Questions and answers
How do I connect the purifier to the kitchen water supply?
Included with the cleaner comes connection equipment with standard dimensions for the vast majority of kitchen taps. If you need a special adapter, we can help you get it. This is easy to connect without the need for a plumber. If you want or need another connection option, we also offer a special switch/connector that is mounted on the bench by the sink. This is connected to the water supply under the bench with the help of a plumber. See further details for both of these solutions under Water Purifier on the menu bar.
How big is the need to filter the water from the tap?
Safe and good drinking water is the responsibility of the public authorities. In the Norwegian drinking water regulations (Regulations on water supply and drinking water) it is confirmed in paragraph 1:
"The purpose of the regulation is to protect human health by requiring the safe supply of sufficient quantities of health-safe drinking water that is clear and without prominent smell, taste and colour." There are strict guidelines for the permitted content of impurities.
In a project carried out by the Food Safety Authority for Midt-Rogaland for the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (SNT), water purification equipment for household purposes on the Norwegian market was surveyed in 2001. Around 275 filter-based water purifiers for connection to water mains were surveyed. The report states that studies on Norwegian water quality do not indicate that water purification in individual households is generally necessary for health reasons. The report recognizes that there may be a desire for filtration to improve smell/taste, and that filtration may be relevant due to acidic water that corrodes/precipitates metals from water pipes (low pH can be detected in most places in Norway due to acidic surface water in the water supply).
In the book Sannheten i glasset (2015), the author Christian Geelmuyden challenges the view that Norwegian drinking water has the quality it should be. In recent times, new issues have emerged such as microplastics, which according to a survey by VG were found in 8 out of 10 Norwegian drinking water sources. The Norwegian Environment Agency expresses concern about this. Many years of emissions and pollution from industry and agriculture, as well as large private consumption, make it more demanding for the authorities to guarantee clean air and clean water today, in contrast to 50 and 100 years ago when the environment was less polluted. Seen in this light, it can be an extra insurance to connect a filtration unit to a tap or water line.
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How effectively does Crystal Water filter impurities?
When purchasing a Crystal Water water purifier, it comes with a standard "CTO-grade" carbon filter (90 mm (height) x 65 mm (diameter) filter cartridge). CTO stands for chlorine, taste and smell (chlorine, taste, odor). It is the improvement or removal of these parameters that the filter manufacturers guarantee.
The most common for a CTO filter is 10 micron (0.01 mm) filter pores. We have chosen a filter with a 5 micron pore size (1 micron is 1 thousandth of a millimetre). It provides good flow, vortex and aeration of the water. Smaller filter cartridges with larger filter pores than this for mounting directly on the faucet are the most sold filter type on the household market in the world in you.
Does the filter remove microplastics?
Mikroplast are small plastic particles i the environment which has a size of from 5 millimeters (5000 micrometers) down to 1 thousandth of a millimeter (1 micron). Crystal Water 5 mcn (micrometer) standard filter will therefore remove 99.9% of the entire spectrum of microplastic particles.
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How often should I change the filter?
It depends on the water quality. It is easy to see that in some places with relatively poor water quality the filter can darken in color on the outside of the filter after a few weeks, while in other places it can last up to six months. Taste is perhaps the best indicator: if you feel that the quality has dropped - a slight "taste" compared to when the filter is new - then it's a good idea to change.
In general, we recommend changing the filter 2-4 times a year, plus/mins in individual cases, depending on how good the water is initially.
Increases Crystal Water pH and ORP values
High pH gives more basic/alkaline water and ORP stands for the water's antioxidant potential (oxidation/reduction potential). Both are affected by diet and lifestyle and are important for our health.
Crystal Water and other water treatment technologies based on Schauberger's living water theses only produce a slightly elevated pH. It does not ionize the water, but structures and vitalizes it based on the principles of nature. What should you choose?
One can easily argue that increased pH and ORP in the water is beneficial because it supplies acid neutralizing fluid to acidified bodies, and increases the body's ability to neutralize free radicals.
Ionizers that increase pH and ORP are therefore sold with many claims about these benefits. At the same time, the objections to high pH/ORP water from environments that work with water from a holistic perspective have increased.
Water treatment that increases pH and ORP is based on electrolysis by supplying ionizing current from the mains. pH in ionized water/high ORP water is due to an excess of free electrons from several negative ions: OH- ions, fewer H+ ions and more negatively charged hydrogen (H-). It gives an unstable high pH and not a pH that is stably bound to basic minerals as it is in nature and our bodies, where the basic minerals act as a natural buffer against elevated acid.
Neither Crystal Water nor other devices based on Viktor Schauberger's water treatment philosophy, such as Grandervann, are based on ionization/electrolysis with the aim of increasing pH and ORP.
In Crystal Water, the purpose is to use nature's own principles for refining tap water based on Schauberger's thoughts on "living water".
We do not use electricity or other aids than the water's own movement and currents, as well as contact with magnetic fields and quarts that water has in a mountain stream. It has a structuring effect on the water, and only a slight increase in pH. Force fields from electrical power grids have, in contrast to force fields from magnetic fields, such as geomagnetic fields in the earth, a negative effect on the water's structure and hydration ability (see our blog on structured water and hydration).
Many people think clean water should have a pH of 7. That is also a misconception. Pure water (water without anything in it) can only have a pH of 7 in a vacuum. It is because the water is "hungry". It will instantly absorb CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere and form carbonic acid. It results in a slightly acidic water (opposite of alkaline), but the acidity is weak from a volatile acid. It is too weak to have an acidifying effect on the body. So if your water has a pH that is lower than 7, it does not mean that it is unnatural water or unfavorable to drink. Many natural water sources and streams have a healthy (buffered) pH that is slightly below 7. This enables the water to hold more minerals.
The chemistry of life depends on the balance between acid and base. ORP in fresh fruit and vegetables is predominantly weakly positive, and not negative which characterizes high ORP water. pH i fruits and vegetables rather strongly on the acidic side - pH range 3 - 6 - and not over 7 as in ionized water. Vi nevertheless become more alkaline by eating fruit and vegetables due to the content of alkaline minerals.
With an unnaturally high pH in the water, we risk alkalizing the digestive tract in the wrong places: it should be acidic in the stomach, where the acid is needed for the efficiency of the protein-splitting enzymes, and acidic in the large intestine for the sake of the good lactic acid bacteria. This is regulated best with the body's own acid production in the stomach, which provides an excess of basic minerals for the production of base in the small intestine. In the colon, a favorable acidic environment is created by the lactic acid-producing bacteria.
We are not against enriching water with ingredients and antioxidants from nature's own pharmacy, for cure or prevention. Crystal Water is an excellent starting point for this. You can get the health benefits of active hydrogen by adding hydrogen by finisher the water in a hydrogen can or in powder form. The water can also be added with carbonates, green powder from grass and algae, or ionized minerals to add more stable alkaline buffers to the body.
Arguments for not using ionizing current in water treatment can be summarized as follows:
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The pH in ionized water/high ORP water is not balanced in the water's mineral content as in nature, but bound in unstable ions.
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Continuous and aggressive neutralization of oxygen radicals with high pH water can disrupt the cellular redox balance that plays a crucial role in immune function and metabolic homeostasis.
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An excess of antioxidant electrons can dampen the very driving force in the body's energy production - ATP synthesis - which is active oxygen.
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Oxygen radicals also serve as signaling molecules. Medical research shows that their absence is as unfortunate as their abundance.
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An unnaturally high pH in the water can alkalize the digestive tract where it should be acidic for optimal effect of enzymes, the well-being of the lactic acid bacteria and immune function.
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