https://zerowater.co.uk

£29.28

We received the 12-cup filter pitcher from Zerowater – a water filtering jug that promises to get 99.6% of dissolved solids out of your water. Most pitchers have a two-stage system, but this filter has five stages. Does it really make a difference? To show you that it does, the jug comes with an easy to use reader stick, so I poured a glass of water from the tap and one from this pitcher to compare. Our tap water showed a reading of 340ppm (particles per millilitre), and the filtered water came up with the promised 000ppm reading. The average tap water reading is apparently 220ppm, so ours was particularly bad, but this filter still got it to that 000 reading. You can certainly taste the difference – I don’t want to go back to our tap water after this! Apparently, 2-stage filters will achieve results of around 155ppm, so this is worth the investment!

I think we received more information with this jug than we have with some electronics: when I opened it, I felt more like I’d been asked to construct a bomb! The box is coated with facts and instructions, as is the plastic filter cover and not just one, but two four-sided inserts. These all repeat each other to a degree, but slip in a few facts that none of the others have, which means you need to read them all. I wanted to check whether I should rinse the product once before use, and thanks to this onslaught, I wasn’t sure: I couldn’t see it mentioned anywhere, but I might have missed something. Finally, I did it anyway, just to be safe.

The jug itself has a convenient slot in the lid for your measuring stick, so it’s always to hand, and there is a decent-sized reservoir for letting the water filter through. However, the product has a few rough edges – the seam along the handle is raised and a little sharp, which isn’t the most comfortable to hold, and the raised plastic around the base is similar. It hasn’t had any effect on my worktops, but I am reluctant to put it on anything I’m anxious to protect, just in case.

This 12-cup pitcher (2.8 litres) is the biggest of Zerowater’s pitchers, but there are many others available, from a 6-cup pitcher to 30-cup and 40-cup dispensers.

This filter system works brilliantly, and the inclusion of the reader is helpful for keeping an eye on when your filter needs replacing. The jug isn’t super comfortable to hold, and unpacking it had me feeling like I was revising for an exam, but it definitely does the job and does it well!

 

4/5