Types of Water Filter Cartridges

Filtered water tastes good.Young woman drinking water. Woman With Water Glass. image by Monika 3 Steps Ahead from Fotolia.com

Although potable water is scarce, it cannot be destroyed. After use, water passes into the ground and finds its way to the ocean. It evaporates and falls back to earth where it seeps through the ground, picking up minerals, elements, heavy metals and pathogens before finding its way into rivers. In urban areas, water must be collected in reservoirs before being chemically treated and filtered. However, water piped into our homes contains added chlorine, and in some cases, heavy metals and pathogens. Further treatment with filters containing disposable cartridges is often necessary before consuming this water.

Charcoal Water Filters

Although there is a diverse range of water purification devices available, no single filter is capable of removing every type of contaminant from water. However, units containing disposable activated carbon or charcoal elements are the most common type of filter used in domestic applications. These filters are charged with carbon granules derived from coconut husk that absorb many types of deadly impurities; this includes Cryptosporidium and Guardia Lamblia, both of which cause debilitating and sometimes fatal gastrointestinal infection. The more effective types of charcoal cartridges are enhanced with activated nano-silver, making them capable of destroying a wide range of harmful organisms. A big advantage of carbon filters is that they do not eliminate minerals and elements essential to human health. Because these filters eventually become clogged with sediment and dead organisms, their effective service life is limited, making regular replacement necessary. Service life can be extended by fitting a ceramic or KDF filter upstream of the carbon filter.

Ceramic water filters contain a replaceable ceramic tube filled with diatomaceous earth made up of fossilized crustaceans and algae. These filters are capable of removing many harmful chemicals and elements from drinking water. Additionally, the better classes of ceramic filters are impregnated with nano-silver to destroy bacteria and water-born parasites. Ceramic filters with a pore size of below 0.01 microns are considered bacteriologically safe. These filters trap bacteria on the outside of the element where it is destroyed by positively charged metal ions produced by nano-silver. Although their flow rate is low, ceramic filters can be serviced by brushing the outside of the element under running water.

KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion) water filters are primarily designed to remove chlorine, heavy metals and hydrogen sulfide from drinking water. These replaceable filter cartridges are mainly used in pre-treatment situations to extend service life and to enhance the capabilities of carbon based filters. Additionally, they retain their effectiveness in elevated water temperatures, making them a popular choice for filtering chlorine out of domestic showers. The KDF copper/zinc media replaces contaminants with electrons, creating new, harmless compounds. For example, the media turns free chlorine into water-soluble salt and neutralizes heavy metals such as copper, mercury and lead, by causing them to bond with the copper/zinc media.