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If you’ve read about the problems with drinking contaminated water you might be getting interested in water filtration. You will have heard of charcoal water filters or carbon water filters or even activated carbon water filters. What are these water filters?

Charcoal is a substance created by heating organic matter to high temperature in the absence of oxygen and a charcoal water filter is one that uses charcoal for the filtration process. The organic material commonly used is coconut husks.

Charcoal has various properties, primarily that it is extremely porous and this is what is necessary for successful water filtration. These pores allow water, and contaminants, to pass through and for the contaminants to be absorbed by the carbon by means of chemical attraction, because many carbon based or organic compounds are chemically attracted to carbon.

That is what charcoal, or carbon, water filters are. So what are activated carbon, or what is known as AC, filters? These filters use a form of carbon that is way more porous than normal carbon, and this is created during the manufacturing process.

It’s so porous in fact that it can have up to 20000 square yards of surface area per ounce of activated carbon. That’s really porous.

You need to replace the filters occasionally in an AC water filter because the filter gradually clogs up with contaminants as they are absorbed by the carbon.

An activated carbon water filter works well filtering a wide range of contaminants, but doesn’t filter all of them, and for this reason the best water filters use a multi stage water filtration process. Not only is the carbon block, or activated carbon filter used but there is a second stage to the process that removes the contaminants that are not removed by activated carbon filtration.

And in the very best water purifiers available there is no reliance on AC filtering only, because very good it is not sufficient on it’s own. There is a second stage to the filtering process and this stage is used to filter contaminants that the first stage leaves behind, like nasty lead. And the removal of lead is achieved by an ion exchange process replacing lead ions with harmless potassium ions.

And the second stage of the best water filters removes tiny organisms that remain in the water after stage 1 like giardia and cryptosporidium through the use of an extremely fine filtration process. These are the most dangerous water contaminants.

There you have the basics of water filtration by use of carbon, or what is known as charcoal water filters, or activated carbon water filters. The activated carbon is not 100% successful in removing all contaminants, but when used in a 2 stage process designed to remove the contaminants that are left behind by the AC filter, it works exceedingly well. You should expect around 99% of lead to be removed, for example.

I spend time discussing the worlds best water filters on my website.

Would you like to learn more about the Best Water Filters? Or about Charcoal Water Filters? Visit Peter’s Website the Best Drinking Water Filters.

For some reason when people gather in your home, they will probably gravitate towards your kitchen or breakfast nook. For whatever reason, this is where you will spend a lot of your time. Therefore, you want this room to reflect your personal style and compliment the interior design of the rest of your home. Even though the room is small, you have several opportunities for decorating.

The centerpiece of your breakfast nook, the table and chairs, are the first step to creating the perfect look for this room. You can make a big decorating statement with the selection of your breakfast nook set. If you choose a set with benches and a wooden table, then it is obvious you are going for a more country style home. If you choose an aluminum table with a glass top and aluminum chairs then I would expect your home to be quite modern. Whatever furniture you decide on, make sure that it matches the rest of the dcor in your kitchen like cabinets and appliances.

Once you choose the overall style of your kitchen furniture, then you can add touches to it to enhance the aesthetics. Many wooden chairs can be have painted seats or backs that match the color scheme of your cabinets, appliances, and counters. You can order your table with a tile border that matches your kitchen backsplash or you can pain the table with stencils that math those on your cabinets. The stencils can be protected by finishing the table with a laminate.

If you choose not to dress up your furniture with color or design then you can add that splash of color with cushions or placemats. Both benches and chairs can hold cushions of various colors or textures. Placemats can be for everyday specialty use. Everyday placemats will usually be a solid color or texture like the cushions. Specialty placemats can help decorate your kitchen for any holiday.

If you are thinking about selling your home then you might think about decorating your breakfast nook with china. Many people will set up china in their formal dining room to add a touch of color. China often compliments the colors in your counter tops or other kitchen decorations and putting place setting on the table is a nice way to dress up the room.

Another way to add lines and color to your breakfast nook is with curtains. Breakfast nooks are usually equipped with lots of windows so the necessity of curtains gives you the opportunity to add character to the room. Designers will note that kitchens are usually very angular rooms with straight lines. A curved cornice or valence will help to soften the look of the room.

The windows will also help to provide with a natural decorating element, sunlight. Nevertheless, when the sun goes down, you need to think of alternative lighting options. Whether you choose an ornate chandelier or simple spot lights, the lighting fixtures are another opportunity to tie your breakfast nook into the interior design of the rest of the house.

Many homeowners think that the lack of solid wall surfaces means that you cannot hang art in your breakfast nook. This is absolutely not true. The windows provide a large surface where many different types of art can hang. Arts and crafts stores sell decals that you can put on glass and paints that are meant to be painted on glass and that allow light to shine through. In addition, many people hang stained glass art projects with suction cups to windows in order to take advantage of the natural light source.

Breakfast nooks may seem like they do not offer many decorating options, but in fact, they do. By using the elements that you need in the room for functional purpose as decorating tools, you can make quite a statement with your breakfast nook.