Avoid ochre in your water

Ochre is a by-product made from a so-called iron bacterium. The bacterium is found almost everywhere on the planet and thus also in the tap water. The ochre bacterium survives by oxidising the minerals dissolved in the water. Manganese and especially iron is utilised in this process.

The process creates a yellow-brown slime that may affect your drains and pipe systems. Ochre typically links up with organic substances, calcium, sand and other sediments.

A filter is the obvious method of keeping ochre out of your drinking water.

Ochre in the drinking water

You can easily check if your water contains ochre. The procedure is relatively simple.

1. Fill a glass container with water and leave the sample for a while.
2. Examine if there is any sediment. There are two possible scenarios here:
1. If the sediment at the bottom of the container appears as a rusty powder, it is a sign that the water contains iron bacteria.
2. If the sediment has a soft three-dimensional appearance, the amount of iron bacteria is probably significant.

If the ochre emerges before the water enters the house, we recommend that you remove the iron bacteria with an ochre filter with a filtration degree as low as 0.5 μm. An ochre filter can be installed directly on your tap or on the pipes leading up to the kitchen sink.

With one of our filters you get rid of ochre in your drinking water. While not immediately dangerous or harmful to health in any way, it is reassuring to know that the water you use in your home is clean and free of unpleasant tastes and smells.

This is how an ochre filter works

An ochre filter has an effective impact on pollutants in your drinking water. An ochre filter is usually equipped with two filter housings, a front housing with a high filtration degree and a filter housing with a low and very fine filtration degree, which means that both larger and smaller particles are removed from the water.

If the ochre comes from the pipes of your house, you may advantageously install the filter on one or more taps in the house. If you find that there is still ochre in the water after filtration, you can supplement the system with an active carbon block.

Explore our range of filter products, including the Vana Ochre Filter, the Vana Premium Filter and the Brita C1000 AC.

Here are our Ochre Kit Filters - the size of what they need depends on how much water is used on a daily basis.

The table below is only an estimate - other circumstances may require a larger kit.