Overview | Is this right for me? | What it reduces | How it works | Specs | What's included | Installation | Maintenance & costs | FAQs | Reviews

• Home Water Purification - the ultimate guide to water purification.
• How to Remove Fluoride in Water in the UK - the different ways to reduce fluoride and which suits your home.

Overview

The Oyster Triple is a three stage water purifier that removes fluoride, chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria and viruses - while deliberately leaving in the minerals your body needs. It's our answer to reverse osmosis: the same purity you're after, without the waste water, the electricity, or the odd business of stripping out calcium and magnesium only to add them back in again.

• Three stages: dedicated fluoride removal, GAC/KDF chemical and heavy metal reduction, and a 0.2 micron NanoCeram® nano filter developed from NASA technology.
• Removes fluoride (around 93%), and arsenic too.
• Retains the beneficial minerals - calcium, magnesium and iodine stay in your water.
• No waste water at all, and no electricity supply required - unlike RO, which typically discards 70-80% of the water passing through it.
• Comes with a choice of drinking water tap (or 'no tap'), delivering purified water on its own dedicated outlet.
• Compact triple housing: occupies a space of 360mm wide x 340mm high x 130mm deep.
• Unlikely to need more than an annual cartridge change, and you can do it yourself.

Is tap water safe to drink? - Tap water may meet the standards, but does it meet your standards? Discover the difference for yourself.

Is this right for me?

Choose this if

You want comprehensive purification of your drinking water - including fluoride - but you don't want to strip out the minerals that are good for you, and you'd rather not waste 70-80% of your water down the drain to get it. If you've been looking at reverse osmosis and hesitating, this is the system to compare it against.

Not ideal if

You don't need fluoride removed (the two stage Oyster Water Purifier covers chemicals and nano filtration), you specifically need dissolved salts or iodine taken out (only reverse osmosis will do that), or you want purified water at every tap in the house rather than a single drinking water outlet. If graphene oxide is your concern, see the Oyster GO Triple.

What to check before buying

• Available space: the triple housing occupies 360mm wide x 340mm high x 130mm deep, plus room beneath to drop the housings for cartridge changes.
• Tap option: choose from our range of drinking water taps, or select 'no tap' if you already have one or want to fit a 3 way tap.
• Supply fitting: choose a 15mm compression valve, a self-piercing saddle valve, or supply your own.
• Running costs: there are three cartridges to replace, typically annually - fewer than the five or more an RO system needs.

Tap Water Contaminants Explained - learn about the most common types of drinking water contaminants.

What it reduces and what it doesn't 

Is pure water better?

That depends on what you think "pure water" actually is. Many people want to buy a filter that takes everything out and just leaves the H2O. While that may be great for car batteries, there are minerals in drinking water that are vital for health - and that's why in places where desalination is used, such as ships at sea using commercial sized RO systems, people may need to take mineral supplements.

A strict definition of "purified water" is water with impurities removed, rather than water that has had everything removed. A better, more healthy definition may be water that has had the unwanted impurities filtered out. That's exactly what the Oyster Triple is designed to do.

What the Oyster Triple removes

Let's compare it against reverse osmosis while we're at it:

	Oyster Triple Water Purifier			RO
Contaminants	NanoCeram	Carbon Block	AA Fluoride Cartridge	RO System
Bacteria	✔			✔
Bromine		✔
Chemical Reduction		✔		✔
Chromium VI	✔			✔
Colloids	✔	✔		✔
CTO		✔
Cysts	✔	✔		✔
Dissolved Salts				✔
Iodine				✔
Endotoxins	✔			✔
Ferric Iron	✔			✔
Fluoride			✔	✔
Lead	✔			✔
Particulates	✔	✔		✔
Polysaccharides (TEP)	✔			✔
Silica	✔			✔
Trace Pharmaceuticals	✔	✔		✔
Virus	✔			✔
VOC**	✔	✔		✔

As you can see from the table above, the combination of fluoride filter, carbon block and NanoCeram® covers just about everything you'd want to remove, while also leaving in the health critical things your body requires.

What it deliberately leaves in

Dissolved salts retained include calcium in carbonate form. If you've looked at the newer models of reverse osmosis systems you'll have seen that many of them now have an extra stage that adds calcium carbonate back into the filtered water. And then there's magnesium, removed by RO too. If it's desirable to have those minerals in the water, why remove them in the first place? Over purifying water is not necessarily a good thing to do for your health.

You may also have noticed that this water purifier does not take out iodine. Did you know there's an iodine deficiency problem in the UK? This is especially true of pregnant women, according to Independent Nurse, who need it for the proper neurological development of their babies. As it's vital for health, it's best to leave it in your water.

How it works

The Oyster Triple purifies your water in three stages, in sequence:

Stage one - fluoride. Fluoride is removed in a dedicated activated alumina cartridge (around 93%), which can also take out arsenic.

Stage two - chemicals and heavy metals. This is where chemicals that make your water taste and smell bitter and unpleasant, such as chlorine, are removed - along with nitrates, endocrine disruptors, certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and many others. In addition, the GAC/KDF media also removes heavy metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic and zinc.

Stage three - nano filtration. The final stage is a sub micron pleated filter from Argonide. The NanoCeram® cartridge is a 0.2 micron high capacity electropositive filter medium that removes and reduces a whole spectrum of impurities and contaminants, including bacteria, viruses and cysts. That nano filter was developed for NASA to recycle water in spacecraft for the astronauts - you can read more about that here. It's a bit technical, but very interesting.

Specifications

Stage	Cartridge	Reduces
1 - first in sequence	Activated alumina fluoride cartridge	Fluoride (around 93%), arsenic
2 - second in sequence	GAC/KDF carbon block	Chlorine, taste, odour, chemicals, nitrates, endocrine disruptors, VOCs, PAHs, heavy metals including lead, mercury, arsenic and zinc
3 - last in sequence	Argonide NanoCeram® pleated nano filter, 0.2 micron	Bacteria, viruses, cysts, endotoxins, colloids, particulates, chromium VI, ferric iron, lead, silica, polysaccharides (TEP), trace pharmaceuticals, VOCs

Dimensions	Width 360mm x height 340mm x depth 130mm
Stages	Three
Nano filter rating	0.2 micron
Fluoride reduction*	Around 93%
Minerals retained	Calcium, magnesium, iodine and other dissolved salts
Waste water	None
Electricity required	None
Working conditions	Indoor residential use only
Maintenance	Typically an annual change of all three cartridges, depending on the volume of water your household uses

*Dependent on local water chemistry, flow rates, system design and application. Performance claims apply to a fully installed system with filter, housing, and connection to pressurised water.

What's included

• 1 x activated alumina fluoride cartridge
• 1 x GAC/KDF carbon block cartridge
• 1 x Argonide NanoCeram® 0.2 micron nano filter cartridge
• A choice of drinking water filter tap, or the 'no tap' option if you already have a tap or want a 3 way tap
• Either a 15mm compression valve or a self-piercing saddle valve (or supply your own)

Installation & placement

Installation is simple - unfiltered water goes in on one side and purified water comes out of the other, with no need for a drain. Fit it on the cold feed to your kitchen tap, allowing for 360mm width x 340mm height x 130mm depth, plus room beneath to drop the housings when you change cartridges.

The cartridge order matters: the fluoride cartridge goes first in the sequence, then the GAC/KDF carbon block, and the 0.2 micron NanoCeram® goes last on the water out side. As a rule, the lowest micron rated cartridge always goes last.

You can download the fitting instructions here. To change cartridges, simply follow these instructions.

Maintenance & running costs

It's unlikely that you'll need to replace the three cartridges more than annually, although this does depend on the volume of water your household uses. Compare that with an RO system, which has five or more cartridges needing replacement anywhere between 6 months and 2 years depending on the item.

Once it's fitted, you can carry out the cartridge change yourself - there's no need to call the plumber back. You can buy the replacement cartridge set for the Oyster Triple here.

FAQs

Is pure water better?

That depends on what you think "pure water" actually is. Many people want a filter that takes everything out and just leaves the H2O. While that may be great for car batteries, there are minerals in drinking water that are vital for health - which is why in places where desalination is used, such as ships at sea, people may need to take mineral supplements. A better, more healthy definition of purified water is water that has had the unwanted impurities filtered out, which is exactly what the Oyster Triple does.

Is this better than reverse osmosis?

It depends what you need removed, but for most households it's the smarter choice. RO systems have five or more cartridges to replace regularly, and they discard most of the water that goes through them - usually 70% to 80%, or around 50% for the newer "eco" styled systems. The Oyster Triple has three cartridges, unlikely to need changing more than annually, produces no waste water at all, and needs no electricity. RO will also remove dissolved salts and iodine, which the Oyster Triple deliberately leaves in.

How much fluoride does it remove?

The dedicated fluoride cartridge removes around 93% of fluoride, and it can also take out arsenic. It's the first of the three stages.

Does it remove the minerals I need?

No, and that's deliberate. Calcium in carbonate form and magnesium are both retained - the very minerals that many newer RO systems have to add back in with an extra stage. It also leaves iodine in your water, which matters because there's an iodine deficiency problem in the UK, particularly among pregnant women who need it for the neurological development of their babies.

Does it remove bacteria and viruses?

Yes. The third stage is an Argonide NanoCeram® 0.2 micron electropositive nano filter - technology developed for NASA to recycle water in spacecraft - which removes and reduces bacteria, viruses, cysts and a whole spectrum of other contaminants.

How often do the cartridges need changing?

It's unlikely you'll need to replace the three cartridges more than annually, though it depends on how much water your household uses. It's a simple job you can do yourself once the system is fitted.

Is it difficult to install?

No. Installation is simple - unfiltered water in on one side, purified water out of the other, with no drain required and no electricity supply. Fitting instructions are supplied, and you choose your tap and supply fitting when you order.

* Occasionally Watts components may be replaced with other high quality items as a result of unexpected supply chain issues. This does not affect the quality of the product or its function. Brassware and other plumbing accessories are sourced from UK suppliers.

Reviews

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