Is Your Water Filter Stuck? Here’s 6 Tips To Try

Is your water filter stuck? Those stubborn screws will come off in no time. Here’s 6 tips to try.

Stubborn screws, tight jar lids, and pressurized bottle caps, what do they all have in common? They love testing our patience!

Since the dawn of all-purpose containers and metal tooling, having a part that is just too tight to twist or open has troubled consumers and end-users. And while a lot of hacks and tips have been invented over the decades to make this easier, some screws just won’t come off.

This can be especially inconveniencing when you’re trying to replace or fix your water filter, only to find it still firmly held in place by those Superman-like pieces of metal.

But don’t give up just yet.

Below, I’ve prepared a list of tips and tricks that can loosen any screws and get you back on track to doing the repairs your water filter needs. And the best part is, that most of these can be done with common household objects.

Let’s get started!

If Your Water Filter’s Stuck, Here’s What You Can Try…

• Add lubricant
• Remove some paint
• Use the force
• Apply heat
• Use a piece of rubber
• Glue a nut to it

As promised, only one of these fixes will require you to leave your house. You’ll need patience, determination, and probably some gloves to avoid blistered hands.

#1 Add Lubricant

Grease up your screws

Sometimes stubborn screws just need a little push. If you’ve been trying for hours to loosen them with no success, some industrial lubricant might do the trick.

All you have to do is apply a little to the part where the screws touch the rest of your water filter and let the chemical do its magic for about 15 minutes. After this short wait, give it another go and see if the problem is resolved.

All done!

#2 Remove Some Paint

Paint can act like glue

What if I told you the screws on your water filter are probably not that tight?

Water filter manufacturers sometimes paint over their products’ screws to make them look more appealing, and uniform in color. The problem is that, on some rare occasions, that paint can act as glue and make unscrewing the screws very difficult.

If you suspect this to be your case and don’t mind having to repaint afterwards, you can always use a sharp object to carefully scrape away some paint where the screw meets the body of the water filter. Just watch out for cracks or other signs of excessive damage on the appliance.

This should take care of the problem.

#3 Use the Force, Luke

Modern problems, demand modern solutions

If delicate moves and careful lubricant placement did not resolve the issue, it’s time to bring out your hammer and pound away using brute force, Lou Ferrigno style.

Ok, I might have exaggerated a little. I’m not talking about literally destroying your water filter by swinging the hammer at it with all your might! The actual procedure is much more precise, and goes as follows:

• Place your screwdriver on the screw head
• Grab your hammer while holding the screwdriver in place
• Gently, but firmly, hit the head of the screwdriver with your hammer

Doing this for a minute or so will most likely loosen the screw and make it much easier to unscrew. Be careful not to hit too hard, though, we’re not trying to damage the water filter’s structure.

Please stop at the first sign of cracking or breaking.

#4 Apply Heat

Be careful with blowtorches

The laws of thermodynamics can play to your advantage.

Have you ever heard that hack to open a pickle jar? All you have to do is place the metal lid under boiling water for a couple of minutes, and it should slide open like butter. The same goes with screws in your water filter.

If your water filter is stuck, you can try to apply some hot water to the screws to loosen them. Heat will make the screw expand and then contract as it cools down, which should make it slightly smaller, and thus, easier to remove.

You can also try a blow torch if you have one, but be careful not to melt the surrounding plastic!

#5 Use a Piece of Rubber

Getting a good grip is essential to removing a tight screw. And while screwdrivers  are designed to fit screw heads perfectly, sometimes that’s not enough. Not to mention, that too much unsuccessful turning can damage the screw and make it even harder to remove.

Placing a small strip of rubber between the screwdriver and the screw head can improve the grip and traction between them, resulting in an easier removal.

As a nice bonus, doing this will also prevent the screw head from wearing out, so turn freely.

#6 Glue a Nut to It

Use super-glue and a wrench

Yes, you read that right.

If none of the previous solutions worked out for you, you can always get a hexagonal nut  and super-glue it to the screw head. This will open up additional options and tools for you to successfully remove the screw from your water filter. Mind you, this only works if you have a wrench that can turn hexagonal nuts.

The procedure is very simple:

• Apply super-glue to the screw head and press a hexagonal nut against it
• Let it dry
• Once it’s dry, grab a wrench and start turning the hexagonal nut in a counterclockwise direction

Bear in mind that, while doing this almost always does the trick, detaching the screw and the nut is very difficult afterwards, so it’s a good idea to have spare screws of the same length and width to replace the old ones.

Conclusion

Having a screw too tight to turn is frustrating.

It’s not only the perfect scenario to cause blistered hands, but also renders repairs and replacements virtually impossible to make. That is, of course, if you don’t have this useful list of tips and tricks.

These are supposed to be simple and quick, so use whatever you have at home and start from there. There’s no reason to go out and buy things unnecessarily.

It’s extremely important that you’re careful when going about the more aggressive solutions, as you could accidentally damage your water filter, or what’s even worse, hurt yourself.

Remember that successfully removing a tight screw is a matter of physics, which means that while force should indeed be considered as a last resort, you can probably resolve the issue much more easily with delicate, precise movements.

Please put safety first at all times and be responsible about implementing these possible solutions.

Thank you very much for reading. If you learned something new today and found the solution to your problem, why not check out our other great resources below? There’s no such thing as knowing too much!

Happy projects.