Spin-Down Sediment Filters

For coarse sediment, yes, and you can watch them do it through the clear sump. Water spins inside the sump, sand, grit and rust flakes drop to the bottom, and the 60 mesh screen (about 250 micron) holds anything bigger than its opening until you flush it. One verified buyer of our Standard Rusco wrote that the screen did not look fine enough to him at first, and that they no longer find sediment on the backs of their faucet screens. For fine silt, clay or cloudy water, no: that is 5 micron cartridge work, and a spin-down does nothing for dissolved iron, hardness or bacteria.

An inline sediment filter with a clear sump, a reusable mesh screen, and a flush valve on the bottom instead of a cartridge. Water enters the T-head, spins down around the outside of the screen, and centrifugal force throws heavy particles against the sump wall where they settle. Clean water passes through the screen and out the other port. When a layer of sediment shows in the sump, you open the red-handled valve for 5 to 10 seconds and household pressure blows it out. The Rusco we sell is a white PVC body rated 150 PSI, in 1 inch (1 to 25 GPM) and 2 inch (18 to 100 GPM).

The basic Rusco with the polyester mesh, which is what we sell: fairly priced, easy to maintain, made in the USA, NSF/ANSI listed components. It publishes real ratings (1 to 25 GPM on the 1 inch, 18 to 100 GPM on the 2 inch, 150 PSI), ships a 60 mesh screen you rinse and reuse for years, and the same housing takes 24 to 1000 mesh screens. We stock the polyester-screen Rusco; we do not sell stainless-screen or self-backwashing spin-downs. A spin-down from any dealer is the same housing; what changes is whether someone sizes it to your pump and tells you where it goes.

Vertically, clear sump down, at the end of the treatment line after the pressure tank, with a licensed plumber. On a well nothing goes between the pump and the pressure tank; Rusco says never to put a filter with a purge valve on the suction side of a pump. After the tank the 5 micron Big Blue goes first, the treatment tanks next, and the spin-down last. Both Ruscos are 1 inch or 2 inch slip x slip PVC bodies and ship bare: your plumber glues slip x FPT bushings in to meet threaded pipe (a 1 inch fitting plus a 1 x 3/4 reducing bushing on 3/4 inch line), adds an isolation valve each side, and points the flush valve at a bucket or a short line to a drain. The Standard is typically in within an hour; Aidan supports your plumber by phone at 800-460-5810.

If you have a softener, acid neutralizer or iron filter on the line, we say yes. If your only symptom is fine silt or cloudy water, no. At $145 with nothing to replace, the spin-down is the least expensive filter we sell to put after the treatment tanks and catch the resin beads, calcite fines or media a tank can let past, and you can see it working. The free check: lift the toilet tank lid. Sand or grit across the bottom means coarse sediment is reaching the house. It does not replace the 5 micron cartridge filter first after the well tank; that one comes first, and this one is the backstop.

The housing lasts for years and the polyester screen is reusable; there is no cartridge to buy. You flush the sump for 5 to 10 seconds whenever a layer of sediment shows, which on a sandy well can be weekly and on a clean line can be a few times a year. About once a year, or whenever the screen looks coated, unscrew the sump, rinse the screen and put it back. Ongoing cost is $0 unless you decide to step the mesh finer or a screen finally wears: replacement screens for the 1 inch run $65 to $85, and $125 for the 2 inch.

Rusco makes the spin-down in 3/4, 1, 1.5 and 2 inch. We stock the two that cover nearly every home: the Standard 1 inch and the Large 2 inch. The Standard is rated 1 to 25 GPM, 150 PSI, 11-3/8 by 5 inches, and fits 3/4 and 1 inch lines with slip x FPT bushings. The Large is rated 18 to 100 GPM, 150 PSI, 17-7/8 by 5-1/2 inches, and its 2 inch slip ports are usually reduced to 1.5 or 1.25 inch for a house line; it needs 18 GPM before the water spins. Rusco also sells a Sediment Trapper line with the same flow ratings; we carry the Spin-Down. Screens for either housing run from 24 to 1000 mesh; we stock 60, 140, 500 and 1000 mesh for the 1 inch and 500 and 1000 for the 2 inch.

After all of them. Every filter goes after the well pressure tank, and the order is fixed: the 5 micron Big Blue first, so silt and sand never reach the treatment tanks; the softener, acid neutralizer or iron filter next; and the spin-down last, right before the house. Its job at the end of the line is to catch the coarse grit and any resin, calcite or media a tank lets past, and to flush it out in seconds.

It is not the filter that protects the tanks; the 5 micron cartridge is, because no screen reaches 5 micron. A February caller's plumber had the spin-down in the right spot after the neutralizer; what was missing was the cartridge filter between the pressure tank and the neutralizer. Our sediment filters for well water page walks through the whole line.

No. Nothing goes between the pump and the pressure tank, and Rusco's own instructions say never to install a filter with a purge valve on the suction side of a pump. A filter ahead of the tank fights the pump and the pressure switch as it loads, and a flush valve on the suction side can pull air. Every filter we sell goes after the well tank.

If the sand is heavy enough that you are tempted to catch it at the pump, that is a well or pump-screen problem, and the fix starts with the well, not a filter. Our guide on sand and sediment in well water covers the causes.

Yes, with bushings. Both Ruscos are slip x slip PVC bodies (solvent-weld), not threaded, and they ship bare with no bushings or fittings. The Standard has 1 inch slip inlet and outlet: on 1 inch PVC your plumber glues straight in; to meet threaded pipe, PEX or CPVC, a slip x FPT bushing glues into each port; on a 3/4 inch line a 1 inch fitting glues into the head and a 1 x 3/4 reducing bushing goes into that.

The Large has 2 inch slip ports and is usually reduced to 1.5 or 1.25 inch for a house line. Your plumber supplies the bushings, two isolation valves, and PVC primer and cement; the 2 inch joints want the full cure time on the can before the line is pressurized.

By flow, not by house size. The Standard ($145) is rated 1 to 25 GPM and starts spinning at 1 GPM, so it fits nearly every home on 3/4 or 1 inch plumbing. The Large ($249) is rated 18 to 100 GPM and needs 18 GPM before the water spins; below that the mesh still strains what passes, but you have bought a bigger housing, not a better filter.

If your pump and plumbing move more than 25 GPM, your main is 1.5 or 2 inch, or the filter is going on an irrigation manifold that runs several zones at once, that is the Large. Otherwise it is the Standard. Rusco's spec sheet says the pipe size in your system may not be the best indicator; if you know your pump's GPM, that number decides it.

Leave the 60 mesh in unless the sump shows you a reason to change it. At about 250 micron it stops sand, grit, rust flakes and stray filter media, and it flushes clean easily because the openings are large. Rusco makes the same screen from 24 mesh (about 700 micron) down to 1000 mesh (about 15 micron); we stock 60, 140, 500 and 1000 mesh for the 1 inch and 500 and 1000 for the 2 inch.

Going finer catches finer sand but loads up sooner, so you flush more often, and on a high-flow irrigation line a 1000 mesh screen can need attention weekly. And no screen reaches 5 micron: the 1000 mesh is still three times coarser than the Big Blue cartridge. If the problem is fine silt or cloudy water, a finer screen is the wrong direction; that is cartridge work.

No to both. Iron that stains fixtures orange is dissolved in the water; a screen cannot catch something that is not a particle, and no mesh size changes that. It has to be precipitated out by an iron filter before anything can strain it. Cloudy or milky water is fine silt, clay or air, all far smaller than the 250 micron opening in a 60 mesh screen, and smaller than the 15 micron opening in the finest screen Rusco makes.

What a spin-down does catch is rust flakes (solid, already precipitated iron), sand, grit and filter media. If you are seeing stains or cloudiness, send us a water test: iron wants an iron filter, cloudiness wants the 5 micron Big Blue, and the spin-down goes after both of them as the backstop.

Yes, and it is one of the best places for one. Sand that would clog sprinkler heads and drip emitters collects in the clear sump where you flush it instead of digging up heads. The Large covers an irrigation manifold that runs several zones at once (18 to 100 GPM); the Standard fits a single zone or a small system under 25 GPM. It goes on the line feeding the manifold, after the pressure tank.

Two irrigation notes: run the flush valve to a spot that can take a burst of sandy water, and if the line is outdoors, protect the housing from freezing. Rusco rates the housing for cold water at 150 PSI.

The Rusco housing with the T-head, the clear sump, a 60 mesh polyester screen installed, and the 1/2 inch flush ball valve with the red handle. That is it. Both sizes are slip x slip PVC bodies for solvent-weld connection and ship bare: no bushings, no fittings, no valves.

Your plumber supplies slip x FPT bushings or reducing bushings to meet your line, two isolation valves, PVC primer and cement, and a bucket or a short length of pipe or hose from the flush valve to a drain. No electricity and no drain connection are required. We recommend a licensed plumber; the Standard is typically in within an hour, and Aidan supports your plumber by phone at 800-460-5810.