Are your slots facing up, or down. I ask as I have found, by accident, that it works much better pointed down. How old is the filter? On a new install, once the heavy particulates have been filtered out, you should not be encountering particles large enough to clog the slots. The only other thing I can think of is flow. Maybe there isn’t enough flow going through the unit to keep the debris moving and it’s just settling in the tube? I don’t think enlarging the slots or drilling holes would negatively affect anything, but you should not be needing to do that. I would look at a few things first, to see if there’s another cause for the problem.
There’s orings at both ends of the pipe and it doesn’t need to be very tight. You should be able to go half a turn tighter or looser and still have a good seal. If I remember right there’s a logo on the blank knob end that says dd or something. It should be right side up, which points the slots down. When they’re facing down debris pours out the bottom. When facing up, debris builds up inside the tube over time and causes it clog a little. I ran mine facing up once after cleaning and it clogged in about two months. When I have it facing down, it’s never clogged.
