Does a shower filter work in Hot water?

Often our customers will email us or call us and ask if a shower filter will work in hot water. So we thought we'd go ahead and write this little blog article so that we can share some information about how a shower filter will work when you're using it in hot water.

Here's the first thing, most people don't take cold showers! Unless it's part of their health routine or some kind of method for tightening their skin and pores, most people in this world usually enjoy a nice hot shower (especially during a cold morning!). So if the default setting for a shower is going to be hot, then you can be sure that shower filter manufacturers have already know this and have taken this into consideration when they are developing their shower heads with water filters or in line shower filters.

Having said that, we do understand why this question is sometimes asked though, because in the early days of shower filters the main ingredient that was used in a shower filter was Granular Active Carbon. Well, we say in the 'early days' - but to be honest, GAC is still widely used in shower filters and water filters right now. We even have around 3 shower filters ourselves which incorporate GAC as a shower filter medium. By using this filter medium people might pose the question about whether or not it can be used in hot temperatures because GAC is known to start breaking down in hot water and releasing any contaminants that it has filtered out. So naturally people would think to themselves, if GAC is known to break down in hot water or at hot temperatures - then surely that means that it isn't a good filter medium for a shower filter?

On the face of it, that sounds simple enough, but just like anything - when you dig a little deeper, that is when you really get to know the true story. So let's do some digging! Yes it is true that GAC does break down at high temperatures, but what we need to think about is, what temperature constitutes 'hot'? The first point to make is, what temperature does a shower actually go to? If we take a look at this Wikipedia article, we can see that at temperatures from 38 degrees C, then skin will start to scald. Therefore we can safely say that nobody will shower in temperatures over 38 degrees!

The temperature which GAC starts to slough out the contaminants that it has filtered out is around 60 degrees C, so it's simple to see that using GAC as a shower filter medium actually is perfectly OK because a shower will never reach 60C.

It goes the same for other shower filter mediums, such as KDF-55, ceramic balls and any of the other types of filter mediums we have in our shower filter store. They are all safe to use in your shower, even in hot water because the water we shower in will never reach temperature that will start to have any negative effects on the filter materials in your shower filter.

Hope that clears that up! If you're looking for a great shower filter which will work really well in your shower and remove lots of contaminants that are unhealthy for you and your family, such as; chlorine, heavy metals, bacteria, algae, THMs, hard water particles and make your water feel softer - and also work really well in hot water! Then we recommend our most popular product, the Paragon Luxury Hand-Held Shower Filter Head.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask us by emailing us at info@pureshowers.com

Have a great day!