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[Plumbing] Changing Whole House Cartridge Filter: Bleach or No?I have a whole-house water filter served by a private well (200+ feet deep). I change the filter every three months as directed on the filter packaging. I relieve the pressure, take the filter and housing outside, clean the filter housing and O-ring as best I can using a clean 2-liter bottle or clean milk jug, install the new filter, use food-grade silicone on the O-ring, and put it back into place hand tight. I've done it many times with seemingly no issue, but was thinking about overall cleanliness today... I try to be as clean as possible when handling the filter housing, cartridge, and O-ring, but I was wondering about what constitutes "clean". I looked up a few websites on how to change the cartridge, and most I found recommended putting some household bleach in the filter housing before reinstalling the unit and turning on the well water. I know the well installers pour bleach in the well itself when opened, but I've never thought to use bleach in the filter housing when changing the whole-house filter. So... should I add bleach to the filter housing along with the new cartridge filter at every change (every 3 months)? If so, about how much should I use? Or is the use of bleach in the filter assembly a bad idea? |
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Hall MVM join:2000-04-28 Germantown, OH |
Hall
MVM
2014-Oct-19 2:19 pm
"Bleach" is completely normal to use for sanitizing a filter or system. You would use "soap" to clean but you have no practical way to rinse it out when done. |
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Just had our well pump replaced about a month ago, after lightening strike. Well guy dumped a gallon of bleach down the well. pump is 280' down, well is about 400'. We had chlorine taste for a couple weeks for it to clear up. However after years of changing filters we've never done bleach to clean the filter case or housing, over 40 years. I'd say forgo the bleach. or you may end up wanting a Charcoal filter to remove the chlorine taste that will be in the water for a while. |
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John97Over The Hills And Far Away Premium Member join:2000-11-14 Spring Hill, FL |
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I installed one of those whole-house filters at my old house.
Beyond changing the filter quarterly, I never did anything else. I just crawled into the crawlspace with the new element, changed the filter, bled the system, and then came back out.
I never noticed anything "growing" or otherwise accumulating on the plastic housing which would cause me to want to do any other type of cleaning or maintenance beyond that. Granted, this was in a dark crawlspace. I had lights in there, but they were only turned on when I was actually in there doing something.
I have seen algae start to grow in this type of housing at some of my customer sites. But, these are located in conditioned (and fully lighted) spaces. The easy fix for that was to wrap the entire housing in black plastic and secure it with a piece of tape each time they change the filter. The maintenance guys write the date on the piece of tape, so they know when it's time to change the filter again. |
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I installed a whole house sediment filter several years ago and have not had any trouble with stuff growing on the filter element. I just clean out the sump and grease it like you do. I don't want to be drinking bleach. As to change interval it really depends on the filter, water condition, and water usage. Ideally there should be pressure gauges on both sides of the filter so you can monitor pressure drop. If that is OK it is a waste of money to change the filter more often. We are getting over a year's worth of use out of ours. When I installed it I separated outdoor faucets so water does not go through the filter. Because you are on a well need to make sure the filter element will not support bacterial growth. Use a polypropylene element. This is the one we are using: » www.waterfilters.net/Pen ··· ter.html/Tom |
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robbin Mod join:2000-09-21 Leander, TX
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robbin
Mod
2014-Oct-19 3:25 pm
I don't think I would add bleach to my well if it didn't need it. However, I can't see any harm in using bleach water to rinse the filter housing before re-assembly. |
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I wouldn't bleach it. I have changed that kind of filter for 20 years and haven't done anything other than rinsing any sediment out and wiping the inside of the plastic out from time to time. I use: » www.amazon.com/gp/produc ··· F8&psc=1 |
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pende_tim Premium Member join:2004-01-04 Selbyville, DE |
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Changing every 3 months may be too frequent, it depends on how dirty the filter gets and what pressure drop across the filter you can stand.
Bleach, while it can not hurt, probably is a waste of time and effort if you take reasonable care handling the filter and housing. If the filter is dry, there should be nothing living in it. If you wash your hands before handling the filter then you will not be adding any organisms.
I have had a filter like that for many years and never have had any problems with bacteria in my water and all I do is just clean the housing and pop in a new element. Mine lasts 5 months or so before it turns really dark and cold water flows slower than normal. |
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DKSDamn Kidney Stones
join:2001-03-22 Owen Sound, ON |
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Have the water tested. Our health unit will do it for free. If it is contaminated, you need to add a purification system. If not, leave it alone. |
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scooper join:2000-07-11 Kansas City, KS ·Google Fiber
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As others have stated - I have been using sediment filters for MANY (coming up on 19 now) years and I have never bleached the filter housing. Heck - I've never even added silicon grease to the housing.
As for the filter - I have been using 2 of the smaller size (they are rated for 4 GPM each) for that period of time and I swap both at the same time (I'm 2 weeks overdue - need to do it this weekend). I have one of those big whole house filters that I want to install, but I want to do some additional supply line work while I'm at it to make it easier to get to (I can do it myself - will be using PEX, just need to rent the crimp tool). |
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rody_44 Premium Member join:2004-02-20 Quakertown, PA |
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I dump a half gallon or so of bleach down my well about every 6 months. I dont taste it in my water. I just swap out the element for the whole house filter and just wipe it off. I have my water tested about every 5 years or so. Water passes, but reading the tests are why i went to using bleach. |
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Hall MVM join:2000-04-28 Germantown, OH |
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It sounds like many commenting are on well water and a few a unsure about adding bleach. I'll admit, I have no idea on how much capacity a typical well holds to estimate the concentration level, but adding "bleach" is completely normal in municipal water systems. The EPA says that 10mg/L of chlorine is allowable and our town's drinking water, during sampling, contained 0.3 - 1.2 mg/L. |
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cowboyro
Premium Member
2014-Oct-20 9:55 am
said by Hall:The EPA says that 10mg/L of chlorine is allowable and our town's drinking water, during sampling, contained 0.3 - 1.2 mg/L. Pools maintain 1-3ppm (1-3mg/L) chlorine levels. Would you drink water with 10ppm??? |
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Hall MVM join:2000-04-28 Germantown, OH |
Hall
MVM
2014-Oct-20 10:50 am
Does "allowable" mean "tastes good" to you ? It doesn't to me.... |
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PA DEP wanted me to keep our system at work around .5ppm. If we spiked the system for a known reason they didn't want it above 1-2ppm and that was for a very short time period. I was glad when we sold the building and I dropped my license.
I know a big dumbass who wanted to dump a gal of bleach in a spring box to clean it. The springs had salamanders, etc and that was the first box of 4 at the spring head. The "they do it at municipalities" blahblah argument came up then too. |
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Hellrazor |
to Hall
said by Hall:I'll admit, I have no idea on how much capacity a typical well holds to estimate the concentration level Neither does anyone else. It depends on pipe diameter, depth of the well, how high the water table is in the pipe, how much flow is in the aquifer your well resides. |
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Hall MVM join:2000-04-28 Germantown, OH |
Hall
MVM
2014-Oct-20 12:54 pm
So when you call the guy and complain all he can do is say, "it will go away .... eventually" ? "When?", you ask. "It depends", he replies. |
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I've never used bleach in my whole house filter. I have one of the Aquasana systems in my house. I just change the pre-filter every three months because it's always a dark brown/reddish color from the iron in my city water. I'm about to change the second tank in a couple months because i'm near the 300,000 gallon mark. They sell a 1,000,000 gallon mark tank which I'll be buying next so I don't have to worry about that for another 10-15 years. |
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StillLearn Premium Member join:2002-03-21 Streamwood, IL |
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I figure that filter holds about a half gallon of water. If you wanted to be extra careful, bypass the water softener. Then I would put in about 1 tsp of liquid bleach into the housing. Let the water fill the cartridge, and let the resulting bleach solution (roughly 200 ppm) sit for maybe 20 minutes after the housing fills with water. Then clear that solution out by running a couple of gallons out of the nearest cold faucet. Un-bypass the softener. Use some more water before drinking. |
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