Welcome to the pentek GAC-BB Carbon Filter Video Page. The Pentek GAC-BB, also known as the 155153, is a granular activated carbon filter rated at 20 microns, but primarily designed to reduce bad tastes and odors. Due to the axial flow design of the GAC-BB, it is not the best choice for whole house filtration. The RFC-BB features a radial flow design much better suited for whole house applications.
Pentek GAC-BB Carbon Filter Video Transcript
Hey everyone, Aquaman here with Water Wisdom sponsored by WaterFilters.NET. Today's product is the GAC-BB. Now GAC stands for Granular Activated Carbon, which is the media that's inside this filter, from a bituminous source. Think plants and vegetation buried underground for very long time, turned into coal. O.K, that's the carbon inside of this filter, very common type of activated carbon. The dash BB indicates that this is in the 10 inch long by 4.5 inch diameter size category, and there are a variety of filter housings that receive this industry size cartridge, approximately 10 inches long, 4.5 inches in diameter. For example, the 10 inch big blue, it's also known as the HD-950. And it's commonly used as a whole house filter, but it probably shouldn't be, because it is an axial flow filter. Water enters through these slots in the bottom of the filter. That is a very small area to begin with for water entry. Then the water has to rise through the entire bed of media, before it is forced into the center, and then exits out the top center of the filter. So going through that entire media bed, causes a great deal of pressure loss. And honestly, those of you that were using this filter for a whole house applications, you never really should have, and if it worked for you, you are just got lucky. Trust me, you will be much happier, if you switch to the RFC-BB. Now, it has its place, it could be used in certain situations, in a parallel configuration, where the water line comes, splits and goes into two filter housings simultaneously, and then the water line re-merges after the two filter housings. In that case, you would have twice as much surface area, and half this much pressure loss. So this filter would work in that application. It's also appropriate for situations where less water is necessary. For example as a drinking water filter, you could conceivably use a 10 inch big blue filter housing, underneath the kitchen sink, to filter all of the water going to your regular tap, not a drinking water faucet, but the regular faucet, which is going to get 2-3 gallons per minute out of it. This would work great in that application, so it has its place, but probably not the best choice for carbon filtration at the whole house level. It's rated for 20 microns, but granular carbon isn't really about removing particles. Particles will get captured, but that's not the primary purpose of this filter. In fact, all carbon filters should be preceded by a sediment filter, so that the carbon is not challenged with sediment, which is just going to clog the carbon faster than it otherwise would. This is the GAC-BB and I'm your host Aquaman. Thanks for watching.
