FAQ

Here's some of our most common questions.

If you can't find the answer to your question below then please call us on 01352 838 281, send a message through our contact page or message us via Facebook. 

Q. What does a water filter do?

• A water filter removes impurities from your household water that you don't want in there. For e.g. chlorine, fluoride and many others. You can choose between a drinking water or mains water filter. One deals with just your drinking water and the other filters all the cold water coming into your house. 

Q. How do I know what's in my water?

• Visit Discover Water and enter your postcode to find out who provides your water and sewerage services. Then visit your water company's website and you should discover what's in your water. For a more detailed analysis you'll need to contact your water company directly.

Q. Which water filter do I need?

• The first thing you need to do is decide if you just want to filter your drinking water or if you want to treat all of the water coming into your house. If you just want to treat your drinking water then browse our range of drinking water filters. If you want to treat all of the water in your house then take a look at our mains water filters. Also known as whole house water filters.
• What is it about your water that you want to change? Don't like the taste? Don't like the smell? The water is making your skin worse? You've had a water analysis done and you're concerned about the water properties or possible contaminants? The local authority has condemned your water and you have to take action NOW! The list is endless and that's when most people call us. We're here to help and there's no such thing as a silly question. We want the very best for you. 
• If you're on a private water supply then look at our Private Water and UV Treatment pages. 

Q. Why does my water taste horrible? 

• It's the chlorine. All of of drinking water filters remove chlorine. Chlorine is a disinfectant used by the water industry and small amounts are added to the public water supply as it leaves the treatment works. Chlorine kills any harmful bacteria present and keeps water safe on it's way to your tap. Unfortunately the closer you are to a water treatment centre the stronger the smell and taste of chlorine. But, it's so easy to remove. 

Q. What is a mains water filter?

• A mains water filter plumbs directly into your home's cold water supply. One of the biggest benefits is that you don't need to install a separate tap.  A mains water filter also filters your whole house. 

Q. Are water filters expensive?

• Not nearly as expensive as buying bottled water in single use plastic bottles. Our most basic filter starts from £71.99 and the ongoing yearly maintenance cost is £18.99. We've installed a simple to use calculator that will demonstrate just how much you will save by installing a water filter system into your domestic property. CLICK HERE to play on the calculator.

Q. How much does it cost to maintain my water filter system each year?

• Ongoing maintenance costs depend on the type of water filter cartridge you've got in your system. Our most basic water filter cartridge starts at £18.99. We send out 6 monthly emails to remind you to check the performance of your water filter. This doesn't necessarily mean you need to change the cartridge. We find our customers like to change their water filter cartridges every year as a minimum. Take a look at our water filter cartridges page to get an idea of cost.

Q. Can I maintain the system myself?

• Of course you can. Our systems are easy to install and easy to maintain. Just don't throw away the housing spanner! If you have spare ones can be found here!

Q. How do I increase my hot water pressure?

• Are you sick of turning on the hot taps in the house and the water just S...L...O...W...L...Y trickles out?

  This is especially annoying if you're craving a nice long hot shower after a busy and hectic day and you don't get what you want because your hot water pressure absolutely sucks.

  You do know you can do something about it don't you?

  Here's how...

  Increase your hot water pressure up to 2.0 bar with our hot water booster pump. 

Q. Why should I use Fountain Filters?

• We're a long established family run business and care about what you want and listen to what problems you need to solve. That helps us match our products to your specific needs; improving the quality of your water and general health and wellbeing.

Q. How do I get help?

• There's no such thing as a silly question and we're here to help. Our contact details are clearly visible on our website because we want it to be easy for you to contact us. 01352838281 / orders@fountain-filters.co.uk. Also, our contact page is available 24/7 and we're exceptionally quick at responding to messages that come through that. We do have a live chat feature on all of our website product pages where you can leave a message. We sometimes don't pick the live chat up straight away as we may be in our workshop putting together customer orders. 

Q. How long have you been in business?

• Since November 2011. Simon remembers vividly when he built the website. He'd been to the dentist and had a tooth extracted so was up half the night in a bit of pain, so he thought why not build the Fountain Filters website! With his nightshifts we were up and running in a couple of days.  

Q. What type of guarantee comes with your products?

• There is a standard 12 month guarantee on all our products

  We use high quality components in the manufacture of our water filter systems, however; if any components fail due to a manufacturing fault we will send you a replacement component as quickly as possible. Should you damage something small, such as a pushfit connector, give us a call and we'll just send one out at no extra charge - note that common sense applies to this offer.

  Wilful misuse or incorrectly fitted items (which is difficult to do as they're fairly simple)  will render the statutory guarantee and our goodwill guarantee null and void.

• Our 3 way taps have varying guarantees from 2-5 years. You'll find guarantee information on each of the 3 way tap product pages. If you don't then please let us know and we'll update the product pages. 

Q. How will I know if the equipment is operating correctly?

• As a general rule of thumb any of our water filter cartridges should last up to a year with 2-4 people living in a household. When you experience a sudden loss of water pressure you definitely know that it's time to change them. You may squeeze 12-18 months out of your cartridges but we recommend that you change them every 12 months. 
• You must change uv lamps every 12 months and the quartz sleeve every 24 months. 

Q. Once installed does water treatment equipment require any servicing or parts?

• Not really. Just sit back and enjoy fresh filtered water directly from your own tap. If you do notice that something is not quite right then please get in touch with us and we'll help you sort any issues out. Just remember to change your water filter cartridges every year to ensure you get maximum benefits out of your water filter system. 

Q. My well water tested positive for coliform bacteria. What do I need to do?

• If that's the case you need to treat it with either a uv water treatment system or a water filter that uses a sub micron cartridge. We recommend that you get in touch with us on 01352 838 281 or send us a message through our contact system. 

Q. What is a reverse osmosis system?

• RO membranes let through water molecules to give 'purified water' and the waste water with the contaminants goes down your drain. The resulting 'purified' water has up to 99% of everything taken out - including all the good elements. It's pretty expensive and we don't normally recommend you jump straight into using an RO system. In fact we recommend our drinking water and mains water filters over RO. 

Q. What is an ultraviolet system? How does it work?

• An ultraviolet (uv) water filter is an effective, reliable and safe way to destroy bad bacteria in your water. If you've got a private water supply, a uv water filter is a compact, energy efficient and sophisticated disenfection system.

  It is not a filter. UV kills bacteria with a lamp which radiates ultraviolet. That is it. If you're on a public utility water supply you do not need UV because your water has been disinfected with chlorine.

Q. What is distilled water?

• Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the original container. Thus, distilled water is one type of purified water. Bottled water such as Smart Water is vapour distilled. 

Q. What is Water Filtration?

• Water filtration is the process of removing or reducing the concentration of particulate matter, including suspended particles, parasites, bacteria, algae, viruses, and fungi, as well as other undesirable chemical and biological contaminants from contaminated water to produce safe and clean water for a specific purpose, such as drinking, medical, and pharmaceutical applications.

Q. There is chlorine in my water. Is it bad for me?

• Chlorine is a disinfectant used by the water industry and small amounts are added to the public water supply as it leaves the treatment works. Chlorine kills any harmful bacteria present and keeps water safe on it's way to the tap. The very low levels used in drinking water in the UK are perfectly safe, but much higher concentrations are routinely used safely for other purposes such as baby bottle sterilisers and by the leisure and health care industry in spas, hydrotherapy pools and swimming pools. Chlorinated water may have a drying effect on the skin and this can make it itchy and uncomfortable. Some people seem more susceptible than others, particularly if a person suffers from eczema. A minority of people are allergic to chlorine. For more information about chlorine visit our Chlorine and Taste Filters page.

Q. What is activated carbon and what does it do?

• Activated carbon is processed to have small, low volume pores that increases the surface area. Activating it makes it more efficient for adsorption and filtering of chemicals. Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process differs from absorption, in which a fluid (the absorbate) is dissolved by or permeates a liquid or solid (the absorbent).

Q. What can activated carbon remove?

• Active charcoal carbon filters are most effective at removing chlorine, particles such as sediment, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), taste and odor from water. They are not effective at removing minerals, salts, and dissolved inorganic substances.

Q. Do we need to filter our tap water?

• Tap water in the UK is some of the best in the world, but people choose to filter out certain elements from their water because of their personal preference. If you're on a private water supply, the answer to this question is YES. Also, filtering your tap water is far cheaper than buying bottled water. 

Q, Is Lead still an issue?

• If your home was built before 1970 it may have lead pipes. If it was built after 1970 it is unlikely to have lead pipes as the installation of new lead pipes and use of lead solder on pipework supplying drinking water has been banned for more than 25 years.The easiest way to find out if you've got lead pipes is to do the scratch test. Find the pipe leading to the kitchen tap. Unpainted lead pipes are dull grey in colour. They are also soft. If you scrape the surface gently with a coin, you will see shiny, silver-coloured metal beneath if the pipe is made of lead.

Q. Is the fluoride added to our tap water a good or bad thing?

• Fluoridation is the term used to describe the dosing of water supplies to bring the fluoride level up to 1mg/l as a public health measure intended to prevent tooth decay. The maximum permitted value of fluoride in drinking water is 1.5mg/l [milligrammes per litre]. In the UK there is no artificially added fluoride in Scotland, Wales or Northern Irelend, however; some regional Local Authorities in England have opted to fluoridate the public drinking water supply and there are also a few naturally high fluoride areas. For a list of UK areas that have fluoride added to water please look at our Fluoride Filters page.

Q. Is bottled water better than filtering my own tap water?

• No, and it's a heck of a lot more expensive. 

Q. Should I be worried about Hormones and Pesticides in my tap water?

• Oestrogens (from the birth control pill, which makes it way into sewage) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs, from environmental waste) may be present in our tap water, and they can effect our hormone levels. However they tend to be found in immediate proximity to industrial and wastewater discharges and nearly all of them break down naturally because they're so unstable. Sewage and water treatment is highly effective at removing EDC's, but if you're at all concerned then our drinking water filters will remove them. 

Q. What are Microplastics?

• Microplastics are small pieces of plastic, less than 5 mm (0.2 inch) in length, that occur in the environment as a consequence of plastic pollution.Yes, any of our NanoCeram's, Doulton's and 1 micron absolute do in theory but it depends how small the microplastics are. 

Q. What is a Water Softener?

• A water softener is a unit that is used to soften water, by removing calcium, magnesium and other metal cations that cause water to be hard

Q. How much water should I drink per day? 

• If you do a bit of research you'll soon discover that many websites say you should drink between 6-8 glasses of water or 2L per day. It really does depend on your health, age, size, weight, activity levels, where you live, type of work you do. We're all different. Drinking little and often is the best way to stay hydrated. We recommend you ditch all sugary drinks and only hydrate yourselves with water. 

Q. How many litres of filter capacity do the cartridges have? 

• This information is detailed on each water filter cartridge product page. 

Q. Where are the cartridges made?  

• We source our water filter cartridges from a variety of places such as the US, China, Taiwan, and the UK.

Q. Is there a best before date for filter cartridges?

• They're not food so don't degrade over time. Just keep them in a cool dark place and you can store them for as long as you like. 

Q. What do I do with used filter cartridges?

• You can recycle them as part of your normal household rubbish. With the ceramic cartridges you can dig them into your garden. We recommend that you always check what your local recycling rules are. 

Q. Can your filters be used on a narrowboat, caravan or something similar?

• Yes, our drinking water and mains water filters can be installed on narrowboats and caravans. But we recommend you contact us via our Help Desk before buying one just to ensure that the water pressure conversation can take place! Our filters are not normally suitable for gravity fed systems, although we can source these for you.