“Water filtration can be confusing,” may be a grave understatement. The difference between aesthetically pleasing water and truly healthy water may be quite surprising. “All filters are the same,” just isn’t true. Fancy advertisements and crystal clear water in a glass does not translate into chemical free. In fact, it is virtually impossible to create chemical free water. Making water appear clean by removing taste and odor is the most common practice of water filtration, but making healthy water, that’s another story. Here we will give you a quick example of a very simple difference that yields tremendously different outcomes.

Carbon is often times the most common filtration media used. Not all carbon is the same, though. Before this becomes a novel about carbon, we want to keep it simple. You are more than welcome to call the office and enjoy a long winded discussion about carbons with one of our techs, they would love that. For now, we are going to show two examples because it will show why some filters perform so much better than others. Our two types of carbon are:

Granular Activate Carbon vs. Catalytic Granular Activated Carbon

Granular activated carbon (GAC) is used in most filters you will see at stores and online. GAC is made from organic materials with high carbon contents such as wood, lignite and coal. Currently one of the highest functioning and most popular is coconut shell carbon. You will find many companies touting coconut shell carbon, as it is thought to be the best, in their filters. Without other components, this carbon yields water that looks, tastes, and smells clean but, really hasn’t addressed much of the chemicals at any significant rate. This product provides the illusion of healthy water.

Catalytic GAC is a liquid phase virgin activated carbon that has been manufactured to develop catalytic functionality. The product is unique in the fact that it concentrates reactants via adsorption and then promotes their reaction on the surface of the pores. Quite simply it works exponentially better in removing chemicals from water while also being able to remove chloramines. This is important because many water utilities across the U.S. are transitioning to chloramine for disinfection as an alternative to chlorine. In a few later articles we will cover a more in depth look at catalytic carbon, the transition from chlorine to chloramine, and benefits of combined media but, for now we will try to keep this simple.

The current list price today of GAC is $105.72 for a 27lbs. bag compared to catalytic carbon which is $210.84 for a 27lbs. bag. Catalytic carbon is twice as expensive as GAC and without knowing the difference between the two, you wouldn’t understand the price difference in which filter to buy. This is so important for this example:

The people here in Ponder are desperately looking for help and answers. Choosing a shower filter or whole home filter that uses GAC may take away the taste and odor of their water but, it will most likely not help their health. Our eWater Revitalizing Shower Filter uses catalytic carbon, amongst other beneficial combined media, because it works better. There are cheaper filters out there. The question then becomes “Are you saving money on a filter, or are you wasting money on something that won’t help?” Contact us and find out if what you have or what you are looking to buy will even help. Make sure you have the right tool for the job.

Follow our newsletter and our blog for more information on these types of topics. Reply below and ask questions you’d like to have answers to.