Those who have been following us for a while will know that we don't sell high ticket items without me test driving them first. When I did a test drive of the water filter from Southern Cross Pottery, I fell in love with it and it's still in my kitchen. We do get asked a handful of questions about these filters, so I'm going to answer the most common ones here and then show you how to care for your filter.

How much plastic is inside these filters?

Almost nothing. The body of the filter is ceramic, the same as the outside. So is the bell where you put the water in. The actual filter (see above) is also ceramic and is held in to place with a small amount of bpa free plastic, and that's all the plastic that comes in touch with your water.

Does it filter out fluoride?

Yes and no. You get to choose. You can purchase these with the original Royal Doulton filter or for an extra $50, upgrade to the SCP Fluoride Plus filter. Some people like to filter it out, some people don't. This is the only filter in store where you get to choose.

Cleaning out the body of the filter

Do you need to clean it out? I have never needed to. After 2 years of continuous use, I have wiped the inside of the filter out on many occasions with a white paper towel to see if there's any residue and I have never needed to clean mine out.

Cleaning the filter cartridge and the bell where you tip the water in

This should be done periodically. Pictured below is a brand new cartridge on the left, and on the right, a filter cartridge that I left way too long before cleaning. You will notice it is a totally feral colour and when you leave it like this, the top ceramic bell can be a little slimy and should be washed out any time you clean your cartridge.

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Since the cartridge is ceramic, and porous, you can actually scrape down the outside of them to clean them off throughout their lifespan of approx 12 months. Looking at the picture above, you can see the dirty one has some little ridges on it. That's where I scraped off the outside layer with a knife a few months ago. If you look at the picture below, I scraped off a small section of this dirty one so you can see just how much you can remove from the filter. The dirtier they are on the outside, the longer the water takes to filter through, so doing this 3-4 times a year is a good idea. All I used to do this was the blunt side of a normal bread & butter knife.

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Shop the Southern Cross Pottery range

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Visit the Southern Cross Pottery category to find the 10 litre slimline (above) and the 12 litre rounded filters. They are available in a variety of colours and designs. Each filter is painted and fired to order and take around 3-4 weeks for delivery. We keep replacement cartridges for both the standard Royal Doulton and the SCP Fluoride Plus cartridges and they should be replaced every 12 months or when the water starts to taste funny again.