Essential Safe Water Filter
This system comes with two filters:
- 1-micron Sediment Filter
- 20 Micron Radial Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Filter
These filters are housed in two 20-inch, commercial-grade filter casings and come complete with all the necessary fittings for connection to your existing plumbing.
Filter 1: 1- Micron (Nominal) Sediment Filter
A 1-micron (Nominal) sediment filter is used to remove fine particles, such as dirt, sand, silt, and rust, from water. Here’s how it works and its purpose:
- Particle Removal: The “1-micron” rating indicates that the filter can remove particles as small as 1 micron in size. For reference, a human hair is about 70 microns in diameter, so this filter is highly effective at capturing fine sediment.
- Nominal Rating: A “nominal” rating means the filter will remove about 85-90% of particles that are 1 micron in size.
- Protects Equipment: This filter is typically used as a pre-filter in water filtration systems to protect more sensitive equipment, from clogging or damage caused by sediment.
- Improves Water Quality: By removing sediment, the filter helps improve the taste, clarity, and quality of water, making it better for drinking, bathing, or even use in appliances.
Why It Matters:
Protects your main water filter (e.g., UltraStream) from clogging or damage
Improves water clarity and taste
Reduces wear on plumbing and appliances
Essential first stage for any multi-stage filtration system
Filter 2: 20-micron Radial Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Filter
A 20-micron Radial Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filter is designed to improve water quality by using activated carbon to remove impurities and a 20-micron filter to catch larger particles. Here’s how it works and what it’s for:
- 20-Micron Rating:
- The “20-micron” size indicates that the filter captures particles as large as 20 microns. This includes larger sediment like sand, dirt, or rust, but not as fine as smaller micron filters.
- Radial Design:
- A radial design refers to the filter’s shape, allowing water to flow through the entire surface area of the carbon media, increasing contact time and filtration efficiency. This design enhances water flow while still ensuring the carbon absorbs contaminants.
- Granular Activated Carbon (GAC):
- Activated carbon is highly porous and adsorbs (binds to) contaminants such as chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), bad odors, and tastes.
- Granular form of activated carbon allows for a higher surface area, enabling better adsorption of unwanted chemicals, improving the overall taste and smell of water.
Function and Purpose:
- Removes Contaminants: The activated carbon is particularly effective at removing chlorine, chloramines, and certain organic compounds that cause unpleasant tastes and odors.
- Sediment Filtration: The 20-micron rating filters out larger particulates from the water, though it doesn’t handle fine sediments like a 1-micron filter would.
- Improves Water Taste and Odor: Especially useful for improving the overall taste and smell of drinking water.
This filter is a common choice for water filtration in homes and industrial systems, where both particulate filtration and the removal of chemical contaminants are desired.
Primary Contaminant Removal:
- Chlorine & Chloramine – GAC is highly effective at reducing chlorine and chloramine, improving taste and odor.
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) – Removes chemicals like benzene, trichloroethylene, and other industrial solvents.
- Pesticides & Herbicides – Reduces common agricultural contaminants such as atrazine and glyphosate.
- Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs) – Helps remove trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs).
- Taste & Odor – Improves the overall quality of drinking water by reducing unpleasant flavors.
- Heavy Metals (Some Reduction) – Can adsorb some levels of lead, mercury, and copper, though not as effectively as specialized filters.
- Sediment (Down to 20 Microns) – Removes larger particles, dirt, and rust.
- Microplastics – Captures microplastic particles larger than 20 microns.
- PFAS – GAC can adsorb long-chain PFAS, such as PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid) and PFOS (Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid)
* Reduces chlorine, endocrine inhibitors. Ibuprofen trace hydrocarbons, and Volatile Organic Compounds. Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Silver, Iron, Mercury, and Selenium.
** While whole-house filters may struggle to successfully and reliably remove Fluoride, because the water needs time to interact with the media in order to remove or reduce the fluoride in the water, the flow rate will be slow. An effective way to address Fluoride is to combine these systems with the UltraStream drinking water filter.
*** Most customers add an UltraStream drinking water system to remove bad taste, colour or odour issues.
**** On average, each filter should last up to 12 months. This will depend on the water usage over that time and the condition of your water source. So, it may need replacing sooner than 12 months.
1 review for AlkaWay Whole House – Essential Safe Water Filter