Water Filter

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
OK, this has NOTHING to do with casting or reloading. I'm looking for some advice and there are some bright people here, so here's the issue:

I have a whole house water filter that I plan to relocate so it's easier to access. It uses a standard 10" x 2.5" filter. Those filters are plentiful, cheap and I have a supply of them - so I'm staying with that style. However, I'm not sure I want to continue using my old filter housing (about 24 years old) or buy a new housing when I relocate the filter.
There are lots of different brands of housings that accept that style filter (A.O. Smith, Whrilpool, Culligan, G.E, etc. ) and they all cost between $20 and $60. They all flow about 4 GPM and they all meet my requirements. (pipe size, working pressure, working temp, etc.)
Every last one of them have reviews that range from good to horrible. I understand that the horrible reviews could be due to a poor install performed by an idiot. But, I don't want to buy one that is junk.

Should I just keep the old one that I have ?
Should I take the opportunity to purchase a new filter housing, and if so, which brand?

What say you?
 
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smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Went through this about a year ago. My pressure relief button leaks for about 2 weeks every time the filter is changed. Problem is, as far as I can determine, the only filter housings that are worth anything are the stainless housings. Problem with that is, I'm kind of hung up on being able to see the filter.
One thing, a 24 year old plastic housing is just waiting for a family over, house packed, cooking, toilet flushing, holiday to crack or leak.:angry:

EDIT to add: Forgot to mention, I still haven't replaced that filter housing.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I actually thought about installing two filters plumbed in parallel with valves set up so that I could select which filter the water flowed through. That would give me some redundancy to guard against failure.

It has been my experience that plumbing failures will generally occur on:

Christmas Day, The Wednesday before Thanksgiving at 6:00 PM or in the middle of a snowstorm.

I’m not sure the complexity and additional expense of two filter housings, 4 ball valves and a handful of Tee’s and elbows would be worth it for a little peace of mind.

I do like the idea of a clear filter housing so I can see the filter. My current one is clear plastic and I think I’ll stick with that type.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
a split filter is one of the simplest things there is to install.
all the pieces will be the same length.
2 tee's, 4-90's, two valves, a couple of nipples,,,,and the filter bodies.

if you wanna make life simple use a couple of unions and valves on each side of the filter housings and you can do a very quick swap out if you need to change one without turning off the house water.

use some silicone on the 0-rings [and housing threads], and keep a couple of the rings on hand.
 

Joshua

Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
One thing I noticed when I used to work as a facilities pipe fitter, is that the clear see-through filter housings allowed photosynthesis to happen, they would get algae growth on the inside. The opaque ones wouldn’t.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
There's something I hadn't considered - algae.

Probably wouldn't be an issue with only one housing in the supply line. The water would never sit in the filter for very long. If I had two housings and one had water sitting in it and not flowing daily - that problem may occur.

That's something I hadn't thought about.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
a split filter is one of the simplest things there is to install.
all the pieces will be the same length.
2 tee's, 4-90's, two valves, a couple of nipples,,,,and the filter bodies.

...........
With two filter housings you need 4 valves if you want to isolate one filter from the system (like if you temporarily want to take one off-line )
With 2 valves you will always be backfeeding pressure to one filter even if the valve on the input side is closed.

But, ball valves are cheap.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I'm driving myself crazy by reading the reviews of these filter housings. About half of the reviews (pick whatever brand you like) say these units leak. The other half say they are great.
Arrrggggh !

Here's where my thought process is today ( no doubt, subject to change):

Get a new filter housing, preferably one with a clear bowl so I can see the filter.
Plumb the new filter housing in place with valves and pipes so that I can quickly & completely by-pass the filter if there's a problem. (sort of a Battle Short contingency plan)
Retain the old filter housing and store it as a spare. (I know that one works)

That will save me the cost of a second filter housing and still give me a back-up plan if the filter housing develops a leak.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Both of mine are in a dark place so they grow the black, anaerobic bacteria instead of algae. Actually just the element gets the stuff, it doesn't seem to grow on the interior of the housing, so it's probably just residue from the cisterns.

I use a clear Culligan and an opaque GE and they've both worked fine for years. The Cullugan has a twist valve at the top that isolates the pressure in and out for changes and auto-actuates the vent button. Never a leak, I use silicone grease on all the Buna-N parts.

The secret to making them work is don't be stupid or ham-fisted. The cast plastic pipe threads need either teflon tape (two layers of good tape or three of the cheap shit the home store sells) or teflon-filled dope and not be over-torqued and they won't leak.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
OK, I went with an A.O. Smith housing that has a clear bowl. It also has a bypss valve built in and a pressure release button for changing filters. It was availble locally and I already had spare O-rings for that style.
I plumbed a bypass around the entire filter so that I can isolate the filter housing and still have water to the house if there's some problem with the filter. (you know, the kind of problem that always happens on Christmas Eve or the day before Thanksgiving)
That cost me a ball valve, a couple of Tee's, a couple of 90 degree elbows and about 3' of PEX pipe - so pretty cheap. And simpler than a second filter.

The filter housing has stainless steel threaded inserts to which I threaded a couple of 3" brass nipples into.
AND........even with several turns of teflon tape, one side still seeps. :( Such is my lot is life.
I don't think I want to tighten it much more, that plastic housing makes me nervous.

I'll break it apart tomorrow and try pipe dope instead of the teflon tape.
Other than that tiny leak, It seems to be a good setup.

THANKS TO ALL !
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
I went with the 4.5 x 10 (filter size) clear iFilters brand housing. Pretty good reviews.

Thanks for this thread P & P. Got me to stop procrastinating.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas

fiver

Well-Known Member
minimum 4 wraps of tape, if your worried about it another coupe of layers of tape on top is doable, or just wrap the first series with 6 wraps then dope.
the pipe fitters book says 4 wraps minimum [and yes it is on the test for that book] I always went 6 just cause.... then doped.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
If you need 6 wraps of Teflon tape plus pipe dope, you have bad threads. It's one or the other. Been a fitter for over 30 years,.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
OK, broke it back down, cleaned the threads on the brass pipes, and put it back together with 4 + turns of teflon tape AND pipe dope on top of the tape before reassembling it. I really worked the pipe dope into the threads before screwing it all back together. There wasn't a lot of depth to the female ports on the filter housing and I think the brass pipe was bottoming out just before the threads were completely tight.
That did the trick, no leaks !

It cost me 5" of PEX tubing and 4 rings, which is really nothing.
 
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