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Updated by user Dec 20, 2016

OK, after a year and half of continuous experience on the Zero Water filter and browsing all replies following my review so far, I think I have a deeper understanding of the "problem" of this product.

I mentioned that the TDS reading of the tap water in the city I was living (McAllen, TX) was about 700 and each Zero Water cartridge did not filter more than 5 gallons of water there. Now I have moved to the Nashville area in TN, where the TDS of tap water is just a little over 100, indicating much less ions contained in the water (very good quality).

The old cartridge which already filtered 2 gallons in TX continued to give me about 15 gallons more of clean water in TN before it turned sour. Then I tried with a brand new Zero Water cartridge and it has filtered 28 gallons of water and so far it is still keeping the TDS reading at 0 after filtering. Therefore, the acidic taste at the end of the lifetime of a filter cartridge seems to reflect a capacity "problem" instead of a quality problem.

To further explain this "problem", the cations (ions carrying positive charges) and the anions (ions carrying negative charges) in water are always equal in the number of charge. Cations may include calcium ion (Ca 2+), sodium ion (Na 1+), potassium ion (K 1+), magnesium ion (Mn 2+), and so on.

Anions may include sulfate ion (SO4 2-), chloride ion (Cl 1-), carbonate ion (CO3 2-), and so on. The numbers at front of + and - signs denote the number of charge each ion carries, but this is not important if you don't care about the detail. The Zero Water filter contains an ion exchange layer, which replaces the cations with hydrogen ion (acid ion, H 1+), and replaces the anions with hydroxyl ion (basic ion, OH 1-). As you may already know (H+) and (OH-) form pure water H2O.

This is how the filter gives you pure water. Everything is fine until either ion, (H+) or (OH-), is depleted in the cartridge. In our case the hydroxyl ion (OH-) is fully consumed first, and then the anions remain in the water after filtering, and the cations are still replaced by the hydrogen ion (acid ion), finally resulting in acids, such as sulphuric acid (H2SO4), hydrochloric acid (HCl), carbonic acid (H2CO3), and so on.

That's why the water tastes sour or acidic at the end.

Finally, my suggestion is, if the TDS reading is high in your area, it may be economically preferable to just buy water from supermarkets. If the TDS values is low, Zero Water is a convenient option.

Original review posted by user May 23, 2015

I am a chemist and a polymer expert. I know what ion exchange is. I had the same sour/acidic taste experience with ZeroWater. It seems to me a design problem of this product.

Background 1: What does a filter capture?

Many other branded filters, such as Brita, DO filter some harmful organic chemicals in water using activated carbon. They don't do anything with the salts in water (not only the sodium chloride used in cooking). General salts in water are not harmful, but they don't taste good at a high concentration. ZeroWater captures cations and anions in water using the ion exchange technique, so that the salts are filtered.

Background 2: What do you know from TDS number?

The TDS meter coming with ZeroWater tests the conductivity of water. That is, it only measures the concentration of salt/ion in water instead of all solids, and estimates the amount of total dissolved solid in water. The water with a 0 reading on the meter can still contain some organic chemicals. Anyway, it's reasonable to believe the total solid left in water is very close to zero based on the so-claimed 5 stage filtering technique including an activated carbon layer. However, a totally pure water is not good to health in fact. If you read a TDS value of 30 from a bottled spring water, it doesn't mean the water is not good. Instead, the water contains some minerals/salts needed by your body. Sometimes I added a small fraction of Brita filtered water in the ZeroWater to tune it to below 50 TDS.

Problem of ZeroWater:

After flushing the ZeroWater filter I started to enjoy the filtered water, which was much cleaner than the tap water (TDS around 700). However, after about 5 gallons of water were filtered, the filtered water turned bad and tasted extremely sour/acidic as many people had experienced. I noticed at that time that the flow rate of the filter was faster than before and some gas bubbles came out from the orifice at the bottom of the filter. The sour taste indicated there might be still a large amount of hydrogen ions available in the filter, and the filter should still have a considerable lifetime. It seemed that some structure in the filter was crushed because of the build-up of filtered substance or increased pressure inside, so the chemical holding hydrogen ions leaked out. The flow rate might be much faster due to the damage, taking out the small amount of air that would be otherwise locked inside the filter.

Hope this comment is useful to both the users and the engineering department of ZeroWater.

Reason of review: Bad quality.

Monetary Loss: $40.

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.

Location: Mcallen, Texas

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Guest

Current thought is your body does not need the minerals in tap water. Many sources claim this is true. I imagine this information is well outdated.

Shameria Qfu

i stopped using zero water filter

Ruston Qgb

I would like to know if there is an acidic taste to the water through ZeroWater filtration, why is it reading at zero. I drank more than a few sour water bottles thinking it was okay!!

going back to bottled spring water...... *** I thought I had something here.

Guest

Great Info...thanks

Ezmae Hje

I get the worst heartburn after drinking water from the Zero water pitcher. Does anyone else have this problem?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Ezmae Hje

Yes. After less than 2 wks, the filtered water is sour. Im very concerned about the ph level of this water if the filter is no longer doing its job at full capacity.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Ezmae Hje

I have had heartburn since I started drinking zero water..I think it has caused damage to my stomach and donโ€™t know what to do to make it go back to normal..totally lost my appetite too..these should be taken off the market they are dangerous

Guest

I have the same problem. New filter lasts 2 weeks before water turns really sour. Very unhappy, waste of money!

Guest

My tap water TDS is 18. After 3 uses of the brnad new 10 cup unit, the water tastes like lemonaid. Wrote to Zerowater to see the response.

Guest

We have had our Zero water filter for 2 weeks and the last 5 days the water has been awful . One day its acidy/lemony and the next its like I drank from the Ocean.

This thing is terrible . I am going back to my faithful Britta.

Guest

We have found that this sour taste happens immediately if we use a stainless steel container to fill the unit. Thoughts?

Guest

I WILL NEVER BUY ZERO WATER AGAIN !!! WATER SUCKS SMELLS LIKE OLD FISH.

I BOUGHT 4 EXTRA FILTERS, USED 3 ( 1 ) THAT CAME WITH THE UNIT, IVE HAD THE UNIT A MONTH $$$$$$$ TRASHED IT BAD BUY. OH AND MY TAP WATER IS WAY BETTER THAN ZERO.

Farzana Fdg
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1844340

Maybe filtered zero water smells like fish because the reader is above 6PPM. It's recommended to change filter once it reaches 6PPM.

Guest

I bought 2 jugs with filters a week ago (1day apart), today after giving my mother a glass of water she complained of a burning sensation of her tongue and throat. When I tried the water it tasted horrid from the one jug though the other one is still ok.

A filter that lasts only 1 week is very poor quality and certainly deserves some adaptions. Out $60

Guest

Your understanding about water is unclear. And it shows.

Water, by nature, shouldnโ€™t have no solids in the water. The water should be harm free of chemicals. There is no such thing as organic minerals/salts needed by your body. This is wrong and incorrect.

Again the water should have no dissolved solids in the water. Iโ€™ve been using Zerowater for nine years with no problems or needing โ€œminerals/salt for my body.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1816730

please don't spread false information.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1816730

My unit worked fine at my house near Austin, TX, so I got one for my mother who lives between Lubbock, TX and Clovis, NM. The first filter worked great for just over a week, then went sour.

I thought someone put in vinegar by mistake, and eventually replaced the filter.

The second one lasted less than a week. For an expensive filter, this was not worth the money.

Jakell Dkj

Thank you to the two above commenters. I have a much better understanding but still not quite sure how to get the TDS rating prior to purchasing a new unit.

I have experience with Zero filtering unit which required changing faucet head and using their hose to pitcher.

Seeking larger container to filter NYC tap water, which used to be so good. Suggestions on either testing or best unit?

Daksh Nmj

Thank you for explaining this for everybody. When i test the Water from a used Zero Water filter it reads more than the New Jersey tap water, which is at around 375 here. Thank you.

Guest

Wyou might find this YouTube clip useful... https://youtu.be/d92ydHBwmcg

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