Mixer aerator - a useful addition

Increasingly in the modern kitchen or in the bathroom you can see at the end of the spout of the mixer such an interesting addition as an aerator. What is it and why is this device installed?

Aerators (sometimes also called water economizers or economizers) are special nozzles that mix water with air and form such a stream of water that it has a number of positive properties:

• The jet becomes soft, that is, when it gets on your hand or dishes, there is no large splashing to the sides. A stream of water envelops what it is aimed at.
• The washing process becomes easier (especially if a rotary 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 flow of water decreases, but remains strong enough to ensure successful washing (without splashing) of detergents. The aerator for the mixer, being a flow limiter, allows you to reduce the amount of water spent when washing dishes, or when washing two or more times, without reducing the convenience of these procedures.
• The taste qualities of water and its benefits for living organisms depend, inter alia, on the concentration of oxygen dissolved in it and on the degree of weathering of chlorine (if chlorinated water is used).

Thus, the nozzle aerator:

• provides an increase in the efficiency of a water jet;
• improves the quality of this water;
• reduces its consumption.

Design features and types of aerators

The designs of most aerators include the following main components:

• housing;
• rubber or plastic gasket;
• one or more filters;
• various dissecting and reflecting flow plates;
• extension tube or hinge (necessarily included in the rotary aerator).

Aerator housings can be made:

• from plastic;
• from pressed metal alloy;
• made of brass.

It must be said that the latter type of housing is the most durable, but it is more expensive than the rest.

Plastic and pressed metal housings are a good alternative to brass housings, but brass aerators are still better.

Extruded Metal Alloy Aerators

Bad choice, which has a number of minuses: the aerator body is fragile and is afraid of any strong mechanical influences, is capable of oxidizing, has the property of “sticking” to the drain, which complicates its dismantling. Only very cheap mixers install such aerators.

Plastic aerators

This is an extremely short-lived option, but such an aerator for mixers will not stick tightly to the drain nozzle, it can be easily removed if necessary and installed in another place. But it is not resistant to mechanical stress and therefore often breaks.

Brass aerators

In terms of reliability, as well as in durability, they surpass all their competitors: they do not rust and withstand large mechanical and temperature loads. Only stainless steel products can be their alternative. Although this, of course, is a good option, however, it is very rare.

Considering the installation method, 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 case, respectively, there is an internal thread, due to the presence of which such an aerator can be screwed onto the final part of the mixer spout, if it has an external thread in an 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 the external and internal threads of the end part of the spout.

If we distinguish aerators by their additional functions, that is, models:

• Swivel or flexible. These devices are called so because of the presence of movable watering cans. Such a flexible aerator can be moved within the kitchen sinks and, if necessary, the slope of its watering can be adjusted and, accordingly, the direction of the water jet.
• Relating to adjustable devices, which can be set to either "spray" or "spray" mode, while the power of the water flow can also change.
• And such as an aerator with a backlight that performs the function of decoration, and (in most models) that 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. For example, if the water temperature is less than 29 ° C, its color may be green, and if the water temperature is in the range 30-38 ° C - blue, and if it is so hot that its temperature is 39 ° C or more, then the water jet turns red. All these beautiful special effects can have a washbasin faucet with an aerator, if they have LEDs hidden inside the case, an electronic circuit and a very small turbine that generates an electric current.

Advantages

If you decide to purchase a mixer with an aerator to save water, then when 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 several other advantages:

• Noise will be reduced when using water, since water supplied as a mixture with air does not create much noise.
• The aerator (including the rotary type), regardless of where it is installed, in the kitchen or in the bathroom, is always easy to care for and easy to repair.
• The simplicity of the design makes it possible for even a housewife to understand this device, who herself can take it apart and clean it.
• The aerator serves as the simplest coarse filter.
• Eliminates splashes, improves the quality of water, saturating it with oxygen and reducing the percentage of chlorine in it.

Those who have small children in the family can buy nozzles for aeration of water, reminiscent of animal figures. These devices can also be oval or rectangular. Such aerators have already been invented, which can spin numerous jets of water either in the form of an elegant bizarre spiral, or in the form of an unusual water grill.

disadvantages

If we talk about the inconvenience that can sometimes occur after installing the aerator, then, firstly, there are few of them, and secondly, not everyone who has purchased and installed a water economizer may encounter them:

• It is often necessary to clean the filter mesh, and it may be necessary to repair or even replace the device if the water quality in your house 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 time, the bathtub and large pan will fill up more slowly.
• A decrease in the fluid flow rate in a pipe suitable for the mixer can lead, in cases where a gas column with automatic electronic ignition is used to heat the water, to such situations when, at very low water pressure in the system, sometimes the heating equipment does not start automatically.

In conclusion, I need to say a few more words about vacuum aerators. The presence of a special vacuum valve allows these devices to save water even more, reducing its flow rate, due to the preliminary compression of the liquid before feeding it to the spray grid.So for those who don’t like it, when the tap water flows at a great speed and without flow restriction, even when you need to wash a couple of teaspoons, we recommend purchasing such an aerator for the mixer.