Do You Need a Big Blue Water Filter

How does a big blue water filter housing work?

A Big Blue filter housing holds big filter cartridges. Other manufacturers don't describe their large diameter filter housings as Big Blue. Any term for large diameter housings refers to housings that operate the same way. Water enters one end and goes down through the housing. Depending on what type of filter cartridge you have, water might flow through the filter and then out, or it might go all the way to the bottom and flow up through the media in the drop-in cartridge. You can put a variety of filter cartridges inside a housing depending on what you're trying to filter out.
Big Blue 10" housing
What are Big Blue filter housings used for?

These filter housings are used for point-of-entry (POE) filtration, typically residential. They can be used commercially with more flow rate than a standard-size filter housing. A lot of water can flow through a large-diameter filter housing, so it's used for a variety of applications. You can put a sediment filter, a carbon filter, or a specialty filter with ion-exchange resin or arsenic-reducing media in a Big Blue filter housing.
What do Big Blue filter housings remove?

The housing itself doesn't remove anything. It just directs water flow around whatever filter cartridge you put inside. The cartridge does the filtering, or separating the water from the contaminants. The filter housing itself doesn't do anything until you put something inside. And what type of cartridge you put inside determines what will be removed.
What's the difference between Big Blue and other filter housings?

Size. Big Blue filter housings work best with point-of-entry flow rates for a whole house. Smaller filters and filter housings are used at the point-of-use (POU). The small cartridges are designed to install under the sink to filter water to a dedicated faucet or with a combination of filters in a reverse osmosis system. Filter housings are designed differently to accommodate flow rate. If you're looking for a point-of-entry (POE) filter, you'll want something that can withstand high flow rate. And that's where the Big Blue housings come into play.