The Aquacera Traveler XL water filter is ridiculously easy to clean and maintain, and the ceramic filters themselves are easy to replace when it comes time.
For starters, the filter is sturdy and solid but easy to deconstruct. The lid sits atop the top (unfiltered) reservoir and this top reservoir tank sits nestled into the lip of the bottom tank — it’s not going anywhere, but it doesn’t take any unscrewing or really any force at all to take it all apart.
After setting the lid aside and lifting the top tank out of the bottom, the first step is to remove the ceramic filter cylinders (Aquacera calls them “candle filters”). On the bottom of the tank, two blue plastic wing nuts hold the cylinders in place. Unscrewing each of these enables you to pull the cylinders up out of the chamber.
Depending on how silty your water source is, the chamber might be pretty gritty. Rinse this out with a small amount of (biodegradable) soap and water and a soft sponge or rag. Once the grit is out — and any grease or gross that might have accidentally found its way in — thoroughly rinse all the soap out.
Next up, the filters themselves! Note: don’t use soap!
Because we don’t currently have running water, we use a bucket system, though you could do all this washing in a sink, too. Submerge the filters in water, running or not, and use a rough pad (think Scotch-Brite scouring pad) to thoroughly rub the entire surface area of the ceramic filters. This action actually removes the dirty layers of ceramic, and the attached dirt, exposing the clean remaining layers. (This scouring away is why eventually the cylinders have to be replaced.) The filters will get noticeably brighter, whiter, as you clean them.
And then? Rinse the filters off!
And then? Let ’em dry!
Well that was easy — the post basically wrote itself! And after cleaning your filters you still have time to go soak up all that warm sun, too. Enjoy!
