Recommendations and experience sought- a whole house water filter.

[UncleDave]

I recently had a Navien NCB-250/150H combi boiler + continuous hot water system installed and the literature says that the hot water maker plate and frame style heat exchanger is susceptible to plugging. I want to get a whole house water filter system installed to remove the dirt/scale that the town stirs up during its quarterly flushing of the street water mains. I have made a few calls and everyone wants to sell me a water softener system which I don’t want or need.

Does anyone here have experience with a whole house water filter (not a water softener) and can give me some manufacturer and capacity recommendations. Single family home, two bathrooms + kitchen and laundry. I would be doing the filter changes myself.

You can start with a single filter housing and expand if you need.

I'd recommend a pentair " big blue" housing 4.5 x 20 if you can find space if not pull back to a 4.5 x 10 match the input diameter as closely as you can to your line.

By purchasing a standardized housing (either 4.5x10 or 4.5X 20 ) you open up to a world of high quality filters most notably pentairs amazing combo filters that are both sediment and carbon filter.

You simply plumb it in at the point of entry and you are off to the races.

 

[KneeGrinder]

Looks same as Oilboys bigblue

 

[KneeGrinder]

All great suggestions. I agree that the installers I have called appear to have no interest since I don’t want/need a water conditioner system so there is no follow up service agreements etc. It is a one and done job.

It looks like a straight forward, do it yourself install. Anyone have experience with 3/4 inch shark bite fittings and valves on copper pipe?

The water in my town is well water from four wells drilled over 500 feet down. The sediment is due to a 80ish year old storage tank that was fed for decades from well pumps without discharge filters. That issue has been resolved but there is still residual dirt in the tank and the underground pipes that gets stirred up. After the quarterly flush done by the town water department it usually takes about 5-10 seconds to flush the dirty water out of the line from the street main to my house, then it is back to being crystal clear until the next quarterly flush. We don’t even have filters on the ice maker and drink straight unfiltered tap water.

Yes, Sharkbite's have somewhat of a bad rap for some of thier other fittings, but the copper compression fittings, which I have used have a very good rep, and they are simple to use, you can most deffinenty do this yourself.

 

[oilboy123]

Looks same as Oilboys bigblue

View attachment 203099

Yep that is what I have. Except the long 20" version. I think I need to replace the housings when get maybe 10 yrs old. I read the clear ones are only good for 5 years? I read that last part somewhere years ago. Not sure if that is correct? I sent Pentek an email. I will see what they say.

There are a lot of filter choices, that is for sure.........

 

[JHZR2]

I soldered in a standard 4” I believe filter in our home. Added a ball valve after it, no bypass. Ma in house (ball) valve, is within a few feet. Works great, can get filters most anywhere.

 

[Donald]

I recently had a Navien NCB-250/150H combi boiler + continuous hot water system installed and the literature says that the hot water maker plate and frame style heat exchanger is susceptible to plugging. I want to get a whole house water filter system installed to remove the dirt/scale that the town stirs up during its quarterly flushing of the street water mains. I have made a few calls and everyone wants to sell me a water softener system which I don’t want or need.

Does anyone here have experience with a whole house water filter (not a water softener) and can give me some manufacturer and capacity recommendations. Single family home, two bathrooms + kitchen and laundry. I would be doing the filter changes myself.

Get your water tested before deciding on a filter. I assume for domestic hot water you have a coil installed in the boiler and water running through the coil gets hot? If it was plumbed nicely you can shut it off from your water and acid clean it.

Better is a separate hot water tank with a coil in it and its and connected to your boiler as a separate zone. Highly recommend this. Had in two houses. Worked great.

 

[KneeGrinder]

Yep that is what I have. Except the long 20" version. I think I need to replace the housings when get maybe 10 yrs old. I read the clear ones are only good for 5 years? I read that last part somewhere years ago. Not sure if that is correct? I sent Pentek an email. I will see what they say.

There are a lot of filter choices, that is for sure.........

@Oilboy321, That is actually a picture of a Watts filter housing copied from the net, but as I compared them, I believe some other manufacturer actually produces them for both companies. They are same same. I don't believe Watts offers a clear version. I went with the 10" because of the cost of filters, I really don't need the 20".

P.S. You posted good information for the OP, a good contribution to the thread.

 

[KrisZ]

What is your water hardness? You may actually need a water softener as well as a whole house filer.
Or you will need to descale the heater every year or so.
Most of the problems with on demand water heaters are from hard water scale buildup, not particles in the water.

 

[UncleDave]

if you get what racer12306 sugested (I have a similar 5 x 10 ge unit from 2008)
this is the best filter I have found for drinking water

Watershed4510 Hybrid Pleated / Carbon Block Whole House Filter

One KleenWater Watershed-4510 Hybrid Pleated / Carbon Block Whole House Water Filters - 4.5 x 9.75 - Dirt, Rust, Sediment, Chlorine, Cysts and More

www.kleenwater.com

It even keeps the tank for the toilet clean inside.
And the inlet valves for the washer no longer need to be replaced.
The flow rate is also very good.
But if your just doing the hot water a less expensive filter element might be better.

This is intriguing. The 80K gallon spec on it is truly impressive.

I've not seen any other 4.5x10 carbon/sediment combo with a rating beyond 25K.

1 micron is great, not as good as the pentairs .5 micron though.

Interesting to note the NSF mark doesn't appear on the filter.

I might have to pick one of these up.

 

[UncleDave]

In doing some research on this filter it does indeed use a unique construction technique but it appears it has gone through at least one redesign significantly cheapening and reducing its capabilities.

 

[UncleDave]

Not a fan of this brand. I can’t get the bypass to work anymore and it’s only been in use since August.View attachment 152802

Is that a bypass or a shutoff?

I try to stick with pentair housings, but there are a few other good ones I've seen.

 

[dlundblad]

Is that a bypass or a shutoff?

I try to stick with pentair housings, but there are a few other good ones I've seen.

Thought it was a bypass, but I suppose it could be a shutoff switch too. Both would prevent me from having to turn the pump off and flush the toilet and open the sinks for a filter change.

 

[UncleDave]

Thought it was a bypass, but I suppose it could be a shutoff switch too. Both would prevent me from having to turn the pump off and flush the toilet and open the sinks for a filter change.

I only ask because Im in the process of modding my own system and I've seen both.

I'm going to replace the final housing with a shut off, and enlarge and change the housing upstream to a bypass and the only one I can find is from pentair.

The pentair shut off/disconnect housing shuts off both ends of the connection so you don't get flow back from the house end when you pull the bowl.