Plumber's: Opening an Inline Water Filter Housing?

In My Humble Opinion
1

This is simple enough, and yet…
I have a water softening system with an inline filter. The inline filter has a protective, clear, hard plastic housing that is designed to unscrew to allow periodic cleaning of the filter. The housing, however, will not budge. I have tried a strap wrench with rubber material* between the strap and body of the housing to increase friction, and the housing still won’t budge. Let’s assume it is not cross-threaded.

Applying too much pressure, I fear I will crack the housing. And, outside of doing something drastic, like cutting the filter out from the PVC piping, are there other tricks of the trade to loosen the housing?

Also, this sounds silly, but I now have my doubts: For things that screw from below into mating threads above, is it still counterclockwise to loosen? (I know when working under a sink, the basic “lefty loosey” logic can it can be reverse.) I think it is still true, but now I have my doubts!

Thanks,
-Jinx

P.S.: In case there are different in-line filter designs, the housing hangs down making a “T” with the water supply line. The housing is secured by turning the housing so that screw threads at its entrance will grip mating threads within its PVC “cap”. The “cap” is the component plumbed in-line with the water supply line.

*a rubber, pickle jar type bottle-opener gripper thingy

2

You need to get the proper wrench for your filter. They are made to fit the pattern of groves on the outside of the filter housing.

You are correct about the righty tightly, lefty loosey. I presume the filter is hanging down from the water pipe. Put the wrench to the right side as you look at it head on and pull it across your body to the left.

IANAP

3

I concur. I have a similar filter arrangement – a dual setup – and it came with a plastic wrench. An odd shape for a “wrench”, it is a loop that fits around the body, matching the ribs exactly, and a long handle. It works very well, but when I replaced the filter body units once, I had to get a different wrench, as the model and shape were different.

So make sure the wrench you get fits the task.

ETA: Mine opens not to clean the filter, but to replace it. They are paper or wound string, and designed to be tossed, not cleaned.