attn: AZDesertRat

[disaster999]

AZDesertRat, what is your take on a ceramic pre filter as oppose to a cotton 1micron filter?

 

my friend told me that ceramic will last much longer and can be reused. just scrub/sand off the outter layer to expose the pours again and repeat.

[AZDesertRat]

The ceramic is a good option if you have high sediment or particulates. Some such as the LoadMaxx can be flushed inline without removing it.

http://www.spectrapure.com/St_FILTER_ASSEMBLY.htm

 

Its pretty rare that you need to go to this extreme though, do you have sand or sediment problems?

[disaster999]

i dont know how extreme my case is...just that whenever i change out my filter its rust color, and i get a little bit of sediment at the bottom

 

my friend told me about it and just wanna know if its good or not

 

the link you showed shows a separate filter. can i get the ceramic filter "rod" and drop it into my ro/di unit?

[AZDesertRat]

I would imagine you could but I am not sure where.

How often do you change your prefilter, what micron size do you use and what is your pressure drop both when new and before you replace it?

 

Manufacturers recommend either 6 month intervals or when pressure drop is excessive and affects RO performance. Micron sizes should be sufficient to protect the carbon block so it does not have to act as a secondary prefilter plugging or fouling its pores rendering it useless for chlorine removal. I recommend at no larger than 1 micron for both the prefilter and carbon block.

 

Ceramics are expensive and probably not necessary. I know the New York City area among other places has a very high silt density index meaning it has lots of sand, silt and particulates in their water. Spectrapure researched and developed a 0.2 micron absolute rated pleated prefilter for those areas that has 10x the surface area of a normal prefilter. The results are greatly extended filter life with better silt and coloidal material removal plus lower pressure drop since it has so much more surface. You can find this ZetaZorb filter in the sale ad here:

http://www.spectrapure.com/email/customer-...eciation.html#1

 

I use the ZetaZorb myself and just for kicks I left it in for 18 months (testing the pressure drop and chlorine breakthru of course) and had no more than a 2 psi drop across the filter array when I changed it out. Thats with a TDS over 800 most times so it got a workout. I think I would try that before investing in a ceramic filter.