Glossary: Filtration Technical Terms
Prosep Filter Services appreciate that some of the terms and jargon used regarding private water supplies and filtration can be off-putting, so we’ve compiled a list of common terms. We hope you find it useful to learn more about your private water supply.
| AQUIFER | A naturally occurring underground water source |
| BACKWASH | A flow reversal through a composite vessel that flushes away to waste any collected material |
| BACKWASH VALVE | A normally motorised valve, which directs water flow either to service or to waste |
| BOREHOLE | A hole drilled into the ground to access water stored in natural aquifers |
| BRINE | A salt solution used to regenerate some filter medias |
| BRINE TANK | A container used to hold a mixture of salt tablets and water |
| CARBON CARTRIDGE | A normally disposable filter used to remove organics or chlorine. Improves water taste |
| COMPOSITE VESSEL | A vessel designed to contain water treatment media |
| DOWNFLOW | The direction of flow downwards through a composite vessel |
| FILTER CARTRIDGE | A normally disposable element that removes particulate |
| FILTER HOUSING | A vessel normally suitable for operating at pressure which contains a filter cartridges |
| FILTRATE | The pure water stream from an RO membrane |
| FLOWRATE | The volume of water measured in litres per hour that your system will produce |
| GRAVEL | Used to create a volume of water at the bottom of a vessel for correct water distribution through the media bed |
| HARD WATER | Water containing high levels of Calcium and Magnesium. Causes limescale build up and prevents soap from foaming |
| HYDROGEN SULPHIDE | A gas that smells of rotten eggs. Removed either by oxidising the gas or absorption in carbon |
| MEDIA | A type of mineral used to filter out impurities from a raw water supply |
| PERMEATE | The concentrated salts solution passing from the reject side of a reverse osmosis membrane |
| PH CORRECTION | Normally a method of increasing water pH from acidic to neutral range. Neutral water has a pH of= 7 |
| PREFILTER | A filter normally fitted before a UV system to remove particulate up to 5 microns |
| PRESSURE GAUGE | A way of reading the pressure in the system |
| PRESSURE SWITCH | A mechanism that reads the pressure in a system, turning on and off the pump when needed |
| PRESSURE VESSEL | A pressurised container that acts as a buffer to maintain the flow rate out of your tap |
| PRESSURE | The amount of energy stored in an enclosed system |
| QUARTZ SLEEVE | A quartz glass tube that protects the UV lamp from coming into contact with water |
| REVERSE OSMOSIS | A process that passes water over a semi permeable membrane to remove impurities |
| RISER TUBE | A tube inside a composite vessel that allows water to pass up and down |
| SOFTENER | A system that removes hardness from water. Removes typically Calcium and Magnesium |
| ULTRA VIOLET | A spectrum of visible light that destroys bacteria. Short wavelength, high energy |
| ULTRA VIOLET LAMP | A fluorescent tube type lamp that generates ultra violet light. Generates light in the range 250 - 270 nanometres |
| UPFLOW | The direction of flow upwards through a composite vessel |
| WATER DEMAND | The amount of water that is needed to run heating systems, showers, etc |
