Filtered vs. Boiled

[Ithilgil]

From my family, I have gotten the habit of always boiling my filtered tap water before drinking it. I never drink unboiled tap water even though it has been filtered, unless there's no other choice. I know that people had said that filtered tap water is just fine, but a habit is a habit.

So, I was wondering, is there a difference between boiled filtered water and filtered water for guinea pigs?

As of right now, I'm just giving them filtered tap water. But I'm not really sure it's that good, mainly because we only have hard water here. The pH of tap water is 8, meaning there are a lot of minerals and other things in the water.

I'm not certain about how boiling water affects any of that, besides getting rid of most of the microorganisms.

Does anyone know about the difference between filtered hard tap water and boiled filtered hard tap water?

[pinky]

I don't know but wouldn't the minerals be more concentrated if you boiled water and some of it evaporated, leaving the minerals behind?

[bpatters]

Filtering will remove most of the hard minerals from the water, whether it's boiled or not. Boiling does nothing but kill the microorganisms, as you say, but if you have a safe water supply, there shouldn't be any microorganisms in it anyway.

But if you want a recommendation about which to feed your guinea pigs, go with the filtered, by all means. Boiling will do nothing to help them. Or you, but that's your choice.

And pH has nothing to do with how many minerals and other things are in the water. Vinegar has a pH of less than 7, maybe much less, depending on the strength of the vinegar, and has no minerals in it at all. pH measures how acidic or basic a solution is. Seven is neutral, anything less than 7 is acidic, anything higher is basic.

[PrincessAngel]

I don't know but wouldn't the minerals be more concentrated if you boiled water and some of it evaporated, leaving the minerals behind?

I'd have to agree with this. When you boil the water, some turns to steam, which leaves less water behind and more minerals. So I would say the unboiled water would be better if you're worried about minerals.

[bpatters]

I forgot to say that if you have hard water, you should definitely filter it for the pigs. If your refrigerator doesn't have a filter in a water line, you can get pitchers or filters that fit on faucets.

[Mastershroom]

I've been drinking unfiltered, unboiled tap water for 22 years, and the piggies get the same, and we're doing alright.

That said, if it's already filtered from the tap, boiling it on top of that is basically a placebo.

[Delaine]

I use a Brita filter and have tested my water before and after filtering it for pH and chlorine levels. The Brita filter removes limescale and the pH was lower after filtering the water. Also the chlorine was removed. I don't want chlorine in my drinking water and definitely not in my guinea pigs' water. Boiling your water or letting it sit for 24 hours will remove chlorine but not limescale. If you are getting a lot of white deposits in your kettle then filtering would be a good idea.

[MissJean]

Wow, I can't even imagine how much water I'd have to boil to reach my usual amount of drinking water.That is inconvenient and unnecessary for most people. Where do you live that doesn't have safe drinking water? In public water they add chlorine to kill microorganisms, and filtering removes that and excess minerals. My mother has a well, but even she gets it tested so it passes safety.

[Ithilgil]

Thanks everyone.

I'll just continue to give them unboiled Brista filtered water then.

[madelineelaine]

a filter should be more then enough, it should remove the chlorine and most minerals. The ONLY thing I can see boiling the water would do is break up certain molecular bonds in the water, but since it's filtered there shouldn't be a bunch of minerals to break up anyways :P