Stuck Filter Housing

[belizesailor]

Pickled my Spectra Catalina 300 longer than planned....about 1 year...using propylene glycol. Good news..the system is fine...bad news is the cylindrical filter housing on the pre filter is stuck solid. Cant get off to change prefilter. And Im now in the San Blas with friends aboard, so damn sure dont want to break anything.

Suggestions on how to loosen this up? Tellie? Rich?

[Lepke]

Use a large strap wrench on the housing with a piece of pipe to extend the handle for more torque. Also support the top with more than just your plumbing. Tapping the strap wrench handle with a hammer will loosen w/o breaking like brute force can do.
Next time use food grade lube on the rubber o-ring. It's the stuff dairymen put on the gaskets between milk line pipes and they use in processing plants. Available online and maybe in an autoparts store.

[pesarsten]

You can find Jacks 327 oring lube in most pool supply stores. It is Dow silicone food grade lube and sold by dealers of pool equipment that sell Hayward brand products.

[boom23]

A rubber strap wrench can help.



https://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Pie...+wrench+rubber

[Tellie]

This is not that uncommon. The high pressure filter housing found on older systems is after the feed pump not before like they are now. This filter housing sees a lot of expansion under the feed pumps operation and they tend to expand and really seat themselves in even the well lubricated ones. What I prefer and seems to work 99% of the time is an oil filter wrench, hopefully shown below. This will give you far more leverage and control. If this fails you may have to disassemble the filter housing and clamp the filter housing head in a vice and a pipe wrench will work.

https://www.autozone.com/shop-and-ga...ers/548380_0_0

[jamhass]

If all else fails, replace the filter housing. They are a standard size and readily available even in Mexico. I know for certain they are available in La Cruz, possibly your next destination if you can't find them in San Blas (and if you can't find them there, you are probably asking the wrong people.)

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by jamhass

If all else fails, replace the filter housing. They are a standard size and readily available even in Mexico. I know for certain they are available in La Cruz, possibly your next destination if you can't find them in San Blas (and if you can't find them there, you are probably asking the wrong people.)

Hi Jamhass, This is not a standard pre-filter housing and installing a standard housing on the output side of a Catalina feed pump won't work as they are not capable of handling the higher pressures and will certainly bust open. Now if the system is re-plumbed with a lower pressure standard filter housing on the input side then there won't be a problem. But then it becomes more important to have a small boost pump before this so as not to reduce inflow to the feed pump which makes it a far more expensive fix opposed to a new high pressure filter housing. Things I've learned along the way.

[belizesailor]

Thanks all. Ive tried the strap wrench...still stuck. My concern about applying more leverage is breaking the non-standard filter housing head...then Im screwed.

Fortunately the system is running well with all numbers normal.

I do use silicon grease on the o-ring but not on threads...will start doing that in the future. May try and squirt some silicon up into the threads between the filter housing halves...maybe several attempts at that will get some up in there.

[belizesailor]

To follow up on this, what ended up working for me was my trusty old BIG ASS SCREWDRIVER. Put a few layers of duct tape over the tip (flat head), so that it didnt make such an effective chisel (learned that on the first try [emoji21]), place against one of the vertical ridges on the filter housing that the filter wrench fits over, and give it a few good solid raps with a hammer...problem solved.

Turned out that all 4 of my filter housings were stuck!

I also squirted silicon under the lip of the housing, where the long filter housing screws into the housing head, using the little red tube that comes with such spray products. I did this for a few days before trying again. Not sure it helped, but couldnt hurt.

Generously lubed o-rings and filter housing threads with silicon grease before reassembling.

[zboss]

Those strap wrenches suck. I bought one of these and they work much much better... https://m.sears.com/search=oil+filter+wrench

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by zboss

Those strap wrenches suck. I bought one of these and they work much much better... https://m.sears.com/search=oil+filter+wrench

Exactly. I think it's the same size that fit the filters on my Ford. Get the right tool for the job.



And yes, silicon grease on the threads.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by jamhass

If all else fails, replace the filter housing. They are a standard size and readily available even in Mexico. I know for certain they are available in La Cruz, possibly your next destination if you can't find them in San Blas (and if you can't find them there, you are probably asking the wrong people.)

I think he is in the wrong San Blas for a couple of reasons. It's a fun town.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Ecos

I think he is in the wrong San Blas for a couple of reasons. It's a fun town.

San Blas, Panamá...nearest anything is Panama City.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by zboss

Those strap wrenches suck. I bought one of these and they work much much better... https://m.sears.com/search=oil+filter+wrench

Originally Posted by thinwater

Exactly. I think it's the same size that fit the filters on my Ford. Get the right tool for the job.



And yes, silicon grease on the threads.

Ive got a couple of diff size strap wrenches. They work on my oil filters, but slip on water filter housings.

Have one of the mechanical ones you posted too, but ashore.

Normally, the filter wrench works just fine, but boat was laid up for much longer than normal this time.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

San Blas, Panamá...nearest anything is Panama City.

San Blas, MX probably has an oil filter wrench. I know that in one place near there, you can swim right across a fence from alligators. I watched my wife do it.