information. The acid nature of the zerowater explains why I was having issues. I was just telling my father i suspected the filter. I noticed my lips statred becoming soar and irritated after I started drinking the zerowater. I thought it was my solid food diet, so I keep changing it. I did notice It would get worse with acid foods, so I thought I was allergic to these foods now. I went on vacation for a week and my soar lips got better. I thought that was odd. Then within two days of being back from vacation my lips were irritated again. A few more months go by before I narrow it down to the zerowater. I just never thought it could be the water. So,to testablish my theory, I stated drinking bottled water. Within three days my lips were back to normal. I could eat salsa and things with no issue. The high acid level (based off your findings) would explain why my lips were so irritated. I drink about 50 oz. Of water a day. I also noticed it was worse with my coffee. I used my zerowater to make coffee and coffee is acidic. Between the water and coffee it was over load.
You have a "moderate background in chemistry", but you cannot spell vinegar? Lol. Opinions don't make you a chemist.
ZERO WATER ? Too good to be true and found out the hard way. At first the water seems very soft and shows 0 TDS (dissolved solids) which would include minerals, Chlorine, fluoride etc. SO I started using it in my CPAP machine vs distilled water as recommended by manufacturer. After several weeks of filtering our highly rated city water which averages 150 ppm TDS we noticed the 'Zero water' tasted sour and started irritating throats, yet the meter showed 3 -5 ppm TDS (Zero Water recommends changing filters at 6 ppm.) I tested the PH first with a pool kit then a meter that only goes to a low of 4... It was pegged at 4 and the local pool store could only go to 3. Changed the filter and all was well...but not really as I was developing sore vocal cords which I never imagined could be connected to this water. I checked PH on a NEW filter and guess what ? Out of the box a new filter comes in around 5.4 - 5.8 with tap water of 7.2 -7.4 The water balances with a small amount of baking soda but as soon as this 4 pack of filters are gone so is 'Zero Water' ! -In my OPINION this product is dangerous and should be off the market as many people will consume very acidic water unknowing and perhaps irritating the passages from mouth to stomach. Why change a filter at just 6ppm ?? I also see a number of similar stories on CPAP forums. CPAP being a machine countless people use to overcome sleep apnea / severe snoring by means of a mask with increased air pressure to keep relaxed airways open. Water is added for humidity and up to about a pint can be ingested over 8 hours....acidic water in my larynx/ cords, down into the lungs.
I have just bought a Zerowater pitcher, and at first taste it`s DISGUSTING!!!!
I can`t drink water that tastes this bad - I`m dumping the damn thing straight in the trash!!!!!!!!!!!
I have just bought a Zerowater pitcher, and at first taste it`s DISGUSTING!!!!
I can`t drink water that tastes this bad - I`m dumping the damn thing straight in the trash!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, you can spell vinegar correctly. That must make you a brain surgeon.
I bought the zero pitcher and after two months I noticed the water was very bitter. I kept testing it and it was below 006, until all of a sudden it went up to way over 300! I am very skeptical Using it, although I went and bought a new filter and the water. Is better. Since then I have had stomach issues caused by the bad filter. I feel they should put warnings on the labels regarding changing filters more often then what they say recommend!!
I have the same issue. Water tastes like bitter lemon. I was using it for my dogs for about 2 weeks, then I poured myself a glass! Poor dogs! I had noticed that their water bowls were remaining full, when I usually need to fill them twice a day for 6 dogs..
Well all of those comments pretty much confirm my findings as well. However, just for grins I tried a little test. My Zero water filter had reached the end of it's economical life ,,,, which didn't last all too long, so I poured the zero water into a clean fresh Brita pitcher. Voila that made the taste better but lord only knows what it does to the Brita filter. Then I poured fresh delicious bottled spring water into the zero water pitcher. It came out foul just like tap water through the zero filter. Best tasting water was the bottle. I love great tasting clean water. Perhaps I'll go the distance and get one of those water distillers. Perhaps there is a ratio of tap to distilled that works for me? Definitely going to ditch the Zero water pitcher unless they drop the price of the filters down to a buck which is what they should cost and is probably twice what it cost to make them now. Cheers,,, Rob
Hello. I bought the zero water filter because the commercial was convincing to me.
I have used a Brita filter for about 4 years and thought maybe the Zero filter was better for our health.
After about 2 weeks the taste of the Zero water filter started tasting strange, like a chemical taste.
Within a week the water was So BAD I thought it would Kill You if you drank it.
I haven't contacted the Zero Water company yet but I'm sure they will just say replace the filter.
Maybe at some point someone will sue Zero Water for providing a Defective Product and mis-informing the public along with mis-advertising and DECEPTION.
I probably can't return the Zero water filter at this point however I guess I'm back to Brita.
Same experience lemon flavor..wont drink it
Same experience lemon flavor..wont drink it
Same experience lemon flavor..wont drink it
Thanks for sharing your experience. I will looking for an alternative filter. My Zerowater worked well for a couple years but I've tried multiple filters recently and I'm having the same experience as you. My source water from the tap tastes a lot better that my Zerowater which is adding a very bad taste to the water.
I've been a Brita user for years. Just opened a new Zerowater pitcher and filter yesterday. The water registered 000 but it's leaving a metallic taste in my mouth that lasts for hours. I called Zerowater and they are sending me a new filter. After reading all the comments here I don't know if I want to drink the Zerowater - I'm going back to Brita.
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