"Tips and tricks to using a whole house filter"

[Corked]

Thank you Steve. Sorry, I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet when I first read that!

 

[Just-a-Guy]

I am ready to filter a couple of wines, so I hooked up my new whole house filter today and gave it a dry run (well, wet run, with water). It was kind of a frustrating experience. I'm not sure if it's the plastic barb fittings, the O ring, or something else, but I seemed to be getting air in, no matter what I did. Water goes in clean on the intake side, comes out with large bubbles on the out side.

I ended up not doing any wine filtering (just racked a few carboys, using the AIO, which as usual worked beautifully). Can anyone have a look at this little vid I made and see if you have any ideas about how to fix this? (Or maybe there's no problem, and it's my imagination?) I worry about oxidation.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GpPpsVwIYQ&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

TIA,

JAG

 

[dralarms]

Your filter housing ain't tight, sucking air around the seam. Check your o ring make sure it's not cut or bunched up. Use a little vasoline (very little) to keep the o ring from bunching up. And tighted up your housing.

 

[terrymck]

I agree, it looks like your housing was indexed but the index marks are not lined up. Inspect o ring and retighten to marks.

Terry

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Thanks, guys. The index marks are actually further (tighter) than they started.

Anyway, within minutes of my posting, Steve (vacuumpumpman) called me. I just got off the phone with him. What a great guy! Took time out of his Saturday to explain some things to me about this. Amazing.

I think I've got it figured out, and will try again tomorrow. Will report back.

In the meantime, I used the pump to rack over three batches of wine this afternoon, after setting the filter aside for the moment. I basically built my wine fermentation area around the pump (made the shelf the right height and depth, etc.). Of course, I had to test out the wines as I racked them. I learned a neat little trick - once you've racked over a batch, turn off the pump, then get a wine glass, lift the bung out of the receiving carboy and hold it over the wine glass, then take the racking cane and lift it up higher. Fills your glass nicely. I will say, I have an apple, a pear and an apple-pear that are all coming along nicely. And quite strong. (I better slow down, it's only 6:45....)

 

[freqflyer]

Has anybody run wine through the one micron filter, bottle it and still have it drop sediment? I filter a few low end kits with my whole house filter. I did this pretty much as soon as the instructions say to bottle. I'm see a slight bit of very fine sediment in the bottles.

 

[dralarms]

Yep, I get it too. That's why I quit bottling right after filtering, I wait 2 weeks now.

 

[Corked]

Just A Guy, your video is an exact duplication of my experience with the whole house filter this weekend. This is the 2nd time I have bought the setup and both have been very disappointing. I tried a couple of years ago, with the filter housing that has the relief button in it. Never could get it to seal and gave up. When I stumbled across this thread and the new housing without the relief button, I thought I would give it another try. Alas, I was disappointed again. I used the exact setup mentioned in this thread, indexed the housing (once tightened it was past the index marks just like you mentioned), but I had the same air leak as you. I even bench mounted the bracket and attached the filter so I could really torque it down. Leaked even worse! Very frustrated and disappointed.

 

[Runningwolf]

Has anybody run wine through the one micron filter, bottle it and still have it drop sediment? I filter a few low end kits with my whole house filter. I did this pretty much as soon as the instructions say to bottle. I'm see a slight bit of very fine sediment in the bottles.

You are bottling and filtering to soon. It is best to filter wine that is clear and nearly sediment free. I always filter and bottle at the same time with no issues.

 

[dralarms]

Corked,

I suspect your oring is damaged. Possibly from too much tightening.

 

[Corked]

Corked,

I suspect your oring is damaged. Possibly from too much tightening.

I would agree, except it was only hand tightened (right on the index marks) when I first tried and it leaked right away. I then tightened it more (a little past the index) with the wrench, still leaked. Bench mounted the bracket and really tightened it (quite a bit past the index), still leaked. Maybe the o ring was bad from the beginning. Interested what Just A Guy finds out because his video was identical to my problem.

 

[Just-a-Guy]

I would agree, except it was only hand tightened (right on the index marks) when I first tried and it leaked right away. I then tightened it more (a little past the index) with the wrench, still leaked. Bench mounted the bracket and really tightened it (quite a bit past the index), still leaked. Maybe the o ring was bad from the beginning. Interested what Just A Guy finds out because his video was identical to my problem.

Unfortunately, I had something come up today and won't be able to have another run at this. But this is basically what Steve told me - that is, if I understood it correctly.

Because I had just installed a new filter, I was probably getting some air from in the filter itself. And I was only running less than a gallon from a small jug through to test it out. He suggested that I try turning it upside down for a couple of minutes and run water through to let all the air run out of the filter and housing. Then open it back up (unscrew the housing), dump out the water, and drain the lines and then run the wine. Steve, did I get that right?

I plan to give this a try. And if I still have problems drop the idea of the whole house filter (I'll use it for my tap water, as it was designed for), and buy a plate filter.

JAG

 

[dralarms]

Corded,

I understand, but the filter comes in dry and the o ring needs just a bit of lubricant or it will bunch. Mine had a nick in it that you couldn't even see until you took it out and examined it very close..

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Corded,

I understand, but the filter comes in dry and the o ring needs just a bit of lubricant or it will bunch. Mine had a nick in it that you couldn't even see until you took it out and examined it very close..

FYI, I took mine out and examined it. I used a small amount of "keg grease" on it (a food grade lubricant used on beer kegs... it's what I had handy).

 

[cintipam]

Just to offer something different, I once had a similar problem and it turned out that somehow one of my barbs had gotten slightly unscrewed from the filter housing. Once I tightened in that barb the leaking stopped instantly.

I agree that starting with a dry filter would cause some initial bubbles. Maybe try using just water and doing so in large amounts so you can tweak stuff here and there to either fix or rule out a problem area. The work to figure it out is well worth it.

Pam in cinti

 

[dralarms]

Ok, did you put teflon tape on the threads of the barbs?

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Ok, did you put teflon tape on the threads of the barbs?

Yes. Tons of it. Kept taking them out and adding more, as it seemed like it wasn't sealing. I don't think I've ever used that much on a thread before.

What is the reason, btw, for using plastic barbs? Why not bronze? Or stainless (although I don't recall seeing stainless barbs like this, somebody probably makes them)?

 

[dralarms]

Did you use pink teflon tape? Pink is for plastic on plastic connections. White is for metal to metal and some plastic to metal.

Brass will give off flavors. Not seen a stainless barb.

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Pink teflon tape? Really? I've never seen such a thing. I used white. OK, maybe this is part of the problem, I will see if I can get some pink (ha ha... no fun intended).

 

[dralarms]

Lol. Yep pink teflon tape is real. I'm just tryin to help.