Whole House Water (POE) Water Filter System - 1252 - 2 CU FT GAC Coconut Shell Carbon - No Valve -

Carbon is a substance that has a long history of being used to absorb impurities and is perhaps the most powerful absorbent known to man. One pound of carbon contains a surface area of roughly 125 acres and can absorb literally thousands of different chemicals. Activated carbon which has a slight electro-positive charge added to it, making it even more attractive to chemicals and impurities. As the water passes over the positively charged carbon surface, the negative ions of the of the contaminants are drawn to the surface of the carbon granules. Activated carbon filters used for home water treatment typically contain either granular activated carbon or powdered block carbon. Although both are effective, carbon block filters generally have a higher contaminant removal ratio. The two most important factors affecting the efficiency of activated carbon filtration are the amount of carbon in the unit and the amount of time the contaminant spends in contact with it. the more carbon the better. Similarly, the lower the flow rate of the water, the more time contaminants will be in contact with the carbon, and the more absorption that will take place. Particle size also affects removal rates. The most common carbon types used in water filtration are bituminous, wood, and coconut shell carbons. While coconut shell carbon typically costs 20% more than the others, it is generally regarded as the most effective of the three. All of our activated carbon filters use coconut shell carbon. There are two principal mechanisms by which activated carbon removes contaminants from water; absorption, and catalytic reduction, a process involving the attraction of negatively-charged contaminants ions to the positively-charged activated carbon. Organic compounds are removed by absorption and residual disinfectants such as chlorine and chloramines are removed by catalytic reduction. Activated carbon filtration is very common in a number of home water treatment systems. It can be used as a stand alone filter to reduce or eliminate bad tastes and odors, chlorine, and many organic contaminants in municipal (pre-treated or chlorinated) water supplies to produce a significantly improved drinking water. It is also very commonly used as a pre-treatment as part of a reverse osmosis system to reduce many organic contaminants, chlorine, and other items that could foul the reverse osmosis membrane. 0.5 block filters are commonly used to remove cysts such as giardia and Cryptosporidium. Activated carbon filters remove/reduce many volatile organic chemicals (VOC's) pesticides and herbicides, as well as chlorine, benzene, trihalomethane (THM's) compounds, radon, solvents and hundreds of other man-made chemicals found in tap water.