Filters before and after the water softener

[steppinthrax]

I have a 152 Micron spin down filter before the water softener. It does a great job taking out any small bits of sand/sediment before entering the water softener. I can change the element to a 60 micron filter if I wanted to. I saw diagrams online about people putting a 5 micron filter AFTER the softener (almost like a water polisher). Any purpose or benefit of doing this?

Also I have well water with no bad taste etc, is there any benefit or purpose of using a carbon filter?

 

[Reach4]

I saw diagrams online about people putting a 5 micron filter AFTER the softener (almost like a water polisher). Any purpose or benefit of doing this?

It would catch any bits of resin that broke up and could serve as a diagnostic.

I don't have a filter after my softener. I currently have a dual density 25/1 micron filter before. Probably overkill.

If putting in some filters, I would consider adding a boiler drain valve before and after. You can put a pressure gauge on these, and you can sample water also. Knowing the pressure drop could let you know when you want to change the cartridge or identify when you have gone overboard with a too-tight filter.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[steppinthrax]

It would catch any bits of resin that broke up and could serve as a diagnostic.

I don't have a filter after my softener. I currently have a dual density 25/1 micron filter before. Probably overkill.

If putting in some filters, I would consider adding a boiler drain valve before and after. You can put a pressure gauge on these, and you can sample water also. Knowing the pressure drop could let you know when you want to change the cartridge or identify when you have gone overboard with a too-tight filter.

I read up on your filter so what you have starts out as 25 micron and goes down to 1 micron. I can replace my spin down element down to a 60 micron. But really, let's be honest here are there any health benefits of water filtered down to 1 micron? Is it better on the equipment perhaps? My suspicion is that anything below 100 microns probably passes thru the water softener. Are there any aesthetic differences of water filtered down that low?

 

[Reach4]

I read up on your filter so what you have starts out as 25 micron and goes down to 1 micron. I can replace my spin down element down to a 60 micron. But really, let's be honest here are there any health benefits of water filtered down to 1 micron? Is it better on the equipment perhaps? My suspicion is that anything below 100 microns probably passes thru the water softener. Are there any aesthetic differences of water filtered down that low?

I can't taste a difference. So why did I do it? Because I could, I guess. Before deciding to get my backwashing iron+sulfur filter, I ordered up 3 4.5x20 Pentek Big Blue filter housings and a bracket. I went ahead and had the plumber who installed my backwashing filter hook up the filters I had mounted to the wall. Way overkill, since the backwashing filter filters down to maybe roughly 5 microns. Maybe 10. Yet I have had a bit stuff of visible in the empty housing.

Initially I kept the first housing empty. Second housing was a 50-5 micron dual density. Third was a string filter that said 1 micron. About 13 months later I replaced those. The next time I went for the 2501 because it was cheaper than the string filter. I am probably losing some pressure, but its not bad.

If I were doing it from scratch, I might put one housing after the backwashing filter. Maybe one after the softener. If I had one after the softener, I would know if anything gets caught in it. A filter that does not catch anything is not worthless, because it tells you there was nothing visible to catch.

I don't have a bypass around my filters. I should. I keep extra O-rings because if I were changing a cartridge, and an O-ring was not reusable, I would be without water. Some filter housings have bypasses built in. That is a good feature.

After putting in my filtering, I flushed and cleaned the WH. The date code on the gas valve said it was about 9 years old. I got an impressive amount of dirt, sand and small rocks out. I think those rocks had not only come in from the well but had gone through the old Autotrol softener. After my filtering, no rocks or sand any visible particle could make it through. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/proper-gas-hot-water-tank-flushing.62015/#post-459818

 

[GTOwagon]

I like the idea of after the softener with a bypass. I have seen a few people put the clear housing with no filter. Some times you see sand specks or whatever on the bottom. But I imagine a five micron spun poly would be super sufficient. I currently don't have one but might add one.

 

[ditttohead]

A properly designed high quality unit... no need for a post filter in most applications. A cheapy unit, not a bad idea. Do not use the junk filter housings, stick with Pentek or Atlas Filtri. There are dozens of junk ones made by the lowest bidder, these are potentially very problematic. I would avoid clear housings except by Atlas Filtri. Obviously Pentek and Atlas Filtri are slightly more expensive but a housing failure can be a very bad thing. Don't risk it.