FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Index
FAQ’s on Drinking water purifiers
| What are the benefits of combining multiple technologies? | Go to Top | |
| Using a hybrid or combination of technologies versus a single technology enables water treatment systems to address a wider range of contaminants than if they were to use one technology alone. A revolutionary 3-multi stage treatment process combining filtration, disinfection and adsorption guarantees better tasting and 100% safe drinking water. | ||
| Zero B uses more than one stage of water treatment to assure great tasting, high quality water from every system we offer. | ||
| What are the differences in the technologies used for treating drinking water? | ||
| Distillation, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, ultra violet light, ozonation and filtration are among the most common water treatment technologies. Zero-B highly recommends that you consider how a system performs against all classes of contaminants, including microbiological, organic, inorganic, and pesticide contaminants. | ||
| What problems does hard water cause? | Go to Top | |
| Scale formation on the inside of pipes, water heaters, showers are causing choking of pipes, loss of energy in heaters and clogging of showers. In cooking hard water spoils the taste and needs more time to cook. Washing of clothes requires more soap. Hard water leaves white stains on the vessels. It causes discomfort on skin and hair on bathing. | ||
| How does a water softener work using 'Ion Exchange Process'? | ||
| The idea behind a water softener is simple. The Calcium and Magnesium ions in the water are replaced with ions of salt (either Sodium or Potassium). These salts do not precipitate on pipes or react badly with soap and therefore eliminate the hard water problem. Water softeners contain Sodium rich ion exchanger resins that are designed to remove ions, mainly positively charged Calcium (Ca2+) and Magnesium (Mg2+) ions. This resin media exchanges the hardness minerals with its Sodium as the water passes through the media, thus making the water soft. This is called as softening process. | ||
| Does the softener media needs to be replaced after softener stops giving soft water? | Go to Top | |
| Softener media is not replaced; it is recharged with pelletized recharging salt. | ||
| In the process of softening the resin beads get exhausted with Calcium and Magnesium. Resin can no longer soften the water. Then it is time to recharge the resin. During recharging process the salt chamber is filled with pelletized recharging salt. Water is allowed to pass in reverse direction for 30 minutes as per the instruction given in product manual. POU softener is ready for delivering the soft water. | ||
| How does the POU softener compare with other softeners in the market? | ||
| Most softeners in the market are (POE) Point Of Entry products (whole house) hence large in size and high on cost. It has resin vessel, a brine tank which are floor mounted. | ||
| The compact wall mounted (POU) Point Of Use is meant for single point use such as geysers, washing machines, shower etc. | ||
| The POU softener has a multiport valve that directs the salty water to a separate drain line during recharging/regeneration process. The product is user friendly, compact and low on cost. | ||
| Where can the POU softener be connected at home? | Go to Top | |
| POU softeners can be connected to geysers, showers, wash sinks and washing machines. | ||
| How much soft water will the product POU softener give? | ||
| Based on the Hardness content in the raw water the output of the softener can be estimated, typically if inlet hardness is say 500 ppm as CaCo3 in Soft water output will be around 300 liters. | ||
| How much of common salt is required for recharging the softener? | Go to Top | |
| Every time the softener stops giving soft water, the POU unit has to be filled with around 400 gms of pelletized recharging salt. | ||
| For how much of hardness is a softener required? | ||
| Water with around 20 ppm hardness is termed as soft | ||
| Water upto 60 ppm hardness slightly hard | ||
| Water upto 120 ppm moderately hard (improves with a softener) | ||
| Water upto 180 ppm hard (big improvements with softener) | ||
| Water over 180 ppm hardness - very hard | ||
| What does RO purifier comprise of? | Go to Top | |
| Typical RO purifiers are multistage purification system. The first stage is sediment filter which reduces suspended particles. The second stage is carbon filter which reduces volatile organic matter, chlorine and other odour & taste causing compounds. Third stage is the membrane filtration using RO membrane. It is responsible for rejecting upto 98% of the total dissolved solids in the water. This is where purification takes place. | ||
| Conventional RO purifiers do not guarantee 100% bacterial removal all the time, especially in the event of an accidental failure of RO membrane. Some RO purifiers have got additional UV or resin based technology as back up purifier which ensures 100% bacterial removal. | ||
| RO water purifiers - | ||
| Do RO purifiers require frequent maintenance? | ||
| Maintenance needs of RO purifiers depend on the quality of incoming water. Turbidity, organic load & chlorine contents in the incoming water decide the life and efficiency of its cartridges. Calcium, magnesium or other salts tend to scale RO membranes which may require cleaning or replacement. Thus RO purifiers require planned maintenance schedules for replacements and cleaning. | ||
| Conventional RO purifiers can become a store house of bacteria after usage. The internal components like HN/product water tank, tubings, post carbon cartridge may breed bacteria/slime build up. These can unload lots of bacteria in purified water which may result in health hazards. Regular sanitizing regimes are mandatory to maintain the purity standards. But Zero-B RO purifiers have an inbuilt auto sanitizing system which takes care of all the components by sanitizing the system on regular intervals and maintain the purity standards. | ||
| Ion Exchange provides full fledged after sales service through its countrywide network for all its products. | ||
| Do RO purifiers remove pesticides? | Go to Top | |
| RO purifiers reduce pesticide level in the water to certain extent. But a specially designed RO purifiers like Pristine is tested to remove generally encountered pesticides in surface and ground waters. | ||
| Can RO products be installed for any kind of water? | ||
| RO products cannot be installed for any kind of water. Contaminants like Iron, Manganese and Oil can cause severe damage to RO membranes. The manufacturers of RO purifiers specify the maximum limit of contaminants (like heavy metals, organics, nitrates, chlorine, oil, hydrogen sulphide, silica, iron, manganese, etc.) in water. They also mention maximum limit of feed TDS (generally 1500 to 2000 ppm) to ensure adequate RO membrane life. | ||
| Why do you need an RO purifier at home or office? | Go to Top | |
| Municipal water treatment plants are miles away from our homes, treated water are likely gets contaminated during distribution. | ||
| Chlorine introduced by treatment plants can form harmful disinfection by-products such as TTHMs (total trihalomethanes) and HAAs (haloacetic acids) in drinking water. These chemicals are known carcinogens or cancer causing. | ||
| Hygiene of underground and overhead tanks of apartments and residential complexes is always a question. | ||
| Ground water is invariably high in salts and harmful chemicals. | ||
| Conventional water purifiers do not ensure complete removal of harmful chemical, excessive salts and all germs from drinking water. | ||
| Timely supply of bottled water at homes and offices is based on reach of the distributor. | ||
| What factors should a buyer look for in a RO purifier? | ||
| The buyer should look for following things : | ||
| • | Is the product tested and certified from an accredited laboratory for complete removal of all organisms, harmful chemicals? | |
| • | Whether the product is certified for specific contaminant removal? | |
| • | Does the product water quality meet international drinking water standards like USEPA, WHO.? | |
| Certain local products may make false claim for mineral addition in the product water by simply blending the raw water with purified water, which may lead to mixing of impure water that can lead to health hazards in long run. | ||
| Ensure that the product is from a techno savvy company that thoroughly knows water purification - A useful indicator is their market presence in this field. | ||
| What kind of Service attention does this RO purifier need? | Go to Top | |
| When a purifier conditions or traps impurities, its filtering elements become a storehouse of dirt and disease causing organisms. Service is required for periodic washing, sanitizing and replacement of these filters. This ensures good life of the filtering elements and therefore consistent purification performance. | ||
| What impurities are removed by RO? | ||
| Reverse Osmosis System removes excessive salts, bacteria, virus, cysts, suspended solids and all harmful chemicals like pesticides and arsenic and others from the water. | ||
| Does RO remove any useful minerals? What health effects it will have? | Go to Top | |
| RO reduces most of the minerals from the water. RO removes all objectionable minerals and chemicals from water which are responsible for the bad taste, saltiness & metallic taste in water. The mineral content in water is much less than the mineral found in food. Minerals required by our body are derived mainly from food and less from water. For example, 250 ml or a glass of milk contains more minerals than 20 liters of drinking water. Hence low mineral content has no bearing on health; a simple example is the healthy civilization in Himalayan ranges, where the mineral content in drinking water is low. | ||
| Zero B RO purifiers offer the option of a taste correction cartridge for low TDS water. Taste correction cartridge can be installed along with RO purifiers to enhance the taste of the purified water. | ||
| Drinking water standards like USEPA, IS : 10500 have not set the lower limit of TDS (mineral salts) in water. | ||
| Does a Zero-B RO kill or remove all bacteria & viruses present in water? | ||
| The RO membrane has a pore size (.0001 micron) much smaller than bacteria virus, pyrogen or the Cryptosporidium parasite. Hence it will remove all microorganisms. | ||
| How does it differ from my existing UV water purifier? | Go to Top | |
| Conventional water purifiers use a filter to separate out only the larger particles of dirt sediments from water. | ||
| UV systems use an ultra violet lamp to deactivate the bacteria & viruses present in the water without physically removing them. It does not alter the taste of water. On the other hand, Reverse Osmosis not only removes suspended particles and microbiological organisms but also removes excessive salts, all harmful chemicals from raw tap water & gives crisp, crystal clear double safe germ free water. | ||
| What is the difference between Zero-B RO purifier and other competitors? | ||
| Product comes from a company that leads the water treatment Industry in Indian since 40 years. Products are tested by leading laboratories in India for microbial and chemical removal performance. Zero B RO products have unique inbuilt and automatic sanitizing system which takes care of slime build up on internal components and product water tank. All products are backed by prompt & efficient after sales & service. | ||
| Is RO water equivalent to distilled water? | Go to Top | |
| Distilled water is boiled, and the steam is then condensed for drinking water. Distilled water contains practically no minerals or dissolved solids, whereas RO water does contain trace amount of minerals and salts. Most people report RO as tasting better than distilled water, which can taste flat. Distillers use high electricity, whereas ROs work on mini low power booster pumps or on line pressure from the household plumbing. | ||
| How is RO water different from mineral water? | ||
| Mineral Water - Water which is first made absolutely free from minerals or salts. Thereafter, minerals or salts are added in required proportion for taste and to meet the drinking water standards. | ||
| RO Water can not be called mineral water because the salts or minerals are not dosed in it but are maintained by the rejection level of particular membrane. | ||
| Can an RO purifier work on borewell water? | Go to Top | |
| Yes, an RO purifier will work on bore well water with limits of the water as specified. The raw water should not have Iron, Manganese or Oil. | ||
| How much of raw water is required to make 5 liters of good water? | ||
| In conventional RO water purifiers about 15-20 liters of water is required to make 5 liters of pure water. Any RO purifier recovers about 25-30% of the incoming water, the remaining impure water is rejected, 75% rejected water goes to drain line. | ||
| Zero B Eco RO is the only product uses only 7-8 liters of water to make 5 liters of pure water. It recovers about 70-75% of the incoming water and only very small fraction of water around 20% is rejected. | ||
| How Eco-RO is different from other RO purifiers? | Go to Top | |
| Conventional RO's recover 25-30% of good water and remaining 70-75% is rejected. Eco-RO recovers 70% of good water and only 30% goes to the drain. Thus it saves more than 80% of water compared to conventional RO's. Other than conventional RO's, product water in Eco-RO is safe to drink up to 7 days. | ||
| How does a UV purifier disinfect water? | ||
| Ultraviolet disinfection is a well accepted natural, nonchemical, environmentally safe technique for purifying biologically contaminated waters. UV purifiers deactivate or paralyze disease causing microbes by altering genetic structure of cell and rendering them incapable of production there by making water pure. | ||
| Is the UV technology effective against hard water? | Go to Top | |
| UV technology is not effective against hard water. The hardness ions like Ca & Mg present in incoming water form scaling on the quartz sleeve present on the UV lamp during usage resulting in poor kill. | ||
| What is the effect of inlet turbidity on performance of UV purifiers? | ||
| If case of high turbidity in inlet water due to incorrect sediment filter fitment, over aging of pre filters can cause poor disinfection. Microbes in the water may escape penetration of UV rays resulting in poor kill. | ||
| What are the limitations of standalone UV technology? | Go to Top | |
| Improper filtration, voltage fluctuation, scaling on quartz glass due to hardness in water, and incorrect flow (high) can make stand alone UV treatment ineffective. This leads to improper disinfection of drinking water. | ||
| What are the drawbacks of conventional UV purifiers? | ||
| UV purifiers only deactivate or paralyze disease causing microbes by altering genetic structure of cell and rendering them incapable of production. A lacuna of this technology is that some strains of paralyzed microbes may get reactivated or revived when exposed to direct sunlight. | ||
| In conventional UV purifiers even the purest UV purified water that is stored in bottles or in containers can get re contaminated due to build up of slime or bacterial growth. This is a non remedial situation. | ||
| How Zero B UV Grande overcomes the drawbacks of conventional UV purifiers? | Go to Top | |
| The Zero B UV purifier system is the Remedy against photo reactivation of microbes and recontamination of water. The unique built in ESS system releases trace amount of silver and hydroxyl ions in the water. These ions denature the paralyzed microbes completely by breaking the cell walls. This ensures complete elimination of microbes from incoming water. | ||
| What are different stages of Zero B UV Grande? | ||
| Zero B UV Grande comes with following stages of purification | ||
| • | Sediment filtration | |
| • | Activated carbon filtration | |
| • | UV purification | |
| • | Electrolytic sanitization | |
Published on: 13 Sept. 2019 |
Uploaded on: 13 Sept. 2019 |
