The fundamental operation between domestic and commercial water filtration systems is are technologically the same, but differ in the scale at which they are undertaken. If you are in a domestic situation, you will typically be cleaning the water that you drink rather than everything being used in the house, and may be a low as just ten litres per day.  That amount will be sufficient for the average family to drink, cook and clean their teeth with, and can be achieved with a small activated carbon unit.

However, if you need much more than that, as many commercial systems will, then you need to increase your throughput significantly, and consider units that are capable of cleaning themselves and completing their own routine maintenance. Generally, if you have a process that consumes over 60 litres per minute, or is connected to a mains system with a waterline of 40mm or larger, then you need to be running a commercial water treatment plant.

Commercial water filtration systems are found in many utilities and businesses rely on a constant and copious supply of clean and pure water.  An average-sized hospital may have around 300 beds, and a large one could have up to 1,000 beds.  That means that this many patient has to be supplied with daily water as well as resources used for many other processes that are required for the general running of the hospital.  All of that adds up to a significant water usage and a great deal of cleaning that has to be carried out.

Typically, a large tank-based Commercial Water Filtration system such as may be found in a hospital or similar institution consists of one or more media holding tanks with electro-mechanical valves or an electronic metered control. Units with electronic controls are usually self-backwashing, and may be capable of filtering from 500 up to 10,000 gallons per day depending upon the requirement.  Certainly, such a system will be designed to have an excess capacity of at least a third to ensure continuity of flow even in the highest usage operations.

Commercial filtration is also becoming very big business in high-throughput commercial environments such as coffee shops, where the customer demands a great taste on demand.  Coffee connoisseurs appreciate the subtle flavours of their favourite beverage and definitely without the tang of fluorine or anti-bacterial agents like chloramines, and to get the water used for the brewing means having effective filtration with a high flow rate to meet those demands.  Similarly, restaurants are big users of pure water, and also cater for a clientele who appreciate taste and don’t want it tainted with additives so turn to commercial filtration to ensure that customers savour only the tastes that are intended.  These and other businesses typically turn to filter cartridges as they offer exception cleaning together with the ease of fast swap out for clean filters when required.  Typically, a commercial filtration system will have a feedback system to alert the user to a need to replace a cartridge, ensuring that the customer always gets clean water in their coffee.

Some more expensive commercial systems will be autonomous and essentially self-cleaning because of difficulty in getting to them. Post treated water within these kinds of environments are more likely to run a strict quality control system where the output is sampled on a regular basis and the update of filtration equipment as required.  Typically that means the cleaning of saturated filters and removal of discarded bacterial materials which build up during the process.

There are many types of water filter available and you should contact your vendor for commercial water filter systems and options for your process.  Whatever your water needs, you will be able to find a commercial water filtration system to fit it.