Want To Remove Fluoride? Use The Best Filters To Get Rid Of It

Being in control of your water supply is very important. The authorities say that having fluoride in the community water supply is good for the populace. 

That may or may not be the clase, but is actually besides the point.

Many people don’t want additives in their water and think they can decide for themselves what should be in it. Sure, things like chlorine is good to keep the water from contamination, but chlorine has side effects, too. 

The same may be said for fluoride. 

Then there is the issue of the amount in your water. Many well systems have naturally occurring fluoride in them and in higher than safe amounts. In this case it definitely makes sense to want to remove it to get it back down to healthy amounts.

Whatever your reasoning, if you want to remove fluoride from your drinking water then you’ll need to have the right system in place.

Read on to see which filters will work best to get rid of your fluoridated water.

Test For Fluoride In Your Drinking Water

Before you decide to buy a filter, you need to check your water to see if it contains fluoride and how much. This goes for whether you have a well or city water.

Your local water utility can tell you the amount, but it’s best to check for yourself. And you’ll need to retest after filtering to make sure you have reduced or eliminated it from your drinking water.

There are two ways to go about testing. One is to have it checked by a lab in which they send you a kit. You take a sample and then send it in to get the results. These tests are extremely accurate and will test for dozens of other contaminants so I highly recommend doing it this way to see exactly what is in your water and how much. Here is the test I recommend as the price is right and it is NSF certified. (You can see a sample report by taking a look at this PDF to see the way the results will look.) 

The alternative is a do it yourself kit that you can do at home. Though they aren’t as accurate and don’t test for dozens of contaminants, they are quick and much cheaper than sending it to a lab. If you only need to know if there is fluoride, chlorine and some others, then this I recommend going with this one from Amazon.com.

Types Of Water Filters That Remove Fluoride

There are not many types of filters that can effectively remove fluoride. It’s a bit tricky to get it out of the water.

The two types are reverse osmosis and filters with activated alumina media filters. 

I will go over the best RO filters to remove fluoride and then take a look at some alternatives that do the job as well.

Reverse Osmosis Filters

Reverse osmosis is a system that uses a membrane that only allows particles of under a few microns through. That means it is so fine it can even trap things like bacteria and chemicals.

The problem with reverse osmosis is that the water is not very pleasant to drink because it also loses many of the healthy minerals present in the water. (You can read a detailed article about reverse osmosis water here!)

If you read the article I linked to then you can see that there are ways to add the minerals back to the water so it isn’t so bad.

Here are a few of the types of filters available for reverse osmosis with recommendations.

Countertop

Since showering and washing clothes and domestic water usage in general is fine when there is fluoride in the water, you may want to have a countertop system. This will only filter the water you will be drinking and cooking with.

These filters are essentially water dispensers that sit on your counter and will filter the water in batches. You fill the chamber and it filters the water which then goes into the reservoir until you dispense it. 

There is no installation required for these filters and they can be put anywhere. As long as you have some space to dedicate on your countertop, then it doesn’t matter where they are located. You can even travel with one and bring it along to your second home or to an Airbnb to make sure you always have pure water.

Here is my top recommendation:

And then here are some of the most popular countertop RO filters on Amazon:

Under Sink

If you want to have free flowing, purified water to your faucet for drinking water, then an under sink unit is going to do the trick. They can filter much more water than a countertop. Though, you will need enough space for the pressure and storage tank under the sink. It takes a bit to filter the water so it is stored in a tank for quick access to the purified water.

These units are far more beefy and many have a separate stage to add minerals back into your water so it tastes better and is healthier than normal reverse osmosis water.

Installation is easy and they usually also include the faucet to use with it. If you like the style of faucet, that is. It’s usually as simple as hooking up a couple of hoses and you’re done in a few minutes. You don’t need to be handy to do this.

An undersink filter can remove particles down to .0001 microns unlike the countertop versions. This leaves your water purer than spring water.

Here is the best under sink reverse osmosis filter that I recommend:

And there are many more very good filters so take a look at some from the list below to see which one is going to work best for you:

Whole House Reverse Osmosis Filters for Fluoride

When you have high water demand either because you drink water from multiple taps, you don’t want to shower with fluoridated water, or you have a lot of other contaminants, then a whole house reverse osmosis is the way to go. The best whole house RO filters can handle an output of up to 1200 gallons of water per day.

Now, most residential use doesn’t require anything near that in terms of water demand, and those kinds of numbers are more for commercial use. But, you will get far more purified water with a whole house filter than a countertop or under sink.

Usually, these types of filters are useful for when you have a city or well water supply that has a wide range of contaminants. If you have hard water, bacteria, sediment or it tastes bad then a whole house reverse osmosis filter is going to get the job done well beyond just removing fluoride.

Unfortunately, reverse osmosis filters waste water as they need to backflush the membrane to keep it working properly. Look for a 1:1 ratio so it only uses the same amount of water to flush as it sends through. This is equal to a 60% reduction in waste as many filters have a 1:1.5 ratio.

One of the best especially for the price is the iSpring RCS5T. It can handle up to 500 gallons per day which is more than most large families will need.

A good runner up for high water demand can be seen below.

Water Cooler Dispenser

Having a water cooler and heater in the house is a nice luxury to have. When you want instant chilled water on a hot day, or hot water for a cup of tea when it’s chilly outside can be had at your fingertips. 

When that cooler is also a reverse osmosis filter that gives you those water options, then it is even better. This way you can enjoy fluoride free water plus it is purified by removing dozens of other contaminants. 

If you plan to use a dispenser to fill up your water bottles to avoid using plastic disposable bottles, then this is an ideal way to go about doing that.

Below is the one I recommend as it is self cleaning and bottleless. 

Water Pitcher Filters For Fluoride

One of the most popular ways to filter drinking water is with a water pitcher. The problem, however, is that many of them cannot remove fluoride. In fact many of them only remove things like chlorine or improve the taste and smell of the water. 

Only certain filters can remove more than that. For starters, many water pitcher filters use granulated activated charcoal. This is good for quick filtering, but to properly remove contaminants, there needs to be longer contact with the granules.

Instead, look for filters with solid carbon block filters. They filter the water more slowly which is actually a good thing. The longer contact with the filter means it can successfully remove the fluoride as well as many other contaminants. Also, look for NSF certified tested filters. This is a third party lab that independently tests and gives unbiased results. This way you can verify what actually gets removed.

The best water pitcher filter to get rid of fluoride is the Epic Water Pure Water Pitcher. You can take a look at the results of the independent lab tests in this PDF to see how effective this filter truly is. 

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Gravity Fed Filters

A gravity fed filter is ideal for those that are either off grid or would like to have a water supply during an emergency. These filters use gravity and not electricity to let the water filter through the media. Much like a water pitcher, except that it has a much larger reservoir to give you more water at a time.

The most famous and popular gravity fed filter is the Big Berkey. The filter media is proprietary so they don’t say what it is. Unfortunately, the normal filter on the Berkey doesn’t filter out fluoride, but you can buy an optional filter that does. It even filters out arsenic so it is worth the extra price. And the filters last for a few years as opposed to months.

Don’t let the high price scare you off. Since the filters last for years you will end up spending the same amount of money than on another type of filter that has a lower upfront cost.

Whole House Filters

If you are not enthused about using a reverse osmosis filter there are alternatives. After all, the waste and taste of reverse osmosis is a deal breaker for many people. There are options for the whole house that are not RO filters.

Filters with activated alumina are able to reduce the fluoride in your drinking water by up to 98% which will bring it down to far lower than acceptable levels. If all you are looking to do is remove fluoride, then I recommend going with this Big Blue filter housing and then add the Intelifil Fluoride and Arsenic filter to set it up yourself. This will save quite a bit of money if your water is otherwise pure. 

If your water needs more filtration for a multitude of contaminants, then you should look into the 3 Stage Big Blue that also filters out chlorine, chloramine, sediment, arsenic and much more. 

Faucet Fluoride Filter

Lastly, you can always filter out the fluoride and other contaminants from your water straight from the tap with a faucet filter. They are much smaller than using a countertop unit so they can fit just about anywhere. And the installation takes minutes. 

Crystal Quest Fluoride Removal has a 7 stage filter system that removes fluoride along with chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, volatile organic compounds and much more.

It is a fairly long lasting filter and can get you 6 months of heavy use and up to a year if you have low water demand.

FAQ About Removing Fluoride From Water

Final Thoughts

The best fluoride water filters will give you the peace of mind that you need to drink your water without worry. 

And the best of the best will filter away far more than just fluoride. It seems that clean drinking water is harder and harder to come by with each passing year so having a filter is essential these days.

If you have any questions about these fluoride removal systems or anything else, then drop a line below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.