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A gravity water filter that sits on the counter is ideal for tight budgets. It is also a smart water purification solution for those that rent, plan to move, or otherwise seek an effective disaster preparedness water purification strategy.
No healthy, sustainably-focused lifestyle would be complete without a carefully considered water filtration strategy. If money is tight or you are in a rental situation, a gravity water system that sits on the countertop is an effective technology to consider.
Even if you already have a whole house water system or a comprehensive water filter installed under the counter like we do, a gravity filter is a smart unit to have on hand for emergencies such as extended power outages. More about this below.
What is a Gravity Water System?
The genius of gravity water filters is that they work without electricity, battery power, or manual pumping of any kind.
The energy that moves the water through the filters is the most powerful force in the universe. It also costs nothing to tap into…gravity!
All that is needed to operate this type of filter is to pour tap water manually into the top of the unit. The water naturally passes from this upper chamber through the filters under the pressure of gravity into the lower chamber.
At this point, the clean, filtered water is accessible via a spigot on the front of the filter.
Benefits
There are three main benefits of a gravity water filter.
- First of all, gravity filters are completely portable. Thus, they are ideal for those who rent their home or plan to move in the near future.
- Secondly, these types of units require no installation. In other words, you don’t need to call the plumber or be exceptionally handy to get them up and running. Simply unbox, assemble on the counter, and they are ready to use immediately.
- Third, gravity systems do not need a power source to operate. Thus, they are smart to have on hand for emergencies. This is the case even if you own your home or already have a more permanent type of water filtration unit.
Our family has a gravity filter, for example, as part of our storm preparedness strategy. If we lose power, we can still filter our water… even drawing it by bucket directly out of the lake in the backyard if necessary!
Features to Look For
The highest quality gravity water filters (such as this one) are made from high grade polished stainless steel including the spigot at the bottom.
The filters should be made of ceramic that is impregnated with silver to prevent pathogenic microbial growth. The technology should also be comprehensive enough to remove fluoride right out of the box.
In other words, there should be no need to buy additional filtration capacity to remove fluoride.
The filters should be tested and certified to remove not only chlorine, but also trihalomethanes like chloramine, fluoride, heavy metals, VOCs, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals like glyphosate.
Which Type of Gravity Filter is Best?
When people ask me about gravity filters, I recommend this model as the best value for the money whether you live in an apartment, condo, or single family home.
Those of you who have read this blog for many years may remember that I used to recommend the Berkey. While there is certainly nothing wrong with a Berkey, I now recommend the Radiant Life Gravity Filter for these two reasons.
- The filter technology is superior. The Radiant Life gravity filter removes fluoride from water without the need for purchasing additional add-on filters. This reduces total out-of-pocket cost, installation time, and improves the unit’s efficiency. Similar systems on the market require additional filters to remove fluoride that fit below the top water filter in the upper chamber of the canister.
- The Radiant Life gravity filter comes standard with a stainless steel spigot versus a plastic or cheap metal option. These lower quality spigots have the potential to degrade over time and flake microscopic toxins into the filtered water.
Have you considered adding a gravity filter to your repertoire of home health technology? After suffering through an extended power outage a number of years ago and worrying whether our family had enough drinkable water on hand for days on end, I would never consider being without one!
Would you be willing to check with your Radiant Life source again about re-stock? They are out again already. I saw your article and checked just a few days after they came back in stock Nov 2020. From what I’ve read I’d rather have the radiant life rather than Berkey because RL systems don’t require an additional filter for fluoride. Thank you for all the great information you share!
The Radiant Life filters are recommended to be replaced annually and the Berkey filters last 3-6 years. How do you know when you need to replace the filters? Does this still make it a more cost effective option?
Would the Radian Life filters and spigot fit a Berkey system?
I would second the comment on this being not in stock. I have added my email to the notification list twice over the past two months and there has been no update or response whatsoever.
I wonder if there is a part shortage due to Covid? I’ve got an email into my contact there to find out an estimate about when they will be back in stock.
Just heard back and the gravity filter should be back in stock the first week of November 2020 or so. And yes, high demand and supply chain issues from covid have caused the problem.
I have this system and it’s working well. It did require a much longer ‘break in” period than I was expecting, and I was almost ready to stop using it.
Our city water smelled and tasted terrible when we first ran it through this filter. It took several days of our dumping the filtered water until we were able to use it.
This filter system hasn’t been in stock for months. I’ve been trying to but it since the beginning of the year…
I have the UK version of this called Coldstream and highly recommend it. Also has stainless steel tap but one thing I want to see changed is the ability to completely close off any unused filter holes when I only want to use two filters. This currently has to be plugged using a type of rubber bung stop which does not completely seal the hole and easily comes loose if moved. Not good if using unsafe water source.