We live in a nearly 100 year old home with old pipes, that may very well be the original or still 50+ years old if they ever were "updated." We have frequent issues with plumbing and our water from the kitchen sink tap is not delicious. It is leaning towards "ok" at best. We use a Brita pitcher that filters the water to a manageable taste. I have always wondered about our water and have a $70 shower filter (Waterchef) installed as it seems to help with the water hardness and prevents some of the excess chlorine from drying our skin and making our hair frizzy, lifeless, and damaged.
The house really needs a whole house filter but that won't be in the budget for quite some time as we are dealing with some other expensive large repairs at the moment. I was happy to be sent a water testing strip kit that evaluates the water quality in 9 ways. The kit came with 100 test strips and is said to test level of total alkalinity, free chlorine, pH, total hardness, total chlorine, cyanuric acid, nitrite, nitrate, and bromine. I was really only looking at the chlorine and hardness levels as those are easier for me to understand for now.
This Water test kit is fairly easy to use right away, dip a strip into water (I only tested our kitchen tap water) and wait 30 seconds, then check results against the chart. I appreciate that the company puts the chart on their box that the product comes in, the actual plastic bottle itself, and an instruction sheet. This is convenient in case the box or paper is misplaced. I do think it would be easier if at least one of the 3 areas were the same size as the actual test strip, to allow the color blocks to line up easier.
I have tested the water 6 times (3 in the picture as shown) and have gotten varied results. My color blocks differ slightly from one another and some have partial colors (mix of 2 colors). The water was tested from the same glass of water, within 10 minutes of each other. I am happy that 100 strips are included (in case of user error or to improve accuracy of readings), and that currently the price is under $20. For a casual user, this kit might be beneficial if you are not testing for anything in particular. (Such as if you do not have reason to believe your water is highly dangerous and you just are curious about your levels.) As gross as our water is to drink unfiltered, it is safe. I just prefer the water in my hometown (about 2 hours away from where we currently live) much better. I actually drink most of my water from Dasani (I know, most people are against this and think bottled water is a scam, and yes it is not the best for the environment or my pocketbook). I do notice when our "filtered" water is put into a Dasani water bottle (my husband tried to test this without me knowing and I mentioned my water tasted like tap---that was from the Brita Filter Pitcher, and so in my opinion the Dasani DOES taste better. :)
I like that this kit makes it quick and easy to test water in various areas of the home. We do not have a pool or aquarium, but this would be beneficial for those households as well. Home water testing kits are affordable, and instant results without having to mail samples and wait for results from a lab. (Which may cost?).
I did not instantly love this kit, as I was unsure it was fully accurate, but it is nice to have 100 strips to test several times and compare. I followed the instructions fully each time (only dipping briefly and keeping the strip level for 30 seconds without shaking the excess water) and got some varied results. I do want to mention that after allowing the kit to dry for about an hour and a half, the results certainly looked better. The last picture shows that this kit is best read at least an hour after dipping--at least in my experience.
These might work for you, and I would recommend trying them as the price is reasonable. These were sent to me for review, and this was my honest experience and opinion.
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