Replacing a Shower Filter and Nozzle With New One - Easy To Do

I have used water filters on my showers for the last 20 years or so. I used to find my skin somewhat itchy after showering and I often could smell chlorine bleach smell when using our water.

The kids coming out of the shower, when I was drying them off after a shower, their hair would sometimes smell of bleach as well. Some of them have super sensitive skin and would end up with light rashes if the smell was super strong. Sometimes, even that bathroom steam would smell of bleach. 

That was usually only on the holidays when the town would grow significantly with everyone's family visiting, so I would try to shower the kids at odd hours as it seemed that just before bed and early in the morning the problem would be worse.

I noticed that the smell was much worse on Saturday night or Sunday morning as everyone showers before church on Sunday but I could smell it even on our drinking water sometimes. 

I had filters on the drinking water taps but decided to go ahead and put filters on the shower heads as I hated that itchy feeling after showering at times. 

I do have a water softener, but if the salt would run out, or mildew was in the salt tank, which happened at times, I just felt better having that filter on the shower just in case. 

Since that time, I have always had some type of filter on the shower heads. I have used all types and brands and most come with a shower head on them. Some don't, and if that is the case, I will soak the shower head in lemon juice and vinegar and get all the minerals off it and just put a new filter on it.

I have never paid full price for the new filters. For some reason, they end up at second hand stores new in the box every so often. I just keep my eyes open for new filters each time I go to a second hand or thrift shop and I always find one. 

I was cleaning out my bathroom cupboards the other day, and found two new units in there. This one was still wrapped in the box and was nearly the exact one that I had on my shower currently. I figured it was about time to change out the one on there and thought it may be a good blog post as I have never done a video or post on that before. 

I've never paid more than $10 for any of the filters and at one point, I found a whole endcap of them at a second hand store so I purchased them bulk for around $5 each. This particular one has a $4 price tag on it. I don't know how long it has been in my bathroom cupboard but I knew my current shower head was quite covered with minerals and it was time to change it out. 

It is super easy to change out. Basically, you can twist off the old without tools usually and then clean off the minerals and any Teflon plumbers tape in between the threads of the pipe coming out of the wall end. I just used my finger nail and ran it around the grooves making sure all the minerals and tape were out. 

When putting new plumbers tape on, make sure you put it on in the opposite direction to the threads as if it is going in the same direction as the way you are screwing the new filter on, the tape will bunch up coming off and won't make a good seal so wrap the tape on the threads of the pipe in a counter clockwise direction tightly. 

When putting the new filter and head on, just make sure you don't cross threads. The best way to do this is to put the new filter on the tip and turn it counter clockwise for half a turn and then clockwise or "righty tighty" until it catches on the threads and then hand tighten it but don't over tighten it. 

If the tape comes loose and bunches, take it off and start again as that can cause leaking. As you can see in the video, it was super easy to thread on and I turn it on while video taping and you can clearly see it wasn't leaking and I didn't tighten it super hard. 

Some brands don't rinse out the carbon / charcoal dust from the filter before packaging it and it will run really black at first when you turn it on. It won't hurt you in any way, but it is alarming at first. So, they suggest that you run the hot water for a few minutes getting all the charcoal dust out of the filter. 

They suggest changing it out a few times a year or every certain amount of showers but I have used mine for much longer as I am the only one using my shower. When the kids used it nightly, I changed the filter out much more often. I have never had one stop working in the past but I have had them get a bit sluggish with minerals. That usually has more to do with the shower head getting minerals on it over the filter not working. 

I LOVE these things and won't have a shower without one now. I still get itchy when using hotel showers and can smell the chlorine in the water at times as I am super sensitive, even swimming pools make my skin itch with the chlorine. 

Have a Blessed and Chemical free day!