String Wound Cartridge 10" 1 Micron - Aquapro PR-SWS-10-01

String wound cartridge 10" - 1 micron

Sediment filter cartridge in wound polypropylene, 10" long, 1 micron rating. Aquapro reference PR-SWS-10-01.

This is the finest rating in the string wound range, the one fitted immediately before the equipment being protected.

The winding

The media is a polypropylene yarn wound in crossed layers around a central core. Tension and winding pitch are calculated so that density increases inwards: the mesh is open at the surface and tightens with depth.

Water therefore passes through progressive filtration. The coarsest particles are stopped in the outer layers, the finest travel further before being retained.

The result is depth filtration, and at 1 micron that is decisive. A surface media at the same rating would blind on its outer face within days. Here the cartridge uses its whole volume, which gives it a usable dirt-holding capacity and service life despite the fineness.

Polypropylene is chemically inert and tolerates a wide pH range. It releases nothing into the water.

Why 1 micron

1 micron is a polishing rating, not a coarse duty one.

It captures what coarser ratings let through: fine rust particles, suspended clays, silt, precipitates, fines shed by upstream stages. It is the rating that genuinely clarifies water that already looks clean to the eye.

It is also the rating required upstream of sensitive equipment. Before an RO membrane, it prevents mechanical fouling of the active surface. Before a UV lamp, it removes the turbidity that would screen the radiation, a micro-organism sheltering behind a particle crosses the reactor without receiving the useful dose.

Do not install it alone

This is the main point of attention on this reference.

A 1 µm cartridge placed directly on raw water absorbs the whole particulate load and blinds very quickly. On well water or loaded water, it can saturate within weeks.

Best practice is to fit it downstream of a coarser prefilter, typically 20 or 25 µm, then possibly 5 µm. Each stage absorbs the load the next must not see. The prefilter costs little and multiplies the service life of the more expensive 1 µm.

Where to use it

As fine RO prefiltration, upstream of a UV lamp, protecting sensitive equipment, nozzles, dosing pumps, heat exchangers, and as final clarification on already de-loaded well or borehole water.

Replacement

Replacement is judged on pressure drop, not on the calendar. A noticeable drop in flow, or a rising differential pressure across the filter, signals a saturated cartridge.

At this rating, expect a shorter service life than a 5 or 10 µm cartridge on the same water, that is the price of fineness, and precisely what the upstream prefilter extends.

A cartridge left in place too long does more than throttle flow: under pressure it can release part of the particles it had captured.

Fitting

Shut off the water and depressurise before opening the housing. On reassembly, grease the bowl O-ring with food-grade silicone grease and check that it is clean, correctly seated in its groove and untwisted: this is the first cause of leaks on a filter housing.