I was cleaning my pentair water filter and unscrewed the drain plug to get the excess gunk out. When I was screwing the plug back in, I went to hard and the plug broke off. The remaining part of the plug’s thread is stuck inside the tank and I’m wondering if there is any trick to removing that piece. I have the replacement plug, but need to remove the part stuck in the thread. There isn’t enough sticking out to use a tool and it is too slippery to use a hand.
Broke my pentair water filter drain plug and thread piece is stuck inside the tank. How do I get it out?
- Thread starter Malfovonray
- Start date
Is it plastic? If so, use a lighter or torch to heat up the end of a screwdriver until it's red hot. Then push it into the broken plug until it sinks in a bit. Hold it there for a little while, then slowly unscrew the broken plug.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,167
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Without seeing pics, I'm kind of thinking of a large extractor like the one linked below. Or get a flat tip screwdriver in there just on the edge to tap it around. If you're nervous about applying heat, perhaps use a tiny blade to score the plug to allow the tip of the screwdriver to grab it.
Hey y'all. This just happened to me yesterday. We have a model NSF-50 with the four tall filter cartridges... Turns out the easy fix was to remove the bottom half of the filter compartment from the inflow and outflow pipes - turn it over on a flat surface - and tap the broken off threaded piece out. 
Put the new plug in place - put the bottom half and the pipe fittings back on; add filter cartridges; re-seat the O-ring; put the top back on and tighten up the metal clamping band. Our lesson learned is to always have a spare drain plug on hand.
Put the new plug in place - put the bottom half and the pipe fittings back on; add filter cartridges; re-seat the O-ring; put the top back on and tighten up the metal clamping band. Our lesson learned is to always have a spare drain plug on hand.Very simple way to retrieve the broken thread portion of the drain plug. First disconnect the 2 inflow and outflow pipes and turn the filter upside down on a flat surface. You shouod be able to get to the broken thraded portion that is broken. All you need is a claw hammer. Use the claw porton into the hole and put pressure to the side of the filter as you turn counter clockwise. The threads may be difficult to turn, but once you get a little movement, it becomes easier. This will also not damage the Pentair threads. It took me out 1 to 2 minutes to unscrew the broken threaded portion of the plug.Hey y'all. This just happened to me yesterday. We have a model NSF-50 with the four tall filter cartridges... Turns out the easy fix was to remove the bottom half of the filter compartment from the inflow and outflow pipes - turn it over on a flat surface - and tap the broken off threaded piece out.
Same thing happened to me. I finally broke down and just took off the big inlet and outlet pipe, which was very easy so, don’t sweat that. Then I found a small square and it fit right into the broken threads. I heated a little bit just to get through but did not touch the Pentair Threads.
