Adding a whole house water filter....

[JakeD]

I live in the top floor of a multi unit townhouse and I'm looking to install a whole house water filter. The main line coming in is copper but it's connected to PEX in the wall. I'm a little hesitant to desolder anything because I don't want to melt the PEX. I was thinking of maybe using cool gel and/or heat shield. Maybe instead of desoldering, I was thinking of cutting the pipes and just using sharkbite fittings. The only problem is that the pipes are so short I'm afraid if I cut them I won't have enough for the fittings. Anyone have thoughts? Or should I just leave it to the pros? (They are charging an arm and a leg). Thanks for your insight!

 

[Dj2]

"I'm a little hesitant to desolder anything because I don't want to melt the pex."

- your concern is justified. I place a wet towel near the connector being soldered and it absorbs most of the heat. And I also use metal heat shields.

In your case, if you shut the main, lower the shut off valve, you end up with large enough area to install a regular whole house filter horizontally. Use a union to attach the filter housing.

If you find the job to be more than you can handle, hire a plumber, it will be money well spent.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

It can be a good idea to put a 3-valve bypass around a whole house filter. Otherwise, if your filter springs a leak, you have a problem.

I don't have such a bypass myself. I do keep spare O-rings on hand, since you sometimes cannot get the O-ring back in place while changing a filter cartridge. I very lightly lube the O-rings with appropriate silicone grease.

 

[JakeD]

Thanks for your advice dj2 and Reach4. I will most likely go ahead with a plumber then. I am definitely installing a bypass valve. Thanks again!

 

[Plumber69]

I put one in my dad's house with bypass. All 3/4 copper. But the pressure/volume loss was to much. Ended up just running it to his drinking water in kitchen

 

[JakeD]

i've found that it's very specific to the filter used. some are rated way worse (gallons per minute). i'm going to make sure that mine are at least 5gpm. A lot of smaller micron filters are rated at 1 gpm or less.

 

[Reach4]

I like the Pentek Big Blue housings with 4.5x20 cartridges. You can easily get cartridges for that rated at 20 GPM or more -- for example, https://www.discountfilters.com/sediment-carbon-water-filters/pentek-wp1bb20p/p175554/ which I use as a final stage on well water. The housing is pretty heavy when full of water, so you don't want to have to lift it at arm's length. If this is for city water, you could use a smaller filter such as a 4.5x10. But in general, the bigger the cartridge, the lower the pressure drop.

Also the ratings are for a new filter. As the cartridge gets loaded, the pressure drop increases. So you want some margin.

 

[JakeD]

Thanks Reach4. Yeah I'm going to have a pressure gauge before and after so I can see the pressure drop. I do have city water. I ended up going with 3M SST1HA because I wanted steel and my space is limited. It uses smaller filters (10x2.5) but the flow is still 8gpm. I don't think my condo water pressure is that high, but if the pressure drops too much, i'll go for the bigger 20x2.5 housings.

 

[JakeD]

I ended up getting a plumber to do it and he did a great job. Wanted to show you guys.