Need Clean Water? The Big Blue 20 Inch Carbon Filter: What You Should Know

Okay, so, I finally got around to messing with this big blue 20-inch carbon filter. I’d been meaning to get one for a while now. I did a bit of searching online, and there’re tons of options out there, you know? I decided to get one from Amazon. They have so many brands to choose from, and it’s just easy to get it delivered.

I went for it and ordered one that seemed decent. It’s from Pentair, which is a big name in this kind of stuff. They said it will last about 10 years. But I heard most of the filters should be changed in about 6 to 12 months to keep things fresh, so I’ll check it regularly.

When the filter arrived, I took it out of the box and gave it a good look. It’s pretty hefty. The first thing I did was rinse out the bottom of the filter housing, just to make sure there wasn’t any gunk in there from the factory or anything.

Then I took off the O-ring on the top of the housing, the manual called it O-ring B. It’s like a big rubber band. I wiped it clean, just like the instructions said. It looked okay, but better to be safe, right?

The filter itself is supposed to get rid of bad odors in the water. My tap water sometimes smells a bit off, so hopefully, this will do the trick. I put the filter into the housing, screwed everything back together, and that’s about it.

• Rinse the filter housing
• Clean the O-ring
• Install the filter

I haven’t hooked it up to my water line yet, need to get some tools and stuff for that. But I’m planning to do that this weekend. I’ll probably swing by Best Buy to see if they have the fittings I need. I remember seeing some tools there when I was looking for a deep cleaner, you know, the BISSELL Big Green Machine one. That thing is a beast, by the way. But anyway, back to the filter.

Next Steps

I’m gonna see how it goes once it’s all set up. I’m hoping it makes a noticeable difference in the water quality. I read some articles by a guy named Brett, he writes about water and stuff, and he seems to know his stuff. Maybe I’ll check out some more of his articles to learn more.

I know some people online were talking about the Pentek Big Blue filters too. It seems there are lots of different ones out there. I might look into those too if this one doesn’t work out. It’s all about getting good, clean water, right? Anyway, that’s my experience so far with this 20-inch carbon filter. I’ll keep you guys updated!