Do you have a water filter in your house?
How to change it needs help?
I know I did so, so I ended up writing this manual so I wouldn\'t forget the steps involved!
Print out this list and check it as you go through these items.
This will save you time and prevent epic failure!
☐Do you know how to close the water in your house?
Look for the location of your water meter on the side of the road and verify that you have a key or wrench to check the water.
If you have never closed water before, this is a good time to practice closing the valve and re-closing itopened.
If you can\'t turn it off, call your water company for help.
They may need to turn off the valve.
If you are in an apartment or apartment, please contact the manager or the homeowner association to see where the cut-off valve of your unit is.
☐Use the appliance to verify that all water is off.
This includes items such as dishwasher, washing machine, Ice Cube maker, sprinkler, etc.
Tell people to use the bathroom now before you close the water.
After replacing the water filter, make sure to flush the line to avoid problems with sediment, rust or return.
☐Do you have the correct replacement filter on hand?
Look at your water filter housing and you can look up a model.
Most of the whole house sediment filters are standardized, about 10 inch high 4.
The filter diameter is 5 inch.
The larger house may have a larger 20 inch high 4.
5 inch diameter filter.
If your filtration system is under the sink and is just a tap, then this is the wrong description.
We are talking about a full house water filter that is affectionately called \"Big Blue.
There are various brands 3 m AquaPure, Aquaboon, Aquasana, Culligan, DuPont, GE, Kenmore, Paragon, Pentek, Whirlpool, etc.
The filter is very standard and interchanges between brands.
Most are made of polypropylene plastic, just filter out the deposits in your water supply.
Some filters are wire-wound water filters, some are pleated cotton, and some even have charcoal fibers (
Usually coconut shell)
Improve taste.
The standard is 5 micron filtration.
The use of smaller micron sizes usually means less water flow in exchange for finer particle filtration.
These filters capture physical debris in your water supply, and you will see these fragments embedded in the outside of the filter and at the bottom of the Cannibal.
The whole house water filter does not filter out lead, fluorine or bacteria.
☐Is there a filter wrench?
This is a large round wrench through the filter housing.
This is why it is very useless that you may be reading this article.
There\'s something important at hand, but if you don\'t, you can use a strap wrench that works better.
☐Do you have a wrench?
You can skip this step if you don\'t, but if you have a problem opening the filter, you should buy one instead of breaking your plastic filter wrench (
This is what most people end up doing).
You may already have a rubber strap wrench that you can use, but if you don\'t, I recommend using the 60200 heavy duty strap filter wrench.
It needs a 1/2 socket drive handle to turn, but this is the only thing I can use to open my blue filter cartridge.
☐Replace O-
Call your big blue filter.
This is probably the biggest obstacle and source of leakage!
O with replacement
The ring on your hand is indeed a requirement unless you have a valve bypass that allows you to re-open your home\'s water without water passing through the leaking entire house filter.
Find the right replacement O-
The ring is a pain and is usually overpriced.
Start with the brand and model of your entire house filter.
You can order a generic one if you don\'t have it, or you can measure your existing one.
I ended up having a problem finding a Buna using a 6 \"O ring for my Paragon HD3000
N, had to re-adjust and re-adjustuse it (Explain later).
☐Food Grade Silicone grease.
This is used to lubricate the threads on your entire house filter tank.
You will need to use an approved food grade lubricant as you will end up polluting your drinking water.
I used a tube of super lubricating silicone oil.
The key is to look for the NSF rating for h1.
This means that the FDA recognizes the NSF (
Company of certified products)
Use chemicals that are not related to accidental contact with food (
In our case, water).
Do not overpay for this.
You don\'t need much either.
☐The tape of the plumber is also called the Teflon tape, or more specifically, the Teflon thread sealing tape.
This is the thin white smooth plastic tape you use on the pipe fixing device to get a good seal.
This is the key to solving the water leakage problem of the whole house water filter when I go to reassemble the filter.
Don\'t pay more than a few dollars for it, but be sure to buy one with a lid to keep it clean and undamaged.
☐Put a large bucket under your entire house filter to handle spilled water and leaks.
I used our mop bucket, but I would recommend a standard 5 gallon plastic paint bucket from any home improvement store if appropriate.
☐Some rags that can be used to wipe things and clean up once you\'re done.
Make sure they are clean, low lint (
Towel is the best white cotton cloth)
Because you will use them inside the filter shell. Got everything?
Okay, let\'s get started!
Ideally you will close the water for the whole house, but be careful for those who are stupid enough to continue!
The last thing you want is a lot of water coming in and there is no way to close it.
Take a good look at the water filter settings of your entire house and learn how the water flows.
Most of the settings have the main water pipe passing through the sediment filter of the whole house and then branch to other water filters or soft water regulators before entering the cold water pipe of the House (
Dishwasher, refrigerator, washing machine, etc)
And enter the hot water pipe of your water heater (
Large water tank or water heater system without water tank).
A good tip for Fichtner is to fill a sink or bucket full of water before you turn off the water.
This way you can rinse or clean with water.
Once you turn off the water in your home, go and open the tap sink valve or tub to let the water pressure free.
Ideally, do this on your lowest level faucet in your home to help discharge most of the pressure on your production line. Why do this?
If you turn on the 2nd floor bathroom faucet and are replacing the filter in the basement, when you open the filter in the basement, you will have two layers of water still waiting in line --
So barrels).
When you turn the tap back on, I usually turn the tap on to help flush out any debris water in the system, but do what works best for your setup.
If you are lucky, you will have 3 valves that will allow you to isolate the settings of the water filter.
The valve is usually a simple handle that turns 90 degrees.
Allow flow when the handle is flush with pipe water.
When the handle is 90 degrees away from the pipe, it closes.
Some systems use flower handles, in which case the right tigh child closes and the left loo child opens.
The first handle of the filter you want to turn off.
This prevents water from entering the filter.
The second handle after the water filter, you will want to turn it off.
When you open the filter housing, this prevents the flow of water in the pipeline from returning to you.
The third handle is the bypass handle that should be closed (
That is, it forces the water through your filter).
You want to open this handle now.
This means that if your water pipe is still there (
Or not completely closed)
It will continue to operate through the water filter.
If you end up with a leaking full house water filter, you need to bypass it when you fix it, but still provide unfiltered water for the rest of the house, and you will do so.
Most people complain that they can\'t open the housing of the filter and complain about the plastic filter wrench.
In most cases this is either because the filter is too tight or because the system is still pressurized.
The better whole house filtration system has a red button at the top that allows you to release the water pressure in the pipe, making it easier to open the case.
If you have this red button and your water is off, press it on.
If you hear the pressure release, you save a lot of time wrestling with a wrench.
Some filter systems even have built-in bypass.
I\'m not familiar with their setup, but hopefully it\'s a direct setup.
Continue to rotate clockwise with the bucket under your entire house filter and the wrench around the filter (
Once you figure it out, mark an arrow on your house so you don\'t have to use your brain).
If you\'re as slow-headed as I am, you\'ll grab a jar and visually compare which way you should turn to unlock the lid by holding the lid and turning the jar.
If it starts moving slowly.
A lot of water may start to flow out, and you don\'t want to remove the filter shell completely until you verify the water spill.
If you have completely removed the shell and your water is still open, you will have some time to try to reopen it or rush to close your main water pipe.
If your filter case is not careful to move.
You don\'t put too much pressure on the plastic filter wrench. It will break!
Some people have two filter wrenches.
Others put a plastic pipe at the end of the wrench to create a longer rod that will give them better leverage.
You should be careful not to tear off the stand mounted on the wall, or, worse, pull out the pipe from the wall.
If you can\'t get the filter case, you should go with a belt wrench.
Rubber is OK, but the belt fabric belt with metal accessories is the tool you want (
60200 or possibly a gear wrench filter-
Just make sure the strap is wider than the outside of your filter container).
You\'ll want to keep the strap in the center of the filter housing all the time, then pass the extra strap through the metal buckle and turn the buckle so it can grab the fabric instead of the metal on the bare housing.
Most jars have natural groove lines and you will want to lean it on top.
Then insert the socket wrench into the strap holder and turn clockwise (
Or counter-clockwise).
Take the time to think about it-
It\'s basically two gear movements that give you the last left rotation motion to unlock the jar.
Turning the cartridge in the wrong direction, you will break the replaceable housing, or worse, you will need a plumber in this case to fix this error.
Fichtner gives tips for using a rubber mallet and tapping a plastic wrench gently to help loosen the filter housing.
If you have hard water, calcium deposits may have piled up where the thread pattern is located.
Be careful and be sure to clean them up.
Vinegar is an acid that helps to remove the accumulated hard water.
You can use a toothbrush if needed and gently apply the vinegar to the mineral accumulation area.
Once the tank shell starts moving, please use the hand below to verify if you have flipped it.
This will prevent any thread stripping or cannibalism from falling to the ground.
You should have plenty of water coming out, and then the water leaks get smaller and smaller when you remove the house. Congrats!
You\'re 1/2 metres away.
Sorry, this is too lengthy, but I want to make sure that everyone who has problems like me has a record.
Pour the filter housing water into the bucket below and look for any large deposit that may indicate you are getting contaminated water from the broken water line.
If not, the water should smell good, which is probably a problem with your water source (
Hydraulic fracturing near the well)
Or there is a lack of chlorine in water utility lines.
Investigate any serious problems.
Take out the disposable filter.
These should be replaced every 6 months, but in my case it\'s almost 2 years!
The outside of the filter is where water comes in, so all the pieces should be on this side of the filter.
Take a look at the inside of the central filter ring and see how it looks (
This is the filtered water coming out of the tap.
If you see small spots in black, it may come from a charcoal filter.
If you see a rusty sheet of metal, it may mean that your steel pipe begins to deteriorate.
A small amount of sand is not uncommon.
A lot of sand, pebbles, or concrete debris is not normal.
See if there are more pieces at the bottom of the filter shell.
Rinse clean and wipe the inside and outside of the jar with a clean rag.
Clean the thread of the jar and the thread of the eater bracket that surrounds the wall.
From opening the jar, you may find a large piece of debris stuck here.
It is important to clean this up. Use a Q-
Tip or toothbrush and wipe it clean with a rag.
Your filter tank has a black O-ring, a food grade safety gasket that helps prevent leakage. This O-
The ring is a seal between the tank and the filter holder and is critical to prevent leakage.
Most people think they just need to work harder than realize they need a new O-ring.
Be careful to pry O-
Ring from Cannibal
Look at any flat parts.
Be careful not to stretch the ring because if you finally re-stretch
It may no longer be appropriate to use it. Clean up O-
Ring track with qtip.
From the silicone grease used last time, it may feel tacky.
Try to make it clean but don\'t use any detergent or solvent to do this.
Make sure to replace O-
The ring is perfect for the track.
You will want to continue to apply some silicone grease to your fingers and rub a light coating on the ring.
Check the diameter of the old ring with the new ring.
The new one should be the same size, or a little thicker in diameter.
If you reuse the old ring, clean up the old grease with a rag.
If you see the brown gunk falling off the old ring, take the time to clean it all up without sticking out O-ring.
They become vulnerable as they grow older. Don\'t see an O-
Ring gasket on your cannibal?
You should also look under the bracket housing to make sure it is not stuck there.
Some people report that they have a second set of O-
There are rings there too (mine did not).
Take the time to make sure you order the right O-
Ring replacement.
It should be the NSF 61 O-
Also known as the ring of BunaN O-rings.
These are safety certifications that may come into contact with their water (
ANSI Standard 61).
The key measurement to know is the diameter of the inner and outer rings (
Measured with a ruler)
And thickness (
Use a pair of calipers if possible).
When they buy in bulk, each piece costs a few pennies, but surprisingly, people pay a few dollars for a new one.
Spend some time shopping around.
Better sellers usually include them with your filter alternatives, and some even add food grade silicone.
Almost everyone skips this step, so you are welcome to skip this step as well, unless you have a leak problem like I did.
Take the water pipe worker\'s four fluorine Dragon thread sealing tape and wrap it around the thread several times.
If not, you will want to get good coverage.
The trick is to make sure your thread opens correctly for the first time, otherwise you will need to delete it and start again.
I found that just hold it with my two hands and it works best when I slowly turn the jar clockwise (righty tighty)works best.
Make sure you have new filters in your shell before you do this!
Very direct.
Some people put the filter in a bowl of clear water.
This is important if your filter has charcoal.
In most cases you don\'t need to do this step and it does make the filter heavier!
Put the filter into the shell to center it completely.
If it deviates from the center, or if you tilt it while you\'re threading, you\'re likely to damage the top of the filter as it hits a bracket designed to help guide the tank shell back on.
Take a moment to look at your filter in the jar and the threads you screw on.
You don\'t need a filter or a wrench.
The usual agreement is to tighten it by hand.
It will continue to be easy and once the water enters, it is difficult to unscrew the thread before the system is decompressed.
It\'s too loose. you will leak it.
Some people cheat and make a little monkey tight (
Not gorilla tight)
Use a filter wrench, but this step is because they don\'t have the new O-installed-
Use silicone and/or PTFE tape.
When you go to change the filter the next time, you will know if you are over-tightening and eventually have to open it with a strap wrench!
Don\'t just go and turn the water system back on to full pressure and don\'t expect a leak!
Some people opened the water and found that the pot fell and there was water everywhere!
I suggest to drive the water slowly to 1/4 and listen to the sound of the water pipe.
If you ask someone to turn the water on while you\'re watching, you\'ll be able to spot any problems quickly.
The leak will either appear in a steady stream of water droplets on the side, or a huge fountain will appear at the connection.
If you have a bypass valve on the water filter, continue to close the bypass valve, slowly open 1/4 in the water entering the water filter, and then open 1/4 in the flowing water.
You should hear the water rushing through the system, and if your tap or hose is turned on, the water will make a gle sound when it drains the air.
This is a good time to check if there is rust and debris washed out in the line.
If you see this, you should keep the water running until clean before proceeding.
Once the water is clear, you should go to your highest outlet (
Usually the shower upstairs)
Open it and remove any air from the water pipe.
Please turn off all devices if there are any signs of leakage.
If it looks OK, go for 1/2 water pressure and fill it up.
Clean everything up.
Pour water out of the bucket, but leave the bucket under the water filter for the next filter replacement if possible, or in case you have any leaks.
Take the time to post its notes when the filter is changed, then set a calendar reminder on your phone for 6 months (
If your old filter looks good or longer)
Make the next filter change.
If you don\'t have a leak detector installed, it\'s a great time to get one installed.
I have a Gentronics water detector that allows you to set the alarm further away from where the leak is detected.
Honeywell also produces.
They cost less than $15, saving you thousands of repairs.
They use a 9 volt battery and only use the battery power when the water completes the circuit
Make a loud noise and let you turn off the water.
If you already have a water detector now, it\'s a good time to wet your finger and test it to make sure it still works.
Hope this instructions will help you!
We are lucky to live in a country with clean water.
Please pray/Vote/donate to help those who do not have access to clean water.
If you have any tips, please add them to the comments below to benefit others.
If you are still looking for an answer, please check your tube or call the plumber.
