Why are some water filters slow? It’s a question we often get asked here at Water Filters Australia HQ. According to WFA’s Technical Director, Craig Hannam there are a number of factors that can affect the flow rate of a water filter.

Water Pressure

The first one is incoming water pressure. The higher the pressure, the faster the flow. It’s as simple as that!

Some water filter systems need to have a pressure limiting valve installed because the components inside cannot handle high pressures. These valves limit the amount of water going through the water filter system but this in turn can slow the flow rate down too.

Water Quality

Next is the water quality. The poorer the water quality the quicker the cartridge will clog and therefore the flow rate will get less and less. For example, if you are filtering rain tank water without any pre-filter system, there can be lots of suspended dust particles in rainwater that the human eye can’t see. So although the water might look clear, all those particles can clog and stop a filter from working very quickly.

Usage

Another factor is usage.

The more you use the water filter, the more it gets clogged so the slower it will get. It’s important to change the water filter cartridge at the recommended time.

At WFA most of our cartridges will last a family of four 12 months.

Valves

Sometimes different water filter systems have different installation parts and if you have to install a number of different valves, like a dual check valve or a pressure limiting valve. Those valves can also get clogged which may slow down your flow rate. So sometimes it’s not the filter it can be the valves that connect to the filter system that either get clogged with debris or are faulty.

New Home Piping

For new home developments and new builds the piping that’s installed sometimes has debris and dust in it leftover from the build.

So when you turn on your water filter system for the first time the debris and dust can actually clog your filter up fairly quickly.

So if the pipes have not been flushed before the water filter system is used that can create flow problems as well.

It’s a good idea to talk to your builder and plumber about this if you are installing a new water filter system.

The Internal Filtration Mechanism

What’s inside your water filter cartridge is important too. For example, some water filters have a low micron rating. This means the filter cartridge is filtering water very, very finely. Typically the finer the filtration, the bigger the barrier to block the water coming through. This again may slow down the flow rate.

Check the Micron Rating

There are some water filters with exactly the same micron rating but have a different internal system. They are simply built differently. It’s the technology inside that makes the difference and even though they are filtering to a very small micron size, some can achieve higher flow rates while keeping very fine filtration.

In summary, combine low pressure, bad water quality, high usage and what’s inside your water filter then you’ll find the flow rate of your water filter system may decrease quicker over time.

WFA’s Technical Director, Craig says,

“It’s often what you can’t see that usually creates the problem. And it really is the technology inside that’s important for flow rate.”

The Solution to Water Flow Rate

So what’s the solution?

A WFA Platinum Inline Water Filter System is a great choice if you are concerned about flow rate. This water filter has a flow rate four times faster than traditional systems. It’s economical too as one cartridge generally lasts a family of four a year.

Contact our friendly customer service team to discuss your water filtration needs.

Renovating or redesigning your kitchen? If you tick these boxes the chances are you’ll be updating your appliances too… and finally banishing the old fridge to the garage as an all important ‘drinks fridge’!

A new fridge opens a list of possibilities and these days many fridges come with a built in water filter.

Yay to chilled water straight from the fridge! But just how good is the filtration?

And is this really the smartest way to filter water?

According to WFA’s Technical Director, Craig Hannam there are four things to consider if you are thinking of investing in a fridge water filter.

1. Quality

It’s important to check the quality of the filtered water produced by the fridge filter and to look very closely at what the filter actually does. Always check the micron rating, some fridge filters only filter to 5 microns. What’s a micron? It’s a term used to measure small particles – a micron is one thousandth of a millimetre. To give you an idea, the human eye can’t see anything smaller that 30 microns and a human hair is 75 microns wide.

Generally the smaller the micron rating, the better the water filter as it can remove smaller particles. In order to remove possible ‘nasties’ like cysts you’ll need a water filter that removes particles to 0.5 microns.

Another quality check is to make sure your fridge filter is WaterMark certified.  So what does that mean? WaterMark is a national certification scheme – our Australian standards tick of approval. They independently test and check the performance of the product. And independently certify that the products meet Australian safety plumbing standards.

In a nutshell it’s important to check that if you decide to buy a fridge filter you are getting the water quality that you expect.

2. Quantity

Typically fridge filters are used for filling up a glass of filtered water. If you want to use filtered water for cooking it’s very difficult to fit a pot under a fridge filter for your rice or pasta.

The flow rate is usually quite slow too so this in turn changes the way you may use the filter. For example, a large family who like filtered water for more than just a glass of water, like using filtered water for cooking, filling the kettle and washing vegetables may find that this isn’t the best water filter for them.

3. Cost

Typically most fridge water filters are small and only have a capacity to last for 6 months. So when it comes to changing the filter cartridge it is a twice a year cost rather than once every 12 months with a WFA water filter cartridge.

Just as a comparison a WFA water filter produces filtered water at less than 1 cent per litre, compared to an average of $2.75 per litre of unfiltered bottled tap water and an average price of $5.18 per litre for bottled spring and mineral water.

4. Usage

Ask yourself what you are going to use your fridge water filter for? If it’s just for a cold glass of filtered water then great. But if you want to make the switch to filtered water for all your kitchen needs then an inline water filter is a more convenient, cost effective way to go. It’s hard to put a saucepan under a fridge filter or fill a kettle!

If you are looking to update your kitchen and want to buy a quality water filter look at investing in a WFA Platinum inline water filter for all your kitchen needs.

Or contact our friendly customer service team to discuss your water filtration requirements. We’d love to help!