How to Install a Well Water Filtration System (Complete Guide)

Every well water filtration system goes in the same place: on the main water line right after your pressure tank, so all the water going into the house passes through it. Each tank we sell connects with an inlet, an outlet and the bypass valve that comes already on its control valve. The backwashing tanks also need a 1/2 inch drain line and an outlet nearby.

I recommend having a plumber put it in, ideally one who has installed water treatment before, and I'm a phone call away for your plumber. If you'd rather do it yourself, text me with any questions. This page is the whole job in order, so you and your plumber know what it involves before anyone cuts pipe.

Where the system goes on a well

The system goes on the main line after the pressure tank and before the line splits off to the house, as close to the tank as the room allows. Nothing goes between the well pump and the pressure tank. A filter there clogs as it catches dirt, the pressure switch at the tank cannot read the pressure the pump is building behind it, and the pump can run until it burns out. My guide to the order of well water equipment goes through that in detail.

Plan the room before you order. A full system like the one in my video needs at least 8 feet wide and 2 feet deep; one tank needs far less. Before you buy anything, call or text for the dimensions of what you are ordering and measure the space. A backwashing tank or a softener also needs a drain and an outlet that is always on, close by.

Here in Maryland, most houses put everything in the basement. Some people down South put the tanks outside, in a shed or a small enclosure, because it stays warm all year and nothing freezes.

What the install involves for each system

The job grows with what the system needs besides an inlet and an outlet: a drain line, an outlet, a salt tank, or more tanks. A tank with no drain line and no power is the smallest job. Several tanks that each need a drain are the biggest. A backwashing tank is one that rinses itself out to a drain on a schedule; a softener does the same. Find your system below; the links go to the guide for each one. Most homes do not need every tank: your water test decides which well water filtration systems you need.

The drain line is the part of a backwashing install that takes the most planning: where it runs, where it empties, and how it is tied down. It has its own section below.

Hiring a plumber for the install

We recommend having a plumber install it, ideally one who has put in water treatment before. Any decent plumber can install it; one who has done water treatment saves you headaches later. In the video, people ask me whether they can put in a whole system themselves, and I tell them: "You could, but I don't recommend it. I recommend you get an experienced plumber who knows something about water treatment and has installed them before to save you a lot of headaches and problems in the future."

We install nothing and send no installer, here in Maryland or anywhere we ship; the installation is yours to arrange, and our Terms of Service say so. What we do is support it: your plumber can call me the day of the install, and I'll tell them what to look for.

Finding a plumber who does water treatment

• Call a local plumber and say you have a water system you need installed. That's what most of my customers do, and the plumber usually has no issue with it.
• Look for a smaller plumbing company with some water treatment experience, not a big plumbing company.
• If the plumber looks at the salt tank and asks what it is for, thank him and call the next one. One caller's plumber asked exactly that in September.
• We don't have a network of installers to send you to. We tried that, and it didn't work.

What a plumber charges

For one tank I tell callers a standard install shouldn't take a plumber more than 2 or 3 hours, about $800. For an iron filter and a softener together, you shouldn't pay more than $700 to $1,000, and it should take 3 or 4 hours at the most. A non-backwashing tank is an hour or two, and a UV light alone about an hour. Every house is different, so ask for the quote before the day.

If you'd rather do it yourself, you can. Text me at 443-277-2204 with any questions. My own line from the iron filter video holds for every tank here: if you don't really have any experience doing any kind of plumbing, get a plumber.

These buyers had a plumber install their neutralizer. Each is a verified purchase.

Planning the install with your plumber

Ask Aidan before anyone cuts pipe

Text what you ordered and a photo of the space by your pressure tank, with any questions about the layout. Aidan helps homeowners and their plumbers by phone.

Text Aidan443-277-2204 Call800-460-5810Aidan

8 AM to 5 PM Eastern, seven days a week. A real person, not a call center.

What ships with the system

Every tank ships empty. A loaded tank is too heavy to ship safely, so the media comes in separate bags or boxes and goes into the tank at install, through the fill funnel that comes with it.

• What ships with a tank: the mineral tank (a Vortech tank, with a plate in the bottom, so there is no gravel to add), the control valve with the bypass valve already installed, the fill funnel, and the media. A softener also comes with its salt tank.
• A UV light: the lamp ships in a tube in the box and slides into the chamber at install.
• A Big Blue sediment filter: the cartridge ships inside the housing.
• What does not ship: drain tubing and the pipe and fittings, and there is little or no install guidance in the box. The manufacturers expect a plumber or a dealer to do the install, which is why the guides and videos on this site exist.

Tools your plumber will need

• Pipe cutter (for copper, PEX, or CPVC depending on your piping)
• Channel-lock pliers or large adjustable wrench
• Screwdriver (flat and Phillips)
• Teflon tape (use on all threaded connections)
• Bucket and towels (there will be some water spillage)
• Glue for CPVC or PVC, or a crimper or push fittings (SharkBite) for PEX
• A socket set, for the backwash line

Supplies to buy before the delivery

• Pipe to match your house: CPVC, PVC, PEX or copper. Plan on plenty of 90s, some couplings, and at least 20 feet of pipe to get started.
• Two 1 inch threaded adapters for each tank, to match your pipe. On 3/4 inch pipe, add a 1 by 3/4 reducing bushing.
• A 1/2 inch drain line for each backwashing tank or softener: tubing (semi-rigid on an iron filter), or 1/2 inch CPVC if your plumber hard-pipes it, plus clamps. A long run may need 3/4 inch.
• A shutoff valve on each side of a Big Blue housing, which has no bypass valve of its own.

The steps to install any well system

Every tank we sell goes in the same basic way. The guide for your system, linked in the table above, adds its own steps: the salt tank on a softener, the settings on an iron filter.

1. Pick the spot after the pressure tank

   Choose a level spot after the pressure tank and before the line splits off to the house, within a few feet of the pressure tank if you can. A backwashing tank needs a drain and an always-on outlet within reach.

   

2. Pour the filter media into the tank

   Stand the tank where it will stay first, because full it is too heavy to move. On our Fleck iron filters and softeners, tape over the top of the center tube, set the funnel in the tank opening and pour in all the media before the valve goes on. On the Clack neutralizers, the calcite goes in through the tank opening with the funnel. The guide for your system shows yours.

   

3. Shut off the pump to relieve pressure

   Turn off the well pump at its breaker and close the shutoff valve after the pressure tank if there is one, then open a cold faucet to let the pressure off. Keep a bucket and towels under the pipe that gets cut; there is always some water left in the line.

   

4. Cut into the main line

   Mark and cut out a section of the pipe that feeds the house, after the pressure tank. Measure twice so the new run lines up with the tank's inlet and outlet.

   

5. Connect the pipes to the valve

   Water from the pressure tank goes into the IN port; the OUT port feeds the house. Thread a 1-inch adapter into each side with Teflon tape, reducing to 3/4-inch if that is your home's pipe size: male adapters screw into the Fleck stainless bypass, and female adapters go onto the Clack head's male threads, hand tight.

   The bypass valve is already on the control valve, so it does the job of the three-valve loop a plain filter housing needs. Do not let the pipes hang on the valve or the bypass.

   

6. Run a drain line if it backwashes

   Run 1/2 inch drain line from the drain fitting on the valve to a floor drain, utility sink or standpipe, with an air gap at the end, and tie it down so it cannot move. Non-backwashing tanks, filter housings and UV lights skip this step. See the drain line section.

   

7. Fill the tanks slowly

   Make sure the glue is dry or every PEX joint is crimped, and the drain lines are secure. Open a cold water faucet, then open the feed valve by the pressure tank just enough to get water started flowing into the tanks. Let them fill. When water comes out of the faucet, slowly bring it to full pressure and let it rinse for about 10 minutes.

   On a neutralizer with a fill cap, leave the cap loose while the tank fills; when water starts to squirt out around it, hand tighten it.

   

8. Start the first cleaning cycle

   On each tank with a control valve, set the time of day and start a manual regeneration. On a Fleck 5600SXT softener, hold the Extra Cycle button for 5 seconds; the AiQ iron filter starts it from its menu. The guide for your system shows yours. With more than one backwashing tank, set their times apart; see several tanks.

   

Where the drain line goes

Every backwashing tank and softener needs a 1/2 inch drain line from its valve to a drain. It can empty into a floor drain, a utility sink, a washing machine standpipe, or a standpipe your plumber adds to a vertical drain pipe with a tee and a P-trap. No drain line comes with the system: your plumber uses 1/2 inch tubing, or hard-pipes it in 1/2 inch CPVC.

Keep the end of the drain line above the drain, never in it or in a trap. Leave an air gap of at least 1 inch, or 2 tube widths if that is more. The valve manuals set how far the drain can be: the softener's says within 20 feet, and past that a 3/4 inch line. The iron filter's manual asks for semi-rigid or rigid line, because a soft hose can whip when the backwash starts. Your plumber sizes a longer run.

Tie the line down along its whole run. Every backwashing system starts its cycle with a strong push of water, and a 2510 iron filter has an extremely powerful backwash. A caller in September had the end of his drain line blow out of the drain twice; I told him it has to be seriously secured: fastened up to the ceiling, run down into the drain, and taped there.

With several backwashing tanks, each valve's drain line can tee into one line that runs to the drain, as long as their clocks are set so they never backwash together.

Installing several tanks in order

Several tanks go in one after another, the OUT of one into the IN of the next, in the order your water test calls for. The sediment filter goes first after the pressure tank, the iron filter goes ahead of the water softener, a carbon filter (if you need one) goes after the softener, and the UV light goes last. If your pH is low, a neutralizer goes in too, ahead of the softener, and I set its place from your test.

In the video, the neutralizer goes ahead of the iron filter: that water needed the pH brought up to 8 to 8.5 so the Katalox Light filter could take out the iron and manganese. Not every system will look like that one; it depends on your water. My order guide goes through why each piece sits where it does.

Set the backwash times apart so no two tanks run at once: 2 AM, 3 AM and 4 AM on three tanks, or 2 hours apart for an iron filter and a softener. The order matters to plumbers too. One buyer of a neutralizer and softener wrote that his plumber "mixed up the order and put the acid neutralizer where the softener was supposed to go and vice verse." Show your plumber the order before the day.

What to expect after the install

After an air-injection iron filter goes in, cloudy water with tiny bubbles is just air, and it can take a few weeks to work out.

After a neutralizer goes in, retest your water: the calcite can raise the hardness enough that you need a softener after it. A certified well water test gives you pH, hardness and iron from one sample. If something isn't right, text me before anyone takes it apart.

Frequently asked questions