The filters jugs are devices designed to somewhat improve the taste and smell of water by reducing some of the contaminants. These filters use a small amount of activated carbon and other secondary technologies to reduce some undesirable substances from the water. Their small market is mainly due to their low cost compared to more sophisticated water purification systems. Our lack of knowledge leads us to wrong purchases at the cost of our health.
1️⃣ Τι μπορούν να αφαιρέσουν;
Jug filters are not actually made to purify water, they just remove some odour, a small percentage of chlorine and also a small percentage of other elements.
❌ Τι δεν μπορούν να αφαιρέσουν;
However, their limited potential is significant. They are not able to reduce or remove asbestos fibres, polycyclic aromatic carbons, iron, cysts, bacteria, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, etc. This means that the more serious pollutants, such as heavy metals (e.g. lead), microbiological contaminants (bacteria and viruses), and organic chemicals, remain in the water. In other words, they offer us no protection.
🧪 Επιδόσεις σε πραγματικές συνθήκες
Real world tests of jugs on the market that have a small amount of carbon, such as 20 to 30 grams, show low water purification results and this is the reason why they cannot get any special international certification, e.g. from NSF or WQA. They also need frequent filter change maybe even monthly which basically this increases the annual expenditure more than a modern certified technology.
💧 Ο ρόλος των εξελιγμένων συστημάτων καθαρισμού
For true water purity, it is necessary to use sophisticated purification systems that use multiple filtering stages such as Imperial® και με 850-1200 γραμμάρια ενεργού medicinal coal that have and mefiltration pore gauge from 0,1 to 0,4 micron. These systems can remove all chemical contaminants, including heavy metals, microbiological agents and organic chemicals and provide N.S.F. certified clean, healthy filtered water.
🥗 Δεν μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν για το πλύσιμο τροφίμων
The food washing, such as fruit, vegetables, meat or fish, requires a constant flow of clean water to remove dirt, pesticide residues and possible bacteria. Filter jugs, however, are designed to provide small amounts of filtered water and are not connected to the tap, resulting in:
- The filtering rate is too slow: Most jugs take several minutes to filter even 1 litre of water. If one tries to fill a jug with filtered water to wash food, the process will take too long.
- Capacity is limited: Jugs have a capacity of 1 to 3 litres, so if you need to wash a large amount of food, you will have to fill and refill the water several times.
- Absence of water pressure: Jugs do not provide the flow and pressure required to effectively remove contaminants from food, as is the case with running tap water.
Due to these restrictions, washing food with water from a jug with a filter is particularly time-consuming and impractical.
🍲 Δεν μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν για μαγείρεμα
In addition to washing food, the filter jugs are also Not suitable for cooking, as they cannot provide the quantities of water needed to prepare food.
- The quantities of water required for cooking are large: For boiling pasta, preparing soup or cooking rice, 2-5 litres of water are often needed. An average jug with a filter has a capacity of 1-3 litres, which means that you have to filter water several times until you have enough for the food.
- Filtering is slow and time-consuming: If one wants to filter 4-5 litres of water for cooking, the process can take 30 minutes or more, depending on how fast the jug filter is working.
- Interruption in the cooking process: Because there is no continuous supply of filtered water, one may have to wait for a long time until the jug is refilled and the next amount of water is filtered.
This practice is tedious and inefficient, especially for families or people who cook large quantities of food.
⌛ Δεν μπορούμε να φιλτράρουμε μεγάλες ποσότητες νερού – η διαδικασία διαρκεί ώρες
If someone wants to use only filtered water from a jug for their daily needs, they will find that this is almost impossible because of the very slow filtering rate.
- Most jugs filter approximately 0.3 to 0.5 litres of water per minute, which means that in order to filter 5-10 litres of water, required at least 30-60 minutes.
- If we try to filter even more for washing food, cooking and eating, the process can take many hours, making the jugs unsuitable for this kind of needs.
This problem becomes even more pronounced when there are multiple needs στο νοικοκυριό, όπως πόσιμο νερό για όλη την οικογένεια, μαγείρεμα και πλύσιμο τροφίμων..
⚠️ Πιθανός κίνδυνος επιμόλυνσης
Another reason why filter jugs cannot be used for washing food is the risk of contamination. If someone attempts to pour filtered water from the jug directly onto fruit, vegetables, meat there is a possibility that the water will come into contact with surfaces that are not sterile or return to the jug with contaminants.
In addition, if the jug is not cleaned regularly, bacteria or mould can grow inside it, especially in the filter area. This can have negative consequences for food safety, as the filtered water may no longer be as clean as it is supposed to be.
Apart from all this, the filtration that takes place is incomplete as it does not remove all pollutants and those that it does remove it only reduces them. So it does not solve the problem of the purity of our water.
✅ Conclusion
The filters κανάτες είναι μια cheap solution to slightly improve the taste and smell of the water. However, their limited potential means that they cannot offer any protection against a wide range of pollutants present in tap water so they offer us nothing to protect our health. Nor can they be used for washing food, cooking or filtering large quantities of water. Capacity limitations, the slow filtering process and the lack of continuous flow make the jugs impractical for these tasks. Cleaning systems such as Imperial® of Camelot® is the right choice as they ensure greater comfort, speed and efficiency in the daily use of water. It is important to be properly informed and to choose the right filtration systems, thus ensuring our health and well-being.
