Ceramic Water Filter Cartridge

Cloudy water after a storm. Fine grit that settles in the bottom of a glass. A countertop filter that needs one more line of defense. The smallest particles slip through ordinary sediment filters, and that is where a ceramic stage earns its place.

This ceramic water filter cartridge gives a Crystal Quest countertop or under-sink system a fine mechanical filtration stage rated at 0.5 micron. It physically strains out fine sediment and asbestos fibers without adding anything to the water, and the ceramic element is designed to be cleaned between replacements, so one cartridge keeps working long after a disposable sediment filter would be thrown away.

At a glance

• 0.5-micron rating: ten times finer than a standard 5-micron sediment cartridge
• Pure mechanical filtration: no chemicals added, nothing released into the water
• Cleanable element: restore flow by cleaning the surface instead of replacing the cartridge
• Reduces sediment and asbestos fibers
• Published operating limits: 20 to 60 psi and 40°F to 90°F

What you are looking at

A single-size 2-7/8" x 9-3/4" cartridge built around a rigid ceramic filter element. Polypropylene end caps close each end with Buna-N gaskets for the seal, and the element is protected by polyolefin inner and outer wraps and polyethylene netting.

How a ceramic water filter works

A maze of microscopic pores

Filter-grade ceramic is fired from fine mineral particles into a hard, porous body. The spaces between those fused particles form a tortuous network of pores far smaller than a human hair. Water can push through; particles larger than the pores cannot, so they are caught on the outer surface and in the outermost layer of the element.

Surface filtration you can clean

Because a ceramic element is rigid, the dirt it catches builds up mostly on its outside surface instead of loading deep into the media the way a spun or pleated cartridge does. When the flow slows, cleaning that surface exposes fresh ceramic and brings the flow back. That is what lets a ceramic cartridge outlast a disposable sediment filter.

Why 0.5 micron matters

A micron is one millionth of a meter. Standard sediment cartridges are commonly rated at 5 microns; this element is rated at 0.5 micron, so it catches much finer silt, clay and rust particles, and the thin mineral fibers called asbestos that can come from aging asbestos-cement water mains.

What ceramic does not do

Ceramic strains particles. It does not adsorb chemicals the way carbon does, so chlorine, VOCs, lead and fluoride pass through. Pair it with a carbon, SMART or specialty stage for those.

What it reduces

Primary targets:

• Fine sediment: silt, clay, rust and other suspended particles
• Asbestos fibers
• Bacteria including E. coli, fecal coliform, Salmonella and Streptococcus, plus cysts, held back by the 0.5 micron ceramic

Not designed to treat: chlorine and chloramine, VOCs, lead and other dissolved metals, fluoride, nitrate, hardness or total dissolved solids. Ceramic is a filter, not a disinfection system, and viruses are small enough to pass through its pores; for a finer membrane barrier, see the Ultrafiltration (UF) Water Filter Membrane. For chlorine, taste and odor, add the SMART Filter Cartridge or a carbon block.

Why Crystal Quest

• Finer than standard sediment stages. 0.5 micron versus the 5 microns of a typical sediment cartridge.
• Operating limits published, not left blank. Pressure and temperature ranges are published so you know it suits your system.
• Over 1,000,000 people served since 1994. Crystal Quest builds under ISO 9001 quality management and has made water filtration in the USA for over 30 years.
• Lifetime support. Call before the first cleaning and our team will walk you through it.

Where it fits

• Crystal Quest countertop and under-sink replaceable systems that list the ceramic cartridge, part CQE-RC-04005
• One size: 2-7/8" x 9-3/4", the actual size for housings often described as 2.5" x 10"
• Keep the stage your system specifies: ceramic is a different medium from carbon block, GAC or SMART, so it is not a substitute for them

Common questions