Solid Block Carbon Filters Pros & Cons

 

60% of the human body is made of water. 71% of earth’s surface is covered with water.4% of air is made of water. As you can see, water represents an essential part of our life. We drink it, we cook with it, clean with it and so on. But don’t you find it frustrating that tap water contains around 10 million bacteria (according to the dailymail). As pure as it seems, Adam’s ale can get contaminated, and if that happens, god forbid, who knows what can happen to your body upon drinking it. From Cholera to Typhoid and Dysentery, polluted H2O can be a real fatal threat to your health.

So, how can we reduce that risk? Over the years, science has revealed many ways to treat water and clean it. One of the most used solutions is filtration, which can be done through big drinking-water treatment plants, such as Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plan, which is the biggest in the US, or locally, through water filters that can be installed in any house, and that are widely used due to their effectiveness. There are many types of Water filters, including Alkaline/Water Ionizers, UV filters, Reverse Osmosis Filters and Solid Block Carbon Filters that use Activated Carbon as their raw material.


In this article, we’re going to discover what is Activated Carbon Filtration, how the Solid Block Carbon Filters work and why you should or shouldn’t get one yourself. So, keep on reading, I’m sure you’ll find this interesting, especially if you liked your chemistry classes (like I did).

So, what are Solid Block Carbon Filters exactly?

Wikipedia defines Active Carbon filtering as “a method of filtering that uses a bed of activated carbon to remove contaminants and impurities, using chemical adsorption”. Adsorption is the process of trapping the pollutant molecules inside the pores of the carbon substrate. Simple, isn’t it? Solid Block Carbon Filters use Activated Carbon as the raw material to clean the water passing through them. That Carbon is specially treated and compressed to create a uniform, compact block or matrix, thus the name Block Carbon Filters.

These filters are effective because they clean up the water on the macroscopic level as well as the microscopic one. Solid Block Carbon Filters use adsorption to clean contaminated water of many types of nasty particles, including but not limited to Parasites, Nitrate, and Metals, all while keeping the good minerals, therefore making the water healthier.

Macroscopic filtering is easy to understand. Just imagine a piece of cloth through which we’re passing some sandy water. During the filtration process, you can notice that the water passes while the sand particles don’t. To grasp the microscopic filtering part, we must understand some basic chemistry.

Carbon is the basic atom of any organic material, and it binds to water molecules easily. Since sand filters are loosey and granular, they only work on the macroscopic level, so they stop the big particles while allowing microscopic organic particles to pass with the water. Solid Block Carbon Filters, on the other hand, get rid of the organic components in water because the carbon atoms within them break their bonds with H2O molecules to attach to Activated Carbon pores in the filter. According to Wikipedia, Typical particle sizes that can be removed by Carbon Filters range from 0.5 to 50 micrometers, so they’re really specific when it comes to what they can filter.

All that scientific talking can give the impression that using Carbon to treat water is a modern thing while it isn’t as Egyptians been using it for centuries now, by storing water in charcoals that kept it fresh and tasty.

What are the advantages of these filters over other types of water treatment solutions?

First, these filters are economical, both environmentally and financially. Solid Block Carbon Filters don’t require heat or pressure, which makes them the best choice for those seeking an affordable solution to get purified water while respecting mother nature. Other filtration methods, like distillation, cause water loss during the process and require a lot of energy. As for the price of Solid Block Carbon Filters, it’s worth mentioning that they can go for as low as $15 for some brands, they’re not the best, of course, but they’re a good solution if you want a quick way to cleanse your water. You get what you pay for, so don’t get greedy.


Second, many prefer to use Solid Block Carbon Filters in their households because of their proven effectiveness. As we said above, carbon filters can selectively get rid of many types of microscopic contaminants while keeping the beneficial components and necessary minerals of water. Dangerous chemical pesticides and herbicides, as well as parasites, bacteria, and other water pollutants can safely be removed while calcium, zinc, and magnesium will remain in the water, all thanks to adsorption, which ensures clean and pure liquid. According to EPA, activated carbon is the only recommended treatment for 14 familiar poisons such as Aldicarb, Chlordane, Heptachlor, and Lindane. You know what they say, if the United States Environmental Protection Agency said it, you should do it.

That leads us to the third point, which is getting rid of the bad taste and odor of your water. We all want our morning cup of water to be refreshing and energizing, and a bad odor or taste can get in the way of that. This great advantage of carbon water filter is a natural consequence of its extreme filtering capabilities, so maybe you should get one to enjoy a fresh morning. You don’t want to take your showers in stinky water now, do you?

Are you telling me that these filters don’t have any cons?

Nothing is perfect, and if something is too good to be true, it probably is. Even though Solid Block Carbon Filters have many advantages, they do have some drawbacks. The most troubling one, in my opinion, is the fact that the best Solid Block Carbon Filters are huge in terms of their size, and can take up a lot of space in your house. Effectiveness doesn’t come cheap, we all know that.

Besides, filtration is a relatively slow process. It takes a lot of time as the water passes through different stages of purification. Some carbon filters try to speed up the process by reducing the filtration duration, but that can have reverse results as it will reduce the contact time between the water and the filter, resulting in a less effective filtration as many particles will pass unnoticed.

Besides, even though carbon filters can remove a broad range of water contaminants, there are many types that they have no power against. That includes fluoride, that requires using a separate water filter, and some dangerous particles, like perchlorate, which is a rocket fuel ingredient, in addition to dissolved inorganic components in the water, such as chromium, fluoride, and perchlorate, which proved to be a great challenge to the activated carbon filters, as they’re most effective against organic components of water. The same goes for Radionuclides, which are atoms that have an excessive amount of energy, where carbon is ineffective, according to EPA, that selected reverse osmosis and ion exchange as the treatments of choice for these particles.

Don’t get confused with all those scientific words, try to understand them as they’re not to be taken lightly if water contamination is a serious problem in your area and you must make the decision of whether you should get a Solid Block Carbon Filter or not.

In conclusion

Getting clean water is something we all dig, but it represents a great challenge, especially today when pollution is spreading like a plague. What we can do is try our best to get rid of contaminants, and Solid Block Carbon Filters can be a great solution as they’re efficient, affordable and environment-friendly, if the few cons don’t bother you of course. One product we found, we tested and we did like is the Clear2o CWS100 Water Filter Pitcher.

Affordable, portable and improves drinking water quality. If you want to put a price on clean, safe, drinking water then at least have a look at the Clear2o CWS100 Water Filter Pitcher

What we like is for the price of an evening out you can get this pitcher and accessories and start to enjoy water again. If you’re just wanting replacement filters, we use Clear2o Replacement Water Filter made with Solid Carbon Block Filtration Technology, the CWF503 part reference. Again these are easy to order here and we have always had fast delivery.

Relevant Articles to this topic:  Best Countertop Reverse Osmosis Water Filters