Activated Carbon Filters are designed with porous materials that attract pollutants in the water, trapping them within their fine pores. It is also a common household item, and many people wonder if it can be washed.
Can You Wash Activated Carbon Filters? Can you throw them away after a certain amount of time? Can they be recycled?
These are all questions that come up when you have an activated carbon filter in your home. Let’s dive into the science behind activated carbon filters to find out.
In this article, I will answer these questions and the best way to wash to ensure that you get the most use out of your filter.
What is an Activated Carbon Filter?
Activated carbon filters are used in household items like water purifiers, humidifiers, and air filters. However, activated carbon filters are activated charcoal, which makes it porous. Thus, it attracts pollutants in the water and traps them within its fine pores. It also can trap some particles that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
Furthermore, Activated carbon filtering can remove some hazardous pollutants that are harmful to our health like acids, phenols, and chlorine. It also converts harmful pollutants into less harmful substances when they are submerged in water.
Therefore, carbon filters are widely used in purifying drinking water and the air. It can also be used to remove any harmful germs from the Water. So, it is the most essential thing in our daily life.
How does Activated Carbon Filter work?
Activated carbon filters are activated with oxygen or steam. In other words, the process greatly increases the surface area of activated charcoal making it highly porous and adsorptive.
However, adsorption is when an activated carbon filter attracts pollutants to its surface. So, these contaminants are trapped inside the activated carbon pores and remain there until the activated carbon filter is washed.
Furthermore, activated carbon filters come in two types
Electrostatic Activated Carbon Filter (EAC)
Electrostatic activated charcoal filters use a high voltage to electrically charge the activated carbon filter media. So, this process has activated carbon attracting pollutants and trapping them within their pores, similar to how a magnet attracts metal particles.
Powder Activated Carbon Filters (PAC)
Powder activated carbon filter is made from smaller pieces of activated charcoal. So, this makes the activated carbon filters more effective at absorbing activated charcoal particles. Besides, the activated carbon filter has a higher surface area and will therefore absorb more pollutants than the electrostatic activated carbon filter.
Benefits of Activated Carbon Filters
What do you get when you combine carbon and oxygen? For one thing, you can produce activated carbon filters. These filters are used in a wide range of products, including filtration systems, environmental protection, improved indoor air quality, and healthier bodies.
Furthermore, activated carbon filters serve multiple uses in the world today. Many people rely on them to remove odors and purify their drinking water, but that is only the beginning of their potential benefits. It also can be benefited for many reasons.
So, let’s check some crucial points.
- Carbon filters are simple to maintain and will last for a long time.
- Carbon filters are environmentally friendly. The carbon can be burned or safely left in the soil when you replace it.
- Bacteria and viruses are smaller than the pores in a carbon filter, so they cannot pass through. Carbon filters come with a mesh or another type of pre-filter to catch large particles such as dirt, sand, rust, silt, and other harmful substances.
- Carbon filters remove chlorine, organic solvents, pesticides, VOCs, and other chemicals from water.
- On the other hand, it doesn’t remove minerals like calcium and magnesium, which are healthy for you to drink
- It also removes bad tastes and odors from water, leaving it fresh.
- In short, activated carbon filters make our daily life healthier and better.
Can You Wash An Activated Carbon Filter?
There are many different types of water filters out there and activated carbon filtration is one of them. The purpose of the activated carbon filter is to remove organic chemicals and other compounds that can cause bad tastes and odors, as well as microscopic particles from drinking water.
However, people often get confused about can I wash an activated carbon filter? Is there any problem that may happen if I wash the activated carbon filter?
Yes! Activated carbon filters can be washed between uses. But you must wash them correctly. Otherwise, it won’t work as before. Besides, you should always allow activated charcoal filters to dry after a thorough wash before using them again
However, you can wash the activated carbon filter five to eight times. After that, it won’t be usable. So, you have to replace it before that. It is also replaced more often than normally activated charcoal filters
When Should You Wash Activated Carbon Filters?
It is the most challenging question for every activated carbon filter user. Anyone couldn’t exactly answer the question. But your activated carbon filters should be washed after each use. However, it depends on how often you run your activated charcoal filter.
You should wash the filter either every time you change the water or when the filter gets dirty. But the filter should be washed before it gets dirty. Otherwise, it will reduce the efficiency of the filter.
However, it is usually recommended to wash the activated carbon filters once or twice a week to ensure that activated charcoal is not left behind. This activated carbon filter will give you the best performance and help prolong its lifespan.
How to wash Activated Carbon Filters
An activated carbon filter can do wonders for your water quality. However, washing the filter is an important part of keeping your water healthy. Most carbon filters can be washed by hand or in a dishwasher, depending on the model.
But there are some limitations because you can’t use soap or detergent to wash the activated carbon filter. On the other hand, you can’t clean it properly without using any chemicals. So, how will you clean it?
I prefer to use muriatic acid to wash activated carbon filters. However, you have to be careful to use the acid. Because it can be harmful to you. But you can wash your activated carbon filter safely if you follow our instructions and precautions.
Before learning the washing procedure, let’s check the safety equipment first that you need. So, you need to wear goggles, masks, gloves, and also be careful to not touch with your bare hands.
Besides, you have to bring some essential things that you need to wash the activated carbon filter. These are,
- Clean Water
- Muriatic Acid
- Bucket
- Plastic stir or spoon
- Pipe or hose
So, after getting those, let’s start the detailed process to wash activated carbon filters with the precautions.
- Firstly, take the bucket and fill it with fresh water. Also, don’t take too hot or too cold water.
- After that, don’t add any soap or detergent, add 2 to 2.5 cups of muriatic acid into the bucket. Then, mix it with water through a plastic stir or spoon and make a solution.
- Now, wash the activated carbon filter with a pipe or hose. You should use your hands and rub properly.
- Keep it for a minimum of 5 to 6 days in a bucket of solution. Because the muriatic acid solution takes time to kill and remove every microorganism from your filter.
- Then, fill the water if the water level goes down and also keep it at your room temperature.
- After that, take out from the solution and put it into another bucket of clean water for at least 4 hours.
- Again, wash it properly with a pipe or hose and do not touch it with bare hands.
- In this way, you can wash activated carbon filters safely with muriatic acid. While washing the filter, if the color of the filter changes to orange and red, don’t worry. It is because of the reaction between muriatic acid and carbon.
- Then, take a dry towel to wipe out your filter completely. And leave it for a day in a sunny place, so that the water evaporates from the filter and dries it completely.
So, it is the best and effective way to wash activated carbon water filters. If you want to use your filter for a long time, follow the process properly. Otherwise, you can’t get your expected result.
Can Carbon Filters Be Reused or Recycled?
Nowadays, recycling products is a popular way to reduce waste and keep activated carbon out of landfills. It is important to recycle activated carbon carefully though because activated charcoal can be harmful if ingested.
However, an activated carbon filter is not recyclable because they have to be used up before being thrown away. They only last so long and should always be washed after use to prolong their lifespan as activated charcoal.
How long do Activated Carbon Filters Last?
It is another challenging question for an activated carbon filter user. Because nothing goes for a lifelong. Consistently, activated carbon filters also don’t go for a lifelong. However, people want to use it for a long time as it is an expensive product.
So, the activated charcoal in activated carbon filters is not a permanent material and will eventually stop trapping pollutants. In other words, this activated carbon filter will only last for a certain amount of time depending on how much-activated charcoal is in it and also the quality of the activated carbon filter.
Besides, if you wash the filter properly, you can use your activated carbon filter for a certain time. So, follow the described washing process accordingly and wash the filter regularly.
Are Activated Carbon Water Filters Safe?
Activated carbon is the most popular type of filter media used for water filters. However, people often think are activated carbon water filters safe? Are they dangerous to our health, or are they safe filters that don’t contain harmful chemicals? Are they better for you than normal ceramic or simple carbon filters?
More and more people are starting to drink filtered water. However, water filtration systems come in many different shapes and sizes, but the most common one that is found in homes is the activated carbon filter.
Activated Carbon filters work by spreading out micro-pores with pores evenly distributed across the surface of a solid, usually made of activated carbon. A small amount of water comes into contact with the activated carbon, which absorbs certain substances found in drinking water. This can be used to rid water of certain chemicals and toxins.
So, don’t worry, activated carbon water filters are safe for our daily use.
Is An Activated Carbon Filter Better Than Other Water Filters?
In most cases, yes. Activated carbon is often used as a purifying medium in the filtration of water. Some of the activated carbon’s benefits include:
- It doesn’t leach chemicals or impurities into water unlike other types of filters.
- It can be used for a very long time without replacing it unlike other types of filters.
- It works well in filtering out both big and small contaminants from water.
- It does not allow contaminants to escape back into the water unlike other types of filters.
So, you can choose activated carbon filters over other different water filters. But you must buy a good quality carbon filter to get a good result.
Final Thoughts
So, do you still have any confusion about the activated carbon filters? Can you wash activated carbon filters now?
I hope you can understand properly. However, you can consider this article as an ultimate guideline for activated carbon filters. So, don’t forget to share the article with others. If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below!
I will try my best to give you a better answer.
Thank you for reading this article and see you next time guys!