Craig wrote in and asked…

Do you have a lead test kit or can recommend a company that I can valid results in less than a week? We have used a service before, but it took nearly two weeks.

We do know of home drinking water test kits that you can use to detect the presence of dissolved lead, yes, but we feel obligated to inform you that even the most accurate home drinking water test kit should never take the place of professional water analysis by a certified water testing laboratory.

With that said, you have a few options when it comes to testing for lead in drinking water. Both WaterSafe and WaterWorks manufacture lead in water test kits and both, from what we can tell, contain the same type of test… just one has a bit less flashy packaging.

We threw the third product, SenSafe Water Metals Check in there for people who want to know if they have ANY heavy meatals present in their drinking water. SenSafe Water Metals Check has adetection range of 10ppb up to 400ppb.

Spencer wrote in and asked…

Hello,

I am looking for an all-in-one home test kit that will show ppm levels. I thought I saw a product that was around $30 but now I can’t find the web-site.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Spencer

Thank you for your question, Spencer. For the most part all drinking water test kits (worth buying) should the majority of their results in parts per million, with the exception of some tests for metals which report their results in parts per billion. Example: Heavy Metals Check.

Getting to the rest of your question, a brand of home water test kits called WaterSafe manufactures a test kit called the All-in-One and it tests drinking water for the following: Bacteria, Lead, Pesticides (atrazine & Simazine), Iron, Total Chlorine, Total Hardness, pH, and Nitrates/Nitrites.

In our experience the average consumer can pick up the WaterSafe All-in-One Water Test Kit for around $20 from several online vendors including, but not limited to, the following:

• Filters Fast (www.filtersfast.com) — WaterSafe All-in-One Test Kit

• Filter Water (www.filterwater.com) — WaterSafe All-in-One Test Kit

Hopefully we have given you the information you asked for. In the event that you did not mean the WaterSafe All-in-One Water Test Kit specifically, and instead used the term ‘all-in-one’ in a more general manner, you may want to take a look at another brand of home water test kits: SenSafe.

Under the SenSafe brand you will find test kits such as the Drinking Water Quality Test Kit which typically costs a little bit more than the WaterSafe All-in-One Water Test Kit, but tests for additional parameters: Copper, Free Chlorine, Sulfate, Chloride and Hydrogen Sulfide (rotten egg smell).

You can usually find the Drinking Water Quality Test Kit by SenSafe selling online for around $32 to $36 depending upon where you look.

Feel free to contact us again, Spencer, if you have any other water quality testing questions!

Many people believe that the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act by Congress a while back guarantees the safety and purity of drinking water for everyone in the United States. WRONG!

• The Safe Drinking Water Act contains regulations governing the levels of specific contaminants in drinking water but not ALL of the potential contaminants that could find their way into drinking water.

• The Safe Drinking Water Act contains rules and regulations which municipalities should follow if some municipalities cannot afford the equipment to bring their water into compliance with those rules and regulations then they get fined… and the out-of-compliance water continues to flow to customers’ faucets.

• Water can leave a drinking water treatment facility in full compliance with all the guidelines specified in the Safe Drinking Water Act and pick up contaminants between the facility and your faucet because of water line breaks, old plumbing, etc.

So what does all of that mean? Simply put, while the Safe Drinking Water Act does give municipalities incentive to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to making sure the water they distribute does not contain harmful contaminants, a definite possibility still exists that the water coming out of your faucet may not comply with the provisions set forth by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Just as in the case of well owners, individuals on a public water systems should perform periodic checks on the quality of their drinking water, too. Having a certified water testing laboratory check the quality of your water every once in a while and performing occasional water tests for critical parameters (i.e. metals, bacteria, chlorine, nitrate/nitrites, etc.) between laboratory tests yourself using an at-home drinking water test kit will provide you with peace of mind when it comes to the quality of your drinking water.

Although we cannot and will not ever say whether we prefer the WaterSafe brand of home water testing kits or the SenSafe brand of home water testing kits, we can tell you that we have used both extensively over the years and gotten excellent field testing results pretty much every time.

Having said all that, it pleases us to announce the launch of a brand new web site: WaterSafe-Test-Kits.Com. There you will find product details on all of WaterSafe’s most popular water testing kits. You can also access the product pages on the site using the links below!

Coming Soon: The official release of a web site dedicated to providing information on the SenSafe, WaterWorks, Quick and eXact brands of water testing strips, water testing kits and water testing meters!

Whether testing for chlorine in drinking water, pool water, or water about to go into an a aquarium, the fact remains that a person needs to have fast, accurate chlorine testing methods readily available. www.Chlorine-Test-Kit.com provides links to chlorine testing meters, liquid kits for chlorine testing, replacement reagents for chlorine testing, and test strips for chlorine testing.

As we prepared to post the last entry on glass transition temperature we figured that somehow we would get drawn back to the topic of polymer testing. Apparently we figured correctly because someone just asked us about differential scanning calorimetry.

Wikipedia defines differential scanning calorimetry in the following manner:

Differential scanning calorimetry or DSC is a thermoanalytical technique in which the difference in the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a sample and reference are measured as a function of temperature. ( source )

Scientists use differential scanning calorimetry to detect phase transitions during which more (or less) heat energy will flow into the sample than into a reference material in order for both samples to remain at the same temperature. This technique relies heavily upon the scientists knowing the specific heat capacity of the reference material.

Whether less or more heat must flow to the sample depends on whether the process is exothermic or endothermic. For example, as a solid sample melts to a liquid it will require more heat flowing to the sample to increase its temperature at the same rate as the reference. This is due to the absorption of heat by the sample as it undergoes the endothermic phase transition from solid to liquid. Likewise, as the sample undergoes exothermic processes (such as crystallization) less heat is required to raise the sample temperature. By observing the difference in heat flow between the sample and reference, differential scanning calorimeters are able to measure the amount of heat absorbed or released during such transitions. DSC may also be used to observe more subtle phase changes, such as glass transitions. ( source )

With regard to the matter of having a material analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, we found a company called Polymathic Analytical Laboratories and they appear to have the equipment needed to perform that sort of testing. Thier web site lists their web address as www.polymathiclabs.com and their phone number as 866-272-4710.

Tags: differential scanning calorimetry, dsc analysis, dsc testing, what is differential scanning calorimetry, what is dsc

We talk all the time about the importance of having safe, clean drinking water available for consumption but we seldom address another point: Drinking ENOUGH safe, clean water.

Water: indeed you are what you drink and should take care of your body of water. A baby is almost 90% water but this % reduces continuously to almost 60% and even less as we truly age. Our blood is 92% and our brain is 75% water just to name these. So avoid dehydration at any moment of the day and of your life. Good health is determined by the cells’ ability to receive water. When the cells walls are no longer flexible – aging begins. The amount of water you retain has nothing to do with the amount of water you drink. When the body is forced to retain water, as it is getting less than needed, it will do this at all costs. If the fluid intake is insufficient to provide all the water required, the body withholds water from the kidneys and the urine becomes scanty and highly concentrated, imposing a certain strain on the kidneys. If that is insufficient, excessive water will be with-drawn from the intestinal tract, with the result that the feces become hard and dry. On the other hand if you drink more than your body requires, the surplus is promptly and easily eliminated. Trying to prevent the body from retaining water by drinking less is therefore not only futile but even harmful and will provoke among many other troubles and diseases edema formation, cellulites and obesity. Drink daily enough pure water! For details consult our ‘Enjoyvity, your full spectrum of life’. ( source )

Athletes and athletically inclined people drink water all the time while exercising and many of them drink water all the time when not exercising, too. Why? Because they realize how heavily their bodies rely upon water to function properly not just in time of stress, but also in everyday life.

One could wager that people who drink a lot of water for their health also make sure the water they drink gets filtered properly at some point before it touches their lips. Whether drinking water at home that has gone through a whole house water purification system, undersink water filtration system or countertop filtration system… or at work drinking water that comes from a bottled water cooler of some sort, those people want to make sure the water they drink does not contain harmful contaminants like lead, bacteria, copper, pesticides, or other substances known to harm the human body.

Sam from Idaho asked,

Our main (plastic) resin supplier infomred us that we have 3 months to find somewhere else to purchase a certain resin from because they will no longer manufacture it after that time.

Yeah, sure, we can stock up on the stuff, but eventually we will need anoter resin source. We asked our supplier for a spec sheet on the resin so we can shop around and believe we understand what all the symbols mean except for one: Tg

Can you tell us what Tg means, stands for, and how we would test for it? Thanks!

While a bit out of the ordinary for us to handle a question like this, we do have some experience in the world of polymer testing.

The term Tg (where the ‘g’ is usually a subscript) refers to the Glass Transition Temperature of the polymer. Wikipedia defines the term ‘glass transition temperature’ in the following manner:

Glass transition or vitrification refers to the transformation of a glass-forming liquid into a glass, which usually occurs upon rapid cooling. It is a dynamic phenomenon occurring between two distinct states of matter (liquid and glass), each with different physical properties. ( source )

As far as testing for Tg, or glass transition temperature, many people opt for a technique called Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). We found a company called Polymathic Analytical Laboratories and they appear to have the equipment needed to perform that sort of testing. Thier web site lists their web address as www.polymathiclabs.com and their phone number as 866-272-4710.

Tags: differential scanning calorimetry, dsc, glass transition temperature, polymer testing, resin replacement, Tg

Ever wonder about the quality of the water in the stream running on the edge of your property where the kids play? How about the water in the pond or lake where you go swimming in the Summer?

If you have not, then ou probably don’t know that those bodies of water can sometimes contain high levels of nitrates, nitrites, bacteria, and other natural ‘things’ which can, in the right concentrations, cause illness in animals and humans.

• Health officials closely monitor water conditions at public beaches for a reason: High levels of the aforementioned naturally occurring compounds, and others, can make swimmers ill.

• Pond owners monitor the conditions of the water in their ponds for a reason: Too much of the aforementioned naturally occurring compounds makes the water in their ponds toxic to fish… and it costs money to replace fish.

• Environmentalists pay close attention to nitrate, nitrite and bacteria levels in surface water for a reason: Too much or too little of any may signal the growth or lack of growth of plant and animal-life critical to the ecosystem.

So whether you want to take a dip in the lake, wade out into the river, play in the stream, or raise healthy coy in your pond, chances are you will want to keep tabs on water quality.