I knew that the cocaine in that bag on the Bomann digital scale would catch your attention. So why do we need so much cocaine to hack the Britafilter?
If you never heard of Brita, the Britafilter tells you through bars, when to change and buy a new Brita Filter. I always wondered if there was a way to re-use or recycle these filters, as it felt wrong that i couldn't recycle these filters (its a lot plastic)
And of course i was sick of paying 7$ a month for a filter, which seems to be usable longer than 30days... (depends on countries, in Japan 60days, Europe 30 days)
First we had to find out the difference in water quality with a new Brita Filter and an old one.
We used an old and brand-new Filter and tested the dH numbers (dH=German degree of hardness)
Score: 17 dH (30 days old Britafilter)
After that we took a new Brita filter.
Score: 1 dH
Online you will find some tutorials, how to drill into a Britafilter, which is a bit of a hassle, for example here. Drilling? No way ! That is way too complicated and too much effort.
We decided that we would only go a more elegant different way.
After cutting up a Britafilter and learning how it was setup, my friend did some research and he found out that the easiest way might be to start a cleansing the filter.
The following items are needed:
- 200g 99.8% NaCl Salt tabs ( 99,8)
- 2L Water
- 2 x pot
So first put 200g of pure NaCl Salt tabs into the pot and add 2L water into the pot and boil it (the tabs will melt at around 100C)
Put 1L into another pot and wait until the remaining saltwater cools down to 80-85C. Once it has cooled down to 85C, put the Britafilter into the pot and leave it there for 15 minutes (take some chopsticks and move it in the water, to wash it out a bit.
The main component of the Britafilter is activated carbon, so at over 70C most of the impurities will be flushed out.
(If you are concerned about Bacteria etc. it usually will be eliminated after 6-8 Minutes in 80C water, so this method should be save)
After the 10 minutes, take the remaining 1L of salt water and filter it through the Britafilter. It will wash out the remaining Magnesium, Calcium etc. (Do not use the dirty 1L from the pod we used before!!)
After finishing, dont use the 2L of water, it goes into your sink!! Do not drink that water...!!
Now, we are good to go! Put Tab water in the Brita and run another GH Test.
It will now show 1dH !!! (Same as brand new)
So how often and how long are you able to use this life-hack? We recommend not to use one filter longer than 24 Month. Usually the Ion-Exchanger works for roughly 2 years, so after that its a no go.
We are cleansing one cartridge now for 4x -6x times, but it depends on how often you use Brita.
So, sorry that 500g of cocaine is a bag of pure 99.8% NaCl Salt tabs, we can legally hook you up with that anytime you want :0) (I know you got all excited, but everything legal here)
Kudos and big applause to my Pal 
Let us know your thoughts through a comment, we are using this method since a year and we didn't have any trouble.