Have you ever run a report to see what’s in your tap water? Do you use tap water as your drinking water? It’s never been more important to filter your drinking water, but many filtration systems don’t filter fluoride. I found the best fluoride water filter and I’m going to share why.
Have you ever run a report to see what’s in your tap water? Do you use tap water as your drinking water? It’s never been more important to filter your drinking water, but many filtration systems don’t filter fluoride. I found the best fluoride water filter and I’m going to share why.
I have used a giant stainless steel countertop filter for over 10 years. It works great and the water tastes good. But to be honest, it got really annoying – it was always leaking onto the cabinets below, causing the paint to peel off. And it took up so much counter space.
I thought in order to get a water filtration system that hooks into the tap water in the kitchen, it would cost a fortune. My research drew me to reverse osmosis filters as the only fluoride water filters that tap into the water source under the sink, but they all came with a hefty price tag.
Recently I came across the Cloud Reverse Osmosis filtration system and it’s the actual best and doesn’t cost a fortune.
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Please note that I’ve linked to these products purely because I recommend them, and they are from companies I trust. There is no additional cost to you.
Why is the Cloud RO system the best fluoride water filter?
- Cloud filters out fluoride, which is difficult to find with a system in this price range. While it also filters pesticides, chlorine and heavy metals, like lead, it’s the first water filter that I’m not running through an additional pitcher filter to remove fluoride.
- You know exactly when your filters need to be changed. I generally dislike things like appliances and devices that connect to Bluetooth and have control capabilities on my phone. But I LOVE that I know exactly when I need to change my water filter. I feel like other companies try to scare you into buying every six months (or some other arbitrary number). I know those are usually based on product research, but what if we drink more than the average consumer? Or less? Cloud shows you exactly when it’s time.
- The water tastes good! I like to think of myself as a water connoisseur. I don’t often drink anything other than water so I like it to be refreshing and not have a weird aftertaste. My water is delicious!
- Cloud was really easy to install. I did it in 80 minutes. And I had an extra step. I’ll walk you through how easy it is below. But if you really don’t want to do it, you can click “find an Installer” on their website and it will pull up installers in your area.
- Unlike water pitchers that sit on the counter or in your refrigerator and take up a ton of space, this system fits under your kitchen sink and is actually kind of cute under there.
I’m going to jump in a little deeper on what the deal is with fluoride in our water and why you want it out.
Why should we filter fluoride out of our water?
A Harvard review of 27 various studies found that “fluoride may adversely affect cognitive development in children.”
In addition, too much fluoride can cause dental fluorosis on your teeth and health issues such as Skeletal fluorosis and cognitive issues.
Research has shown that the adverse affects of fluoride outweigh the dental benefits of water fluoridation.
How come all water filters don’t remove fluoride?
Removing fluoride AND other toxins, like arsenic, PFAS and lead is difficult. A reverse osmosis water filter has a multi filtration system that allows it to filter out most water contaminants. It can be costly and difficult to find the balance.
The good news is Cloud did it at an affordable cost and you’re sure to be super impressed.
Why is fluoride in our water?
Fluoride can help prevent tooth decay. There are tons of conspiracy theories about why fluoride is in the water, but the accepted reason for water fluoridation is to deliver consistent fluoride to the population to prevent tooth decay.
Does bottled water contain fluoride?
Bottled water can still contain fluoride.
The regulations set by the FDA state if a company labels their water to have added fluoride and fluoride is an ingredient listed on the label, the amount of fluoride cannot be higher than 0.7 mg/L.
But if a water bottle does not add fluoride to the water and the fluoride is from whatever source they bottled the water from, the fluoride levels can be up to 2.4 mg/L.
How does a reverse osmosis water filtration system work?
A reverse osmosis filtration system works by first removing contaminates through a membrane filter, then an activated carbon filter. This two part filtration system allows it to remove just about all contaminates, whether dissolved in the water or that are in the water as sediment.
What are the benefits of reverse osmosis water?
1. A reverse osmosis filter removes harmful forever chemicals, like PFAS, endocrine disrupters, lead, chlorine and fluoride (to name a few). This makes reverse osmosis filtration the best way to get really clean water.
2. Reverse osmosis systems filter water by using water pressure, making them energy efficient.
3. Reverse osmosis systems eliminate the need for water bottles, saving on cost and saving the environment from added plastic.
Even though a reverse osmosis water filter will give you fluoride-free water that’s also free of many other common water contaminates, there are some drawbacks of a standard system.
What are the disadvantages of a reverse osmosis water filtration system?
1. There is a lot of water waste. The standard reverse osmosis system wastes up to 10 gallons of water for every one gallon of filtered water produced.
2. Traditional reverse osmosis systems remove healthy minerals from the water, which also lowers the pH of the water, making it more acidic.
3. Reverse osmosis systems are expensive and may require professional installation.
The Cloud system a great choice for water filtration because they created a system that has tackled these disadvantages, making very little disadvantage to using their reverse osmosis system.
Why is the Cloud reverse osmosis system different from traditional reverse osmosis systems?
1. The Cloud RO system has a feature that re-mineralizes the water after it goes through the filtration process. This adds the healthy minerals back into the water, and alkalizes it.
2. You can buy the Cloud RO system for $550 and install it yourself (more on installation process below). There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars to get healthy, great tasing water.
3. The flow rate on the filtered water is great! There is a 2.8 gallon storage tank that sits under the sink so you always have a couple gallons ready to go. The tank refills every hour. Even with a family of four that drinks a ton of water (because southern California heat is brutal), I have not had any issues with slow running filtered water.
4. The Cloud system has 1 gallon of water waste for every gallon of water, making it much more efficient than traditional reverse osmosis systems. And worth noting, since this is only under the sink and not a whole house filter, that’s a one to one ratio based only on drinking water, and on average comes out to about a 1% increase in water usage overall.
What does the Cloud Reverse Osmosis system filter out of the water?
Here are some of the harmful contaminants Cloud eliminates, but this is not a full list (full list can be found here).
- Fluoride
- PFAS
- PFOA & PFOS
- Lead
- Aluminum
- Barium
- Cadmium
- Chlorine/ Chloramine
- Nitrates
- Uranium
- Radium
- Mercury
- Pesticides
- And more heavy metals
How does the Cloud reverse osmosis system work?
The Cloud RO system works like other reverse osmosis systems. The basic idea is there is a storage tank, a filtration container and some tubes that all sit under the sink and a small faucet that delivers the filtered water.
You attach a T valve into your cold water line under your sink. That valve allows you to use the cold water from your standard facet without filtration. The other part of the T valve goes into the small faucet that delivers the filtered water.
The cold water goes through the 8 part filtration and mineralization system, then into the storage tank, ready for use.
The waste water goes from the filtration system, through a tube and into the pipe under your sink to be discarded.
Is the Cloud RO system difficult to install?
The Cloud RO system was really easy to install. The hardest part was having to drill a hole into our stainless steel sink, which you may not need to do.
There is a really helpful 17 minute installation video that walks you through step by step.
Here’s how I installed the Cloud water filter
I could have done this installation myself, but I decided to get my husband involved so I could take notes and pictures. The installation took one hour and 20 minutes. We were also wrangling wild children, which is normal life for many of us, so I didn’t deduct any of that time.
Once the system is installed, before you can use it, you will need to “flush the system” three times. This is mostly hands off and only requires running the water for five minutes every hour, three times. It was really easy, but I wanted to note it since it means it will be three hours after install before the water is ready to use.
The first thing I noticed was on the tools listed for install, it mentions the 1/4″ drill bit and a drill, which is used to drill a hole into the pipe under your sink to connect to the filter for waste water. It doesn’t mention any tools needed for getting the new faucet into the sink if you don’t have an existing hole. This is because not everyone needs it. If you have a soap dispenser or an existing faucet for water filtration, you can use that hole.
To drill a hole into the stainless steel sink was much easier than I thought. It requires a $24 cobalt 7/16″ drill bit (the cobalt material makes the bit go through the stainless steel easy). If you are needing to drill a hole in your counter, you can look at the best bits for whatever material you have. Or hire someone. But I really think it’s simple enough to tackle yourself.
The install process
Everything you need, including the faucet for the filtered water dispenser (you can choose from 4 finishes – Modern Brushed, Modern Black, Modern Chrome, Traditional Brushed), comes with the Cloud system except your tools.
As for the tools, we used a drill, the 7/16″ cobalt drill bit (you may not need), a 1/4″ standard drill bit and a wrench.
Steps:
1. Clear out anything that was under the sink.
2. We drilled a hole in our sink top so we could install the faucet. I lined up where it should go, and added a mark in black Sharpie just to be sure we got the right spot.
3. We set up a laptop with the installation video next to the sink so we could play and stop it as needed. This would also work if you set up a phone to access the video while you are installing.
4. There are a few tubes that need to get installed. Each one is nicely labeled so you know which goes where (though I’m not sure it matters since they are all the same). We did notice the waste tube was not labeled.
5. We turned off the cold water (the valve is under the sink and should be labeled for cold water) and used a wrench to unscrew the connected cold water tube and install the T valve (comes with the Cloud system).
6. Next we drilled a small hole into the pipe under the sink, making sure to not drill all the way through the bottom of the pipe. This wasn’t hard, but since the space is small and we were worried about being gentle enough not to puncture all the way through, it took a few minutes. Then we attached a fitting for the waste tube. The fitting came with the Cloud system. A dowel was also included, which we used to make sure the hole was sufficient and lined up with the fitting.
7. Now it was a matter of attaching all the tubes into the correct places. This was pretty easy, but with having two wild children bouncing around, and it being around dinner time, we were a bit distracted and originally hooked the waste tube into the storage tank. When I looked back at the installation video, the video goes on to discuss hooking up the tank hose right after installing the connector into the pipe. It’s pretty obvious there’s a pause, but I wanted to mention in case you’re as distracted as we were during install.
8. Then we inserted all the filters into the filter container and moved the tank and filters around to see where the best place to store them would be.
9. We turned the water back on and tested to make sure there weren’t any leaks.
10. Last, we installed the app. This could be the coolest feature of all. The app tells you how much water you’ve used, how many water bottles you saved and the quality of your water. Which is great so you know when you need to order replacement filters.
A few installation notes:
When we first turned on the filtered water, nothing came out for about 30-40 seconds. I originally thought we did something wrong, but it was just air that needed to come out (though we didn’t hear anything) before the water flowed.
The app will state the water quality is “processing” until you go through the flushing process.
The day after install, when I went to fill my water, there was a ton of air and it came out in bursts for a few seconds. This is normal. It happens a little every morning, but the first day was the most dramatic.
Is Cloud NSF certified?
The Cloud filters have an NSF certification, including the reverse osmosis membrane, which has the NSF 58 certification. The entire system is anticipating receiving the NSF 58 certification (specific for reverse osmosis systems) by the end of 2023. BUT they have been independently tested against NSF 42, 53, 58 and 401 standards.
Key takeaways
The best fluoride water filter is one that filters the other common contaminates that lurk in our tap water.
Bottled water will likely still contain fluoride.
Reverse osmosis filtration is a great option for filtering fluoride and since it attaches under your sink, there’s no need for giant containers or pitchers taking up counterspace or refrigerator space.
Cloud RO is an affordable reverse osmosis filtration system that comes with an app to tell us when we need a new filter.
Take Action
If you’ve ever had your water tested, you were likely shocked at what was in there. If you’ve never looked at what’s in your water, Cloud has a section on their site where you can look at what’s in your water (or check out the EWG Water resource page).
It pulls data from testing in your area. If you have fluoride in your water, it may be time to look for water filter to filter it out. I highly recommend the Cloud RO system. It’s super easy to use and install and is the best fluoride water filter. Plus the water is really good!
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