"Tips and tricks to using a whole house filter"

Im making a tutorial on the whole house filters and the mistakes made during the process. I would like to say thank you to everyone - especially boatboy24 - for gathering all this information up. I have been on the phone with a technical support with Pentek the manufacturer to get to the bottom of this.

I would recommend the following ( recommended by the manufacturer for wine filtration )

FILTER HOUSING - 158116 -
WRENCH- SW-1A
BRACKET - 244047
FILTER - 1 MICRON = P1
FILTER - 5 MICRON = P5
Barb fittings - 1/4 npt to 3/8 barb

all can be found at http://www.filtersfast.com. except for the barb connectors
I do sell them on my accessory page if you can not find them locally.

It has been recommended to definitely mount the housing to something solid in order to properly tighten it down.

Next index your housing top and bottom after hand tight (with a marker or paint pen - see above post for pics at this time ) Install filter until the index marks align up properly. That will tell you that your housing to O ring is properly sealed.

Teflon tape the barb fittings that screw into the housing - do not over tighten

The difference between the P-5 and the PD-5-934 is the 934 has a plastic tube liner and it is much harder to align up the marks - the P5 has open ends on both sides( without the plastic tube reinforcement ) and that is what creates your seal as the housing is tightened down it will literally makes its own seal in the cartridge itself. It should not damage your housings, even if you install it wrong, unlike the PD-_934

I hope this clarifies any problems with the use of the whole house filtration system - there will be a better tutorial later - I just wanted to get the information out there as quick as possible.

Here are some pics, the top one is the cartridge with no filter - hand tightened and indexed

The 2nd picture shows a P5 filter that is tightened with wrench ( notice the index marks )

The 3rd picture is the pd-5-934 filter that is tightened with wrench (notice the index marks )
The 3rd one will definitely pull air in the housing that could not be seen by the naked eye.

I would like to thank Boatboy24 again for the great pics !!

This is great, thanks a lot and keep it going. Also, if some one who is an expert on another task in wine making, pick up the ball and run with, start another thread. I guess I'm being greedy. If I knew anything, I'd start a thread. I just thought of something I know a lot about, and that's things not to do. In 75 years of hobbys and doing different stuff, this is the most enjoyable. As I said in another post, I don't drink
wine, but in the last three years I have probably drank a bottle or two in tasting. I do admit that it's getting to taste pretty good now, especially the elderberry. Keep up the good work and don't let this thread die, a lot of us need it.
Semper Fi
Bud

Thank's Steve.

I'm having a heck of a time keeping air out of my system. I use Teflon tape on the barbs, made sure I had the filter correctly in the housing (I think). What I'm see is, what appears to be) an air source coming from the top of the filter. The filter housing I purchased has a pressure relief button on the top and I'm wondering if that's my issue. I got the part number from one of the threads on this board so I'm thinking others have the filter housing with the relieve button as well.

The pentek rep I was talking with just moved this situation even higher in the chain of command. They will be checking the 2 different housings and filters to see if there has been any changes made in the past year or so.

I would still recommend using the list provided as the other filters have a plastic inside tube liner that might be ruining some housings if not installed exactly correct or it could be a defect still. While the PD1 and the PD5 do not have that plastic insert and can be more forgiving and not ruin your housing. There is no difference in the filter media except the inside tube liner

shoebiedoo said:

The filter housing I purchased has a pressure relief button on the top and I'm wondering if that's my issue.

Click to expand...

Other people who have the pressure relief valve have reported similar issues. I believe the pressure valve is designed to seal with a positive pressure, not a vacuum. Others have removed the valve and sealed it with epoxy to solve the problem.

Chiumanfu said:

Other people who have the pressure relief valve have reported similar issues. I believe the pressure valve is designed to seal with a positive pressure, not a vacuum. Others have removed the valve and sealed it with epoxy to solve the problem.

Click to expand...

I had a nice chat with vacuumpumpman and yesterday about that very subject. As usual he was extremely helpful g and made that suggestion. I will say, I got the part number from a list on this board so don't make the same mistake I made and order by part number alone. I would suggest everyone make sure it does NOT have the pressure relief button.
I did try a removing the button and replacing it with a screw/nut combination with the neoprene washer to seal but it had little effect. I surrendered and just got a new housing as I was ordering filters anyway so shipping we basically free.
I wonder if you could hook one of these up to a House? Has anyone tried that before. Man I'm thinking you could put it on the main water line a filter your whole house with it

Yes
They are originally designed for whole house filtration - just make sure you get the proper inlet and outlet sizes - not the one we use for wine as it will restrict your water flow

I removed the pressure relief valve, used a drill bit and opened the hole a little, then I used a 1/4 in pipe tap and threaded the housing. I used a nylon pipe plug & barbs and when I installed them I used some food grade silicone on the threads. It takes 3 - 4 days for it to cure completely and the smell of the silicone to dissapate. Then I ran 6 gal of water through the unit before I filtered any wine. I then filtered 29 gal of wine using the same filter with no problems.

BOB

Good job Bob !!

Did you mark the housing prior to use ? Just curious ?

Were you having issues with air in the housing prior ?

I did not mark the housing, but I will before I use the filter again. I had been following this thread so I knew some were having problems with the check valve and barbs leaking so I just addressed those problems before I started. A person can learn so much by just reading threads on this forum. That's what I like so much about this site.

BOB

I filtered 36 gallons today with my filter. I had some minor air leakage but not enough to worry about. The setup works well for me.

pjd said:

I filtered 36 gallons today with my filter. I had some minor air leakage but not enough to worry about. The setup works well for me.

Click to expand...

Great job on filtering 36 gallons -

If you don't mind me asking - Phil
Did you try and mark the housings and check them prior to filtering ?

what does your setup consist of ?
filter -
housing -
how do you filter ? pressure or vacuum ?

Steve, I did not mark the housing. The filter is the one you recommended from Filters Fast. I used it with your all in one vacuum pump.

I haven't been doing any filtering lately, but I have a bunch coming up. I'm going to work up an invertion apparatus for mine. I've got some ideas...

I filtered three batches on Friday using the 158116 housing and a P5 filter. This time, I was able to get the hoses all the way onto the barbs and I had almost no air at all. Unfortunately, the fit was so tight that I broke one of the barbs trying to get the hose off. Off to Home Depot to see if they have a worthy replacement. But the moral of the story here is make sure your hoses are all the way on those barbs. That made the difference for me.

I purchased a 158326 housing from Filtersfast and will do some side by side tests soon. I'll post up when complete.

Heating up the hoses under warm or hot water to install helps alot. I also will sometimes cut the hose in order to remove or I will leave a complete set of hoses on that setup.

Thanks for the update boat boy
I hope that the p-5 will help everyone who was using the 934 previously with filter problems

Here is a video I did on assembling the whole house wine filter with a tube to drain the housing.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3jHeRHtZ-s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3jHeRHtZ-s[/ame]

Bob

Great vid!

Great video !!

Hey! I got a thanks! I thought that looked like DB you were filtering!