Whole house water filters are the best option for you if you’re interested in improving your home water quality. They rid your entire water supply of harmful chemicals like chlorine, sediments, and debris. They also improve your water’s overall taste and appearance.
Installing a whole house water filter will require some plumbing experience, though. You don’t have to be a plumbing guru, but you should know your way around pipes.
Setting up the filter yourself can be scary if you don’t have enough first-hand training, but it’s much easier when you have the right tools and enough patience. This article will give a rundown of all the information you need to know. It will guide you on installing your whole house water filter.
Tools and supplies needed
Some of the tools you will need are regular household tools. The rest are plumbing supplies that will make the installation process easier.
The tools you need include:
- Drill
- Adjustable wrenches
- Pipe cutter
- Plumber’s tape
- Bucket and towels
- Screwdriver
Plumbing supplies required include:
- The whole house filtration system and its components
- Different valves
- Piping
- Pressure gauges
Where to install the filter
You have to choose a strategic place to install the filter. Since it’s a whole house system, it has to be fixed at the point where all your water supply can pass through it. The fixing point is usually near the house’s main shut-off valve. Once installed, all your water outlets will supply filtered water. You can choose to leave out the outside faucets if you want.
Place the filter in an accessible location for easy maintenance. You can install it before the pipeline to your water heater. This way, your water filter passes filtered water through the heater and eliminates all the sediments in your hot water.
The installation process
Before you pick up any plumbing tools, read your filter’s manual to get a good understanding of the unit. This will make your job easier. After you’ve studied the manual, you can follow our steps:
- Shut off the main water supply.
- Drain the remaining water in the pipes by turning on faucets and fixtures. This is important to reduce water pressure.
- Cut into the main water supply line with a pipe cutter, then remove a section of the pipe. This is to provide enough space to accommodate the filter and its components. Keep a bucket close by to prevent any spills.
- The cut pipe now has burrs at both ends. Sand off the burrs before proceeding to the next step.
- If you notice debris inside the pipe, remove it.
- Place a shut-off valve at the opposite ends of the filter system. You will need this to close the water supply to the filter when servicing. You can also add a bypass. A enables water to flow past the filter in your home when the filter is under maintenance. BOS further explains how you can install a bypass for your whole house filtration system. Keep all the valves closed during the installation process.
- Pressure gauges are optional, but you can install them close to the shut-off valves. They’ll help you monitor the input and output pressure in the filter and let you know when it needs to be changed.
- To install the main system, you’ll need to dry fit first. Connect the adapter fittings that’ll pass into the filter housing. Once the fittings are cool after soldering, you can connect them to the filter housing. Plumber’s tape can come in handy – can use it to seal the threaded connections and prevent leaks. Try to do the soldering far away from any plastic to avoid heat damage.
- Ensure the filter housing and the pipes connected to it are free from debris.
- Turn the water back on and open all the valves. Leave the bypass valve closed.
- Check for leakage and tighten the fittings accordingly.
- Flush the filtration system to remove debris and air.
- Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions about activating the filtration media.
- You can close all the outlets once the pressure is back to normal.
Installing a whole house water filter is not so complicated. If you follow these steps closely, you shouldn’t have any trouble. You can set up the system within 3-5 hours if you’re used to fixing stuff around the house. In less than a day, you’ll have your whole house water filtration system up and functioning!