How To Change A Water Filter

Whole-house water filters aren't designed to leak. Notwithstanding, at that place are occasions when you lot might find water escaping from your filtration organisation, usually due to cracks, faulty o-rings, or regular wearable-and-tear.

We've been testing and using whole business firm water filter systems for more than a decade, and nosotros've experienced several instances of leaking in that time. We've put together this guide, based on our ain feel and information from some of the height whole house water filter manufacturers, to help y'all become to the lesser of your leaking filtration system – and put a stop to it once and for all.

💦 Why is My Whole Firm Water Filter Leaking?

At that place are several reasons why a whole house h2o filter might exist leaking:

The filters are past their all-time. Yous may need to buy replacement filter cartridges to resolve the event.
The water organisation itself has reached the end of its lifespan. Best-example scenario: a few components need replacing. More likely: the whole matter needs to be replaced.
The filtration organization can't handle the pressure of your drinking water supply. If yous've bought the wrong sized organization, you're at risk of damage from water force per unit area.
The system is poorly-designed and has broken.
Your h2o supply has damaged the o-rings, the filters, or the connections. This is mutual with loftier-sediment water.
You've over- or nether-tightened the arrangement's threads.

🛠️ How to Fix a Leaking Whole Abode Water Filter

Fixing a leaking whole house water filter

First thing'south kickoff, you need to know why your whole house h2o filter is leaking. This could be tricky if a lot of water is escaping from the system. Luckily, once you lot know the most common causes of leaks, you should be able to quickly and confidently diagnose the issue.

Follow the steps below to uncover and resolve a whole house water filter leaking problem:

Pace i: Identify the Location of the Leak

Before you do annihilation, it'south helpful to know exactly where the leak is coming from.

In some cases, this might be too difficult. Just before yous switch off your water supply and start the diagnostic procedure, it'll save yous a lot of time if you lot can figure out the source of the leak.

With a filter leaking from top, take a closer look to come across exactly what's causing the h2o to escape. Check for visible cracks that might indicate that you need to replace a part or component in your organisation.

If you lot tin can't run into any cracks from this quick visual inspection, bank check the threads. If you can't meet any leaking from the threads, the leaking is probable coming from a location inside the filter housing, and yous'll demand to investigate further.

What are y'all almost likely to find? Commonly, a filter leaking from top is caused past cracks inside the filter housing, a faulty o-ring, or damaged threads.

Step 2: Accept Off the Filter Housing

Most leaks from a whole firm water filter come from within the filter housing. Here's how to safely remove the filter housing without causing major flooding in your home:

Discover the inside end valve, which controls whether your principal water supply tin pass into your abode or not. Plow the valve clockwise to shut off the water. Open a nearby faucet to release trapped air and drain the remaining h2o in the pipes.
If your whole firm h2o filter has a pressure-release button on the elevation of the filter housing, printing this at present. This will also assistance to relieve pressure level in your water pipes.
Some whole house water filters have a bypass valve. Turn the featherbed valve for extra safety earlier accessing the filter housing.
Place a large bucket or tray underneath the whole firm h2o filter to catch any water that leaks out of the system.
Follow your manufacturer's instructions to remove the whole business firm filter housing. In some cases, you lot may need to utilize the filter wrench that came with your system to unscrew the filter housing counter-clockwise.

Step three: Wait for Filter Damage and Clogging

Filter cartridges don't final forever – and some don't even last within their expected lifespans.

High TDS and water hardness, or poor water quality in general, causes a filter to clog before than it should. Eventually, a clogged filter will become and so saturated with contaminants that water will exist unable to pass through.

In this case, the incoming water tin't travel through the filter as chop-chop every bit it travels through your pipes, and then it's likely to leak out of the fittings connecting the filter to your h2o line. Requite your filter a visual inspection to check for dirt, and replace the cartridge if it'south close to the end of its lifespan.

If you don't practise this, you're at adventure of cracks and damage to the filter housing, and so it'due south of import to alter your filter every bit recommended past the manufacturer.

Step 4: Check the Inside and Exterior of the Filter Housing & Threads

Overpressure inside a whole business firm water filter can cause the filter housing to get cracked, allowing water to escape from the organisation. Examine the filter housing to check for hairline cracks that could be the source of a minor leak.

The quicker you tin can notice a crack in the housing, the better. Cracks can apace expand and cause a major leak in your home. Exist sure to check the inside and the outside of the housing, using a bright lite (such as a torch) to check for cracks that may be difficult to see usually.

Once you've checked the housing, wait at the filter threads. You may demand to use more plumbers tape to secure the threads, or you may have over-tightened the connections.

Step v: Look at the O-Ring

If you've checked every filter cartridge, your filter housing, and threads, and all looks fine, your whole firm h2o filter leaking trouble might be caused past a worn-out o-band. After so many months or years of use, the rubber o-rings in your whole house filter become damaged.

Why is this a trouble? Because the o-rings, despite their small and insignificant appearance, play an important role in a whole house water filtration system: they create a seal betwixt the housing sump and the housing cap.

It's important to keep your o-rings lubricated with silicone grease (food-class) to forbid the seal from being compromised.

Check that each o-ring in your arrangement isn't hard, dirty, or damaged, or hasn't vanished altogether. Resolving the trouble may be as simple equally rinsing the o-ring with water to remove a buildup of sediment, or you may need to buy a new o-ring to replace a damaged ane. The good news is that o-rings are really cheap (less than $five) and widely available.

Don't forget to lubricate any new o-rings y'all add to the system. In fact, lubricating all existing o-rings is a good idea whether you're replacing them or not.

Footstep 6: Re-install the Whole House Water Filter

If you institute no cause of leaks during the inspection of your whole business firm water filter, don't panic. Sometimes, you only need to reinstall the unit of measurement correctly to ensure no further leaking occurs. Something as simple every bit over- or nether-tightening the connections can cause leaks.

Securely tighten the housing using the included wrench, and use plumbers tape to secure the connections and eliminate gaps that water could escape from. When you lot're happy that your filter is secured, switch on your h2o supply and turn the bypass valve to allow water to flow back into the system.

If your unit of measurement still leaks, it's worth getting in touch with your manufacturer to figure out what might be going wrong.

✅ How to Prevent a Whole House Water Filter from Leaking

Once you've fixed a leaking h2o filtration organization, yous probably don't desire to repeat the process whatsoever fourth dimension before long.

Fortunately, it's easy to preclude a whole business firm filter from leaking over again. Just follow these steps:

Buy the Correct-Sized System

Starting time and foremost, your h2o filter system should be the right size for your dwelling house.

If the system isn't designed to handle your water pressure level, the forcefulness of the water powering through the filters will cause cracks and impairment. To foreclose a water filter leaking from the moment you install it, make sure it's designed for your home's water pressure.

Manufacturers of whole house water filter systems commonly offer systems in at least 2 dissimilar sizes: one for homes with one-3 bathrooms and ane for homes with iv-6 bathrooms. Don't be tempted to save money on a smaller whole house filtration system if it's not suitable for your home.

Replace the Filter Cartridges on Time

We mentioned before that one of the almost common causes of a leaking whole house water filter is when a filter cartridge needs replacing.

It's essential that you lot supplant every filter cartridge as recommended by the manufacturer, non only for the sake of your wellness, but to prevent potentially catastrophic leaks in your main h2o line.

Check your user transmission if you're unsure how ofttimes each filter cartridge in your system needs to be changed.

Replacing the filter cartridge to prevent catastrophic leaks

Clean the System Regularly

Some whole firm water filter cartridges terminal up to ix-12 months – and at that place's a much better take chances of them lasting this long with the correct intendance.

You lot don't demand to buy a special water filter cleaner or a fancy cleaning tool for the job. In fact, these products and tools could end up damaging the filter or calculation toxic chemicals into your water supply. Ever utilise non-toxic cleaning products when cleaning your water filter arrangement.

Twice a year, clean the inside and outside of the filter housing, removing bacteria, dirt, and sediment that has collected over its months of utilise. If you've bought your h2o filter from a good company, the user manual will provide specific instructions on how to proceed your unit in a clean condition.

Lubricate the O-Rings

Lubricating the o-rings is such a small task that many people either forget to practise it or remember it's unimportant.

Actually, if the o-rings are left to harden, they can touch the entire system, every bit they're more at chance of keen – resulting in leaking around the filter housing. And so it'due south of import to lubricate them regularly.

A adept routine is to lubricate the o-rings every time you alter a water filter in the system.

Install (Or Replace) the Sediment Filter

Some whole home water filters come up with a sediment filter that protects the later on filter stages from harm.

High levels of sediment are abrasive and damaging to water filters. Not only will sediment clog the filters themselves, simply it'll get stuck in every prophylactic o-ring that surrounds each filter canister, causing them to lose their shape or harden.

If your water has a high sediment content and your arrangement doesn't already use a sediment filter, consider installing a standalone sediment filter to protect the system and prevent further damage to its components. Our best sediment filter guide has plenty of information virtually the sediment filters worth your money in 2022.

Replace the O-Rings

While you're lubricating the o-rings, check each o-ring for cracks or harm and supervene upon them if yous observe any wear and tear (it helps to take an o-band stash on paw simply in case!).

Here's how to supplant a faulty o-ring in your water filter housings:

Shut off the water supply and turn on your faucet to depressurize your water line.
Press the force per unit area release button on your canister housing if you have i.
Remove the filter sump and place the filter cartridge in a safe location. The sump is the bottom section of the housing.
Once y'all've removed the sump, use a screwdriver to remove the modest screw at the lesser, and then remove the o-ring from the screw.
Clean or replace the o-ring, depending on the extent of the damage. Lubricate the o-ring with a pocket-size amount of silicone grease or lubricant.
Return the filter cartridge to the housing and tighten the screw. Return the filter sump dorsum in place.
Check for leaks around the o-ring. If the o-ring is properly in position, no leaks should occur.

Buy a Water Leak Detector

Water leak detectors won't stop your filter's housing from leaking, but they tin alert you to a problem while it'southward withal pretty small. This saves yous from just discovering that your h2o filter is leaking when it's reached a catastrophic, flooded-the-basement level.

For some people, leak detectors have saved them from extensive (and expensive) flood damage to their homes. You lot might not think they're worth installing, just if you lot want to prevent future leaks on a huge scale, a water leak detector is the tool for the job.

Yous can buy a leak detector for less than $100, or pay a bit more for a smart leak detector. We've shared our favorite leak detectors in this guide.

Buy a Brand New System

In some cases, there's no saving a whole house filter arrangement with leaking filter housing. Yous might be unable to avert water filter leaking if the unit itself is damaged beyond repair.

You're nearly probable to experience this type of damage if:

Your water pressure is too loftier for the filter'southward design
The h2o filter housing is made from poor-quality materials
You've endemic the system for 5-10 years or longer, and it's but time to purchase a new 1

If yous're on the market for a new water filter, consider a media-based system. Rather than having water filter housing, a media-based arrangement contains a single tank, which is far less probable to go croaky or damaged, or experience leaking.

We accept plenty of information virtually the best whole firm water filters in this guide.