What Is A Sediment Filter, And Why Is It Important?

Several types of filters are used in water purifiers. However, the first layer is made up of the sediment filter, whose main purpose is to remove the physical impurities from the water. No matter what the water source is, the sediment filter will remove the visible and colloidal impurities and make sure that the water coming out of the filter is free from the major impurities. 

Since not many are aware of the sediment filter, it is working, the types of sediment filters, and others, we have described here the relevant facts about the filter type.

1. What is a sediment filter?

A sediment filter is a filter that can remove the visible and suspended impurities from the input water. Based on the filter’s micron rating, several types of impurities can be removed by the sediment filter. It forms the first layer in a water purifier so that the physical and bigger impurities cannot damage the more sensitive filters like the RO membrane or the UV tank.

2. How does a sediment filter work?

When water enters the sediment filter, it passes through multiple layers of the filter or crosses a wide surface area with pores having uniform micron size. In these filters, the pores are made wide enough to allow water molecules, minerals, and other useful components to pass without any hurdle. However, most physical impurities are blocked by the filter, including the suspended and colloidal impurities. 

3. What is a sediment filter used for?

The sediment filter is the first layer of any water purifier. It is used to remove impurities like sand, dirt, debris, solid particles, colloidal particles, suspended impurities, and others based on the micron size of the cartridge. 

4. What does a sediment filter remove?

A sediment filter removes every type of impurity from the water, which forms sediments when the water is kept. However, the type of impurity to be removed depends on the micron size of the filter. Bigger sized filters are ideal for blocking the dirt and other physical impurities, whereas the smaller sized filters can effectively remove the cysts and microorganisms. 

5. What are the different types of sediment filters?

In the market, you will usually find three different types of sediment filters. These are categorized according to not only their structural formation but also the mode of working. This section will describe these three popular sediment filter types that you can find in the market with ease. 

• Depth filters: In these filters, the walls are quite thick, and filtration happens as the water crosses the thick walls of the cartridge. In some depth filters, the thickness is in the form of grades. It means that as the water moves towards the column, the thickness will increase, which effectively removes the filter. The graded depth filter has different micron sizes. The outer layer has the largest micron size, and the inner layer is having the smallest.
  
  These filters are made from polypropylene, cellulose, ceramic, acrylic fibre, and others. Out of all these materials, the ceramic and the acrylic fibre depth filters are the most common ones used in water purifiers. 

• Surface filters: From the name itself, you can understand that these are the thinnest sediment filters where only one material layer is used in the construction. The particles get trapped right at the surface itself in smaller traps known as the pleats. These pleats are responsible for holding off the impurity particles of the same micron size.
  
  In addition, with the surface filters, the area of filtration is increased by ten folds. Hence, it can filter more water volume at a time compared to the depth filters where the filtration rate is less. Apart from this, the surface or pleated filters don’t need a replacement. All you need to do is open the cartridge, clean the pleats, and again put back the cartridge in its proper place.

• Adsorptive filters: The adsorptive filters are growing in demand, thanks to the working mechanism, making them highly efficient. Its structure can resemble either the depth or the surface filter. The only difference is that the filter will be charged with static electricity. As a result, the filter surface will attract the impurities with negative charges and keep them attached to the surface due to the electrostatic force of attraction.
  
  In addition, micron size doesn’t matter for the adsorptive filter. Even if the filter has pores having a size of 1 micron, it can still block the impurities whose size is less than 1 micron, all thanks to the electrokinetic adsorption process. 

6. What micron size does my sediment filter need to be? 

The micron-size determines the size of the pores through which the water will pass through the filter membrane. If the micron size is smaller, it will block most of the compounds other than the water molecules. But if the micron size is more, the pores will be larger, and they will allow several other components to pass through along with water molecules. 

1. When you have a sediment filter with 25 microns, it will block only the bigger, visible dirt particles from the water. 
2. For smaller micron sizes like 1 micron, several microscopic elements are removed from the water, like parasitic cysts and others. 
3. If you want an anti-microbial sediment filter, it should have a micron size of 0.5 filters only. 

7. How often should I change my sediment filter?

As the sediment filters collect all the sediment particles present in the input water, they are deposited in the column while the water passes through. Over time, the sediment deposition layer increases and blocks off the path through which water flows. As a result, the water pressure at the output of the sediment filter will decrease over time. This signifies that you need to change your filter to ensure that the water flow rate is consistent. 

So, it would be best if you kept an eye on the water pressure at the output of this filter cartridge, and once it decreases below the threshold, you need to change the filter. If you have the pleated sediment filter, there won’t be any need to change it because the sediments get deposited in the pleats. And all you have to do is clean the layers to maintain the water flow.

Conclusion 

Since now you are aware of what exactly a sediment filter is and how it helps in purifying the water, you need to choose a water purifier having this filter type.