Frequently asked questions
Get to know our two reverse osmosis devices spring-time®420 pro and spring-time®premium pro for purifying drinking water.
We have been taking both models to various conferences, trade fairs and seminars for years. With the experience gained from the discussions at these events and from all the telephone calls we have had over time about the water devices, we have been able to collect the most frequently asked questions for you.
Your question is surely included.
Both devices clean the tap water using a system of three different filters: pre-filter / reverse osmosis membrane / ceramic filter.
Read the detailed description of cleaning and the function of each filter: HERE.
In Germany, there are a number of drinking water limits designed to ensure that drinking tap water is safe. However, there is also criticism of these limits and doubts about their measurement and control.
The waterworks also only check the drinking water limits up to the house connection, meaning that the house installation itself can lead to contamination that is hazardous to health. In addition, the water contains substances for which no limits have been set and which impair its quality.
Drug residues ranging from antibiotics and painkillers to hormones from birth control pills and other medications can now be found in groundwater almost everywhere in Germany. Reverse osmosis removes all unwanted substances from your drinking water.
This may seem so at first glance - but there are several reasons why you should not connect the reverse osmosis system to the water pipe. One of the most important of these is that a system connected to the water pipe can only work with the pressure provided by the incoming water from the pipe. In a normal household, this is usually no more than 3-4 bar. If you live on an upper floor, it can be even less. The water pressure from the pipe often fluctuates.
To ensure a long service life of the reverse osmosis membrane, it is best if the water flows through it at a constant pressure of 6 bar. This is ensured by the built-in, electrically operated pump.
Another reason is maintenance, which can often only be carried out by a service department for a device connected to the water pipe. With our devices, you can easily maintain and clean everything yourself.
The maintenance work is straightforward and can all be carried out by you without any tools. You will find a detailed description of all the steps in the user manual for the respective device.
The pre-filter is able to filter and retain solid particles from the water. It is therefore the only filter that becomes clogged with deposits over time. It must therefore be replaced every six months.
The other two filters (reverse osmosis and ceramic filters) have a much longer lifespan (usually more than 5 years), but they require regular maintenance through monthly descaling and semi-annual disinfection.
The descaling is carried out using a bio-descaler based on a mixture of citric, lactic and malic acid. A bottle of descaler is included in the delivery for the first six months. Later, you can buy the descaler for a few euros in drugstores and supermarkets.
Disinfection is carried out with 31TP3high hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which you can get inexpensively in every pharmacy and many drugstores.
You can order the pre-filter from us or have it sent to you automatically. It costs 58 euros and you need two of them per year. So the maintenance costs you a total of around 130 euros per year with both pre-filters and the specified substances.
Even in a single-person household, you should change the pre-filter every six months - this is the minimum. This means that if the machine cleans significantly more water, the replacement period for the pre-filter should even be shortened.
A shortening of the time interval can be seen, for example, in the fact that after a while the machine only releases water drop by drop. This could be more likely to happen in countries with heavily polluted water, when the water is significantly more contaminated with dirt particles.
If the household has many people in a country that does not have above-average water pollution, the replacement period probably does not need to be shortened, even if the water is used frequently and there is a lot of water purification.
The display on the spring-time®pro devices will help you with this.
The values in it provide you with constant information about the water quality. The final value after cleaning is usually in the one to two-digit range of around 5-30 ppm. If this value increases suddenly and shows a high final value (70-100 ppm), this can indicate a crack in the reverse osmosis membrane.
You can tell that a reverse osmosis membrane is not broken but is gradually showing signs of age by the fact that the purified water in the carafe gradually decreases after the cleaning cycle has finished and the water remaining in the removable container increases in proportion. This happens after a few years or even sooner if the device has not been properly descaled and disinfected at the intervals specified in the instructions.
In principle, these two filters can also be replaced on the spring-time®premium pro device itself. However, we recommend sending the device to aqua living® for this maintenance work.
- Reverse osmosis membrane:
In principle, it can be replaced by yourself every 5-7 years - it costs around 105 euros. When changing the reverse osmosis membrane, it is necessary to replace the drain reducer connected to it as well. This requires some fine work and knowledge of the construction of the device. We therefore recommend that you send the device to aqua living® to have the reverse osmosis membrane replaced so that the replacement can be carried out professionally. This way, the machine can also be examined closely for inspection.
If necessary, the pump, valves and hoses can be cleaned of deposits or completely replaced. If necessary, please contact us or aqua living® directly.
- Ceramic filter:
The ceramic filter is made of highly fired clay and is therefore a natural product. It is recommended to replace it every 5-7 years as a preventative measure. In principle, you can replace it yourself.
It is important to order a pre-rinsed ceramic filter, as it must be rinsed with 30-40 liters of water before use. Unlike a dry filter, a pre-rinsed filter cannot be stored and must be installed in the spring-time device within 10-14 days.
Here too, we recommend sending the device to aqua living® to have the filter changed, as, as described above, a professional inspection is advisable after a few years of use. Ideally, you can even have the reverse osmosis filter and the ceramic filter changed at the same time and have the device overhauled.
This will ensure that you will enjoy your spring-time®premium pro for many years to come.
If necessary, contact us or aqua living® directly to discuss the next steps. aqua living® will usually send you a loaner device, in whose outer box you can send your own device to aqua living®. You will use the loaner device from aqua living® for the duration of the maintenance work on your device.
Once you have received your own device back, send the loaner device back to aqua living® in the box.
The display mentioned in the previous answer shows the conductivity of the water in ppm (parts per million).
This means that it shows the number of dissolved ions per million water molecules and thus the conductivity of the water. Other units for determining the conductivity are microsimens (mS) or the resistance in ohms.
The lower the conductivity of the water, the fewer dissolved ions are in the water. The conductivity is therefore a good indicator for determining water quality.
The ppm value is measured in the removable container at the beginning and throughout the entire cleaning process.
At the end of the process, a final measurement is taken of the purified water that flows from the tap into the carafe. This means that you can constantly monitor your purified water and can immediately see if there is anything wrong with the purification.
You fill the removable container with 1.8 l of your tap water and start the cleaning cycle. After about 10-15 minutes the process is finished and the machine switches itself off.
The carafe is now filled with 1.2 l of highly purified, energized water. 0.6 l remain in the removable container. You can pour away this remaining water - because it contains all the substances that you do not want to consume with your drinking water.
The principle of reverse osmosis can only be carried out with residual water.
After the water is freed of solid components in the pre-filter, the dissolved substances are removed by reverse osmosis.
This happens by forcing the water through tiny holes in the membrane. Anything larger than a water molecule does not fit through and remains in the residual water, which is returned to the container.
Therefore, the residual water contains all dissolved substances that should not be in drinking water.
After cleaning, conventional reverse osmosis systems are left with two thirds residual water and only one third drinking water. Thanks to a special recirculation technology in the spring-time®pro devices, this ratio is reversed and they only dispose of one third residual water, while two thirds drinking water is available.
This ratio is unique on the market. The residual water content cannot be any lower.
Reverse osmosis water is not distilled water. It is true that the reverse osmosis process removes most of the minerals from the water. The membrane with its fine holes can only distinguish between "small and large" and not between "good and bad".
Dissolved minerals, like dissolved pollutants, are significantly larger than water molecules and therefore do not pass through the reverse osmosis membrane.
There are occasional concerns that reverse osmosis water could lead to a mineral deficiency or be unhealthy. This assumption is unfounded. Low-mineral water is actually particularly useful, because minerals dissolved in the water make its transport and elimination function more difficult. Therefore, low-mineral water is best suited to support elimination.
Through a balanced diet we absorb sufficient minerals to supply our body. In addition, inorganic minerals dissolved in water are difficult to biologically access.
The minerals naturally contained in food are much easier and more effective for the body to use. To ensure that the water has optimal cleaning and transport properties, it should be as free from pollutants as possible, still and low in minerals.
For all those who do not want to miss out on the information about minerals in water, here is the good news and the special feature of the spring-time®per device:
The built-in magnetic field device developed by Dr. Ludwig informs the water with the vibrations of the 64 most important trace elements and minerals. Read more about this in the answer to the next question.
Our spring-time®pro devices are equipped with an integrated magnetic field generator according to Dr. Ludwig®. This generates a pulsating electromagnetic field to energize the purified water.
As soon as the device is connected to the power supply, the magnetic field generator (comparable to our METRONOM solar) permanently emits the main value of the Schumann frequency spectrum of 7.8 Hz. In addition, it also generates the so-called geomagnet frequency spectrum.
This is done by installing an iron core that has been informed of the natural frequencies of the 64 most important trace elements (geomagnetic frequencies) using a special process developed by Dr. Ludwig.
These vibrations are transferred to the water - so although it is low in minerals due to the purification as described in the answer to the previous question, it still carries the information of the minerals in frequency form.
Learn more about the environmental signals Schumann, geomagnetic and solar frequencies HERE.
Furthermore, the Schumann frequency of 7.8 Hz is modulated with the frequency of 1.2 Hz to counteract the harmful influence of electrosmog, which is minimally generated by the pump's electronics.
Only the spring-time®premium pro device enriches the water with hydrogen gas.
For this purpose, an electrolysis unit is installed that splits part of the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gas dissolves in the purified and energized water and creates a negative redox potential, which is approximately -120 mVolt immediately after purification and enrichment. This corresponds to a value of 400 ppb (parts per billion) of dissolved hydrogen gas.
The hydrogen gas is volatile, but after three hours, around -60 mVolts can still be detected. The hydrogen gives the water an antioxidant effect and can neutralize free radicals in the body.
The redox potential is a measure of how easily a compound absorbs or releases electrons. The lower the mVolt value, the easier it is to neutralize free radicals.
Breast milk, for example, has a redox potential of -33 mVolt, and amniotic fluid even has a value of -69 mVolt. Untreated tap water usually has around +500 to +800 mVolt. Read more about hydrogen gas and its benefits HERE.
The container for collecting the oxygen produced during electrolysis is usually dry. In rare cases, a few drops or moisture can be found in it - these can simply be dried off with a soft cloth.
However, if a large amount of water regularly collects in the collection container, this is a sign that the hydrogen generator needs to be replaced. In this case, contact aqua living directly.
In order to maintain an optimal concentration of hydrogen in the water at all times, we recommend that you have the hydrogen generator, which is a wearing part, replaced regularly every two to three years by aqua living customer service - at the latest when the collecting container fills up with water as described above.
Our spring-time®pro devices not only produce excellent water – they also look good.
Simple and elegant, they fit into any kitchen. Although the design is probably lower on the list of important factors when making a decision, you might be pleased to know that you can get the housing in white and black.
You can choose from different colors for the plastic front panel:
From the simple aluminum design (light silver gray) to the elegant stainless steel design (dark silver gray), to the carbon look (black with silver checks) or elegantly all in matt white.
Just call!
Maybe you want to make things a lot easier for yourself. Please don't be afraid to call us. Tell us why you are interested in a water treatment device or ask us any questions you have about the individual devices. We will help you find the device(s) that are suitable for you. You can then take your time reading the corresponding product descriptions.
We will never contact you unwantedly or pass on your contact details to third parties.
Advanced Medical Systems GmbH (AMS)
Hauptstraße 26
D-97990 Weikersheim
Phone: +49 7934 993489-0
Fax: +49 7934 993489-44
E-mail: info(at)ams-ag.de
Business hours:
Monday-Thursday 8 am to 5:30 pm CET
Friday 8 am to 3 pm CET