I've written a few articles/DIY pieces on the AC HOB filters in another forum, and would like to share a few tips/tricks in this thread. Some are bit lengthy, apologies in advance, but tried to be as thorough as possible.
I'm a fan of these little filters, currently have 6 in use, and have never had an issue with them. I really like the fact that they are highly customizable, as far as the media compartment is concerned, you can use pretty much whatever media you wish, and the simple design makes them very easy to maintain and clean.
Speaking of cleaning, we'll start with that one first:
Fill a clean bowl with old tank water, enough to submerge all of your media/sponge. Turn off the filter, and place the media/sponge into the bowl of water. Leave it there until you are done cleaning the filter, and it has been refilled with tank or treated water.
Remove the P/U tube from the filter housing. Use an old toothbrush and hot tap water to clean all sections of the P/U tube. Shove the toothbrush down into the tubes, and swirl around in the ribbed area to get it really clean.
The "u-tube" section can be cleaned with a simple homemade DIY tool, that I will explain in the next post.
Carry the filter to your sink, empty the remaining water.
Remove the motor from the filter housing. While holding the filter with it's backside pointed toward you, twist the motor to the right 1/4 turn, it will be released from the filter housing. Set the motor/impeller assembly aside.
Remove the dark grey impeller cover, it lifts straight out of the filter. Use your toothbrush to give it a good scrubbing, then set aside.
Use a clean nylon dish brush (like one of these:https
/www.amazon.com/dp/B00004OCIZ...a-164218701412 ) to scrub the inside and outside of the filter housing, in hot tap water. Set aside.
Use that brush to clean your filter basket, too.
Clean the motor and impeller: remove the impeller from the motor housing, it is held in there magnetically. You may need tweezers to pull out the impeller, when they get dirty, they get slimy and hard to grip with your fingers....the impeller lifts straight out of the motor. Clean the impeller thoroughly with your toothbrush. Run a wet pipe cleaner through the hole in the impeller. Set the impeller aside.
Run piping hot water into the motor housing, dump it out, run more water, dump again. Fill the motor with hot water, then use a Qtip to thoroughly clean the inside of the motor, as well as the impeller shaft...use a couple of Qtips for this, rinsing in between cleanings.
With a clean Qtip, apply a very thin layer of Vaseline to the black rubber "O ring" that is on the neck of the motor. This will help preserve the rubber, and make a nice seal at the filter housing. Apply a very small dab of Vaseline to the impeller shaft as well. Replace the impeller into the motor.
Re-attach the motor to the filter housing: holding the backside of the housing toward you, the motor at a 90 degree angle to your right...it will twist into the housing just as it twisted out of it, but twist to the left this time.
Be sure the motor and housing only touch at the "neck" of the motor, if the base of the motor touches the housing, you'll get vibration, and a noisy filter.
Replace the dark grey impeller cover, it slides straight down into the housing. Replace the media basket.
Carry the filter back to the tank, and replace. Replace the intake tube, and set at the high flow setting (far left)
Fill the filter with old or new treated tank water. Swish your media/sponge around in the bowl to clean it. Replace into the filled filter, plug in, and you're done.
It will take a few moments for the filter to work out all of the air in the P/U tube, just let it go.
Once the filter is flowing at full force, and all of the air is out of the system, you can turn the flow back down to wherever you choose by twisting the P/U tube slightly to the right.
I'm a fan of these little filters, currently have 6 in use, and have never had an issue with them. I really like the fact that they are highly customizable, as far as the media compartment is concerned, you can use pretty much whatever media you wish, and the simple design makes them very easy to maintain and clean.
Speaking of cleaning, we'll start with that one first:
Fill a clean bowl with old tank water, enough to submerge all of your media/sponge. Turn off the filter, and place the media/sponge into the bowl of water. Leave it there until you are done cleaning the filter, and it has been refilled with tank or treated water.
Remove the P/U tube from the filter housing. Use an old toothbrush and hot tap water to clean all sections of the P/U tube. Shove the toothbrush down into the tubes, and swirl around in the ribbed area to get it really clean.
The "u-tube" section can be cleaned with a simple homemade DIY tool, that I will explain in the next post.
Carry the filter to your sink, empty the remaining water.
Remove the motor from the filter housing. While holding the filter with it's backside pointed toward you, twist the motor to the right 1/4 turn, it will be released from the filter housing. Set the motor/impeller assembly aside.
Remove the dark grey impeller cover, it lifts straight out of the filter. Use your toothbrush to give it a good scrubbing, then set aside.
Use a clean nylon dish brush (like one of these:https
/www.amazon.com/dp/B00004OCIZ...a-164218701412 ) to scrub the inside and outside of the filter housing, in hot tap water. Set aside.Use that brush to clean your filter basket, too.
Clean the motor and impeller: remove the impeller from the motor housing, it is held in there magnetically. You may need tweezers to pull out the impeller, when they get dirty, they get slimy and hard to grip with your fingers....the impeller lifts straight out of the motor. Clean the impeller thoroughly with your toothbrush. Run a wet pipe cleaner through the hole in the impeller. Set the impeller aside.
Run piping hot water into the motor housing, dump it out, run more water, dump again. Fill the motor with hot water, then use a Qtip to thoroughly clean the inside of the motor, as well as the impeller shaft...use a couple of Qtips for this, rinsing in between cleanings.
With a clean Qtip, apply a very thin layer of Vaseline to the black rubber "O ring" that is on the neck of the motor. This will help preserve the rubber, and make a nice seal at the filter housing. Apply a very small dab of Vaseline to the impeller shaft as well. Replace the impeller into the motor.
Re-attach the motor to the filter housing: holding the backside of the housing toward you, the motor at a 90 degree angle to your right...it will twist into the housing just as it twisted out of it, but twist to the left this time.
Be sure the motor and housing only touch at the "neck" of the motor, if the base of the motor touches the housing, you'll get vibration, and a noisy filter.
Replace the dark grey impeller cover, it slides straight down into the housing. Replace the media basket.
Carry the filter back to the tank, and replace. Replace the intake tube, and set at the high flow setting (far left)
Fill the filter with old or new treated tank water. Swish your media/sponge around in the bowl to clean it. Replace into the filled filter, plug in, and you're done.
It will take a few moments for the filter to work out all of the air in the P/U tube, just let it go.
Once the filter is flowing at full force, and all of the air is out of the system, you can turn the flow back down to wherever you choose by twisting the P/U tube slightly to the right.
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