Nature Pure Water Filter

Problem

For those with this filter you know that you have to pull the nylon cord from the housing to open the housing and change the filter.

Attempted this recently and the nylon cord snapped after it came out about an inch. No way to grasp it and attempt to pull it out. General Ecology who makes these says nothing you can do but buy their Seagull IV which is stainless steel, not plastic. Naturally, it is expensive and doesn't use the same size filter so the 5 or 6 filters I have on hand are useless.

So, I bought a wire drill bit and screw to match and attempted to drill into the end of the cord place the screw and pull the cord out. This worked twice but broke each time still not even half the cord out. The second time it broke it managed to do it so deep in the hole I can't reach it.

I can't find any way to open this up without destroying the housing. I know that they have stopped making this unit, probably because of this flaw.

Solution

Here's what I'd try: figure out where the other end of that cord is. (Pretty close to the pull handle, I imagine.) Drill into the case at a shallow angle--more or less tangent to the case, or as close as you can get--and use something stiff but flexible, such as a thin wire coat hanger, to *push out* the remains of the cord.

Of course, once you've done that, you have a filter case that cannot be resealed, unless you can get a replacement cord from General Ecology. So you may end up buying a Seagull IV anyway.

So I'll modify my suggestion: if you can get a replacement cord, buy two or three. :-) But if you can't, then don't bother trying to extract this one--you might as well throw the whole filter away and get a new one.

Contributors: Jim C, Andy Baird

Return to FAQ Index