How to Clean Your Ceramic Water Filter Cartridges

If you have a ceramic water filter cartridge and are wondering how to keep it in top condition, you're in the right place. In this guide, we'll walk you through the simple steps of cleaning and looking after your ceramic water filter cartridge properly.

Knowing how to care for your filter is important to not only help it last longer but also make sure it keeps providing clean, great-tasting and high-quality water for you and your family. A little bit of maintenance goes a long way, and we're here to show you just how easy it can be.

In this video, learn how to easily clean your ceramic water filter cartridges to maintain optimal flow and efficiency. Whether you have long or short cartridges, a quick scrub can restore their performance and keep your water clean and clear!

It doesn't matter what sort of ceramic cartridges they are; they can be the long candles, the shorter candles that go into the benchtop gravity water filters or the normal standard drop-in cartridges. So, regardless of the brand, it doesn't matter. They're all ceramic cartridges, and they're great cartridges.

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 easily.

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 from penetrating as fast as it does when they're new.

As a result, you get a slower water flow through the cartridge. So when you're filling your glass of water or when you're waiting for your gravity filter to fill up, it takes a longer time.

Whenever you see muck buildup on the outside of your ceramic water 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.

If you use a secondhand 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 you'll have trouble getting any water through it. It won't work at all.

So, it's got to be nice and new. You want to give it a good old scrub up, including the outside. These can be scrubbed many, many times – up to 100 times in some situations, especially when people are using them on rainwater. Treat them with respect and give them a scrub!

We recommend using a new Scotch Brite Scourer Pad, which comes in a pack of four. Grab one out and save the rest for later.

If you haven't got access to a green Scotch Brite scouring pad, you can use some 80-grit sandpaper, and that will do the job. Just make sure it's new and clean.

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.

Take a minute to take the cartridge out. As we can see in the video, the cartridge is starting to get a little bit mucky. It's not really dirty, but you'll be able to tell the difference when you scrub it.

As we can see in the video, the ceramic is really starting to show some colour, especially when you compare it to the new one. So, what we'll do is give it a good clean, and we'll be good to go.

Start by turning the water on, then gently use the scourer pad to give it a good scrub. After scrubbing, you can quickly see the difference. Now, just keep giving it a good scrub over. It only takes a minute to scrub it up and down and around the bottom.

It's important to avoid touching the ceramic itself when you're cleaning it. Grab the cartridge on the ends and grab it by the base to have a good hold on it without directly touching the ceramic.

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, that means it's pretty tight.

If the water flow is really slowed down, just give it a good scrub. Don't worry, as these ceramic cartridges are good and strong. Make sure to scrub it all over and bring it up until it's nice and white and ready to go again.

Ceramic cartridges are great cartridges that are easy to clean. No matter what size or brand, they all follow the same steps and are very easy to clean. 

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact us. We'd be delighted to help.