How to maintain activated carbon filter

With all activated charcoal filters, the media must be replaced from time to time — not just because of possible microbial growth — but also because it’ll eventually be unable to adsorb effectively any more contaminants. In fact, if the activated charcoal becomes saturated, it may release some of these pollutants back into your “filtered” water supply.

The actual life expectancy for a particular cartridge (or filtering unit) will differ with the type of unit, the brand, the quality of your water and the volume of water used daily. china activated carbon manufacturer Generally, a filter manufacturer will give a suggested replacement schedule — perhaps once a month, several times a year, or once a year. However, sometimes these recommendations are somewhat exaggerated. One thing is for certain, if you start tasting or smelling chlorine, for example, it is time to replace the media — no matter what the timetable says.

You should also know that hot water reduces activated charcoal’s adsorption ability, so odorless, tasteless trihalomethanes (chlorine by-products) may be released without you knowing it. Apparently, these filters must be used with cold water to effectively remove the most toxic, chlorinated-water by-products. Therefore, it’s best to use activated charcoal media before the water is heated.

It should be mentioned that, after installing a replacement activated charcoal filter (or filtering cartridge), you should run the cold water from the nearest tap. gold activated carbon This is to remove any excess powdery charcoal particles from the water stream. Generally, it only takes a few minutes for the water to run clearly. (Some filter manufacturers may suggest a longer flushing period.)

As a final note, activated charcoal filters are commonly used in conjunction with other types of water-treatment strategies, such as reverse osmosis and distillation, as prefilters or postfilters.