Puretec shower filter install, Coogee

Shower filters are the Puretec product people understand least, mostly because they get lumped in with drinking water filters and they are not the same thing at all.

This one went on a rain shower head in a Coogee bathroom. It is a small job on its own, and it is almost never the reason someone calls a plumber. It goes on during a visit that was already happening.

What a shower filter actually does, and what it does not

It treats the water coming out of that one shower head. That is the whole scope. It does not make water drinkable, it does not do anything for the kitchen tap, and it does not touch the rest of the house.

What it does is reduce the chlorine in the water you stand under. Sydney Water disinfects with chlorine, not chloramine, which matters because the two behave differently in a filter. Puretec's shower filter uses a redox media alongside carbon, and they rate it for free and combined chlorine, sediment, odours, hydrogen sulfide and iron oxides.

The difference people report is on skin and hair. Softer hair, less irritated skin. That is the reason to buy one.

If what you actually want is filtered drinking water, that is a different unit. An under sink filter sits on the cold line under the kitchen sink and feeds its own dedicated tap. Plenty of people end up wanting both, but they solve two different problems and it is worth being clear about which one you are buying.

Why chlorine turns up in the shower more than at the tap

A glass of water is a few seconds of contact. A shower is ten minutes of hot water directly on skin and scalp, in a small room with the door shut and the vapour hanging in the air. Same water, very different exposure.

That is why people who have never thought twice about their drinking water sometimes notice the shower first, usually after a stretch where the chlorine taste and smell at the tap has been stronger than usual.

Do you actually need a plumber for one

Worth being straight about this, because Puretec say it themselves on their own product page: the shower filter needs no re-plumbing and screws onto an existing shower head. On a standard wall arm or a hand held, that is accurate. If you are handy, you can fit it yourself and you do not need us.

A fixed rain head on a long arm, like the one here, is a bit more involved. The filter body adds length and weight out at the end of the arm, the thread has to seal cleanly, and you want the head sitting level afterwards rather than drooping under the extra weight. That is the version worth handing over, and it is the version that makes sense to do while someone is already on site.

The filter that usually goes in at the same time

Nobody books a plumber to fit a shower filter on its own, and we would not suggest you do. It goes on during a visit that was already happening: an under sink filter install, a tapware change, a bathroom job. We are a Puretec Specialist Installer, so the shower filter, the under sink unit and the tapware all get done in the one visit rather than three. Our under sink filter install in Coogee covers the drinking water side of the same pairing.

In an apartment or unit that pairing comes up constantly, because the incoming main is common property and whole house filtration is not an option the way it is on a freestanding house. The under sink unit handles drinking water, the shower filter handles the shower, and both stay inside your own lot.

When a shower filter is worth it

• You can smell chlorine in the bathroom once the hot water has been running a few minutes.
• Skin or scalp that feels tight or itchy after showering. This is the symptom people most often act on.
• You already have an under sink filter and have wondered why the shower still smells.
• You are in an apartment where a whole house system is off the table because the main is common property.
• A bathroom job or a filter install is already booked. This is the cheapest time to do it, because the labour is already on site.

How to reach Norton Plumbing

Norton Plumbing has worked in Coogee and across the Eastern Suburbs since 2019, and we are a Puretec Specialist Installer. I hold NSW plumbing licence 397768C, and I fitted this one myself. The team works out of 10/11a-15 Berwick St, Coogee. If you want to talk through which filter suits your place, see our water filtration page, our Coogee plumber page, or call 0477 858 951. Quotes are free across the Eastern Suburbs.