Good day folks, Rod from My Water Filter here today. What we are going to do today is a quick demonstration of the cleaning a ceramic water filter cartridge. It is a very simple task.
Types of Ceramic Cartridges
It doesn't matter what sort of ceramic cartridges they are, they can be the long candles, the shorter candles that go into the gravity bench filters, or the normal standard drop-in cartridges.
So, regardless of the brand, Doulton, Ultrapure, whatever it is, doesn't matter. They're all ceramic cartridges. They're great cartridges.
Sediment Is The Culprit
The water quality in this country is deteriorating. There is more sediment in the water and because these cartridges are so fine and so white, you can see the muck and contaminant sediments collecting on the outside of the cartridge.
Sediment Blocks and Slows
Depending on how much contamination and sediment is in your water, the sediment collects on the outside of the cartridges, and it stops the water penetrating as fast as it does when they're new.
The result is you get a slower water flow through the cartridge. So when you're filling your glass of water, or as you are waiting for your gravity filter to fill up, it takes a longer time.
When To Clean
Whenever you see muck buildup on the outside of your gravity filter cartridge, you can simply take it out and give it a clean.
Or if you see the water flow slowly on your under sink or benchtop system, then you can just take it out, give it a scrub, put it back in, and it'll be as good as new. All you have to do is get the muck off the outside of the cartridge.
You can't use 2nd hand scrubbers
If you use a second-hand scourer pad, or anything that's got dirt, fat or mud in it, as soon as you scrub the cartridge, you will just seal it up with that muck, fat, or oil, and it'll seal it, and you'll get any water through it. It won't work at all.
Use a New Scourer Pad
So, it's got to be nice and new. You want to give it a good old scrub up, and scrub the outside. These can be scrubbed many, many times. Up to 100 times on some situations especially on when people are using them on rainwater. Treat them with respect and give them a scrub!
The Good Old Scotch Brite Scourer Pad
The good old Scotch Brite Scourer Pad. They come in a pack of four. You only need one. Grab one out, save the rest for later, okay.
What if I don't have a Scotch Brite?
Now if you haven't got access to a green Scotch Brite scouring pad like this, use some 80-grit sandpaper and that will do the job. Just make sure it's new, and it's clean.
Step 1 - Treat it with Respect and Put a Towel Down
If you drop it, it might crack.
Put a towel in the bottom of the sink if you're worried about dropping it because you can't knock them around, okay? They just don't handle being banged around.
Step 2 - Take The Cartridge Out
Take a minute, to take the cartridge out of this gravity benchtop water filter. As you can see in the video, this cartridge is starting to get a little bit mucky. It's not really dirty, but you'll be able to tell the difference when we scrub it, that's for sure.
How To Hold The Cartridge While Cleaning
Now what I'm gonna do, is not touch the ceramic. You'll see, whenever I pick it up, I grab the cartridges on the ends, and with the little stumpy gravity cartridges, we're just going grab it by the base.
My Ceramic Gravity Cartridge Is Too Tight
Sometimes the nuts can get real tight to turn. If it's too tight to turn the nut, turn the ceramic filter on the inside, while you're holding the nut. If you can hear it squeaking a bit it is pretty tight.
The Colour of a Dirty Ceramic Cartridge
As we can see in the video, the ceramic is really starting to show some colour, especially when you compare it to the white new one. So, what we'll do is give it a cleanup, and we'll be good to go.
Step 2. Turn On Your Water and Scrub
So we've got the cartridge. We'll just turn the water on. Cold's fine. Just gently, gently, use the scourer pad and we're just gonna give it a scrub.
See The Difference
I'll just scrub one spot to start with. So you can see the difference. Okay, so all we're gonna do now is just continue. Just bear with me for a minute, and I'll give it a good scrub over. It only takes a minute to scrub it up and down and around the bottom.
Final Scrub and It's Good To Go
So, if the water flow is really slowed down, don't be shy. Give it a right old scrub. They're good and strong. Just scrub it all over, and just bring it up until it's nice and white and ready to go again.
Ceramic cartridges are great little cartridges, and that's how you scrub them, no matter which one it is. The ceramic cartridge we are cleaning in this video is the Ultraceram. It's one of the best in the world for gravity filtration!
Thanks very much.