8 Tips to Maximize the Life of Your Water Filtration Systems

You’ve invested in water filtration equipment for your family and are loving the quality of your water — great! Most quality water filtration equipment will last 15-20 years if it’s maintained correctly. So what do you need to do to protect your investment?

Follow along as Gary the Water Guy shares 8 pro tips to help you maximize the life of your water filtration systems.

1. ALL EQUIPMENT: First, make sure that all of your water treatment equipment is plugged into a surge suppressor. If you don’t do anything else, at least do this to protect those expensive circuit boards and ballasts from possible damage from voltage fluctuations.
2. WATER SOFTENERS: In a water softener, you need to make sure that the salt level is higher than the water level in the brine tank. Keeping this in mind, there are many more important considerations about the type of salt you use and how full of salt the brine tank should be! I have a couple of helpful videos that deal with each subject here and here.
   It’s also very important to use a water softener media cleaner periodically. Click here to watch one of my YouTube videos on how to use the media cleaner properly.
3. PRE-FILTERS: If you are in an area where your well water is quite sandy, you will want to make sure that there is a pre-filter before the water softener to keep it from getting clogged.
4. TANNIN FILTERS: If you have a tannin filter for removing color from your water, the same advice applies as for the water softener except for the media cleaner you would use is citric acid. Follow this link for more info on tannin filter cleaners.
5. CARTRIDGE FILTERS: Your cartridge filters need to be replaced whenever your water flow slows down — or once a year, whichever comes first. When replacing those filter cartridges, make sure you use silicone grease on the o rings to keep them from stretching which would then require replacement. See video here.
6. UV SYSTEMS: For Ultraviolet disinfection systems you need to make sure you replace the UV lamp every year. If you don’t, you’ll no longer be protected from bacteria and will significantly shorten the life of the ballast. Learn more about that here.
   It’s also important to make sure you clean the sleeve when you replace your UV lamp. The UV light needs to be able to shine through that sleeve to kill the bacteria so if the sleeve is dirty or has scale build-up on it that cannot be removed, you need to replace the sleeve. Otherwise, the UV system will not kill bacteria.
7. IRON & SULPHUR SYSTEMS: If you have an air over media iron or sulphur filter, the injector will require cleaning any time it stops sucking air — or after every 5 years, whichever comes first. Once again I’ve got a great YouTube video on how to troubleshoot and clean the injector right here. 
8. RO SYSTEMS: Reverse Osmosis (RO) drinking water systems contain truly fantastic technology in a very small package and can be taken for granted. As long as the water quality seems great, some people neglect to maintain them as well as they should. You need to replace RO filters once a year and have the water quality tested every 3 years to make sure that the membrane is still working. Learn how to replace the water filters in an RO system right here.

There you have it! A little maintenance, some common sense, and these 8 pro tips will make that water filtration investment pay dividends for years to come and keep your family safe.

Ready for more? Go here for your next video about water filtration maintenance and I’ll see you there!