Sediment filter recommendations?

[Ashful]

Cool. When I moved into this house, there was mineral cloggage in the pipe tee between the individual hot/cold valves and the shower head, that took me awhile to pinpoint and clear. Made for a year of very wimpy and unsatisfying showers, until I knocked out some more urgent projects and got around to the shower. It was such an unexpected change to the start of every day, that I've since made it a priority to be sure I always had good shower pressure.

As to the black stuff, time for a water test? My last one was completely mail-in, very easy. They sent me a box of bottles, with instructions on how/where to collect the samples (eg. before/after softener and/or filter), and a shipping label to mail the whole kit to the lab for analysis. Prices varied from under $100 to over $500, but I had selected one of the mid-level packages in the $200's, which included everything I had wanted to know.

 

[Highbeam]

I started with the "go big" philosophy, then after all the ridiculous research I did on all the available options, I decided $40 was a reasonable bet to make on something that'll be easy to swap out. As there are only two adults and one bathroom in this spartan house, I'm on the very low end of the amount of water pipes in a typical house.

One thing for sure, if the shower pressure is anemic, I'll be sending it quickly back to the big A to trade it in for one of the bigger filters.

The white filter cartridges turn black from this part of the water table, not red. I'm not sure what the black stuff is, but the chunks that get caught in the faucet aerators and hose screens are just bigger chunks of the black stuff.

Manganese or possibly a sulfur compound.

Manganese and iron hang out together a lot. Similar treatment methods.

 

[Boil&Toil]

Late to the party, but I have a Raco spin-down with reservoir and flush valve, 200 mesh (finest stainless they had - finer mesh are polyester) and my "trick" for that is that it's between the well and the pressure tank, so when I blow it with the dump valve, I'm blowing with water that has already been through the filter, back out the filter into the drain. No need for anything to "scrape" it. I have absurd amounts of manganese, not much iron, and if contemplating a finer filter, I would definitely have one of these first, to take out the big stuff in an easily dumped/backwashed manner (it's manual, but it's also easy. Don't have to take the screen out, and the reservoir means there's a lot of space below the filter for junk to collect to be dumped.)

That location also means it's always got high flow rate for best centrifugal actin, as it's the pump refilling the tank, not a trickle going out a faucet.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Late to the party, but I have a Raco spin-down with reservoir and flush valve, 200 mesh (finest stainless they had - finer mesh are polyester) and my "trick" for that is that it's between the well and the pressure tank, so when I blow it with the dump valve, I'm blowing with water that has already been through the filter, back out the filter into the drain. No need for anything to "scrape" it. I have absurd amounts of manganese, not much iron, and I if contemplating a finer filter, I would definitely have one of these first, to take out the big stuff in an easily dumped/backwashed manner (it's manual, but it's also easy. Don't have to take the screen out, and the reservoir means there's a lot of space below the filter for junk to collect to be dumped.)

When I talked to the well folks, they told me to be sure it's after the pressure tank, not before. Directions in the box say the same thing. I would have installed it between the well and the tank, as you have, but for the directions and the well pros advice. I don't know why it makes a difference.

Regarding the scraper, I was less concerned about the particles, more concerned about the mineral deposits that accumulate on everything. The scraper may help with that, but I suspect I'll have to soak the screen in vinegar periodically to remove it. Time will tell!

 

[Ashful]

When I talked to the well folks, they told me to be sure it's after the pressure tank, not before. Directions in the box say the same thing. I would have installed it between the well and the tank, as you have, but for the directions and the well pros advice. I don't know why it makes a difference.

Yes, this is absolutely critical. More specifically, it's after the pressure switch, but since best practice is to put that switch on a tee at the pressure tank, you're saying the same thing.

Putting a filter between the pump and switch is bad practice, because slow flow thru the filter will cause unpredictable hysteresis at the switch. In worst-case scenario, it could cause pressure between pump and filter to spike, blowing apart your filter housing, or worse.

 

[Boil&Toil]

In the unlikely event (it is a pretty coarse filter, but I get some pretty coarse crud), it would boringly pop off the pressure relief valve, which comes first, rather than exploding. Mis-remembered the brand, which is Rusco. I would not put a fine filter in this position,

 

[Ashful]

In the unlikely event (it is a pretty coarse filter, but I get some pretty coarse crud), it would boringly pop off the pressure relief valve, which comes first, rather than exploding. Mis-remembered the brand, which is Rusco. I would not put a fine filter in this position,

That's a pretty unique setup. Usually pressure relief is threaded into the same tank tee as the pressure switch. Here's a typical setup:

Amazon product ASIN B083JLQFCM
So, stating your filter is upstream of pressure switch would normally also imply it's upstream of the pressure relief.

You can do anything, but standard practice has been developed over time for good reasons. Always best to follow it, especially for DIY, unless there's some very unusual circumstance preventing it and have really flushed out all the possible failure modes.