Fine water filter: purification methods, types of cartridges

Any water entering the house from an autonomous well or central water supply system contains a certain amount of various impurities. Sand grains, rust particles and other coarse particles and insoluble elements harmful to household appliances and metering devices are removed using mechanical filters. But to eliminate odors, organic substances, chemical compounds and harmful microorganisms, it is necessary to install a fine filter for water purification. These filters allow you to get high-quality drinking water at home.

Instrument Description

A device for fine water filtration consists of a housing made of stainless metals or plastic, often transparent, and an element for filtering incoming water, in the quality of which are used:

• Sorption materials (aluminosilicate, activated carbon).
• Reverse osmosis membranes.
• Ion exchange resins.
• Polypropylene, polyester.

Each device has two inlet openings - for water supply and an outlet - for cleaned intake. When passing through the filter, water is purified from heavy metals, chemical compounds, organic impurities, microorganisms and is supplied for further use. The filter elements of the device are subject to regular replacement, the frequency of which is indicated by the manufacturer.

Varieties of fine filters

Depending on the filter element, several main types of device are distinguished:

• Filter mesh with small cells made of metal. Such devices can be used repeatedly, regularly washing the elements.
• Water filter with a cleaning element made of polypropylene or polyester. It can take the form of a porous filler, a polymer cord, or be corrugated. Such devices quite effectively clean mechanical water from water intended for plumbing, have a low cost and are suitable for both hot and cold water. The filter element after contamination requires a complete replacement.

• The mineral sorbent filler in fine filters provides both mechanical and chemical purification of water. The most commonly used filler is natural materials - zeolite and shungite. They do no harm to human health.

• Devices in which activated carbon is used as a filter element effectively purify water from a variety of impurities. The activated carbon filter allows you to: eliminate residual chlorine, improve the organoleptic properties of water, eliminate organic impurities in water, reduce the concentration of iron and heavy metals. The advantages include ease of use in everyday life, the disadvantage is a short service life of 2-6 months, depending on the design of the filter.

• Ion Exchange Resin Filters. They successfully soften water by replacing calcium and magnesium in the composition of salts with sodium. The disadvantage is a small resource that directly depends on the hardness of the incoming water.

• Reverse osmosis system. It can be attributed to expensive types of filtration. Such a device is able to extract from the water any chemical and organic impurities, bacteria, viruses, antibiotics. A distinctive feature of the membrane filter is that during operation, as resource consumption, the quality of water treatment does not decrease, but remains stable at a very high level.

The following types of filters are distinguished by operational parameters:

• trunk - preparation of industrial water. Their purpose is the protection of household appliances, faucets, plumbing equipment, boilers, washing machines and dishwashers.
• drinking - tertiary treatment of tap water to high-quality drinking.

Methods of ultrafine water purification

After mechanical filtration, water requires better processing. For this, several types of cleaning can be used.

Multi-stage cleaning

In multi-stage cleaning, the water flow passes through a system consisting of three flasks with cartridges, which is mounted in the kitchen under the sink. It is supposed to purify water in three stages:

1. At the first stage, mechanical impurities are removed from the water.
2. The second step involves passing through an ion exchange cartridge. As a result, the chemical composition of water changes. Compounds, impurities and microorganisms harmful to human health are removed from it. After passing the second stage of purification, water does not form scale in heating devices. If the hardness of the salt in the incoming water is normal, but there is an excess in iron, then a special deferrizing cartridge is installed.
3. At the third stage, water treatment is carried out using pressed activated carbon. The purified water becomes pleasant in taste and smell, acquires transparency.

Reverse osmosis treatment

Reverse osmosis filter can be called the most advanced cleaning system. Water from the water supply system, passing such a treatment, gets rid of 99% of impurities.

Filtration of this type involves several stages of purification:

• At the first stage, a mechanical pre-cleaning cartridge comes into operation. Various impurities and suspensions are removed that can adversely affect the operation of the remaining filter elements and damage the reverse osmosis membrane.
• The second stage involves the use of activated carbon. Purified water does not contain gases, chlorine and organochlorine compounds.
• When passing the third stage, smaller mechanical impurities are removed from the liquid.
• The fourth stage is the work of reverse osmosis (a thin-film membrane is used as a cleaning element).
• At the fifth stage, the water is purified by a carbon post-filter.

If you install a reverse osmosis filter, you can be sure that the water will be purified from magnesium, mercury, arsenic, nitrates, lead, iron, chlorine, as well as various types of bacteria and viruses.

The water after the reverse osmosis filter is so clean that it can have an unusual taste, especially in people with high acidity of the stomach. In such cases, it is recommended to equip the filter with a mineralizing cartridge. It adds trace elements to purified water and normalizes the pH value.

An excellent representative is reverse osmosis system Atoll A-550 Patriot

Atoll A-550 Patriot removes up to 99.9% of impurities contained in water and prevents the formation of scale in heating appliances.

The system includes filter elements:

• Atoll MP-5V - removes mechanical particles (sand, suspensions, rust).
• Atoll GAC-10c - removes chlorine.
• Atoll MP-1B - removes small mechanical particles up to 1 micron in size.
• Atoll 1812-50 membrane - is a semi-permeable material through which only water and oxygen molecules can pass.
• The Atoll CK2586C postfilter is the last step directly in front of the drinking tap.

Recommendations for choosing and installing a filter

For the right choice and high-quality installation of filtering systems, several basic rules must be taken into account:

• The pressure drops in the water supply system negatively affect the devices.
• A sharp change in water temperature must not be allowed.
• It is necessary to regularly service the devices.
• The life of the fine filters is limited, so you need to change the cartridges as they are developed.

• The flask of the device and the cartridge with the active material must not be defective.
• It is not recommended to install fine filters without first installing devices for mechanical purification of water.
• The filtration device should be installed at a minimum distance from the point of consumption of water to prevent its re-contamination.
• Hot and cold liquid should be cleaned with different filters.

Without water it is impossible to imagine life on earth. But for a healthy existence, you need to use quality water. The installation of a fine water purification filter eliminates health problems and increases the operational period of household appliances. The main condition is compliance with the manufacturer's recommendations and operating rules.