The life and performance of cartridges may vary, depending on the volume, quality and pressure of the incoming water supply being purified. The cartridges may need to be replaced every 6-12 months. In any case, the cartridges must not be used for longer than 12 months. When saturation is reached, filter cartridges can "unload" contaminants into the water. A membrane can last 3-5 years, as long as you replace the other cartridges regularly. We can tell you exactly when you need to change your membrane by testing your R/O water with our TDS meter.

Yes. Even though the average customer cannot tell the difference between different makes and brands, there could be a big difference in prices and quality. There is no real bargain in business, so always remember the old saying, "You get what you paid for".

At Pure Magic Water Purifiers, we do not sell cheap, poor quality products to make quick money. We value customer satisfaction and a long-term relationship. We sell high quality products for reasonable prices.

At Pure Magic Water Purifiers, we only deal with quality purifiers. Therefore most of our purifiers can last many years. Although we have an industry leading 3-year conditional warranty, we've seen most of them last more than 10 years. Beware of night-flyers who are based in their back yard with just a phone number. We have a proper showroom on a main road, and this business has been operating for more than 18 years. You don't need to worry about getting parts and service in years to come.

A typical carbon filter will remove any sediment, dirt, rust and chemicals such as chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, VOC's and THM's, down to 1-5 microns, but it will not remove fluoride, heavy metals and other dissolved solids. A Reverse Osmosis system will remove close to 100% of fluoride, nitrates and heavy metals (copper, lead, aluminium, mercury, cadmium, etc), down to 0.0005 micron as well as all the contaminants that a carbon filter removes.

I was told that Reverse Osmosis removes all "good" minerals in the water.

There is no way you can selectively remove bad things only, leaving good things in the water. Since health threats from the bad things are much greater than the nutrition value of good things in water, it is better to remove everything from the water. In any case, the amount of "good" minerals in the water is so negligible that it cannot be a source of nutrition. You get 99.99% of nutrition from your food, not from your drinking water.

According to Dr. P. Bragg, the American author of the best-selling book "Water, the Shocking Truth", fluoride is waste produced by aluminium foundries, is a deadly poison like arsenic and cyanide and is used in rat poison. Fluoride slowly destroys the body's self-repair and rejuvenation capabilities causing premature ageing, bone damage and deformities. It depresses the immune system, increases the risk of hip fractures up to 41%, can cause tooth enamel mottling, poor health, mongolism in infants and increases the growth of cancer cells.

No. A carbon filter is capable of removing sediment, dirt and chemicals including chlorine but it cannot remove fluoride. To eliminate fluoride from the water, you have two choices; put a specialty cartridge called "mixed bed resin (ion exchange)" in your existing purifier or buy a new Reverse Osmosis system.

Copper corrosion is a major problem in Victoria, and could lead to various side effects including liver failure, according to John Archer, an Australian water researcher. Conventional carbon filters cannot remove heavy metals including copper, lead, aluminium and fluoride. You have to buy a mixed bed resin filter or a Reverse Osmosis system.

There is growing concern about Giardia and Cryptosporidium in Melbourne and other rural water supply systems, according to John Archer's study. Nobody knows how much we are getting in our tap water. To avoid the future possibility of getting these deadly parasites, you must boil the water continuously for 5-10 minutes before you drink it, or use "absolute" 1 micron or finer filters, or use a Reverse Osmosis system - they cannot be effectively disinfected by chlorine.

When you are on tank water, the biggest concerns are threats from micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, algae, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, etc. You may also be exposed to the risks of drinking chemicals and heavy metals from chemical sprays and leaching from the roof, tanks and pipes.

One way is to treat your tank water with chlorine regularly, to ensure there is always enough chlorine residue in the tank, and then to have a carbon filter under your kitchen sink(point-of-use) to remove the chlorine before you drink.

Another way is to have a carbon filter or a reverse osmosis system along with an Ultraviolet Sterilizer to kill the germs. To make the water clean for a shower, washing, etc, you can get a whole house system installed with a sediment filter of 5 - 10 micron at the point of entry.

You have to be very careful with a whole house system. There are some filter companies who frequently recommend a whole house system as a thorough solution but that is not always a good idea.

First, with a whole house system you cannot achieve the best quality because the filters for a whole house system are mostly low to medium grade because of the large volume to handle. Secondly, the actual portion of the water you really want to purify to a high degree quality is not much - especially drinking water takes only about 1% of the total household usage. Therefore, it may be more cost effective and efficient to get a point-of-use purifier like an under-sink system, a shower filter, etc.

But if you are chemical sensitive and/or want the convenience of having filtered water from every tap in your house, we recommend use of a whole house filter system in conjunction with a good under-sink filter system