Whole house filter valve not working fully

[JHZR2]

Not long after we moved into our home, we had been doing some plumbing and observed that there was some buildup (sediment or iron, the town infrastructure is all old iron pipe) inside the pipes in our home. So I added a GE whole house filter.

We get the water quality report annually and it’s always very good, so I just wanted to trap sediment. When my wife was pregnant and when we had infants taking baths I’d swap to chemical removal versions, but generally just catch particles.

Never had an issue. Generally charge about every 1/2-3/4 year when I think of it. Maybe 20 times now?

Today we go to do it, put the valve in the unit to off, and water keeps flowing through the chamber as I try to relieve pressure. Put it on bypass, water keeps flowing. Not strong but a bit. Turn off the inlet and outlet ball valves that I had installed, then released the unit. When I opened either side in any filter configuration, water would leak.

I don’t recall ever having this issue. I don’t recall closing off the main ball valves either.

I found that turning about 30 degrees from where the handle should be, minimized flow, which was never strong or high quantity, but was always present, would give me max effect. So something is awry in the unit. We also removed the filter element, put it back together, and tried to run on bypass but water still flowed through the chamber.

I’m not sure these are servicable. Not sure if I should try versus buying another from HD for $70. Perhaps, since I have real ball valves on both sides, I should never ever touch the housing valve setting (on this one or a replacement) and always just leave it on the filter mode? Forget bypass or off.

Also, I went from another design to a pleated one. I’m pretty dissatisfied with how it tightened in. I’ve used pleated before but don’t recall them ever being this bad.

So what to do??!?

 

[GON]

I'd speculate GE sells the filter cartridge holders at a loss to regularly sell the homeowner filters at a high profit margin.

My COA would be to replace the filter cartridge holder with the exact make/ model you have, even if you have to go to Ebay if discontinued. Want to make replacing the cartridge holder as simple as possible.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

i had the same thing happen a few years ago. Fooled with it. I think I might have replace an o-ring or something and couldn't fix it. Ended up buying a new replacement at True Value.

 

[Hall]

Simplify things. Get a filter without an unnecessary valve since you have inlet and outlet valves already. Problem will be you're hard-piped in and would need to find a housing that's almost the same width, otherwise you'll need to re-plumb things.

 

[doitmyself]

Things wear out, especially with abrasive hard water. I would replace it.

Also, I got a scary reminder that many filter manufacturers recommend replacing clear filter bowls about every 5 years because they get brittle and break. Fortunately, my damage was minimal.
https://support.boshart.com/how-often-should-i-replace-the-filter-bowl-on-my-sediment-filter
https://www.pentair.com/content/dam/extranet/web/nam/omnifilter/manuals/247716_ob1_wh5_io_manual.pdf

 

[Hall]

Also, I got a scary reminder that filter manufacturers recommend replacing clear filter bowls about every 5 years because they get brittle and break. Fortunately, my damage was minimal. https://support.boshart.com/how-often-should-i-replace-the-filter-bowl-on-my-sediment-filter

Depending on who you ask, many will tell you you have to replace the entire unit and claim the bowls and the 'head' are not interchangeable. I'll read the link next, but apparently non-clear bowls last longer too. I wanted a clear one so I could "see" how dirty the filter got, but our incoming, city water is pretty clean (clear of sediment, at least). I initially replaced it every 3 months but have since moved to 4 months. I expect I'll be going 6 months eventually. I can't see anything in the filter and more importantly, it has no odor either.

And yeap, that link says opaque housings are good for 2x as long as clear ones.

 

[JohnnyG]

That bypass valve likely has an O ring seal, which either tor or slipped. If you can take it apart, you can likely repair it. Some sort of silicone or teflon o ring would be my choice, since they are fairly self lubricating.

At least you were smart enough to put the ball valves in.