Water Treatment

Fit a filter housing on the supply into the house to catch sand, grit and rust before they reach taps, appliances, impellers and valves. For wells and boreholes, use a 10" Jumbo housing, or a 20" Jumbo for heavy sediment, with a cotton cartridge for sand, grit and rust or a PP cartridge for finer particles. If the water is still cloudy after filtering, get it tested. See our water treatment range.

It depends on the problem. Well, borehole and mains water can each carry different things, and each needs a different treatment:

If you're combining treatments, fit them in this order: sediment, then carbon, then UV. Filtering first stops particles shading microorganisms from the UV light. If you don't know what's in your water, get it tested first so you treat the right problem.

A UV steriliser treats microorganisms in your water using ultraviolet light, without adding any chemicals, taste or smell. As water flows past the UV lamp, the 254 nm light damages the DNA of microorganisms, including Giardia and Cryptosporidium. It's most often fitted on private wells and boreholes. Our UV sterilisers handle flows from 7.6 to 91 l/min. For it to work:

• Fit it last, after the sediment and carbon filters.
• Size it to your peak flow, not the average flow.
• Keep it switched on.
• Leave room at one end to slide the lamp out for changing and cleaning.

If a test finds bacteria in your well water, follow your local authority's advice before drinking it.

A reverse osmosis (RO) system pushes water through an extremely fine membrane that reduces dissolved solids and heavy metals, giving you clean drinking water at a dedicated tap. We stock two:

• Compact RO (1200 GPD): high-flow drinking water. It makes about 4,540 litres a day at 3.12 l/min and fills a glass in about five seconds. It's just 150 mm wide and uses two stages, with twist-and-pull filters you change by hand. It needs a socket and a drain connection under the sink.
• 5-stage RO with booster pump: five filters in series plus a 3-gallon storage tank. Its built-in booster pump keeps the membrane working on low mains pressure, and it uses standard 10" cartridges. It's designed for mains water. On a well or borehole, treat the supply first.

A 20-inch housing takes a cartridge twice the length of a 10-inch one, so it holds more dirt and needs changing less often. Jumbo housings take a wider cartridge for even more capacity.

Every housing takes cotton (sand, grit and rust), PP (fine particles) and block carbon (chlorine, taste and odour) cartridges. A clear bowl lets you see when the cartridge needs changing.

It depends on your water quality and how much you use. As a typical guide, based on our 5-stage RO system:

• Sediment cartridges: every 4–6 months.
• Carbon cartridges: every 6–12 months.
• RO membranes: every 12–24 months.

Sediment cartridges block faster where there's a lot of sediment, and a drop in pressure or a dirty clear bowl tells you one is due. The Compact RO has a filter-life reminder. Before opening a filter bowl, always press the relief button to release the pressure. When refitting, seal threads with PTFE tape only, never paste or hemp.

Get it tested by an accredited laboratory. We don't test water ourselves, but your local authority can point you to testing options. If you have a private well, the EPA advises testing it at least once a year. Once you have the results, send them to us and we'll put together the right treatment.

FRP (fibreglass reinforced plastic) tanks hold the treatment media in water softeners and whole-house filters. Fill one with the media that suits your problem:

• Softener resin: removes hardness, so there's less scale in kettles, boilers and pipes.
• Activated carbon: reduces chlorine, taste and odour across the whole supply.
• Sand or multimedia: traps sediment and cloudiness at higher flows than a cartridge.

They won't rust, and they're light enough for one person to position. They're rated to 10 bar and take the standard 2.5-inch top-mounted control valves. Sizes are 39, 50 and 104 litres. Tanks are supplied empty, with the base fitted. The media, control valve and internals are sold separately. Send us your flow and a water test result and we'll size it.

We install domestic booster pumps and commercial booster sets across Dublin city and county. Borehole pumps, drainage and sewage pumps, and water treatment systems are supplied for your installer to fit. We match every part to the job, and we're happy to talk your plumber or installer through the setup. Outside Dublin, we deliver nationwide (next working day on in-stock items).