Posts Tagged ‘Water Filters’

Water Filters Vs. Water Softeners – Which Do You Need?

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Depending on where you live, your drinking water may need some type of filtration, but which is right for you? Do you need a water filter or a water softener? What if you need both? How do you know which one is right for you?

Well, to answer these questions, let’s take a look at what water filters and water softeners do, then you can decide on the best solution for you and your family’s water filtration needs:

Water Softeners

So, what exactly does a water softener do and why do you need it? Well, simply, they soften hard water. Hard water is full of minerals and deposits such as calcium and magnesium. Although no harm will come to you from hard water, it’s nightmare for cleaning showers, tubs and causes problems for pipes and plumbing fixtures.

By using a water softener, you will break down the hardness or materials in the water. Different softeners use different methods including: ion, electrical and magnetics. It’s best to get your water tested to find out for sure, if you have hard water. Then decide on what method works best for you.

Water Filters

Without purifying our drinking water, you could consume things that contribute to disease and illness. To prevent this, most water treatment facilities employ chemicals such as chlorine to treat the water. This, however, introduces new problems for us. I mean, you would you want to drink something that resembles the water in a swimming pool? I didn’t think so. So counter this, there’s water filters.

Basically, water filters take out all the bad things in your water like the chlorine and other chemicals – leaving you with clean tasting and smelling drinking water. The most common filter is a carbon-based filter – it can remove the majority of chemicals in your water.

What’s Best For Your Water?

For many a water filter is all they will ever need. For others, a water softener plus water filter is a requirement. Remember how we said to test your water? Well, if you find out you have hard water, it’s best to get yourself a combination filter and softener to clean out the impurities in your drinking water. Otherwise, stick with a single water filter for your water purification needs.

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Water Filter Terminology: 3 Examples that Provide Clean and Safe Water

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

We come into contact with terms and analogies everyday – that doesn’t mean we understand what they mean. Would you know what QCP filtration is or reverse osmosis? Not many do. For those who understand this type of water filter terminology, they understand what happens to get a clean and safe drink of water.

Now, what about the rest of us?

To give you a better understanding of these terms, let’s take a look at a few examples of water filter terminology and give you a better understand of what it takes to have clean drinking water:

Examples of Water Filter Terminology

  • Reverse Osmosis – Ok, we have all heard of the process, but what does it actually mean? As a long standard in water purification, reverse osmosis purifies water by pressurizing unfiltered water, and forcing its molecules what’s called a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane traps things like metals particles and lets only the water molecules to pass. That way, you only receive great tasting, smelling and safe drinking water.
  • Inline Filtration – Here’s another one to add to your water filtration terminology. Yes, some understand filtration and how it helps our water, but what’s inline filtration? Basically, a water filter is put “in” the water line, and it filtrates out any dirt or particles out of water that flows through. This filtration method also filters out any smells or tastes caused by contaminants.
  • Ice Filtration – For those areas that bring in water through colder terrain, ice filtration is something used to preserve optimal drinking water conditions. Ice gets cloudy due to water impurities, which also impact the flavor of the ice. When it melts, those impurities impact the taste of beverages, but ice filtration eliminates those for pristine flavor and appearance.

Although many people have heard different terms about water filtration, most don’t understand the majority of what water filtration terminology means. Hopefully, these few terms gives you a better understanding into what happens when you turn on your faucet to get that drink of water.

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Water Pollution Plagues America

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

It’s easy to relegate thoughts of bacteria-laden streams, rivers contaminated with heavy metals, and otherwise polluted water sources to so-called “third-world” countries and developing nations. But the truth is that the same problems that afflict these parts of the globe are very present right here in the United States. What’s more, these water sources are not just in rural America; the problem affects major cities around the country, including our nation’s capital.

The Potomac river is perhaps one of the best examples of a polluted major water source. Estimated to provide drinking water to two million people in the capital region, the Potomac and its tributaries have fallen victim to years of disregard by Washington-area residents. The problem stems from urban runoff, neglectful farmers, and land development efforts.

Still another example of a polluted American waterway is none other than the “mighty” Mississippi. Flowing from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the water of the Mississippi picks up all sorts of pollutants along the way, and by way of its tributaries, transports them through more than 31 states, affecting millions of people.

So what is to be done about this modern-day plague? Residences protect themselves with point of use systems that employ a number of technologies, including reverse osmosis and UV filtration. Businesses on the other hand, generally incorporate application-specific technologies such as those for coffee and ice filtration.

Regardless of your specific water concern, it’s important to inform yourself about the quality of your drinking water – it may not be as clean as you think.

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Personal Water Filtration is Big Business

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

It is estimated that from 1990 to 2006, global bottled water sales (that is, sales of water ranging from “PET” single-serving bottles to larger water cooler “carboys”) more than quadrupled, topping $61 billion. Since then, profits have been on the rise, totaling a 51% increase in the past 5 years.

Along with this massive industry goes massive pollution. Though technically recyclable, the vast majority of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles are disposed of improperly, and thus, will not be reused, contributing to the growing problem of landfill accumulation. As the bottled water industry grows, so does our global pollution epidemic.

All is not lost, however. Recognizing this looming danger, several companies, including Seychelle Water Filtration Products, have stepped up to the plate. As a worldwide leader in the development, manufacture and sale of a proprietary filtration system for portable water bottles, Seychelle has their sights set on ending global abuse of natural resources for a single serving of water.

It seems as if the idea is catching on as well. In the last five fiscal quarters, Seychelle has experienced marked growth.

“We are seeing growing demand for some of our newer products such as our stainless steel bottles, straws and pure water bags and pumps,”

said Seychelle President and CEO Carl Palmer,

“All of these have been redesigned to improve performance and enhance consumer appeal and are being widely used in problem drinking water areas in many different markets of the world.”

In fact, over the past few weeks, Seychelle has received several orders representing over $1 million in new business.

With Seychelle’s products, and those from companies like it, the world can put an end to its dependency on plastic. No matter where you are, or what water source happens to be close by – a river, a lake, a pond, and yes, a tap, you can rest assured that you’ll have the clean water you need, without the pollution the earth doesn’t.

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Revolutionary Personal Water Filtration

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Over 1.2 billion people around the globe don’t have access to potable water. Many of them live in the continent of Africa. So it should come as no surprise that a solution to this problem might come from an inventor who lives there.

Meet Dr. Eugene Cloete. A microbiologist by training, Cloete is currently the Dean of Natural Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch, just outside Cape Town, South Africa. In addition to his teaching ability, Dr. Cloete apparently has a knack for invention. With nine patents to his name, the first of which he earned at the age of 23, Eugene has adopted a way of thinking different than that of most peoples’. “[creativity is] like reading and writing,” said Cloete, “the more you use it, the better you get.”

With much of South Africa’s tap water riddled with disease-causing bacteria, heavy metals, and pesticide residue, something needed to be done. In short, Dr. Cloete has invented a disposable filter, which looks very similar to a tea bag, to filter water as it is poured from a bottle. Each filter is capable of ridding bacteria, heavy metals, and harmful chemicals from about 15 liters of water before it needs to be thrown away.

Cloete, an expert on inhibiting growth of bacterial slime, says he came up with the idea while on a faculty tour of his current department. He happened to notice a tea bag sitting on the break room counter when he started to explore the idea. It wasn’t until he watched a presentation at the university during which a student demonstrated how to spin nanofibers – filaments finer than human hair – that he figured out how to do it. He combined this technology with both that of the anti-bacterial membranes he had already been working on, and the traditional water filtration component activated carbon to yield the filter.

Since announcing the invention in July, Dr. Cloete and his team of two post-doctoral colleges have received hundreds of inquiries from excited philanthropists, aid organizations, and retailers. This little tea bag is sure to save lives.

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Alaska Residents Get Creative with Water Filtration

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

As the direct result of petroleum contamination, “North Pole,” Alaska residents have been forced to “think outside the box” when it comes to their water supply. Thanks to a combination of readily available commercial water filtration technologies, these citizens have successfully lowered the level toxic contaminants to non-detectable levels.

It seems that over the past decade, sulfolane, a chemical used in the refinement of oil, had been seeping into groundwater and private water wells. While the exact cause of the contamination is yet to be determined, the most likely cause is a gasoline spill which occurred within the town limits over a decade ago. The contamination was discovered recently, and has been detected in hundreds of homes in the area, at readings between 50 ppb and 250 ppb – levels above federally recommended concentrations, but not enough to make laboratory animals sick.

In response to this problem, Flint Hills Resources, the firm which in 2004 bought the refinery responsible for the spills has developed some innovating solutions. By partnering with Fairbanks-based “Ecowater Systems,” Flint Hills Resources has conceived a point-of-entry water filtration unit to address the problem. In this unit, the contaminated water is first processed by sediment filter. Secondly, it is softened using a standard ion-exchange system. Next, a hydrogen peroxide pump breaks down the sulfolane, after which point a combination mixing chamber and charcoal filter gives the drinking water a final clean.

The system has so far been successfully been implemented in 5 “test homes” in the area. Flint Hills Resources, which is currently providing bottled water to affected residents hopes to implement similar water filtration systems in more than 150 homes within the next few months.

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Point of Entry Filters (POE) vs. Point of Use Filters (POU)

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

In many commercial applications, several water filters, including those which are dedicated to specific pieces of machinery, are needed. In these cases, individual filters, known as “point of use” (POU) water filters are located inline just before the water is dispersed or enters the machinery for which the water is intended.

As POU filters are usually application specific, they can be tailored to the needs of the user, and are often used in place of a generic reverse osmosis system. This fact makes a standard POU water filter easier to maintain, but usually more expensive. Because of this, it behooves the business owner to take measures against the premature degradation of the POU water filter. The easiest way to accomplish this is to install a “point of entry” (POE) water filter.

POE water filters perform water filtration for the entire commercial water service. They are responsible for purifying the water supply to all faucets, pieces of machinery, and toilets. The advantage of this approach to water filtration is first that only one system must be purchased for an entire service, and second, that it greatly improves the life of any other filters present down-line.

The most popular POE filters used are either sediment prefilters, or carbon filters.

  • Sediment filters are responsible for removing sediment that can clog softeners, prematurely foul carbon filters, or ruin the down-line plumbing. In addition, they reduce TDS (total dissolved solids) or many other harmful chemicals like nitrate, nitrites, etc.
  • Carbon filters are effective for certain trouble water conditions such as bad taste or odor.

Still other POE filters are designed as an entire system. These units typically employ a four-stage filtration process. The first stage of filtration removes sediment in the water that may clog the filter, reducing its effectiveness. The second stage uses a chemical process called water atomization to alter the molecular structure of chlorine and turn it into the harmless molecule, zinc chloride. The third and fourth stages of filtration involve activated carbon filters to filter pesticides, and other harmful chemicals.

By removing chlorine and other harmful chemicals at the point-of-entry, the whole service is provided with cleaner, healthier water at a reduced cost to the business owner. Pre-filters are typically much less expensive than down-line, application specific filters, making their replacement cheaper than that of the filters the POE filter is saving.

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What are Commercial Water Filtration Systems and Why Are They Important?

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

One of the most important aspects of business success, particularly in the food industry, is reliability. Customers want to get consistently excellent service and flavor every time they visit. Commercial water filtration systems play a pivotal role in delivering this reliability, ensuring that the flavors of fountain drinks, coffee, and tea, are always delicious and refreshing.

What is a Commercial Water Filtration System?

A commercial water filtration system is a system that includes multiple filters attached to one common manifold. Each filtering component generally removes a specific contaminant from the water. The types of beverages served will determine the necessary filtration components.

In 2005, the federal government actually laid out specific guidelines for the installation and operation of commercial modular water filtration systems. The systems must now be installed by a qualified plumber or manufacturer’s representative. Following installation, every component of the system must be properly labeled. Continue reading “What are Commercial Water Filtration Systems and Why Are They Important?” »

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