The ceramic element is constructed from an inert naturally occurring material, Kieselguhr, which has a very fine porous structure. The formulation and firing of the ceramic is closely controlled by our Quality Control Department to ensure that the overall size of pores range from 2 to 4.5 microns.

When water passes through the porous ceramic element, Suspended Particles become trapped mainly in the outer layer of pores and only clean water passes through. This principle is similar to that used by municipal water departments when they purify the water supply by passing it through sand filters, although the sand filter has much larger pores than the ceramic element and is therefore much less efficient in the removal of small suspended particles.

Particles of rust, silt, aluminum (see section on aluminum removal) will be trapped on the outer surface of the filter element in normal use and these must be scrubbed off with a brush or scouring pad (3M Scotch-brite or similar) periodically to maintain satisfactory flow through the filter element.

The cleaning frequency will depend on the quality of the water supply but typically, cleaning frequencies of once per month to once every six months would be considered normal.