What is lead and how do I know if I have it in my water?
Lead is a colourless, tasteless, odourless harmful metal that is typically found in water supplies that either pass through lead water service pipes or home water pipes that have been soldered using lead -solder. The National Plumbing Code allowed lead as an acceptable material for pipes until 1975 and in solder until 1986. Therefore homes constructed before 1990 are more likely to have lead problems.
Consumption of drinking water that has lead can lead to severe brain and blood damage, especially in young children, infants and pregnant women. Even low level exposure may harm the intellectual development, behaviour, size and hearing of infants. If your home was built prior to 1990 or you suspect that lead -based solder was used in your plumbing, you should contact your local water authority and get a water test done. Most municipalities in Canada will do a free lead test.
You can install Rainfresh Drinking Water system 3, Reverse Osmosis System (RO450) or TWIST system to have lead -free drinking water. All these systems are tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead reduction.
Trihalomethanes (THM ) – CHEMICALS
THM are chemical compounds formed by the reaction of disinfectants such as chlorine , with natural organic compounds (decaying leaves & vegetation). Many THM were also used over the years as solvents and refrigerants and now sometimes find their way into our drinking water supplies. THMs most commonly found in drinking water are chloroform, bromodichloromethane (BDCM), dibromochloromethane (DBCM) and bromoform, although over 50 are known to be present in various drinking water supplies.
THM are considered possible carcinogens (cancer-causing) in humans. According to Health Canada, animal studies indicate a link between specific THM and tumours. Some human studies also link THM with colorectal cancers & reproductive problems.
Rainfresh Drinking Water System models UCS3, QS1, QS2 and filter cartridge models LR1 & VC1 are tested and certified for reduction of THM from water.
VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) are a class of organic chemicals that are known to be harmful to human health. VOC s enter ground water from a variety of sources such as oil spills, pesticide run-off, boat traffic in lakes and rivers, flushing industrial solvents and cleaners into the environment etc. VOC are regarded as potentially cancer-causing and should be removed from all drinking water supplies.
Rainfresh Drinking Water System models UCS3, QS1, QS2 and filter cartridge models LR1 & VC1 are tested and certified for reduction of VOC from water.
What is Chlorine ?
Chlorine is the most common chemical used by municipalities around the world to make water safe to drink. Almost all municipal treatment plants in North America use chlorine for primary or secondary disinfection. Chlorine can form cancerous by-products with certain organic compounds present in water. In addition chlorine renders an offensive taste and odour to water and to beverages made from such water. Coffee and tea tastes much better when chlorine is removed from water. Many people have reported to be allergic to chlorine in the water.
Chlorine from drinking water can be effectively reduced by activated carbon filter cartridges. All Rainfresh Drinking Water Systems reduce chlorine effectively. For whole house reduction of chlorine , Rainfresh CCF systems are recommended.
A cyst is a resting stage of a parasite that helps it tide over unfavourable environmental conditions. When the parasite reaches favourable conditions (such as the human intestine), the cyst wall breaks and the microbe causes illness. Commonly known cysts are Giardia Lamblia and Cryptosporidium. They are present in stagnant waters such as dug wells, lakes, ponds and other surface waters. Cysts cause illnesses such as Giardiasis (commonly called Beaver Fever), stomach cramps, fever, diarrhea, etc.
Cysts are resistant to chlorination, the most common disinfection method used by municipalities. As such, it is possible to have cyst contamination even in chlorinated (municipally treated) water supplies. Physical removal of cysts from water by filtration is the most effective way of preventing illnesses from cyst. Rainfresh Drinking Water system 1, 2 and 3 are tested and certified for reduction of cyst from water.
Fantastic product. The Twist cartridge-change feature is cool, even my daughter can change cartridges. It is easy to install, water tastes great and we love the faucet. The monitor feature is great but couldve been better with a audible alarm as well. It performs better than 2 and 3 stage competitive products that even cost more. Its compact and goodbye bottled water…hello environment ! PROS TWIST cartridge change feature Cartridge-change monitor Faucet Price MADE IN CANADA I’d recommend it to everyone!
Customer from Toronto, May 5, 2009
Even though the tap water is of good quality, the filtered water tastes much better. The installation took me a couple of hours, because I have decided to drill a hole in the stainless steel sink (make a spray hole), instead of drilling the countertop. Although it is not recommended to install the saddle valve on PEX pipe, I took a chance and it worked. However, I took precaution to install the valve close to the brass T-connector and did not overtighten the bolts. The only problem with the unit I have noticed is that compression nuts are not threaded enough, so they need to be tighten strong to make leak-free connections.
Customer from Montreal, Quebec on Mar 29, 2010
Purchased this item a year and a half ago. The last couple of times I changed the filter it wouldn’t “lock” into position. It started to make a banging noise when I turned on the faucet. I e-mailed Rainfresh and they gladly sent me a replacement head unit which fixed the problem. You can buy this item with confidence that Rain Fresh will stand behind it.
Customer from Barrie, Ontario on Feb 8, 2011
My wife and I installed this just because we were worried about the lead property pipe that brings water into our house. The city tested our water, and the lead result was very low, but we wanted to be sure. Lead does serious damage to fetuses and children, google it. The Brita device at the tap does the same job but we didn’t want something hanging from the faucet. The Rainfresh Twist took us 45 minutes to install. No drip, no mess, no problem. The clamp and pierce device is genius. After it was installed we could immediately taste the difference in the water. BTW, the Brita in the fridge doesn’t filter lead and took up too much room. Bye Bye.
Customer from Toronto on Feb 13, 2011
Great value for what you get and the filters are a good value for 6 months of filtering. Would be 5 stars, as the install would have been easy and quick, IF parts weren’t missing from 2 separate boxes.
Customer on Jan 30, 2016
To keep the story short, it now works wonderfully.
It fills up my water bottle quickly, my kids sippy cup in seconds, and the resevoir for my coffee maker in half a minute.
Setup was very straightforward, you don’t need much experience to do it, but you do need to follow the instructions. You also need a few basic tools, like a drill, and a small adjustable wrench that can handle roughly a 1/2″ nut.
My reason to take the time to write this review is I had an issue after the installation. The people at Rainfresh spent a lot of time on the phone with me troubleshooting, and when the answer was replacing a part, they had it shipped to me in 2 business days. That is standing behind your product!
Mathew from Toronto on Jan 21, 2013
The Product is working very nicely for our needs. The customer service we received was excellent and prompt!
We were unsure of some details and had misplaced our manual so I sent in an email with questions. the email was replied to instantly and all questions responded to with great satisfaction. Thank you – Excellent customer service.
Great product that made our drinking water not only taste better but also be safer for our family. Love being able to cook with filtered water now (did not have the patience to do that with Brita filter) and rinse baby bottles with clean water.
Was very easy to install and filters are easy to change.
Only – is the durability of the faucet. It started leaking and now drips quite fast. When I called customer service they tell me to buy now faucet for 40$. I expected the product to last longer. Not very envrionment friendly if you need to change the faucet every 2 years.
Hi I recently installed the rainfresh twist under my sink and for some strange reason the drinking tube one month later has black spots in it wondering where this comes from the filter is new and no matter how many times I change it a month later spots show up what could be the cause of this
Hi Wesley, Thank you for your comment. Please call Rainfresh technical support so we can better understand the cause of the black spots. It could be Manganese or carbon spots but pictures and a call with our specialists should help.
We purchased the Rainfresh Mega8UV system through another company only to find that someone had cannibalized it for parts. That company did next to nothing to help us, but the customer service at Rainfresh when contacted immediately looked into it and resolved our problem. I was really impressed with the service and was happy to find true customer service alive and flourishing in this company. Many thanks I will be purchasing future replacement filters etc directly from Rainfresh.