Re-doing my Pentec whole house filter (Big Blue)

[Lee_Leses]

And anyone have an opinion?

The unit is designed to get it's main support from the copper pipe or other rigid pipe it's installed with.

Pentek wants $42 + shipping for their support bracket -- OUCH! See Picture

Wouldn't two pipe hangers work just as well, or even better?

 

[Banjo Bud]

Don’t see why that wouldn’t work. I made a home made bracket out of something similar. Tried to post a picture but it won’t let me.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Banjo Bud]

Here. Finally got it to post.

 

[Lee_Leses]

See my fresh post -- BIG WHITE -- FIRST LOOK!

 

[Lee_Leses]

Well, after much research and thought, I decided to just replace the knockoff big blue with a REAL Pentair (Pentek) 150469 Big Blue Filter Housing, 3/4" NPT #10

I think this will be better and much easier to get the correct o-ring and change filters...

 

[Reach4]

Have a new o-ring in stock before changing cartridges. Usually you can reuse the old o-ring.
Very lightly lube the old or new o-ring with proper silicone lube. I like Molykote 111. A 5.3 ounce tube is not cheap, but it is a lifetime supply.

 

[Lee_Leses]

Have a new o-ring in stock before changing cartridges. Usually you can reuse the old o-ring.
Very lightly lube the old or new o-ring with proper silicone lube. I like Molykote 111. A 5.3 ounce tube is not cheap, but it is a lifetime supply.

Thank you very much Reach! You’ve been a huge help in deciding what to do.

Ultimately I decided to keep things the way they were but just change to the official Pentek big blue housing. I was able to reuse the existing mounting bracket this way too.

I didn’t like the o-rings in the bypass valve/mechanism in the housing with the built-in bypass, and I don’t like the way the mounting for it is designed either.

The filter that came out of the housing that was on there did not look too bad and it was on there for like a year.

But what I wanted to change was the knock off brand-X China housing.

I’m trying to decide what filter to use. I might go with just a real basic one rather than using an expensive carbon block filter for all the water in the house. But this setup should be a lot better than what I had!

And yes believe me I plan to keep extra o-rings in stock, now that I have a specific size to order!

 

[Reach4]

I would measure the o-ring cross section in the new filter. I ordered some non-branded O-rings that were a bit thinner. I think branded Pentair 151122 and Culligan OR-100 are a bit thicker.

Here are some notes -- I forget where I got the numbers:
Pentek 151122 O-Ring for 10" & 20" Big Blue
interchangeable with the Culligan OR-100 and W10-OR.
Actual Size (in) 5 1/2 inches (inside diameter) x 5 3/4 inches (outside diameter) x 3/16 inches (width)
Actual Size (cm) 13.97 x 14.605 x 0.47625

 

[Lee_Leses]

TOTALLY agree.

So hard to find actual Pentek brand -- but at least we have the exact dimensions of the 151122!

Have you ordered any "Captain" o-rings? They typically come in 3 packs.

Was wondering if they were any good with the Pentek housing?

 

[Lee_Leses]

Also, do yours seal by hand tightening, or a slight tool crank after hand tight first?

 

[Reach4]

TOTALLY agree.

So hard to find actual Pentek brand -- but at least we have the exact dimensions of the 151122!

Have you ordered any "Captain" o-rings? They typically come in 3 packs.

Yes. They were thinner. I then ordered some Culligan brand.

I think I use the tool just a tad to tighten.

 

[LakeDwellerMN]

We went with a dual-stage 4.5x10 whole house filter (well water) and a 20micron paper then 5micron carbon filter at our cabin. We get 6mo life out of our filters ("ice pure" on Amazon have proven worthy).

In town, we just have a 100 micron spin-down filter after the water softener, as we had a tank leak that caused a huge mess in all the pipes. Took a week to clean out all the little "sand".

I can't argue with having a 2nd (or 3rd) set of O-rings for your big blue on hand at all times. I tore one recently and immediately ordered a new one. I lube them with Danco non-water soluable grease after each change.

 

[Lee_Leses]

If you look at the housing picture above, on the right side, I just noticed my guy used a ProPress solder-less coupler.

How do WE feel about those? Are they OK?

Any reason he would do the last joints solder-less like that?

 

[LakeDwellerMN]

I guess its ok. I know they are pretty reliable if done correctly. If its done wrong, you would have seen an issue already.

I went with pex into/out of my filters as wrenching on a filter can torque the unit and this may irritate certain fittings.

 

[Reach4]

Any reason he would do the last joints solder-less like that?

Two theories.
1. The Propress joints are newer, and the plumber switched mostly to Propress.
2. Soldering the joint on the right side of the filter housing would have heated the plastic. Now how would soldering the left half not heat the plastic? Maybe clearances were such that the left thread could have been threaded onto the already-soldered adapter by turning the adapter.

 

[Lee_Leses]

"this may irritate certain fittings" --- My exact concern. Well at least the left side of the pipe is all soldered.

I asked the plumber about it and he said plumbers mostly use ProPress fittings these days instead of soldering.

I tend to think some still prefer the reliability of soldering?

 

[Reach4]

See my fresh post -- BIG WHITE -- FIRST LOOK!

Fresh post?

 

[Lee_Leses]

Fresh post?

My bad Reach!

Originally I started a 2nd new "fresh" post about this, I think it's titled "BIG WHITE -- FIRST LOOK!"

I made a new post because it was more about the Big White then the usual Big Blue housings.

That was months ago though...