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Small Restaurants and Their Water

Many small restaurants do not use water filtration in their facilities. They rely on the additives in the city water to protect them from any contaminants. While the public water supply is generally safe for most applications, it is not always as harmless as we’d like to believe. In addition to additives like chorine and fluoride, water may contain various contaminants which generally fall into five categories.

  • Microorganisms: Both bacteria and viruses may be present in tap water. Chlorine is added to water to kill microorganisms; it kills the vast majority of bacteria and most viruses. Because viruses are so small, they can be difficult to detect. Parasites may also contaminate water, causing gastrointestinal problems for healthy people.
  • Metals and minerals: These may be introduced at any step of the water distribution process. Water sources close to mining facilities are most likely to be contaminated with these substances.
  • Organic chemicals: Over 100,000 commercial chemicals have been detected in water, from pesticides and fertilizers, to dyes and pharmaceuticals. When organic chemicals mix with water, they can form VOC’s or THM’s. These compounds can infiltrate the body through contact, inhalation, or drinking.
  • Radioactive substances: As they decay, radioactive contaminants also release radon gas, which also poses a health threat. Although this sort of contamination is relatively rare, it does sometimes occur.
  • Additives: Public water suppliers routinely add substances like chorine and fluoride to water. Chorine is added to kill microorganisms, and fluoride improves dental health. People who prefer non-fluoridated water can filter their water or buy water that does not contain fluoride.
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Many common contaminants can be significantly reduced or completely removed with a high-quality Everpure water filter system. One of these systems you can use is the Coldrink 1 MC2 System (EV932801).

  • Chlorine, Taste & Odor, Sediment, and Cyst Reduction
  • 1/2 micron precoat filtration with Micropure II media AgION antimicrobial protection
  • 20″ Integrated Sediment Prefilter System
  • NSF Certification Standards 42 & 53
  • Inlet water shut-off valve, flushing valve and water pressure gauge
  • 1.67 gpm flow rate / 9,000 gallon rated capacity
  • Sized for single carbonators, less than 25 Bag in Box per month, low volume outlet
  • Cartridges should be changed every 6 months

Our foodservice department is dedicated to helping ALL restaurants with their water quality. This cost effective solution to filtering drinking water, especially for low volume locations, is a great way keep your beverages tasting fresh and pure from contaminants. If you have a small restaurant and would like more information on how to filter your water, please call us at 800-942-7873. You can also email us a question by clicking the link below. Ask us now! Get our Newsletter!!

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Commercial Ice Machine Filtration for Healthcare Facilities

Ice serves a variety of purposes in the Healthcare industry including dietary needs, operative procedures, and treatment of inflammation.  The availability of clean ice for all of these uses is dependent on the level of filtration in use.  Healthcare facilities use a variety of ice machines but the most common is the nugget based ice machine for its ability to provide all the needs in a hospital. Nugget ice machines are small counter top dispensers located throughout the buildings to provide quick access for staff. But due to the unit’s small size, facilities are having to install the water filtration systems under the counters. This could be a problem in the sense that a traditional ice machine water filter can exceed over 20 inches leaving little room to install and maintain the unit. Well, Everpure has a solution for that. Everpure’s BH2 (EV9612-51) is the filter of choice to fit below the counter and provide enough capacity to keep up with the demand of the counter top ice machines. The full height of the BH2 filter and manifold would be 16 inches leaving plenty of room for the installation and filter change. The filter is rated NSF 53, providing mechanical filtration to .5 micron and protection from bacterial contaminants.  Scale inhibitor provides protection to your ice machines to keep them running efficiently for years to come. As much as we would like a single application filter to work for everybody, the needs and demands of customers change requiring different types of filtration.  The BH2 is a great filter that has proven to work in a rigorous environment with high demand.  Should you need to discuss other applications or your current filtration, please feel free to contact our Health Care & Lodging Specialist, Todd Leach.

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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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Home Brewing the best beer!

We here at Filter Pure have a lot of customers that come in asking us questions like, “What kind of water should I use to brew beer?” There’s a saying, “If you don’t drink from your tap water, don’t brew beer with it.”

A lot of different styles of beer around the world were created based on the type of water in that area. For instance, people who want to make English style stouts usually put chips and salt into their water. You can even doctor your water to match different locations around the world by adjusting the temperature of the water. But first, before adding salts and adjusting the temperature, you want to make sure your water is filtered.

Whether your brewery looks like this…

…or this

…or even this…

…the water you use should be well filtered for quality taste!

There are many ways you can filter your water; we recommend using Costguard’s 10″ housing unit, the CGS-10 (EV9100-10) made by EVERPURE. This system is simple and inexpensive. The CGS-10 is made up of a 10″ low profile Slim Line single bowl housing that is manufactured of durable polypropylene and has excellent chemical resistance. It includes a water pressure gauge which is equipped with a pressure relief button to relieve water pressure during cartridge changes.

It also includes wall mounting bracket and hardware for fast and easy installation. This system is shipped fully assembled. All you have to do is choose the appropriate cartridge for your needs. A CG53-10 (EV9108-53) is highly recommended because of its .5 micron rating, and its carbon effectively reduces unwanted tastes, odor and chlorine. But if you have any type of softening resin already in your water, then use a higher micron rating, such as the CG5-10 (EV910815). Its specifications are the same as the CG53-10 except its micron rating is 5.

Water filtration and all the steps involved can seem confusing. You’ll find yourself scratching your head, not even knowing where to begin. Well, we’re here to help make it simple for you.

Your home brewed beer has the potential to taste EXACTLY the way you want it to. And the first step to getting it there is making sure you have the right water filtration.

Visit our website www.filterpure.com, or call us at 800-942-7873 with any questions you might have. We’re not just here to sell, we’re here to help!

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Home Water Filter Maintenance

Many people have home water filters in their homes, but are they keeping them up with a regular maintenance routine? Keeping your filter system in top working order is key to having clean and great tasting drinking water. Many filters have suggested guidelines for home water filter maintenance, but there are those who still need assistance. For those who need a simple plan to follow for keeping their home water filter in working order, here’s 4 guidelines for home water filter maintenance:

4 Guidelines for Home Water Filter Maintenance

  • Monitoring – Depending on which home water filter you purchase, there are different ways to monitor it for problems or the need to replace it. Some filter systems will have a display that shows its status; other may show a simple read-out that changes color when it’s time to replace the filter system. No matter which type of system you choose, ensure you regularly monitor your filter for optimal drinking water quality.
  • Cleaning – Not every unit requires replacement; sometimes they only need a good cleaning. Again, keep a regular monitoring schedule of your unit and if needed, follow manufactures guidelines to clean your home water filter system.
  • Testing – Sometimes, even if the display shows a problem and you’ve cleaned the unit, testing of the unit might tell you if something is going on. For some home water filters, you can test it yourself, while others may require a professional to come in.
  • Replacement – There comes a time when no matter how times you clean or replace parts, the unit needs replacement. When it comes time to replace your home water filter, ensure you go through the manufacture’s recommended guidelines for replacing the unit. If you need assistance, ask a professional to ensure the unit is replaced properly.

To ensure optimal quality and performance from your water filter system, it’s best to have a regular home water filter maintenance routine. By following the steps we outlined above, you can be sure your filter system will stay in tip-top shape and keep giving you and you family safe and great tasting drinking water.