Placating a Tempermental Water Filter

Over a year ago, I bought a 30-cup ZeroWater dispenser to get rid of the fluoride and chlorine in our water. We have a whole house filtration system, but are not diligent about changing the filter, and it gets pretty disgusting. So at least for most of our drinking water, we use ZeroWater.


How We Like It
We're happy with it, and even my husband, who was skeptical, uses it all the time. It has the added benefit of allowing my kids to self-serve water instead of waiting for us. The filters also last a long time for us since our tap water doesn't have a lot of dissolved solids in it.

Issue with Slow or No Filtering
What I've noticed though, is that some of the filters work fine, and some of the filters are tempermental. The tempermental filters will stop filtering water after a few fills, or filter so super slowly that it appears to have stopped filtering completely. This seems to happen if you use more than one pitcher of water to fill the tank, and don't let the first pitcher filter through completely before pouring another one.

Troubleshooting
When the filter stops passing through water, I remove it and give it a good shake. I think this helps to get any air bubbles out of it and it starts working again. To prevent this from happening, I fill with only one pitcher of water at a time and let it drain completely. I pour very gently so as not to "cause waves" and let air pockets form. I also fill it three times a day to prevent the top of the filter from drying out. This coddling has worked well for us and I haven't experienced any problems since implementing this approach.

In Closing
If this sounds like too much work, you could always get one of the smaller models and fill directly from the sink. I don't like to put this dispenser in the sink because it's unwieldy to carry, especially when full. Also, there's a chance that the dispensing part will touch the sink and get contaminated. All in all, I'm happy with the product and it's a nice alternative to drinking from BPA water bottles, which are potentially linked to weight problems. It also hasn't felt onerous to give it some extra TLC for better functioning.

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