Considering buying the Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle? Wondering what there is to know before you part with your money?
We’ve cut through the marketing lingo to bring you the real facts and information about this water bottle filter’s performance, specs, features, and installation and maintenance requirements. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge to confidently decide whether or not this bottle is for you.
Table of Contents
🧾 Overview
The Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle is a food-grade insulating water bottle that uses a filter to remove a small selection of the most common contaminants from city tap water.
This stainless steel water bottle has a 17-ounce capacity and an 80-gallon filter lifespan. It’s tested to two NSF Standards for its performance and is backed by a lifetime warranty.
📝 Bottle Specifications
| Bottle Materials | Food-grade stainless steel |
| Bottle Capacity | 17 ounces |
| Bottle Dimensions | 4 x 11 inches (L X H) |
| Filter Type | Electro-statically charged membrane with ion-exchange, mechanical, and adsorption technology |
| Filter Lifespan | 80 gallons/ 3 months |
| Certifications or Testing | NSF 42, 53 |
| Warranty/ guarantee: | Limited lifetime warranty/ 90-day guarantee |
💡 Features
Straw Filtration
Like many filtered water bottles available today, the Aquasana bottle uses straw filtration. This means you suck through the straw to send water through the filter. It requires minimal effort to stay hydrated, although some customers said that more suction force was required after a few months.
Third Party Tested
You can be certain that the filter in Aquasana’s steel bottle does as Aquasana claims, thanks to independent lab testing to NSF Standard 42 and 53, for the reduction of chlorine and contaminants with health effects (lead).
17-Ounce Capacity
Holding up to 17 ounces of water, this water bottle is just the right size to store in your rucksack or car’s cup holder, and is compact enough to carry easily in one hand.
Durable, Ergonomic Design
The Aquasana bottle has a stainless steel design with a silicone sleeve, making it more durable and easier to hold than plastic or glass bottles.
Limited Lifetime Warranty
The best reassurance of long-lasting performance is a good warranty. The Aquasana bottle is backed by a limited lifetime warranty, so you’re covered against manufacturing defects.
🚦 Performance
We measure the performance of any filtered water system by considering the following three parameters:
- Contaminants removed (or the effectiveness of performance)
- Filter lifespan (or the longevity of performance)
- Filtration speed/ flow rate (or the speed of performance)
Let’s start by looking at the contaminants removed.
Here, the Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle performs well, but not exceptionally. The filter is tested to NSF 42 and 53 for the removal of the following contaminants:
- 99.40% of chlorine
- 99.0% of bacteria
- 99.80% of lead
- 99.99% of chlorine-resistant cysts (giardia and cryptosporidium)
This is great news if you have city water that’s chlorinated, and you want to protect yourself from potential microbiological contamination. For water bottle filtration, greatly reducing four contaminants is good, but know that some of the best filtered water bottles available today remove tens, or even hundreds, of contaminants. In short, there are better options out there.
Moving on to filter life, you’ll get about three months of use out of this filter before it needs replacing. Considering you get a two-pack of filters for $30 on Aquasana’s website, that’s a pretty good value when it comes to long-term performance.
Finally, filtration speed. There’s no official flow rate in GPM listed by Aquasana, for one simple reason: you filter the water by sucking through the straw. That means you get almost instant access to filtered water whenever you need a drink. Just make sure to keep topping up the bottle – 17 ounces of capacity isn’t huge.
🔧 Installation & Maintenance
As you’d expect with any water bottle filter, the Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle doesn’t require any sort of hassle-filled installation.
You just set the bottle up by soaking the filter for 3-5 minutes, then press the lid onto the bottle to attach the filter. Fill the bottle with ordinary tap water, and it’s ready to use.
As for maintenance, there’s nothing too taxing to report there, either. You’ll just need to wash out the bottle with dish soap and replace the filter every three months or so. That’s pretty average for filtered water bottles.
Sadly, the bottle isn’t dishwasher safe, so you’ll need to wash it by hand. Leave the bottle to air-dry once you’ve washed it, and don’t use bleach or chlorine for cleaning. Make sure you remove the filter before washing out the bottle.
Here’s the user manual for more information on looking after the Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle.
📝 Filter Info
We don’t know a whole lot about the filter in Aquasana’s metallic water bottles. The information that Aquasana does provide us with is that the filter media combines a nano-fiber membrane (which is electro-statically charged) with ion-exchange, mechanical, and adsorption technology.
Let’s break this down.
Adsorption is a process employed by activated carbon, telling us that some form of carbon is used in the filter media. And that makes sense, since activated carbon has been proven to be a viable method of reducing chlorine and lead.
Mechanical filtration is typically used to remove large particles of sediment. It’s likely that the nano-fiber membrane is the media responsible for reducing bacteria and cysts in water.
📌 We’re pretty impressed with the filter media choices in the Aquasana Stainless Steel Bottle. Not all filter media can target microorganisms, and while we question the likelihood of bacteria in chlorinated tap water, it’s good to know you’re protected just in case. Plus, the filter retains healthy minerals like magnesium, calcium, and potassium, so you can enjoy the same health benefits from your water, without the swimming pool taste.
One thing to keep in mind is that the filter flow rate will slow significantly if the filter dries out, so it’s best to make sure it stays submerged in water at all times, or soak it before every use to keep things flowing quickly.
🔔 Pros & Cons
👍 What We Like
- Upfront, the Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle costs just $20. That’s about $10-$20 less than most filtering water bottles on the market.
- We like the silicone sleeve, which makes the bottle more comfortable to hold and comes in several attractive colors.
- It’s really easy to use this bottle for everyday use. Simply attach the filter to the lid, fill the bottle, and screw the lid in place. It’s easy dispensing, too – you’ll get clean water on the go without the need for buying bottled water.
- It’s good to see that this Aquasana water bottle is independently tested to NSF Standards for its performance.
- The limited lifetime warranty and 90-day money-back guarantee are reassuring.
👎 What We Don’t Like
- One of the most common customer complaints is that the bottle doesn’t hold a lot of water. We agree that the 17-ounce capacity could be better – that’s only slightly higher than the typical 16-ounce single-use plastic water bottle. The filter takes up a lot of room in the bottle.
- An even more common complaint is that the filter leaks around the lid, no matter how tightly it’s screwed onto the bottle. Hopefully this design flaw will be quickly remedied by Aquasana.
- It’s a bit annoying that the filter dries out if it isn’t constantly submerged in water. You’ll have to soak it for up to 5 minutes before every use if you don’t keep it wet in the bottle.
❔ Frequently Asked Questions
What filtered water bottles does Aquasana sell?
Aquasana sells a few water bottles, the most popular being the Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle. This is also the only water bottle with an integrated filter. There’s also the Aquasana Glass Water Bottle, which is a plastic-free alternative to plastic bottles and helps keep water cold and clean for longer. You can buy the glass water bottle with a sleeve for extra protection.
Is Aquasana water bottle BPA-free?
Yes, the Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle is BPA-free. The stainless steel used to make the bottle is food-grade, and none of the filter materials contain BPA.
How do you use Aquasana water bottle?
You use the Aquasana water bottle by simply filling the bottle, screwing the lid in place, and sucking through the straw. This sends water up through the filter, removing contaminants before you drink it.
What does Aquasana water bottle filter out?
The Aquasana Stainless Steel Insulated Clean Water Bottle filters chlorine, bacteria, lead, and cysts out of water. The filter retains healthy minerals like calcium and magnesium, giving cleaner, but still mineral-rich, drinking water.
When should Aquasana water bottle filters be replaced?
You should replace the filter in your Aquasana water bottle after 80 gallons of use, or roughly every 3 months. You might need to replace the filter more frequently than this if you drink more water than the average daily amount or your water’s TDS content is particularly high.
Does Aquasana water bottle remove chlorine?
Yes, chlorine is one of the main contaminants targeted by adsorption in the Aquasana water bottle. The filter targets approximately 99.40% of chlorine, reducing swimming pool taste and odor.
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