How do water filters work??

Question

I have just changed my filter for my water filter jug and out of curiority I wanted to know what the inside of a filter was like to see how it works and so I smashed it with a hammer. To my surprised it was just full of little bead like stones. How do these bead like stones filter the water. And why is it neccessary to change a water filter every month or so??

Answer 1

the beads , as you will note, fit tightly together , giving slower flow through a larger area , which causes any particles to be suspended in the beads (more high tech than that some particles beads can have chemicals in them to filter different things charcoal sweetens water neutralising many acidic or alkali ingredients)

Answer 2

Murray's answer does it for your specific question, but I would just like to add that aside from tap-water filters, many other types exist.
You have to change or clean all man-made filters because of the build up of the things you are trying to filter out.
Some filters work chemically to neutralise the particles you don't want, so the chemicals need replacing.
Some filters work biologically with bacteria eating what you do not want and excreting what you do.
Water has many foreign bodies which cannot be filtered out by one type, but for pre-cleaned tap water stick with what Murray says - he's right.

Answer 3

ion exchange - the positive calcium (which causes hard water) is replaced by the sodium in the beads in a water softener. the filter has to be replaced when all the sodium has been replaced.

as an aside to your question, you get do get softer water but also an ammount of sodium in each glass as a result of this process, so not so good it you need to keep your salt intake to a minimum.

Answer 4

They generally contain granules or pellets of activated charcoal (carbon). The granules/pellets are called 'Adsorbent' materials.
They don't soften the water, they simply remove impurities like chlorine, lead .. etc

The process is called 'Adsorption' where, the molecules of the adsorbent will hold on to the molecules of the impurities in the water - the process is used on a large scale in industry.

After a time - depending on usage - the adsorbent becomes saturated with impurities and become ineffective. 1 month is about the life of a filter.
A water softening system would not fit on your kitchen top.

Answer 5

yes they do..they go through a series of oxygen and a wierd type of rock that clenses water.

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_filters