A chloramine filter that removes chloramines and other chemicals with catalytic carbon (Centaur®) and an innovative tank design.
Chloramine removal is near the top of the requests we get from city water customers. People are concerned and sometimes confused about chloramines.
Most of us are familiar with chlorine. For most of the 20th century, chlorine was the disinfectant of choice for public water supplies. Now it is being rapidly replaced by a substance called chloramine, a mix of chlorine and ammonia. The decline in the use of chlorine began with the relatively recent discovery of a group unsavory and often carcinogenic spin-off chemicals called trihalomethanes (THMs) that are formed when chlorine combines with organic matter in water. To meet EPA standards for THMs, which once created are hard to remove, municipal suppliers are turning increasingly to disinfection with chloramines, which produce much lower levels of trihalomethanes.
As often happens in our imperfect world, however, the solution to the THM problem brought its own set of problems. For example, chloramine can be deadly to fish in aquariums and ponds and to patients on dialysis machines. For regular home use, water with chloramine presents aesthetic issues of bad taste, odor and skin irritation. And let's be frank: its long-term effect on health is largely unknown. Chlorine, after all, was added to water for decades before THMs were discovered.
For a variety of reasons, increasing numbers of people want chloramine out of the water they drink and bathe in.
One of the big myths about chloramine is that it can't be removed. Actually, it is removed with filter carbon (often called charcoal), the same filtering agent that very effectively removes chlorine. The difference is that chloramine is much harder to remove. Therefore, it takes more carbon and water must be given more residence time in the carbon. In other words, you need a considerably larger carbon bed and a significantly slower flow rate to remove chloramine with standard carbon.
The challenge of chloramine and other difficult contaminants has led to the production of a modified carbon called catalytic carbon. Catalytic carbon is a specially processed filter medium designed to greatly enhance carbon's natural ability to promote chemical changes in contaminants. Standard filter carbon reduces contaminants in two ways. It "adsorbs" chemicals by trapping and holding them, and to a smaller degree, it "chemisorbs" contaminants by changing them to something harmless. Chlorine, for example, can be "catalyzed" to harmless chloride.
Catalytic carbon retains conventional carbon's ability to adsorb contaminants but it also possesses greatly enhanced capacity to catalyze, to promote beneficial chemical reactions. It is by catalytic action that chloramine is reduced.
Filter carbon performance is rated by several standards. Common performance measuring standards are the molasses number, the iodine number and the peroxide number. Catalytic capacity of carbon is expressed by the peroxide number, which measures the rate of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by the carbon. The faster a carbon will break down hydrogen peroxide, the greater its catalytic activity. The lower the peroxide number the better.
The peroxide number of catalytic carbon can be as low as 8 and is seldom higher than 14. The peroxide number of conventional bituminous coal based carbon (the type most commonly used for chlorine reduction) is around 40, and other popular carbon have peroxide numbers around 120.
Catalytic bituminous-based carbon is the unchallenged best choice when it comes to chloramine removal.
A backwashing filter is a simple device. It consists of a large tank, called a mineral tank, which is partially filled with the filtering medium. The medium is selected to deal with the problem being addressed. Carbon, for example, in granular form, is used for many purposes: to remove chlorine, to improve taste and odor and color, or to remove a wide range of chemicals. Filter carbon is much the same in form and appearance as coffee grounds. The carbon sits on a gravel bed that provides support and promotes even flow of water through the carbon bed. Operation of the filter is controlled by an automatic control valve which periodically backwashes the carbon by reversing the flow of water in order to clean the tank of trapped particles and at the same time to resettle the carbon bed. Backwashing eliminates channels through the medium that form during service flow. The backwashing process repeats itself periodically. One backwash a week is usually enough for clean city water residential carbon filter applications.
For whole house chloramine removal, we've combined a generously sized bed of Centaur®, the Calgon Corporation's premium catalytic carbon, with the best delivery system possible. Our chloramine filter is controlled by a Fleck 2510 control valve, a proven performer designed to give year after year of trouble-free service. It's a simple timer valve and there's not a lot that can go wrong with it. We'll set it up before shipping, but you can change the settings easily if you want to customize it to your situation.
Our chloramine filter also features a very unique mineral tank. We use the patented Vortech™ tank. It is designed for superb performance, easy carbon replacement, water saving, and year after year of trouble-free performance. The great advantage of the Vortech tank is that it provides an inner mesh support for the Centaur carbon which greatly reduces the amount of water required for backwashing and eliminates the need for gravel underbedding. Getting rid of the gravel reduces the expense and hassle of servicing the unit. It promotes even flow through the bed for superb performance.
We offer this unique unit in four standard household sizes. In the chart below, you'll see that each has a “service rate” listed. This does not mean that water won't flow faster through the filter. It means that you'll get optimal reduction of chloramine (and other chemicals) if you'll keep your flow rate within the stated service flow limit.
The Chloramine Catcher
PWP Whole House Chloramine Filter
All filters in this table feature:
Vortech™ mineral tank, Fleck 2510 Control Valve, Centaur® Catalytic Carbon (1 to 2.5 cubic feet), 1" Stainless Steel Bypass Valve, drain tubing, & media funnel. The advanced design mineral tank requires no gravel underbed. Installation requires access to a drain and a standard 115 volt electrical connection. (Electrical usage is minimal.)
|Part #||Description||Excellent Chloramine Reduction Up To||Price|
|BW701||PWP Whole House Chloramine Filter.
9" X 48" mineral tank
with 1 Cu. Ft. of Catalytic Carbon.
|2.5 Gallons Per Minute||$738.00|
|BW702||PWP Whole House Chloramine Filter.
10" X 54" mineral tank
with 1.5 Cu. Ft. of Catalytic Carbon.
|3.75 Gallons Per Minute||$925.00|
|bw703||PWP Whole House Chloramine Filter.
12" X 52" mineral tank
with 2 cu. ft. of Catalytic Carbon.
|5 Gallons Per Minute||$1070.00|
|BW704||PWP Whole House Chloramine Filter.
13" X 54" mineral tank
with 2.5 cu. ft. of Catalytic Carbon.
|6.25 Gallons Per Minute||$1280.00|
(whole house & well units)
(listed by part numbers)