What Can Happen If Your Home Water Filtration System’s Water Filter Cartridge Needs To Be Changed

If you find yourself thinking things like  “how do I tell when to change my water filter” or “I wonder if this is a sign that I have to change my water filter”? You may be.

But what if you ignore them? Well, if that’s your question, this is the blog for you! Not all of what follows is guaranteed, but they are common concerns you need to know about.

Common Problems That Arise When A Water Filter Cartridge Is Overdue For Replacement:

If your water filter cartridge is overdue for replacement, these are some of the first telltale signs you will see happening in your home. 

The Water Coming From Your Taps Will Be Of A Lower Quality

When a home water filtration system is functioning correctly, the water coming from your taps will be clear, odourless and clean tasting. When your water filter cartridge needs a change, however, your water will begin to remind you what you wanted filtration for in the first place.

In most parts of Australia, we are lucky that those connected to town water, are unlikely to suffer serious health related consequences. You may experience a chlorine odour or taste, but safety concerns tend to be minimal. Those of us in the community who rely on the use of tank or bore water, however, are not so lucky on this front. As we’ll explore further down in this article, improperly filtered bore or tank water can be quite hazardous to your health, so it’s vital to stay on top of your water filter system maintenance if you have this kind of water supply in your home.

Your Home Water Filtration System Will Underperform

As water filter cartridges age, the amount of sediment, chemicals or pathogens that they’re able to effectively remove from the water lessens, as all those nasties are stuck building up in the cartridge. This means you could experience either physical clogging,reduced absorption capacity, or both, depending on the type of home water filtration system you have installed. As a result, less water will flow (poorer quality showers!), it may be cloudy or tainted, it may have an odour and it may taste bad.

Depending on your system, this can also lead to other components within the system wearing out at an increased rate, or even failing entirely, which can be an expensive fix depending on where the failure occurs.

Additionally, if your water filtration system uses UV sterilisation, regular maintenance is even more essential. The UV bulb looses its intensity over time, so operating past its replacement date reduces the ability to kill the bacteria and nasties to a required level to ensure your water remains safe to drink. (UV water treatment systems are common on rainwater systems, so definitely worth mentioning in this blog. May follow through with the mention later if it requires and is useful)

Your Skin, Hair And Nails May Suffer

If you run a whole house water filtration system, one of the first major signs (after changes in pressure, smell and taste) that your water filter cartridge is overdue for replacement could be a decrease in the health of your hair, skin and nails. This is because the water coming through your taps will contain more chemicals and sediment as the system capacity to remove them reduces, which can have a direct impact on how your body looks and feels.

Even those using the highest quality skin and hair care products are not immune to this, as your skin can’t deal with every new contaminant in your water. Your skin is your largest organ after all - and is vulnerable to absorbing the things we come into contact with daily, so it makes sense that it would suffer as water quality degrades.

More Serious Concerns That Can Arise When A Water Filter Cartridge Needs To Be Changed:

While the above concerns do not constitute instant emergencies, they do have the ability to turn into larger problems. What follows is much more concerning and can pose a significant threat to your health or wallet from the moment they arise.

Dangerous Bacteria Can Find Their Way Into The Water You Drink

The biggest concern with a failing home water filtration system shows up if you use tank or bore water within your home or property. These types of water can often be contaminated by dangerous bacteria, cysts and other pathogens, so adequate filtration and sterilisation prior to consumption is vital to your health. Filter cartridges that are left in service longer than they should be continue to collect debris and bacteria within them. This can allow the bacteria to breed and multiply, generating a larger issue within the water supply than was originally present. This is why it is important to change the water filter cartridge(s) and UV bulb in your home water filtration system before this occurs. Otherwise it will no longer be able topurge these contaminants at the rate it usually would. This means that harmful pathogens could be sneaking through and making their way into your home, appliances, and body. This can lead to serious illness, as you never know what’s managed to make its way into your water before it enters your home, so keeping on top of water filter cartridge changes is vital in this kind of situation.

You Could Run Into Plumbing Problems

Your home water filtration system doesn’t just protect your family, it also looks after your pipes, so depending on what’s being filtered out of your water, you may find yourself experiencing plumbing issues. Household plumbing components like pressure reducing valves, hot water tempering valves and relief valves are not designed to withstand significant amounts of sediment or debris travelling through them, so if your filtration system is the only thing standing between your plumbing fixtures and this problem, a filter cartridge that needs to be changed can quickly turn into an expensive plumbing issue.

While your pipes and plumbing fixtures probably aren’t going to instantly clog, you could see issues such as reduced flow arising fairly quickly if there is already build up in them, and anything that manages to settle in your pipes while your filtration isn’t operating at its best doesn’t just magically disappear once your system is back to optimal efficiency making this an issue that could pose an ongoing concern.

Your Appliances May Become Damaged

If your water is particularly hard, has a significant amount of sediment in it, or is full of chemicals that can corrode plastics and silicone over time, your appliances will also suffer if your home water filtration system’s components needs to be changed or maintained. The removal of these contaminants before the water reaches your appliances can greatly enhance their longevity, but when your filter cartridge isn’t performing at its best, all the things that can cause issues for the appliances in your home can make their way through. This leads to increased maintenance requirements, and could even cause component or total failure if the build up within your appliances is significant. In this way, ensuring that your water filter system is maintained as needed can be considered preventative maintenance for the other appliances within your home.

If you think it may be time to change the water filter cartridge, or maintain your water treatment system components in your home water filtration system, reach out to your local Irrigear Independent Expert to get the right products and advice.