Our choose
This send-away equipment delivers lab-tested measurements of greater than 100 contaminants, and it explains what they imply and what to do if there’s an issue.
The Faucet Rating Superior Metropolis Water Check is a send-away equipment: You’re taking samples of your water, put them right into a handful of bottles, and ship them off (utilizing an included mailing label) to an organization referred to as SimpleLab. Your water is then examined for greater than 100 compounds, together with metals akin to lead, mercury, and arsenic; risky natural compounds (VOCs) like chloroform; micro organism; and industrial and agricultural compounds like pesticides and nitrates. Faucet Rating shouldn’t be the one extremely correct send-away equipment, however no different equipment we examined delivered practically as helpful a report. Faucet Rating tells you, in plain language, precisely which compounds are in your water (and the quantity), and it additionally explains their potential well being dangers and suggests methods of addressing any issues. Faucet Rating additionally gives unmatched on-line help. You’ll be able to chat with a consultant, and in case your questions transcend their data, the questions are handed on to consultants, who observe up with an in depth electronic mail. All of this makes Faucet Rating by far probably the most user-friendly and informative residence water-quality check equipment we discovered.
Runner-up
The CityCheck Deluxe equipment is simply as correct as the very best water check equipment, nevertheless it produces less-readable outcomes.
Runner-up
The Protected House Final equipment is simply as correct as the very best water check equipment, nevertheless it produces less-readable outcomes.
If for some purpose you’re unable to make use of Faucet Rating, we suggest two runners-up: the WaterCheck CityCheck Deluxe and the Protected House Final Consuming Water Check Package. Like Faucet Rating, these are send-away kits; you set samples into bottles and ship them to a licensed lab. We discovered that the testing was simply as correct as Faucet Rating’s (and, in truth, Nationwide Testing Laboratories, which makes the CityCheck Deluxe equipment, is among the many greater than 60 labs Faucet Rating companions with). However each of those kits are costlier than Faucet Rating, and their stories aren’t as simple to know. The stories are nonetheless rather more readable than these of another send-away kits: They’re color-coded, so you may rapidly see contaminant ranges of concern. However they lack Faucet Rating’s clear explanations, actionable recommendation, and strong on-line help. The CityCheck equipment additionally lacks an included mailing label, so that you’ll should make a journey to the publish workplace or one other shipper.
Additionally nice
The Faucet Rating PFAS equipment exams for 14 “eternally chemical compounds,” together with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). (It doesn’t check for metals, chlorine, or risky natural compounds.) As with the top-pick Superior Metropolis check, you are taking water samples straight out of your faucet and ship them to a licensed lab utilizing the included mailing label. The check outcomes are delivered by way of electronic mail and embrace clear explanations of the findings. You can even chat (on-line) with an organization consultant for more-detailed solutions.
Additionally nice
This DIY check equipment rapidly tells you you probably have a lead drawback—the number-one concern for many individuals.
Our also-great choose, the Protected House Do-It-Your self Lead in Consuming Water Check Package, doesn’t should be despatched away—you will get the outcomes at residence your self. It exams just for lead, but when that’s your sole concern, this DIY check is a superb possibility. The Protected House Do-It-Your self equipment is broadly out there, cheap, and quick (the check takes a complete of 10 minutes and fewer than 30 seconds of lively work). And it delivers a transparent constructive or detrimental end result: Your lead ranges are both under the EPA normal or above it. You merely dip a strip of check paper right into a pattern of your water, and the presence or absence of a blue line tells you whether or not you might have a lead drawback. For those who don’t, you’ll have peace of thoughts. For those who do, you’ll comprehend it’s time to enlist an expert plumber or an environmental service that will help you discover and deal with the supply of the issue.
We don’t suggest any of the more-comprehensive DIY check kits which might be out there. We examined six of them and located that the exams have been so rushed and the outcomes so subjective (you’re requested to match the colour of your check pattern to a chart by eye, with solely seconds to take action) that we didn’t belief our capacity to interpret them. If you would like an entire image of what’s in your water, we strongly suggest that you simply go along with one of many send-away kits and let an expert lab do the testing.
