Question from Cris
Hello Debra,
Great website, thanks for hosting it!
Here’s my situation / question:
I am looking to buy a faucet water purification system. The Aquasana seems to have good ratings, filters my chemicals/metals of interest and is very affordable. I contacted the company to see what it was made from and if it off-gassed. They said, “The filter housing are made of a material called ABS. It is a 20% glass plastic. All materials used go through extraction testing and meet NSF Standard 61. Meaning these are all non leaching materials”.
This seemed OK, but then I found out that the tubing (post-filter) was made from PVC. I asked if they had test data showing water to be phtalate free. They didn’t answer my question, but instead repeated that, “all materials used go through extraction testing and meet NSF Standard 61” and then added that “the water doesn’t remain in tubing it runs straight through so there is not enough contact time to leach”. I thought the time explaination seemed reasonable, but I am still concerned about the phtalates.
What do you think?… Do you know anyone who has used this product?
Debra’s Answer
I don’t know anyone who has used this product, but will say that they are correct in that the water has to have contact time with the PVC for phthalates to leach. If there is water sitting in the tube overnight, phthalates will leach into that water.
You could ask them for test results of the water that comes out of the filter and see if it contains phthalates.
