Carbon Block Cartridge 10" 0,5 Micron Coconut - Aquapro

Carbon block cartridge 10" - 0,5 micron

Polishing cartridge in 10" format, made of coconut shell activated carbon compacted into a block, 0,5 micron rating. Aquapro reference PR-APC-10C-05.

Carbon block or loose carbon: not the same thing

The difference is structural and it governs performance.

In a GAC cartridge (granular carbon), the carbon sits loose inside a shell. Water flows freely through it and naturally finds the easiest path. Over time it carves preferential channels: part of the flow then crosses the bed with no real contact with the media. The granules can also settle and migrate.

In a carbon block cartridge, carbon powder is compacted and bonded into a solid block crossed by microchannels. No loose granules, no settling, no path of least resistance.

Water is forced through the material. Contact is uniform across the whole surface, from the first litre to the last.

The 0,5 micron rating

This is the block's second function, and it is absent from a GAC cartridge.

The compacted structure acts as a fine mechanical filter at 0,5 micron, a rating a granular bed cannot reach. The cartridge therefore captures ultra-fine particles on top of treating taste and odour.

A single body thus performs two functions: fine filtration and adsorption. That simplifies the chain and frees up a stage on a compact installation.

Coconut shell carbon

The raw material is not neutral. Carbon made from coconut shell develops a particularly dense microporous structure, a very large number of small-diameter pores.

That geometry is precisely what suits the molecules responsible for tastes and odours, and free chlorine. It is the reference carbon for drinking water polishing, ahead of coal- or wood-based carbons, whose porosity is coarser.

What the cartridge handles

The free chlorine in mains water, with everything that implies upstream of an RO membrane: chlorine attacks polyamide TFC chemically and the damage is irreversible.

The tastes and odours, chlorine, earth, must, that make water unpleasant to drink despite being perfectly safe.

Fine particles down to 0,5 µm, by mechanical filtration.

Where to use it

As carbon prefiltration ahead of an RO membrane. As final polishing on a drinking water point. Protecting coffee and ice machines, where chlorine taste carries straight into the finished product. And as general filtration on mains water, when both taste and mechanical fineness are wanted.

On sediment-loaded water, fit a 5 or 10 µm prefilter upstream: at 0,5 µm the block blinds quickly if it absorbs the whole particulate load on its own.

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. A badly overdue cartridge can even release part of what it had captured.

On a carbon block, mechanical blinding often occurs before chemical saturation: a drop in flow is therefore a replacement signal just as much as a returning taste.

Fitting

Shut off the water and depressurise before opening the housing. Follow the flow direction.

After repressurising, flush for several minutes before use: any new carbon releases black fines at start-up. This is normal and harmless, provided it is flushed out.