How to Choose a Water Filter Part 3 of 10: Sediment Filters

In this third installment of How to Choose a Water Filter, we’ll wrap up the sediment filter category by dealing with some of the more complicated sediment issues and by identifying some misunderstood water problems that really don’t belong to the sediment category.

Let’s begin by talking about micron rating. A micron is a metric unit of measurement, and it’s very very small. There are 25,400 microns in one inch. With regard to water filters, the smaller the micron number, the smaller the pores in the water filter. Don’t make the classic mistake and start too small. Many clients think to themselves if five microns is good, then one micron must be better. That’s not how it works. If you start too tight, you’ll suffer from rapid pressure loss due to cartridge clogging. Selecting the right micron size is entirely about your unique sediment size. If you have sand that’s grainy and big enough to visually identify the granules, then you certainly don’t need a 1 micron filter. A grain of sand is anywhere from 75 to 150 microns, so a 50 micron water filter should be good enough to handle your sediment issue. If, however, you have extremely fine sediment that feels slimy to the touch and is so small that you can’t visually identify a single speck, you probably need something much tighter. As a general rule, start loose and work your way tighter until you get the performance you want and need. For those of you installing new systems, buy a couple of cartridges with different micron ratings so you can experiment and nail down what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to experiment! If you have an industry standard size filter housing you are not married to a single type of cartridge. For complex reasons beyond the scope of this article, one media type may outperform another, so if you’re not happy with the performance of the cartridge, try a different one. Even if your water filter works, you can always experiment to try and find better performance. Remember, you can always go back to the filter that worked.

For more complex sediment problems you may need multi-stage filtration. By this we mean multiple water filter housings with decreasing micron rating cartridges in each successive filter stage. This is necessary in situations where there is a wide range of sediment particle sizes. Maybe you have a well that produces both sand (large particle) and silt (small particle), and though it may be possible to get by with a single water filter housing, you will obtain much better performance from a dual stage system like this water filter system for example. In some cases the particle size variance isn’t as obvious, but if you have large amounts of sediment in the 5-50 micron range, you may find a single 5 micron cartridge is the only way to obtain the level of quality you desire, but you are forced to replace the water filters frequently because they clog rapidly. Here again a dual filter system with a 25 micron cartridge followed by a 5 micron cartridge will give dramatically better performance. Another example would be water coming from a river that might require large organic matter to be filtered out with a RUSCO spin down sediment filter followed by a dual cartridge water filter. Each situation is unique, but complex sediment issues can usually be addressed with a multi-stage water filter system.

The sediment category wouldn’t be complete without a mention of automatic backwashing sediment filters. These are systems that are typically 40-50 inches tall with an electronic control valve on top of the tank. They look just like a common water softener. These systems do not use cartridges, and require very little maintenance. They exact filter media varies from brand to brand, but they all do essentially the same thing. They remove sediment down to a specified particle size, and then depending on the control valve they backwash the media based on time or total water usage.

In addition to real sediment problems, there are a couple of issues that are commonly mistaken as a sediment problem. The first is hard water, which contains high amounts of minerals that  precipitate out of the water and form hard scale buildup. This scale then flakes off and clogs faucet screens and is mistaken as a sediment problem. It is possible for a sediment filter to successfully capture this flaked off scale, but it will not deal with the real problem. Hard water requires a water softener. For more information see this highly informative document, Water Softeners: What They Do & How They Work. The second is iron bearing water which is often mistaken as a sediment problem, but it really isn’t. For a really good explanation of iron bearing water see this video that I recently posted to our YouTube channel. If you prefer to read, see these documents; Problems Caused by Iron & Manganese in Household Water, and Water Treatment for Iron and Manganese Removal.

That’s it for the sediment category. In our next installment we will move on to the taste & odor category.

Please feel free to leave a comment! We are eager to answer your questions or just have a conversation!

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How to Choose a Water Filter Part 1 of 10

With thousands of water filter products on the market and everyone claiming theirs is the best, choosing the right water filter for your situation may seem a daunting task. As always, some basic knowledge goes a long way to making this otherwise complicated decision much easier. Let’s start by saying there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” water filter. Sure there are water filters that will work in a broad spectrum of circumstances, but none will work in every situation and, unless we are talking about extremely expensive specialized equipment, they will all perform differently in each unique setting. The point being, don’t make a decision based entirely on the results your neighbor or friend got with a particular water filter. You need to focus on your specific situation, and your desired results.

Having worked in client services at WaterFilters.NET I was amazed at the number of people who contacted us wanting counsel concerning the selection of a water filter, but who knew absolutely nothing about their water. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting everyone needs to be a Certified Water Specialist like me, or that every situation calls for a two hundred dollar laboratory water test, but you need to know something about your water. Let’s create some categories starting with treated water and untreated water. When talking about treated vs. untreated water, we are only concerned with microorganisms. We are not referring to potability which we will deal with later in this article. Though municipal water is the most common source for treated water, any water source may qualify as treated if it’s appropriately disinfected of microorganisms before the water reaches the home or other application. There are many ways this can be accomplished including ultra violet light, chlorination, or ozonation to name a few. The water may require significantly more filtration to be considered potable, but if it’s treated you know it’s free of microorganisms.  Untreated water is water from any source, i.e. well, lake, pond, river, stream, rainwater collection etc… where the water is not disinfected of microorganisms before the water reaches the home or other application. In short: treated water is water free of microorganisms, untreated water may or may not actually have microorganisms, but it has NOT been disinfected and therefore has the potential for microorganisms.

The next two categories are potable and non potable. Potable water is easy, in that it’s free of microorganisms and meets the EPA guidelines for potable water. Typical municipally supplied water is potable water. It’s been tested and though it certainly contains a variety of contaminants, none of those contaminants exceeds the regulated levels set by the EPA. Non-potable water is a bit more complicated, in that it may be treated water and therefore disinfected of microorganisms, yet non-potable because other contaminants exceed the EPA regulations, or it may be untreated water that has microorganisms, but is otherwise perfectly good water.

So, with that information under your belt, how do you choose a filter system? Start by identifying if you have treated or untreated, potable or non-potable water. Now you know something about your water. Next we will divide water problems into four broad categories; sediment, taste & odor, high level contaminants, and the nth degree (I’ll explain this later). This is where we get serious about what you want your system to accomplish. Do you have a sediment problem where you merely want to remove particulate from your water, is the problem more about making the water taste & smell better, or do you have serious high level contaminants that absolutely must be dealt with in order to make the water potable? The nth degree category is becoming more and more common as people grow in their awareness of the importance of pure water. These people are not satisfied with the EPA standards for potable water, they want extremely pure water that often requires extreme measures. This may include multiple stages of filtration, followed by UV light, then reverse osmosis, deionization, possibly re-mineralization, and even a complex process called ionization. The water is purified to the nth degree, hence the nickname.

Which category are you in? Sediment, taste & odor, high level contaminants, or nth degree? I’ll give you some time to think it over, and in the next couple weeks I’ll write articles about each category. I’ll make recommendations for various circumstances, and provide loads of good tips along the way. I promise to make it worth the wait!

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Looking for a Filter System? You Need to Understand Water Basics.

If you are in the market for a filter system, this Water Basics presentation will help you make an informed decision. Water chemistry is a complex science, but there are some fundamental truths that are easy to understand, that you need to know if you are considering a filter system. Whether it be a small drinking water system or a larger whole house system, understanding some simple facts about water will improve your ability to make wise choices. We hope you find this information helpful.

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How to Choose a Water Filter Part 2 of 10: Sediment Filters

In part one of this ten part series we identified some broad categories of water. Treated and untreated, potable and non-potable. Before going any further you need to categorize your water. Remember, treated only deals with proper disinfection for microorganisms, and potability deals with all types of contaminants and whether or not they exceed EPA regulations. So, now that you’ve categorized your water, you need to identify your specific water problem.  For this we created four more categories; sediment, taste & odor, high level contaminants, and the nth degree. The remainder of this article will deal with sediment filters.

Let’s start with basic sediment problems.  There are lots of ways that sediment appears, and each situation is unique. So, where do you start? At the most basic level you need a whole house filter system. Why whole house? Because sediment affects everything. It’s not just a drinking water issue, though you certainly don’t want to drink it, but it collects in hot water heaters reducing their efficiency, it wears on internal parts in your washing machine, and prohibits you from getting really clean clothes etc… It’s a whole house issue, so you need a whole house sediment filter system.

Before I show you an example of a whole house sediment filter system, we need to talk about system size. Unfortunately, for reasons passing understanding, many water filter housing manufacturers label their smallest water filter housings as “whole house” water filter housings, yet nothing could be further from the truth. There are five industry standard water filter housing sizes that obviously receive industry standard size water filter cartridges. They are (based on cartridge size) 5? x 2.5?, 10? x 2.5?, 20? x 2.5?, 10? x 4.5?, and 20? x 4.5? (see our previous post for more details). Far too many homeowners suffer from a water filter housing that is just simply too small. A larger housing is better in every possible way. Flow rates will be better, pressure loss will be less, time between cartridge changes will be longer, and water filter cost will be lower per square inch of media (kind of like buying the bigger bottle of ketchup). For whole house applications do not use the 5? x 2.5? or the 10? x 2.5? water filter housings, they are only appropriate for much smaller applications like RV’s or drinking water systems designed to supply a very small drinking water faucet. Having said that, here are some examples of water filter housings of the size appropriate for whole house applications: 20? x 2.5?, 10? x 4.5?, and 20? x 4.5?.

Now we move on to water filter cartridges. This is where your earlier categorizing work pays off. If you have untreated water you absolutely must avoid cellulose media. Cellulose is most often found in pleated cartridges, but some manufacturers also produce pressed cellulose cartridges. Cellulose is derived from plants and is therefore a feast of food for any microorganism lucky enough to find your filter, where he will live, grow, multiply and potentially cause serious threats to your health. Untreated water requires the use of a bacteriostatic filter media. Bacteriostatic simply means that microorganisms will not live and grow on the filter. The most common bacteriostatic media is polypropylene, though polyester is also bacteriostatic. There are two common types of polypropylene water filters; string wound and spun. The string wound water filters look just like the name indicates; a spool of tightly wound string. The spun are made from the same polypropylene, but the poly is melted and blown out of a gun and spun onto a cartridge, sort of like cotton candy. They have nearly identical performance, and are perfect for sediment removal from untreated water. Here are examples of each in a typical 5 micron porosity: 20? x 2.5? poly string wound sediment water filter, and 20? x 4.5? poly spun sediment water filter. For better flow and lower pressure loss consider a pleated polyester sediment water filter. The pleats give the filter more surface area than a poly string wound or poly spun water filter.

For treated water you could use any of the filter types already mentioned, but there’s no reason to look any further than pleated cellulose. As mentioned previously, the pleats offer more surface area, thus better flow with lower pressure loss. Pleated cellulose water filters are almost always the best choice for treated water. Here is a 20? x 2.5? pleated cellulose sediment water filter. Lastly, I don’t want to forget to mention RUSCO water filters. They are sediment filters designed for large particulate over 75 microns. RUSCO’s are used as whole house water filters, and are commonly used to filter irrigation water to protect the sprinkler heads from clogging. Above all, the RUSCO’s most popular feature is reusability. RUSCO’s are designed with a flush valve to purge out the collected sediment and rinse off the cartridge. No replacing cartridges, but they don’t work well with sediment smaller than 75 microns.

In our next installment we’ll discuss micron rating, complex sediment issues, and why iron bearing water is often mistaken as a sediment problem.  Stay tuned!

Please feel free to post comments or questions! We would love to hear your thoughts!

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Water Filter: Standard Size vs. Quick Change

When your ready to purchase a filter system, either a whole house water filter or a drinking water filter, you’ll soon discover there are many confusing options. In an effort to reduce some of this confusion, this article will explain the difference between standard size water filters and quick change water filters, as well as the positives and negatives of each.

When we talk about standard size water filters, we are referring to water filter cartridges that have standard dimensions. There are five size categories as follows, (dimensions are length first followed by diameter) 5? x 2.5?, 10? x 2.5?, 20? x 2.5?, 10? x 4.5?, and 20? x 4.5?. There are literally dozens of manufacturers and brands producing thousands of cartridges in these standard sizes. If you have a standard size filter housing, it will accept any cartridge from the appropriate size category. If you are having difficulty identifying the correct  replacement water filter for your water filter system, simply remove the water filter cartridge and measure it’s dimensions for length and diameter. If it falls into one of these industry standard size categories, your search just got much easier. Please note; there is an allowable variance in the exact dimensions even within a specific size category. For example many 10? x 2.5? water filters actually measure 9.75? x 2.75?, and in other cases they could measure 10.25? x 2.875?. The point being that there is room for some variance in the exact dimensions. In some cases the exact same filter will have slightly different dimensions. Don’t worry about this! One of the benefits of standard size water filter systems is that they are built to accommodate these minor differences.

Other benefits of standard size water filters include the phenomenal ease of finding a replacement cartridge. They are literally everywhere! You will find them at your local mega-mart, hardware stores, and online. Also, you will not be limited to a single specific water filter, so you can experiment with different brands and even different types of filter media. Furthermore, standard size cartridges are inexpensive when compared to quick change or proprietary water filters.

Quick change water filter systems are a bit more complicated.  There are thousands of water filter systems that utilize proprietary or unique replacement cartridges that typically (not always) offer a quick change or easy change function. There is no easy way to categorize these proprietary filters by size, because they vary greatly from brand to brand, yet they often have a similar appearance, which can cause confusion when purchasing a replacement water filter. These systems ONLY accept very specific replacement cartridges. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can identify the correct replacement by a mere visual comparison! When dealing with proprietary quick change cartridges, you absolutely MUST know the correct model # of either the system or the water filter.

Replacing a quick change cartridge typically requires no tools and the water filter cartridge simply screws into a valve head receiver by hand.  This brings us to their primary benefit; changing filters is dramatically easier and cleaner than replacing the filter on a standard size water filter system.  In fact, this may be the only benefit, as they are usually more expensive and harder to find, and sometimes get discontinued, leaving you with an obsolete filter system. Having said that, if you are not very handy, have a cramped space not conducive to messy filter changes, or if you are elderly or disabled, a quick change proprietary style water filter system may be the best choice for you.

There’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” water filter. What works for your neighbor may not work for you and your water. Hopefully this information will help you sort through the options to find the best fit for you.

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How to Choose a Water Filter Part 4 of 10: Taste & Odor

As we continue this series How to Choose a Water Filter, we’ve already dealt with sediment filters and will now delve into the taste & odor category. So, what do we mean by a taste & odor (hereafter T & O) filter? If you slot your water issue into the T & O category this means you are not worried about “high level” contaminants like heavy metals, and VOC’s etc… High level contaminants will be covered when we are done with the T & O category. In a nutshell, you simply want your water to taste and smell better. Tasteless, odorless water is rare because water is the universal solvent, meaning it dissolves nearly everything it touches (think microscopically). As a result it absorbs various substances which affect T & O.

The good news is most T & O issues can be cared for with an activated carbon filter. Activated carbon, also known as carbon, charcoal, and activated charcoal is an amazing substance with a massive surface area. This surface area makes it ideal for capturing contaminants. For details concerning how carbon works and what it removes from water, see these documents from the Water Quality Association: How Carbon Works & What Does Carbon Remove From Water. Carbon for water filtration is available from two primary sources, bituminous coal (think coal in the ground from decayed plants and trees) and coconut shells which are charred into carbon (no, they don’t make your water taste like coconut). There is also carbon made from bamboo which is growing in popularity because of its astonishingly fast rate of growth which makes it more sustainable. However, it is not commonly available at this time, but watch for it going forward. When we get to the High Level Contaminants installment of this series we will go into greater detail about the different types of carbon, i.e. granular, block, catalyzed etc… and their unique performance characteristics.

So, let’s get down to business. You need to decide if you want to address your T & O issue at the whole house level, or only at specific points of use. Your decision will depend greatly on the specific problem. Some odor problems make bathing and showering unpleasant and will probably lead you to a whole house solution, though shower filters are available, while other T & O issues are only noticeable when drinking the water, so a point of use system would be an option. In either case you will likely end up with some kind of carbon filter. If you go with a whole house water filter be sure the system is actually large enough for a whole house application. Refer back to part 2 for information on size issues. There are automatic backwashing whole house carbon filters that require very little maintenance, and there are filter cartridge based systems for both whole house and point of use, but remember your issue is merely taste and odor, so you don’t need to worry about NSF standard 53 or long lists of contaminants removed; you just need a carbon filter. I’m not trying to oversimplify it when I say that nearly any carbon filter will satisfy your needs for T & O improvement.

Unfortunately many of you will have both a sediment and a T & O issue. If so, you need to deal with those issues separately. Use a sediment pre-filter followed by your carbon filter. You’re probably wondering why you can’t simply use a 5 micron or 1 micron carbon filter and be done with it all at once. It’s not that carbon filters won’t capture sediment, they will. It’s that they will clog much faster than a sediment filter and are usually 3-5 times more expensive. So, the money you spend for a separate sediment filter will pay for itself over time as you get the full life and usefulness out of each carbon filter. Carbon filters are great at removing many contaminants, but they are not best suited to deal with medium to heavy sediment issues. Since you’re going to the work and expense of installing a filter system, you may as well do it right from the start and you won’t regret it.

There are, of course, many different causes for various types of T & O issues, but one of the most common is H2S or Hydrogen Sulfide which is often described as rotten egg odor. Though carbon water filters will remove H2S, they will only do so for a very short time before the filter becomes quickly exhausted. Many people are thrilled to find what appears to be a solution to this stinky problem, only to suffer the disappointment of a filter that wears out very quickly. The whole story is that carbon isn’t really appropriate for H2S reduction. For H2S issues nothing compares to KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion), but that will need to wait because that’s my teaser for the next installment.

I hope you are finding this series informative. WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS!!

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