10" Silver-Impregnated Carbon Cartridge NLF - Aquapro

10" activated carbon / silver cartridge

10" polishing cartridge in NLF format, filled with silver-impregnated activated carbon. It handles taste, odour and chlorine while protecting the media itself. Aquapro reference PR-NLF-SC.

What activated carbon does

Activated carbon works by adsorption: its microporous structure offers an enormous contact surface on which unwanted molecules attach.

It captures free chlorine, critical if the cartridge sits upstream of an RO membrane, which chlorine destroys irreversibly, along with the tastes and odours of chlorine, earth or must that make water unpleasant to drink despite being perfectly safe.

The role of silver

This is what sets the cartridge apart. The activated carbon is impregnated with silver, and silver is bacteriostatic: it slows bacterial multiplication.

That property is not there to disinfect the water, but to protect the media itself. A carbon bed is a favourable environment for bacterial growth: damp, at ambient temperature, rich in retained organic matter, and sometimes crossed by low flows or left standing for days. Silver impregnation limits that growth inside the cartridge, which is especially useful on intermittently used installations, holiday homes, low-use draw-off points, equipment shut down over the holidays.

Where to use it

As polishing on mains water for taste and odour, as carbon prefiltration ahead of an RO membrane, and on intermittently used installations where idle periods are frequent. 10" format to the NLF standard.

Replacement

Every 6 to 12 months depending on usage and water quality. Activated carbon saturates: its adsorption surface fills up, and once full it captures nothing. Worse, a badly overdue cartridge can release part of what it had captured.

Silver does not extend that interval: it slows bacterial growth, it does not regenerate the carbon. The replacement schedule stays the same.

Fitting

Shut off the water and depressurise before servicing. Follow the flow direction. After repressurising, flush for several minutes to clear carbon fines before use.