The Filter Judge was designed with the municipal water industry in mind, but it can be used by many other operators of similar gravity filter units.  This could mean that paper mills, petrochemical, manufacturers, and many others can benefit from the use of the Filter Judge.  We have even sold our unit for use in pressure filters.

It is made from polypropylene and NSF-approved PVC. It is lightweight, non-corrosive, and non-conductive.

The Filter Judge can benefit the operator of a facility that uses gravity filter media for the filtration of liquids.  The operator can quickly take an accurate sample of the media during a backwash cycle without taking the filter out of operation.  There is no need to send a worker down into the filter to dig a hole in the media.  Downtime is reduced, and the hazards of sending a worker into the filter (confined space) are eliminated.  Furthermore, multiple samples can be taken in a short period of time.

The Filter Judge is inserted into the media while it is slightly fluidized during mild backwash.  After full insertion into the media, a slotted inner tube is rotated inside of a slotted outer tube to capture a representative sample of the media.  The inner tube is then rotated such that the slots are opposed to each other, thus capturing the sample.  The tool is then removed from the filter.  Water then drains from the annular space between the two tubes.  The Filter Judge is then laid horizontally, and the tubes are rotated to expose the captured media sample.  The sample can then be measured to determine the depth of each layer, the depth of any interface zone between layers, the extent of contamination (i.e.—mudball formation), or the sample can be removed from the tool for further testing (i.e.—sieve analysis, chemical composition, etc.).

The Filter Judge is a tool for taking a vertical core sample of media (sand, anthracite, garnet, etc.) from a filter. It requires no special training and is very simple to use.