Whole House Filter - Parallel Carbon Filters

Greetings,

I am new to this forum and to this site, but I am on my way to building a whole house water filtration system, without prior experience. Lack of experience has not stopped me from doing anything in the past, sometimes twice to get it right the second time! ;)

After doing a little research, I selected an Aqua Pure system.

I intend to put a 5 micron pleated paper filter {An Aqua Pure AP810-2 in an AP802 housing} ahead of a pair of 5 micron carbon filters {Aqua Pure 815-2 also each in an AP802 housing.}

These are the 5 " diameter, 20 inch long variety similar to "Big Blue."

My intention is to feed the two carbon filters in parallel.

The rationale for this is that they have maximum flow rates of 10 GPM each and I am assuming that, if I put two in parallel, in theory, I'd get the same filtration as with a single filter, but at twice the flow rate.

My Dad has an Aqua Pure system and I think he has given up more water pressure in the shower, for example, than I would like. I want the extra water pressure and I don't mind paying a bit more for it.

My questions are these . . .

To ensure there is no circular flow or backwash effect in either of the paralel filters, should I install a check valve on each of the two final filter housings {I was thinking on the output side.}

If so, what type of check valve is recommended for such an application?

I see swing type and ball type and spring type listed in PVC and brass, for example.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards,

JoeA

Bravo for taking on a task like this.

You have a couple of things right. Large prefilters are a good direction to go when feeding a POE systems. The parallel filters will provide adequate flow rate. The real advantage is not so much flow rate but rentention time. The longer the water comes into contact with carbon the more effective it will be at removing/converting elements in treating the water.

The check valve would not be needed as there will always be forward pressure on the filters preventing back flow unless you opened an outlet before one of the filters without a shut-off. They won't hurt but not needed.

I would use a flow-through GAC filter containing at least 1 ft3 of carbon. This would solve both issues (flow rate and contact time) and would last for years. The tank may be 9" x 48" with a simple 1" in/out connector. Of course use the sediment prefilter and maintain that.

Andy Christensen, CWS