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The Dutch KIWA (The Quality Assurance Organization for the Dutch Water Works Corporations). www.kiwa.nl
The Belgium VITO (The Flemish State Research Institute and the environmental reference laboratory). www.vito.be
The German GfPS (a FDA (American Food & Drug Administration) recognized testing institute in Aachen, Germany). www.gfps.de
GGD, the public health service in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles.
Official certification has been granted by the well respected North American National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). www.nsf.org

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Q: Do Ster-O-Tap® water filters reduce water pressure?
A: Ster-O-Tap® micro filtration membranes are simply a bundle of many permanently hydrophilic (water loving) capillary membrane filters, with a highly porous asymmetric structure, in which the feed water follows a path from the large pores on the outside wall to the small pores on the inside wall, thus providing high flow rates and large dirt handling capacity. There is little resistance to flow of water and therefore only little pressure is required to drive the water filtration process.
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Q: How do I know when to change a Ster-O-Tap® water filters cartridge?
A: Replacement is indicated when the flow rate has been reduced to an unacceptable level without the feed pressure being the cause of the reduction. The average service life of the Ster-O-Tap® Dual Stage filter is 3000 liters or 6 months depending on local water conditions and the level of pre-filtration.
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Q: How do you wash dishes or your hands with the Ster-O-Tap® Counter Top Kit attached to the faucet?
A: The Ster-O-Tap® Counter Top Kit has a bypass valve attached on the faucet that will allow unfiltered water (for the washing of hands or dishes) to flow through the tap.
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Q: How does the cost of a Ster-O-Tap® water filter compare to buying bottled water?
A: Bottled water at most supermarkets costs approximately $1.00 or more per liter. If you replace your Ster-O-Tap® water filters cartridge after 3000 liters, the cost of the great tasting and safe water from the Ster-O-Tap® filter is less than $0.02 per liter! In other words, buying 3000 liters of bottled water at supermarkets would cost you at least $3000! A Ster-O-Tap® water filter is more economical by comparison.
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Q: How does the Ster-O-Tap® Dual Stage water filter affect the taste of my drinking water?
A: The high efficiency Ster-O-Tap® carbon block that comes with the Ster-O-Tap® Dual Stage water filter is characterized as providing for a high level of carbon treatment for superior chlorine, bad taste, odor and general organic chemical removal. Additionally, it has been engineered to provide for the retention of suspended sediment. Many customers speak well of the tremendous improvement Ster-O-Tap® water filters make in the taste and odor of tap water! Try one of our Ster-O-Tap® water filters, your satisfaction is guaranteed!
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Q: How unhealthy is chlorine?
A: Chlorine is not considered to be harmful if it occurs in small enough concentration in your water (however, according to the EPA high concentrations have been linked to high blood pressure). Additionally, chlorine combines with organic materials in water to form trihalomethanes (THM's), which are carcinogenic if the levels are high enough. Sometimes chlorine and ammonia are added to water to reduce the formation of these dangerous substances, however a by-product of this can be Chloramines, another dangerous substance which poses health risks of its own. Fortunately, activated carbon is proven to adsorb all of these substances in varying degrees from water, reducing or removing them from the water you drink and bathe in.
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Q: Is tap water really so bad that it needs filtering?
A: The quality of tap water in many overpopulated cities around the world is generally nothing to be desired. Many municipalities introduce chlorine as a disinfectant. Lead and Copper can leach out of household plumbing thereby making the water even more unsafe to drink. There are also hundreds of kilometers of piping before the water reaches the end user. Along this journey there is often build up of rust, dirt, slime and bacteria. Bacteria take shelter and nutrients in the slime build-up of pipes; a bio-film coating develops, protecting the bacteria from chlorine disinfection. When there is a violent flow of water or any other disturbance of the bio-film, the bacteria is released in the flowing water! Ster-O-Tap® Dual Stage water filters offer an effective and comprehensive solution to all these problems at point-of-use (faucet, refrigerator water or ice dispenser, water cooler, ice machine, etc.)!
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Q: What is the Ster-O-Tap® Dual Stage water filtration process?
A: The Dual Stage filter combines the best of two technologies in a unique two step approach:
a. The special high performance carbon shell (0.5 micron absolute) removes extra fine sediment, bad taste and odor, herbicides, pesticides, etc.
b. The Ster-O-Tap® micro filtration membranes (0.15 micron absolute) stop all bacteria and cysts (like E.Coli, Crypto and Giardia) and prevents them from reaching your faucet and provides the protection you need. The pores of the micro filtration membranes are several times smaller than the smallest bacteria!
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Q: What type of faucet will the Ster-O-Tap® Counter Top Kit fit on?
A: The Ster-O-Tap® Counter Top Kit comes with a couple of adapter rings to facilitate installation at different types of faucets.
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Q: Why is a Ster-O-Tap® water filter a better alternative than bottled water?
A: A Ster-O-Tap® water filter is more convenient than bottled water because it eliminates the trouble of carrying lots of heavy and expensive water bottles from the supermarket. Ster-O-Tap® water costs at least 50 times cheaper per liter than bottled water. Apart from this, Ster-O-Tap® water filtration products (as opposed to lots of bottled water) have been independently certified, evaluated and/or tested by some renowned institutes such as the North American NSF International (National Sanitation Foundation), Dutch KIWA (The quality assurance organization for the Dutch Water Works), Belgium VITO (The Flemish state research institute and the environmental reference laboratory) and German GfPS (an American Food & Drug Administration (FDA), recognized testing institute in Aachen, Germany).
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Q: Why is chlorine added to our tap water?
A: As water supplying infrastructures deteriorate or are stressed by the ever increasing demand, the risk of severe epidemics of waterborne diseases increases proportionally! Water treatment plants add chlorine to kill germs as water travels many miles through pipes to your tap. While the amount of chlorine added is regulated and not considered dangerous, it can affect taste and odor of the water. Apart from this, some waterborne infectious micro-organisms like Cryptosporidium resist such disinfectants as chlorine because the hard outer shell (oocyst) serves as a protector of the micro-organism.
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Q: Why is the Ster-O-Tap® water filter better than conventional water filters?
A: Bacteria and other micro-organisms, as well as organic matter (as for instance pesticides and herbicides) continuously threaten quality and safety of our drinking water and make it quite appropriate to focus on the question how to prevent exposure to these kinds of pathogens. As you may know, many have negative health effects while others are not harmful. Traditional water treatment methods such as Ultra Violet Process, Reverse Osmosis (RO) or Chlorination only partially and inadequately address these problems. The innovative Ster-O-Tap® Dual Stage water filter technology focus on absolute physical removal of particles and micro-organisms in combination with organic control at point-of-use!

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Q: Will I damage the Ster-O-Tap® water filter if I don’t run water through it for a period of time?
A: No. However, if the filter has not been used for days, flush the filter well by running cold water through it for 1 (one) minute, before using it.
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Q: Will Ster-O-Tap® water filters remove bacteria?
A: Yes, the Ster-O-Tap® micro filtration membranes (0.15 micron absolute) stop all bacteria and cysts and prevents them from reaching your faucet and provides the protection you need. The pores of the micro filtration membranes are several times smaller than the smallest bacteria! Bacteria size ranges between 1 and 5 microns and there is no way they can get through.
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