Without water, a person can live no more than five days. Therefore, it is probably not worth telling how necessary this resource is. But the state of a person directly depends on the quality and purity of this source of he alth and strength. Many have encountered the fact that tap liquid smells like bleach or has any color. Therefore, the question of additional filtration arises in every family. But which filter and cartridges to prefer should be considered in detail.
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There are three main types of devices.
- Filter jug. It is made of high quality plastic and consists of two parts. Actually, the jug itself, and a removable cartridge for water purification. What is good about this device? The fact that it does not require a permanent installation. Therefore, it is quite suitable not only for an apartment, but also for a summer residence, an office. The disadvantage of such a device is the minimum resource of just up to750 liters.
- Filter nozzle on the faucet. Such a device requires installation on a crane using special nozzles. Suitable for areas with good water pressure. Depending on the manufacturer and on which water purification cartridge is used, the resource can be up to 1000 liters.
- Filter with placement under the sink. This type of device requires permanent installation. Also, the liquid must be supplied under good pressure. What is good about this look? First of all, you can choose any degree of purification. The resource of such devices is up to 15,000 liters.
The most important component of any filter is the water purification cartridge. It is on him that the quality of the resulting liquid and the service life of the device depend.
For ease of maintenance, cartridges for the water purification system are made removable. Execution and filler determine the resource, degree of cleaning and what type of pollution should be used.
Mechanical water treatment cartridges
This is a polypropylene element. It is used as a pre-cleaner before other filters. Handles large dirt particles. It can be sand, silt, rust and others. Unfortunately, it tends to accumulate all the garbage on itself. Therefore, clean, change should be at least once a year or as it becomes clogged.
Adsorption (coal) devices
This variant of filtration will be produced by activated carbon. Natural filter improves water quality. The disadvantage of this device is that with prolonged use anduntimely replacement can serve as a source of reverse contamination of the fluid. Fights organic compounds, destruction of chlorine and ozone, gas sorption.
There is another variety of this type - pressed coal. With it, a more thorough cleaning is achieved. Throughput decreases, finer dispersions are delayed.
Ion exchangers
The filler is an ionic resin that reacts with magnesium and calcium ions and replaces them with safe ones. The taste and hardness of the water change. What is remarkable about such replaceable filter cartridges? Many of them can be easily regenerated at home, saving on buying a new one. The only negative is that ionized liquid should not be used by hypertensive patients, people with kidney and heart diseases.
This cleaning is suitable for softening water. The principle of operation was described earlier. This filter is installed after pre-cleaning.
Membranes
It is clear from the name that the method of cleaning the mechanical plan. To do this, use a sieve with small cells. The size of the cells directly depends on the size of the water molecules. Given that the contamination is larger, it remains on the membrane, and purified water easily passes through the cartridge for further use.
Combats organic, colloidal, bacterial and metal impurities. Installed after mechanical cleaning of the fluid.
Osmotic
Due to its baffle, this water purification cartridge can only pass water and gas molecules. All other impurities remain in the filter. Due to this, the quality of drinking from such a system is much higher than all those listed. The disadvantage of such systems is poor performance. For complex purification from a large number of contaminants, including metals, microorganisms, pesticides, viruses, a reverse osmosis membrane is installed. But first, such water must undergo mechanical purification and dechlorination.
It should be noted that under-sink filters can use combinations of several types of cartridges that will clean the liquid as much as possible from a large amount of contaminants.
Basic selection considerations
It should be remembered that there is no universal cartridge for all types of pollution.
Limited service life. It is different for each individual option. The cleaning efficiency and operating time depend on the input water quality. And it is impossible to determine the end of the filter's service life with an accuracy of one day.
To understand for yourself what type of purification is required for water, you need to answer a number of questions:
- Possibility to use for water supply. Is the water pressure sufficient?
- What resource is required? Determined based on consumption and filter bandwidth.
- Cost of a liter of purified water. As mentioned earlier, the initial cost of the filter may be high, but the service lifemany times more analogues. Therefore, the cost is calculated from the price per liter.
- Kind of pollution. As a rule, each region is characterized by its own. Sometimes this can be determined visually or with the help of touch. But you can also conduct a laboratory study.
In order to make a choice, it is worth considering replacement filter cartridges from major manufacturers on the market.
Comparison of domestic manufacturers
And now the last stage before the final choice. Where to stop? After reading the reviews, one gets the impression that "every sandpiper praises his swamp." But I would not want to get swamp water.
Cartridges for water purification "Barrier". The range of this brand is quite large. Can cover any demand. The product quality is not bad, otherwise 40% of Russians would not choose this brand for themselves. When choosing a cartridge type, you should read and compare with other manufacturers. In order not to repel its consumers from buying, this manufacturer adds an ionizer to the stationary systems. Also, according to the rating, this brand took a good place in filters-nozzles and stationary installations under the sink
- Replaceable filter "Aquaphor" for jugs, according to consumer reviews, has proven itself well. That is, again, the long-known truth is confirmed that all products from one manufacturer cannot be ideal. Therefore, it is worth comparing the technical characteristics of cartridges on the spot. For a jug, for example,it is better to take a replaceable Aquaphor filter. Reviews say it is more reliable.
- Cartridges "Geyser" are presented in several lines. These are both premium and budget options. This manufacturer has been on the market for a long time, and the product range includes elements of all types of cleaning. According to reviews, systems of stationary use are interesting. The cleaning effect is maximum. The liquid is of excellent quality. Therefore, for this system, Geyser cartridges are one of the most popular. This brand is within the top three in all types of water filtration devices. The exception is faucet attachments.
Once again, we can summarize that when choosing a filter and cartridge, you should carefully compare the characteristics of products from different manufacturers, and not rely on reviews. Why exactly? Because few consumers buy and reinstall systems for different cartridges. And, having installed a device from one manufacturer, he will not be able to compare with other analogues, because he did not use them.
Cartridge prices
Depending on the manufacturer, as well as the type of device, the cost can vary significantly (from 500 to 3000 rubles). Therefore, when buying water purification cartridges, prices are calculated per purified liter. To do this, the cost of the filtering device is divided by its resource.
This is the correct calculation. With such calculations, the most economical option, as it were,strange as it may seem, it turns out to be stationary installations.
If we consider pricing within three brands - "Barrier", "Aquaphor", "Geyser", then the price may fluctuate in different positions. That is, some types of cartridge will be cheaper than other manufacturers, others are more expensive. There is no such thing as the most expensive or cheapest manufacturer. On average, they are all in the same market segment in terms of quality and price, depending on the type of device.
The degree of protection of the he alth of family members depends on the choice of cartridge. Therefore, for the right acquisition, you first need to know what to protect against. And only in the second - to rely on the popularity of brands. Under such conditions, you can really choose the type of filter and cartridges for it with high quality and correctly. This will save money on re-equipment of the system in the future.
