How to choose a water filter for home?

It’s not easy to choose the right home water filter. Carbon, microns, turbidity, and many other ambiguous words describe its performance. Here are a few tips to buy the right filter system for how you use water.


Start by deciding the tap arrangement you want

There are 2 ways to install a home water filter to a tap.

  1. The first is plumbed to a separate filtered water tap. You will commonly see this style in hardware stores. The reason they require a separate tap is because the water passes through the filter slowly due to its design. This system is appropriate if you use filtered water just for drinking and you don’t mind drilling a hole in your sink or bench-top for a small tap to be installed.

  2. The second is connecting a high-flow water filter inline into your mixer tap cold water hose. This is the style we recommend. These high-flow filters deliver up to 9 litres per minute and give you filtered water for drinking, cooking and filling appliances like kettles and coffee machines. The major advantage of this style is that you will not need to drill any holes in your nice sink or bench top to install a second small (and often flimsy) tap. The high flow filter is discrete under your sink.

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How a high-flow home water filter is installed

It’s really easy to install. Just disconnect the flexi-hose from your cold water valve, attach it to the outlet (right side) of the filter head, and then purchase a second flexi-hose to reconnect to your cold water valve. Use Brass adapters (3/8″ to 1/2″) to attach the flexi-hoses to the filter head. Be sure you have the available height under the sink. You will need approx 60cm in height in total. (43cm for the filter and head assembly + 7cm underneath to insert the filter + 10cm on the top to attach the hoses).

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Selecting the right filter cartridge to suit how you use water at home

That last step is to insert a filter cartridge into the head; (review our Drinking Water section to select the right filter). Insert the cartridge up into the head, twist to lock, and then flush out the air from the filter and lines by running water through. Once the spitting and white water stops, you will be the proud owner of fresh, crystal clear water.

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Got Questions?? Send our customer service team an email

*Note: Essential Services recommends the use of a plumber to install all water filtration systems.

The secret behind McDonald’s Coca Cola is revealed

Mainstream media has latched on to Mark Proffit’s blog this week, where he reveals the secrets of McDonald’s great-tasting Coke. He reveals what we’ve known for decades, quality soft drink needs quality water filters.

Most people have been to a fast-food chain and received a coke with their meal. Or perhaps you’ve ordered a Coke from a restaurant, pub or bar?

Mark outlines why McDonald’s is known for great-tasting Coke. You may not agree that Macca’s has the best, but the secret of achieving the best tasting soft drinks has long been a specialty of Essential Services and Everpure.

Mark outlines that one of the keys is quality water filtration, and McDonald’s makes sure it has ‘gold standard’ filtration methods. Everpure and its distributors have been supplying McDonald’s globally with water filters for decades to achieve the best-in-class execution of soft drinks. It’s not only Coke that gets the benefit; Everpure also delivers quality water for coffee, steam ovens and ice making.

Water contaminants are the most likely reason for off-tastes and odours in a soft drink. Municipalities use chlorine or chloramines to disinfect central water supplies and those chemicals oxidize and break down sugars in water. Those reactions produce a range of different compounds that can negatively influence the taste of a beverage. In addition, because free chlorine is a gas, it dissipates along with the carbonation after a drink is poured, creating a “chlorine” smell.

If you want to serve your customers high-quality soft drinks, get in touch and learn how Everpure 7FC and Everpure 4FC filter systems can improve the taste of your soft drinks. Everpure systems are able to be installed by your plumber or can be arranged through our national service/installation team.

Click to View Mark’s Clip

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

Not that long ago, most foodservice operators offered a limited beverage menu. A quick-service restaurant might have five-six carbonated drinks, with maybe one non-carb. A convenience store might offer a few fountain beverages and maybe two FCB flavours. Today, QSRs and C-stores have multiple coffee machines, blended Ice Machines, multiple FCB’s, combi-steam ovens and multiple banks of 8-10 head post-mix machines.

New equipment and beverage lines create challenges

Expanding beverage menus mean more equipment than ever in food service. This can require more water lines to manage, and more time for service dealers to identify and trace lines, costing you money. In a restaurant today, it’s not uncommon to find:

  • New beverage lines tangled with old lines
  • Poor or no identification of lines
  • No shut-off valves on lines
  • Hard-plumbed lines with little or no flexibility

This can lead to:

  • An unsightly and inefficient mess of lines in the back of the house
  • Higher service costs
  • More possibility of an error during equipment servicing
  • Longer equipment downtime during service and maintenance
  • Higher costs to add more beverage equipment in the future

To make it easier for you to manage water lines, Pentair developed the Everpure SimpliFlow System

The Everpure SimpliFlow System:
  • Provides easy management of ingredient water distribution lines, keeping your operation more efficient and organised
  • Reduces your services costs, and lessens your beverage equipment downtime during service
  • Includes four different systems, with models ranging from one manifold with six outlet valves up to four-manifolds with a total of 24 outlet valves. Each manifold can be used for a particular type of treated water (RO, Carbon Filtered, Scale Inhibitor Dosed, etc.
  • Is easy to install and requires no maintenance
  • Offers multiple valves and fitting options that are easy to install and change as needed

Simpliflow Installed

This installation by Platinum Restaurant Services caught our eye recently as one of the neatest installations we’ve seen. At the centre of the plumbing is the Everpure Simpliflow.

Brad Fitzgerald told us, “being our first full store beverage/filtration installation we wanted to ensure that we provided a finished product that was both easy to identify but also simplified in itself with the reduction of joins. The use of a cable tray enables this by allowing cable tying of bunches of pipes into a neat bend, thus reducing the joining of pipes and less risk long term of potential leak areas. The use of the Everpure Quad and MRS 600 units makes the installation that much simpler with their installation guides. With the space provided in the filtration room, we were able to provide an area that will be easy for both reactive and preventative maintenance and also allow for future growth.”

It’s fair to say this won’t be the last of Brad’s handy work.

To find out more about Simpliflow or other Everpure products seen, contact us or browse in our shop.

Coffee water filter selection, what you need to know?

In a world of new specialty coffees and advanced coffee equipment, people are suddenly interested to know, “how does water really affect my coffee brewing?” And “why doesn’t it taste the same when I make it somewhere else?” People are eager to learn how to select the right coffee water filter for this cafe.

Coffee water filter retailers have been chanting “espresso is 90-ish% water” for years

Many years ago, Everpure discovered that certain water contaminants have an adverse effect on coffee machines and coffee brewing. This led to collaboration with machine manufacturers, coffee producers and cafe operators to solve these issues around the world. Over the years, Everpure built a vast bank of knowledge which has allowed them to develop a water standard for coffee. Out of this water, the standard has come innovation to address these issues no matter where you serve coffee.

Through carefully selected filtration, multi-store operators can achieve a consistent coffee taste from Sydney to Perth to ensure customer satisfaction and trust in your product. Australia’s water conditions vary state by state, even suburb by suburb in some places, therefore it’s important to recognise that no single coffee water filter solution will fit all locations. So don’t be fooled by one filter type that fits all companies.

The following points should get you asking the right questions.

Turbidity

These are the particles in the water such as dirt, silt and sand. High levels of turbidity can cause abrasion damage and clogging of the machine’s values therefore it’s recommended that water for coffee not exceed 0.5 NTU. To achieve this we recommend a coffee water filter rated at or below 5 microns.

Chlorine and Chloramine

The only aroma coming from the cup should be the smell of coffee. Excess levels of Chlorine or Chloramine can oxidise the coffee aromatics, oils and flavours, negatively impacting the coffee. Good quality carbon filtration will usually be enough to remove these. If you have Chloramine in your local water, seek a specific Chloramine rated coffee water filter.

Alkalinity

Alkalinity or Carbonate hardness levels should be below 100ppm. Above this level, water flow through the coffee grounds can slow and bitterness may be noticed. Machine scaling is also more likely. Alkalinity lower than 100ppm however doesn’t assure you of a scale-free machine. There are many more factors to consider in preventing scale formation. Treatment of Alkalinity with a blendable softener like Everpure’s Claris Ultra Series is recommended.

Hardness

Ideally, the total hardness should be 17 – 85ppm even though what is an acceptable limit is open to debate. Water at the lower end will cause over-extraction of the aromatic oils, whilst water that is too hard will under-extract, this then leads to a bitter or sour taste in the coffee.

It’s the hardness reacting with the carbonates (alkalinity) that creates scale in coffee machines. The scale will build up on heating elements, acting as an insulator, preventing efficient heating of the water and ultimately leading to a failure of the element, blocking small valves and reducing water flow and energy efficiency.

In hard water areas, Total Hardness can be reduced by softening or Reverse Osmosis (RO). In areas of relatively soft water like Melbourne, over-engineering with softeners or RO will impair the coffee flavour because all the good mineral has been removed. The use of scale inhibiting filters containing Phosphate (such as Everpure 2CB-GW, 2CB5-S, 4CB5-S) is a better solution because it will leave the mineral profile where is should be.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

This is basically everything dissolved in the water (Hardness, Chloride etc.) and is the water’s “aromatic oils”. Suggested levels for coffee brewing are between 70 – 200ppm. High levels of dissolved solids can increase acidity, give “heavy” extraction and impart off-tastes and odours. Low levels can give a sour taste and a lightness to the extraction as the water itself has no real body. The most effective way to reduce TDS above 200ppm is through blendable Reverse Osmosis technology like Everpure’s MRS Series.

pH.

Water with a pH lower than 7 is considered acid and could, under extreme conditions, lead to corrosion of the equipment. It will also impart sourness to the extracted coffee. Water with a pH greater than 7 is considered alkaline and can cause bitterness in the coffee. In reality, a pH of 7 is difficult to achieve, therefore an ideal range would be between 6.8 and 7.4.

Chlorides

Chlorides are common around Australia, predominantly in Perth, up and down the WA coast, Adelaide, regional South Australia and regional Queensland. With a myriad of metals used in modern coffee machines, it’s difficult to nominate an exact limit. We recommend action is taken if levels exceed 50ppm.

Reverse Osmosis is the only effective method of reducing Chlorides. Softening filters will have no effect and often make the situation worse because they remove the hardness which was partially balancing out the Chloride.

We hope this article was helpful in your quest for consistent quality coffee. For more information, please review coffee filtration here.

Water Testing

Maybe you have no idea what’s in your water? Why not order a 5 parameter water test from our lab to get you started with selection.

Choose Genuine EVERPURE Filter

Everpure has been leading the water filtration industry since 1933, Delivering commercial filtration to the food and beverage industry. That same commercial quality is also available for you at home to produce bottled quality water from any tap in your home.

There are numerous Everpure copies claiming to have the same quality, reliability, technology and performance as Everpure. If it were true, the global food and hospitality industry would trust them too. Yet every day, Australia’s biggest brands in food and beverage like McDonald’s, Gloria Jeans, and Schweppes choose genuine Everpure filters. Everpure filters deliver commercial-grade ingredient water that is consistent, reliable and the quality that comes from a crafted metal canister.


How to Choose Genuine Everpure at home

Here are just a handful of imitation copy filters you will see available. Common imitations are the Purtec PureMix X6, the Water Filters Australia Premium (C-B-Premium), the Water Filters Australia Platinum (C-B-Platinum) and the Omnipure E5515 SB.

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You can replace these filters with Genuine Everpure by selecting from two commercial-grade Everpure filters. You will also find that buying genuine is not much more expensive, because Essential Services is an Everpure master distributor.

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Everpure PBS-200

The Everpure PBS-200 is a premium, high flow rate, compact water filter for home. It features next-generation Fibredyne® filter media for high capacity and low-pressure drop reduction of sediment, cysts, chlorine taste and odour and much more down to 0.5 of a micron.  View in Store


Everpure EF-1500

The Everpure EF-1500 features the same commercial-grade filtration as the PBS-200 while also reducing lead and the formation of scale in water-using appliances. View in Store


Suggested Replacements

Water Filters Australia Premium (C-B-Premium) – Replace with Everpure PBS-200

Water Filters Australia Platinum (C-B-Platinum) – Replace with Everpure PBS-200 or Everpure EF-1500 to Upgrade

WFA12 – Replace with Everpure PBS-200

Purtec PureMix X6 – Replace with Everpure PBS-200

Omnipure E5515 SB – Replace with Everpure PBS-200

Essential Services is a National Master Distributor or Everpure Water Filters. Whether you are in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and everywhere in between, we can ship express directly to your door.