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Don’t Forget About the O-Ring!

First, what is an O-ring? An O-ring is a doughnut, or torus shaped seal typically used to prevent the passing of air or fluid. O-rings are used to keep fluid or air IN or OUT of a defined space. This device helps to keep the water tight or air tight integrity of a filter housing or filter application. O-rings come in a wide variety of sizes and different types of materials; Types of Material

  • Buna-N®
  • Ethylene, Propylene
  • Silicon Encapsulated with FEP, an FDA-approved material
  • Silicone (Solid)
  • Teflon® (Solid)
  • Teflon® Encapsulated with FEP
  • Viton® (Solid)

    To extend the o-ring’s effectiveness there are some things you can do: Remove and inspect the o-ring at every filter change or every time the housing is opened, as well as applying the manufacturer’s approved lubricant. The protectant/gel, usually made of silicon is inexpensive and is easy to apply. If there are signs of any wear or improper form of the o-ring, the o-ring must be replaced immediately prior to restarting the filter system.    The life of an o-ring varies based on how you take care of it and what it is made of. It is very important to your operation to make sure you have the proper o-ring for your filtration application. If you have any questions on changing out your o-rings or whether you are using the proper o-ring for your system, I invite you to submit a question below or call our team at 1-800-942-7873. Click here to ask us a question!

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How Often Do I Change My Water Filter?

One of the most common questions we hear from our customers is in regards to how frequently a water filter cartridge should be changed. Whether it’s a standard sediment or carbon filter, every customer has one key priority in mind: How Long Will I Have Dependably Clean, Great Tasting Water? In other words, how can I be sure that my filter is still reducing the impurities that can impact the flavor of my water? Our standard answer: It depends. The frequency of filter changes depends upon your water quality and your water usage. For example, if there are a lot of sediment particulates in your water, then you will have to change your filters more frequently than someone with little to no sediment. If you are a large restaurant consuming large amounts of water a minute or a hospital with large ice machines, then your usage will demand more frequent filter changes. Having said that, we suggest replacement schedules that are generally as follows: Everpure High Flow CRS Quad MC2 System The most common Everpure Filtration System, mainly seen in the back of the house of restaurants should be changed every 6 months, or every 36,000 gallons. The EC210 prefilter, to the left of the MC2 filters, should be changed more frequently to extend the life of the MC2 filters. We recommend every 3-4 months.       Insurice Triple PF i4000(2) System w/ 20″ Prefilter For water filtration on ice machines, sometimes it can be difficult knowing when to change the filters, especially if you see no difference in the ice. But even if the ice is fine, deep inside the machine inches of scale can be forming and ruining your machine. That’s why it is important to keep a filter change out schedule. We recommend every 6 months or however many gallons are specified on the water filters. For the system pictured to the left, the Insurice Triple PF i4000(2), change those filters every 36,000 gallons of use. Again, changing the prefilter will give your primary cartridges longer life. You should also replace your water filters whenever you notice a decline in performance, whether it is a drop in flow rate and/or pressure, or an unusual taste in the water. You should also, per the CDC, replace your water filter after any boil water advisory alert is lifted in your area. Remember: taste and odor may tip you off to the presence of chlorine in your water, but most contaminants are tasteless and odorless. For the benefit of our customers, we have set-up automatic electronic reminders that are sent when we see that their filters are due to be replaced, based on order history.  We can even set-up Auto-Ship for customers that know they will need water filters by a certain date, but may not remember to place an order. If you have a water filter or filter model not included in the list above, and have a question regarding how often you should replace your filter, I invite you to submit a question below or call our team at 1-800-942-7873. Click here to ask us a question!

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Meet the OW Family!

This lovely family of water filter cartridges delivers premium quality drinking water for bottleless coolers and drinking fountains. Their unique filter blend uses activated carbon to reduce chlorine taste and odor and other offensive contaminants. Like most of Everpure’s carbon water filters, the OW family contains a precoat submicron technology which reduces dirt and particles as small as 1/2 micron in size. Check out my blog about Microns to see how small a 1/2 micron really is! But beware of the GIARDIA cyst!! The OW family inhibits scale from building up in your home water cooler, your water dispenser, or your drinking fountains. Keep an eye out for my up-coming blog about Scale!! Let’s break down this family and see what’s unique about each filter! The OW200L (P/N EV9619-06) has a rated capacity of 480 gallons. Its overall dimensions are 17″H x 3.25″ diameter. Its service flow rate is at maximum 0.5 gpm. This cartridge is commonLY used in office drinking water systems and home drinking water systems. In fact, that’s what I have installed under my sink at home. The OW2-PLUS (P/N EV9634-01) and the OW4-PLUS (P/N EV9635-01) are essentially the same. The only difference is their capacity rating and size. The OW2-PLUS is rated at 1,000 gallons and 10.25″H x 3.25″ Diameter. The OW4-PLUS is rated at 2,000 gallons and 14.5″H x 3.25″ diameter. But unlike the OW200L, they both contain a KDF media that can remove lead to below the Federal Action Level of 10 ppb. All the OW replacement water filter cartridges are NSF Certified under NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53, which means these cartridges get the job done! We gladly stock the OW family and for more information about the OW family, contact us at 1-800-942-7873 or click on the “Live Help ONLINE” link on the left of your screen.

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Water Filtration System in a Straw

LifeStraw makes previously contaminated water drinkable by removing bacteria and viruses. Sometimes, it’s the simplest technologies that have the greatest potential impact on people’s lives. Take the Vestergaard Frandsen Group’s mobile personal filtration system, otherwise known as LifeStraw. It is a powder-blue plastic tube—much thicker than an ordinary straw—containing filters that make water teeming with typhoid-,cholera- and diarrhea-causing microorganisms drinkable. Now, to be clear, we do not sell this item…yet. We just love to report what’s going on out there in the water purification world. The filters, made up of a halogenated resin, kill nearly 100 percent of bacteria and nearly 99 percent of the viruses that pass through LifeStraw. A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill evaluation tested the device’s performance in water containing Escherichia coli B and Enterococcus faecalisbacteria and the MS2 coliphage virus as well as iodine and silver. The results indicated that LifeStraw filtered out all contaminants to levels where they don’t pose a health risk to someone drinking the water.
But the device does not filter heavy metals such as iron or fluoride nor does it remove parasites like cryptosporidium or giardia, although the Switzerland-based company’s CEO, Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, says there is a version of LifeStraw available to relief groups in Bangladesh and India that can filter arsenic. At less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) long, the device can filter up to 185 gallons (700 liters) of water, estimated to be about a year’s supply for one person. The device is no longer usable when its filters become too clogged to pass water through, typically after a year of hard use.
The success of the personal filtration system led Vestergaard Frandsen to introduce earlier this month its LifeStraw Family device, an instant microbiological purifier that provides about 2.6 gallons (10 liters) of safe drinking water in an hour and about 4,000 gallons (15,000 liters) over its life span for a family of six. LifeStraw Family is designed to sieve dirt, parasites, bacteria and viruses, and will be available starting in May. Larry Greenemeier www.scientificamerican.com

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News From Pentair's Water Initiatives

More than one billion people around the world, most of them in developing nations, lack access to safe water. The result is that preventable waterborne diseases continue to be a leading cause of illness and death globally. Every day, approximately 25,000 people, mainly children in developing countries, die from preventable waterborne diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Pentair has been in search of a solution that not only brings safe water to communities in need, but also ensures that the solution is sustainable at the community level, taking into consideration the complex economic, cultural and geographical constraints that need to be addressed. The solution also needs to have validating methods and standard practices that can be replicated around the world. To accomplish this, the Pentair Foundation funded a multi-year research program in remote Colón, Honduras. The results of the five year program and the impact on the lives of the people in Colón have been profound. The results demonstrated that sustainable access to safe water and adequate sanitation can be provided cost-effectively, and that the health and welfare of the recipients can be significantly improved. Additionally, to ensure that safe treated water continues to be available beyond Pentair’s initial funding period, a microenterprise business model was established, where the local community owns the water treatment systems and users pay their communities a nominal fee for potable water. The individual user fee is established by the local community to cover the ongoing operation and maintenance of their system. Once installed, the system costs pennies per person per day to operate. Leveraging this success, Pentair is partnering around the world by putting its grants, technology and talent to work for communities in need of clean drinking water. By engaging community partners and equipping them with our extensive product portfolio and technical water distribution systems expertise, we are measurably improving water safety and sanitation worldwide. Understanding that everyone’s efforts add up to more effective answers, Pentair is leading through partnership to find a sustainable solution to the global water crisis. Pentair invites others to join in working toward a world where everyone has access to quality water supply. We are making our findings and models publicly available to other organizations and municipalities interested in replicating these cost-effective methods. By turning industry insights into collaborative proactive plans and on-the-ground tools, we are confident that even the most challenging issues can be solved when we unite around smart ideas. Reference: Pentair.com    

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What Your Unfiltered Water Contains…

Think about where your water comes from….and we don’t just mean the sink! Expand your mind and remember that water comes from unclean, natural resources like rivers and lakes, which contain pollution and contaminants that are unfit for consumption. To be clean, the water should undergo a number of treatments necessary to make it drinkable.

Specifically in tap water is:

  • Toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, copper, cadmium and aluminum
  • Volatile organic chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Chemicals from irresponsible manufacturers
  • Personal care chemicals
  • Household cleaning products
  • Water treatment additives such as chlorine, fluoride, and other toxic chemicals
  • Bacteria and viruses such as giardia, cryptosporidium, coliform and E-coli
  • Toxic Heavy Metals

Water purifiers are specifically designed to eliminate or reduce these certain pollutants that are in our drinking water. They also improve the quality and taste of the water by eliminating its chlorine content. It is virtually impossible to know what is in tap water at any given time because municipal water quality as well as private well water varies from place to place, season to season, and house to house. Even if all of the toxic metals could be completely filtered at the local water treatment facility, they could still end up in your drinking water because rust and sediment build up in the water pipes within our homes. Even this minimal exposure can cause symptoms similar to the flu, such as headaches, diarrhea, cramps, nausea or vomiting. The only way we can have any control over the quality of water we drink is by having a personal water filter system. Filtered drinking water is the most reliable and least expensive way to get healthy water!

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Water Pollution Plagues America

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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Canadian Firm Pioneers Green Water Technology

One of the classic problems plaguing mankind in the modern age is the facilitation of infrastructure, that is, the purveyance of essential services, in a way that negatively affects the environment and others as little as possible. The utilization of nearly every resource we use – from the most obvious, gasoline, to those less-often considered such as this one: water – exhibits negative externalities on the environment. Traditional water services make quite a bit of use of fossil fuels. In many states, it’s coal and oil which power water treatment plants (either directly or indirectly), gasoline or diesel which is burned in transport trucks, and electricity, however it may be procured, which heats water throughout our homes. Recognizing this, one Canadian water-treatment company has taken a step in the right direction. Tec-Water Supplies, Inc., of Saskatchewan, Canada has suggested the use of surface water as a main drinking water source instead of ground water. Doing so promises to supply entire communities with water on an “as needed” basis, from local supplies. This will reduce the need for staffing at larger, remote water treatments plants, and will cut transport costs and pollution. Tec-Water’s patented technology, named the “Floc System 100” removes the turbidity usually present in local surface water which made it impossible to process. So impressed with the prospect of supplying entire communities with local drinking water is the Canadian government that they’ve granted Tec-Water $120,000 to conduct a field-test demonstration at the “Sun Dale” resort community on “Last Resort Lake,” in the middle of the province. The test of 300 homes is hoped to form the foundation for a larger-scale implementation of the technology. As quick as we are to create environmental problems, we can solve them when we just try hard enough. Tec-Water Systems, Inc. proved it.

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Get Green with Home Water Filtration

Once considered costly and cumbersome, residential water filtrations systems are now affordable and environmentally friendly options. Over time, they help homeowners save money and protect the environment, giving people a greater ability to “go green.” Invest in Long-Term Water Quality Everyone wants the safest and purest drinking water for their families. As a result, many households consistently spend large quantities of money on bottled water. They want the assurance that they are putting clean, healthy water into their bodies. Yet buying bottled water isn’t enough. Families still cook, clean, and bathe with tap water. Why spend so much money on bottled water, when it doesn’t even completely protect from contamination? Instead, a residential water filtration system removes contaminants from the entire water supply, rather than just from drinking water. A home water filter system offers consumers an excellent opportunity to reduce bottled water expenses and ensure the highest-quality water: Continue reading Get Green with Home Water Filtration