Increasingly, in a modern kitchen or bathroom, you can see such an interesting addition as an aerator at the end of the faucet spout. What is it and why is this device installed?
Aerators (sometimes also called water savers or economizers) are special nozzles that mix water with air and form such a jet of water that it has a number of positive properties:
- The jet becomes soft, that is, when it hits the hand or dishes, there is no large splashing to the sides. The flow of water, as it were, envelops what it is directed at.
- The washing process becomes easier (especially if a swivel aerator is installed) and effective compared to the option of using a hard jet that has not passed through the aerator and has the property of "local impact".
- The water flow is reduced, but remains strong enough to ensure that detergents are rinsed off successfully (without splashing). The aerator for the mixer, being a flow restrictor, allows you to reduce the amount of water consumed when washing dishes, or when washing, by two or more times, without reducing the convenience of these procedures.
- The taste qualities of water and its benefits for living organisms depend, among other things, on the concentration of oxygen dissolved in it, and on the degree of weathering of chlorine (if chlorinated water is used).
Thus, the aerator nozzle:
- improves the efficiency of the water jet;
- improves the quality of this very water;
- reduces its consumption.
Design features and types of aerators
The designs of most aerators include the following main components:
- frame;
- rubber or plastic gasket;
- one or more filters;
- various plates that cut and reflect the flow;
- extension tube or hinge (mandatory included in the rotary aerator).
Aerator housings can be manufactured:
- from plastic;
- from pressed metal alloy;
- from brass.
It must be said that the last type of case is the most durable, but it also costs more than the rest.
Plastic and pressed metal bodies are a good alternative to brass bodies, but brass aerators are still better.
Extruded metal alloy aerators
An unsuccessful choice, which has a number of disadvantages: the aerator body is fragile and is afraid of any strong mechanical influences, it can oxidize, it has the property of “sticking” to the drain, which complicates its dismantling. Only in very cheap mixers such aerators are installed.
plastic aerators
This is an extremely short-lived option, but such an aerator for mixers will not stick tightly to the drain spout, it can be easily dismantled and installed in another place if necessary. But it is not resistant to mechanical stress and therefore often breaks.
brass aerators
In terms of reliability, as well as durability, they surpass all their competitors: they do not rust and withstand high mechanical and thermal loads. They can only be an alternative to stainless steel products. While this is certainly a good option, it is very rare.
Depending on the method of installation, aerators are divided into three types:
- With internal installation. Such aerators have an external thread and are screwed into the spout of the mixer at the end of its spout.
- With external mounting method. In their body, respectively, there is an internal thread, due to the presence of which such an aerator can be screwed onto the end part of the mixer spout, if it has an external thread in the appropriate place.
- Models with special inserts that allow these aerators (removing these inserts or using them) to be installed on both types of mixers, that is, with both external and internal threads of the spout end.
If we distinguish aerators by their additional functions, then there are models:
- Swivel or flexible. These devices are called so due to the presence of movable watering cans. Such a flexible aerator can be moved within the kitchen sinks and adjust (if necessary) the slope of its watering can and, accordingly, the direction of the water jet.
- Related to adjustable devices that can be set to either the “spray” or “jet” mode, while the power of the water flow can also change.
- And such as an aerator with illumination, which also serves as a decor, and (in most models) makes it possible to determine the approximate value of the temperature of the water at the outlet of the mixer by the color of the water jet. So, for example, when the water temperature is less than 29°C, its color may be green, and if the water temperature is in the range of 30-38°C - blue, and if it is so hot that its temperature is 39°C or more, then the water jet will turn red. A washbasin faucet with an aerator can have all these beautiful special effects if they have LEDs hidden inside the body, an electronic circuit and a very small turbine that generates an electric current.
Advantages
If you decide to purchase a faucet with an aerator to save water, then by using it you will be able to reduce the flow rate from 15 l / min to 6-7 l / min (and up to 1.1 liters per minute if you install a vacuum aerator). In addition, such a device has a number of other advantages:
- Noise will be reduced when using water, since water supplied as a mixture with air does not create much noise.
- Regardless of where it is installed, in the kitchen or in the bathroom, the aerator (including the swivel type) is always easy to care for and easy to repair.
- The simplicity of the design makes it possible to understand this device even for a housewife, who herself can disassemble and clean it.
- The aerator performs the function of the simplest coarse filter.
- Eliminates splashes, improves water quality by oxygenating it and reducing the percentage of chlorine in it.
Those who have small children in the family can purchase water aeration nozzles that resemble animal figures. These devices can also be oval or rectangular. Aerators have already been invented that can spin numerous jets of water either in the form of an elegant bizarre spiral, or in the form of an unusual water lattice.
Flaws
If we talk about the inconveniences that can sometimes arise after installing an aerator, then, firstly, they are few, and secondly, not everyone who has purchased and installed a water economizer may encounter them:
- It is necessary to clean the filter screens frequently, and it may be necessary to repair or even replace the device if the water quality in your home is very low. For example, when the centralized water supply system is old, and the pipes in it are covered with a thick layer of rust.
- Since there will be a decrease in the volume of water entering per unit of time, the bath and the large pot will be filled more slowly.
- A decrease in the flow rate of the liquid in the pipe suitable for the mixer can lead, in cases where a geyser with automatic electronic ignition is used to heat water, to situations where, at a very low water pressure in the system, heating equipment sometimes does not start automatically.
In conclusion, a few more words should be said about vacuum aerators. The presence of a special vacuum valve allows these devices to save water even more, reducing its consumption, due to the preliminary compression of the liquid before it is fed to the spray grid. So for those who do not like it when water from the tap flows at great speed and without flow restriction, even when you need to wash a couple of teaspoons, we advise you to purchase such an aerator for the mixer.
