The One Thing Most People Get Wrong About Water Filters

Buying a water filter is the easy part. What happens after is where things get more interesting.

Filtration has become a familiar fixture in British kitchens - the jug on the worktop, the cartridge dutifully ordered every few weeks (or, more honestly, every few months after that). The assumption is simple: filtered water is better tasting water. Which is largely true. But there's a detail most filter brands don't talk about, and it's worth understanding.

Why an unmaintained water filter can be worse than no filter at all
Here's the thing about activated carbon filtration: it works by removing chlorine from your water. Chlorine, as it happens, is also what was keeping bacteria in check. Remove the chlorine, let the filter sit in a warm spot past its replacement date, and you've created a reasonably hospitable environment for bacterial growth.

The lesson isn't that filtration is problematic . It's that an unmaintained filter is a different thing entirely from a well-maintained one.

What this means in practice
The most important thing you can do with any filter - jug, under-sink or plumbed-in - is maintain it properly. Change cartridges on schedule. Keep jugs away from direct sunlight. Don't assume that because you use a water filter, the job is done indefinitely.

Our Taap's Home Water System monitors its own filter status and flags when a change is due - because we're aware that filter maintenance is, in the real world, the first thing that slips.

Better water is straightforward, as long as the system is looked after. Our Taap make that part as easy as possible.