Whole house water filter no shut off valve after filter

5 years ago

Trying to help my sister in her 100 year old house. I've always had well water so I'm unfamiliar with her city water setup.
She has a filter on the main line coming in, before any water heater, softener, etc.. It's extremely clogged/dirty and her water pressure is almost non-existent. There's a shut off ball valve right next to the filter. However, there's no shut off after the filter. There's a red button ontop of the filter unit to relieve pressure. However, without a shut off after the filter, I think I'm just getting backflow. Whenever I loosen the filter housing water just sprays out and I quickly tighten back up. I tried running the sink to relieve pressure, but it still sprayed out. I tried opening all the faucets and showers until water stopped coming out, but water still sprayed out when I loosened the filter housing. I can't figure out what to do. Every water filter diagram I see online has a shutoff valve immediately before AND after the filter. This one only has a valve before. Thanks in advance, I'm at the end of my rope!

Featured Answer

Brad Smith

5 years ago

Hmm, as soon as you turn off the main valve, there's nothing supplying pressure. So it's just the residual pressure in the lines. You should get a "spritz" of a few seconds, but that should be enough to release the pressure; and then a dribble as the inside lines back-flow. If you're getting pressure beyond the "spritz", it sounds like that valve isn't doing its thing (or at least not fully). That's going to be annoying to deal with. :-(

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Comments (10)

Brad Smith
5 years ago
If you have a valve to/from the water heater, close it/them. Locate the lowest tap you can, and the highest tap you can. Open both and wait until both stop flowing. That should empty most of the pipes. Put a bucket under the filter, press the red button, and old until the water stops spraying (if more than a few seconds, possibly the main valve isn't closing, which would be bad). Then go ahead and swap out the folder, re-assemble, close the cold valves and open the hot water tank valves, then the main valve. Check for leaks.
Rob Morren
Original Author
5 years ago
I really appreciate the help Brad. There's a ball valve before the filter. It was very stiff, but eventually the lever turned to the off position. The lever didn't break or anything. Is it possible for the ball valve to fail with the lever in tact? I've heard of levers breaking off before, but I assumed since the lever didn't bend/break, that the valve functioned properly.

When I tried to drain the lines (without closing any lines except the lever before the filter), we let the lines run for 20 mins or so and there was still water. Would it be normal for it to take 20+ mins for all the pipes to drain? Maybe b/c the softener/waterheater were full of water? That's the only explanation I could come up with, other than the valve not closing correctly.

Thanks again!!
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Jake The Wonderdog
5 years ago
Hey Rob, post a photo of the filter / shut off if you would please.
Rob Morren thanked Jake The Wonderdog
Rob Morren
Original Author
5 years ago
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u6ufgyxq17zhkd7/Video%20Aug%2008%2C%2012%2003%2032%20PM.mov?dl=0
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Rob Morren
Original Author
5 years ago
My sister sent me a video of the water lines. I'm not sure if you can view that or not, but the link is above. I'll take some screenshots and drop them in the comments as well ...
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Rob Morren
Original Author
5 years ago
This is a closeup of the valve. Not sure why it says gas, but it's definitely on a water line and was installed by a plumber, according to my sister ...

Picture of the pipes coming in from the wall. It looks like there are two pipes coming through the basement wall. The bottom pipe has a globe (or gate?) valve. Could that be the main shut off? I'll include more pictures below, the wrench for the filter is hanging off of it. The line right above it has no valve on it, but it goes through the basement wall. The line to the outdoor spigot maybe? Then above/after both of those lines is the shut off ball valve, followed by the filter ...

Red button for pressure relief I assume ...

What I assume is an extremely clogged filter, and possibly (???) the cause of the low water pressure in the house ...

More views of the valve before the ball valve, with the wrench hanging off of it ...
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Jake The Wonderdog
4 years ago
10 months ago - I hope they got it figured out.

The right answer is to remove the filter completely. It's not sized properly - it's going to clog very quickly no matter what.

If you want to filter drinking water, that's different. Even then put a valve on both sides of the filter. But to put a small filter on the main water line is just nutty.
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Rob Morren
Original Author
4 years ago
How about a follow up -- a way late follow up ...

So the filter is supposed to be a whole home filter, because the city has super old pipes with a lot of sediment. However, the filter needs to be changes monthly, and my sister had no idea. She (unknowingly) let it go for years. It was so backed up that her house barely had water pressure.

It should have been an easy fix when I went to help her, but the 100+ year old house had a faulty main shut off valve -- as well as the pre-filter valve being faulty. So she had to call a plumber to contact the city to shut off the water at the street/sidewalk. There was nothing I could have done from there, the city won't turn it off for a homeowner (unless they don't pay the bill, lol).

She now gets 'subscribe and save' monthly filter deliveries from Amazon to remind her to change the filter. Luckily, the plumber was able to blow the back up sediment out of her pipes, and she didn't need any pipe replacement. Her water pressure is now back to the usual crummy-100-year-old-house water pressure, instead of the even worse pee dribble pressure that she had with the backed up filter and pipes.

Thanks!
Valerie Quevedo
2 years ago
Pee dribble pressure LOL this made my day
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Whole house water filter no shut off valve after filter

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Whole house water filter no shut off valve after filter

Brad Smith

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Brad Smith

Rob MorrenOriginal Author

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