Hey this got some reaction....that's good. Ideally the clear portion should be down as anyone old enough to work on glass automobile gas line filters can attest.....especially important for fine particulate matter in gasoline. In the RV world sometimes the plumbing clearances and access to this filter dictate which way is up....and my old ACE has been clear on top since 2012......no issues; but I clean it every start of camping season. What I think is most important as stated earlier is making sure the arrow on the filter is in the direction of water flow toward the pump.