Are you looking for a whole house water filter for your home so that you have access to clean and safe water from any single faucet and so that you wash yourself, your clothes, dishes, food products, and everything else with it?
A Point-of-Entry filtering system like this eliminates the need to buy and maintain multiple filters for the different faucets, appliances, and parts of the house which use water. It also reduces your carbon footprint and will save money for having to buy bottled water.
Also, it helps remove any harmful and potentially dangerous contaminants from the water before it has even entered your home.
Best Whole House Water Filter
We have selected the most rated whole house water filter systems for 2022 and have also compiled a comprehensive guide that will hopefully help you pick the most suitable system for your specific needs.
Best overall
Express Water 3 Stage Home Water Filtration System
The best whole house water filter will ensure that you and your family drink, eat, bathe in, and use perfectly clean and safe water no matter which faucet in the home you choose to use.
The advanced filtration system has been proven to eliminate more than 80 contaminants from the water, including sand, lead, iron, chlorine, and many more, as well as remove any bad odors and tastes from the tap water.
It uses a 3-stage filtration system to remove all harmful heavy metals from the water but without the use of chlorine.
This effective whole-house water filter will not only keep you and your family safe and healthy, but it will also shield all of your home’s water-using appliances from being harmed by the sediments in conventional tap water.
This implies that you’ll save a ton of cash on maintenance and replacement costs, as well as on hospital expenses and medicines.
The filter system comprises a stainless steel frame, industrial high-capacity connections, and filter housings made of safe, food-grade ABS and PCE plastic.
The system won’t cause your home’s water pressure to diminish. It really has a filtering capacity of 0.25 gallons per second. The system can securely function in a temperature range of 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and a pressure range of 20 to 80 PSI.
The housing for the first filtering stage is transparent so you can keep an eye on the procedure and the filter’s health.
Sediment, for Kinetic Degradation Fluxion, and Activated Carbon Block are the three filters.
The dimensions of the Express Water Heavy Metal Whole House Water Filter are 29 ¼ (H) x 23 ½ x 8 ½ (D) inches, and it weighs 66 lbs.
It comes with a 1-year warranty and lifetime customer support.
The runner-up
SpringWell Whole House Water Filter System
The runner-up is another excellent whole house water filter system by SpringWell Water, which can filter up to 1,000,000 gallons of water, which is about 10 years of use of water by a family of 4 people.
After this time is up, you can purchase a replacement media for the tank at a very reasonable price, so you will never need to buy a complete water filtering system for your home again.
The only filter you will need to replace more regularly is the pre-filter, which has to be replaced every 6 to 9 months, but a pack of two of them is sold for less than $35.
The SpringWell Whole House Water Filter System is sold with a lifetime warranty and with an industry-leading 6-month satisfaction money-back guarantee!
It will filter the water in your home via four filtration stages, including a stage 1 sediment pre-filtration, a stage 2 chlorine and heavy metal filtration, a stage 3 organic contaminant filtration, and a stage 4 for removal of channeling.
As a result of the filtering, the water running from your faucets, showers, and everywhere in your home will taste better, smell better and be much safer to drink, use for cooking, washing, bathing, and so on.
In fact, the filtered water will help wash away any harmful pollutants from your hair, skin, clothing, and your home, so you will be leading a much healthier life, and your skin and hair will be healthier than ever.
All components in the system are NSF certified and completely safe.
With a whole house water filter like this one, you can rest assured that the water in your home is free of chlorine, chloramine, TTHM, MTBE, Haloacetic acids, herbicides, sulfur, pesticides, as well as from any strange of faulty odor and taste.
The SpringWell Whole House Water Filter System has been designed to ensure that there will be no drop of pressure even when all of the showers and taps are turned on simultaneously and in accordance with the number of bathrooms in the home.
The system comes with a detailed installation guide, and according to the manufacturer, it is simple enough to install without a professional plumber, even if you have no plumbing experience whatsoever.
See also: 10 Refrigerator Water Filters You Can Buy in 2022
Best budget-friendly option
iSpring WGB21B 2-Stage Heavy-Duty Whole House Water Filtration System
This 2-stage, point-of-entry whole house water filter is inexpensive, but it can ensure that a family of four has access to clean and safe water for about 12 months before it is time for a replacement of the filters.
The two replacement filters cost about $40, which you will need to pay once every 6-12 months, depending on the water usage, so it is still a very budget-friendly option.
It has fine sediment and coconut shell carbon filters and helps remove about 98% of the sediments like sand, rust, dirt, and others. The carbon filter removes 90% of the chlorine, as well as other contaminants such as pesticides, industrial solvents, or herbicides from entering your home plumbing system. The second filter will also help remove any smells, tastes, and colors from the water running from your taps.
It is an excellent choice for small-sized homes and has a filter capacity of 50,000 gallons.
The system has 1-inch input and output ports. Its flow rate is 15 GPM, so you will not experience any drop of pressure or clogs when you install it.
The budget-friendly iSpring WGB21B comes pre-assembled on the mounting bracket, so you can easily install it yourself without the help of a plumber. It even comes with a wrench that you can use for changing the filters. The filter has a special pressure release valve to make the replacement easy and safe.
The system is sold with a 1-year warranty and is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee by iSpring.
It is a compact whole house water filter with a size of 10 x 12 x 26 inches, and it weighs 15 lbs.
The rest of the best whole house water filters
iSpring WGB32B 3-Stage Whole House Water Filtration System
The iSpring WGB32B is a 3-stage whole house water filter that will help protect your family from harmful contaminants and pollutants from the water you drink, use for cooking, washing, and which you shower with.
The system can efficiently remove sediments, rust, sand, chlorine, herbicides, pesticides, VOCs, industrial solvents right from the main water supply line in your home.
The filters include a 1st stage sediment filter which can remove contaminants as small as 5 microns, a 2nd and 3rd stage CTO Carbon Block Filters will help filter out chlorine, VOCs, harmful chemicals, tastes, odors, and cloudiness from the water which runs in your home.
The system has a capacity of 100,000 gallons, which means that a family of four will have access to clean and safe water for a whole year before the filters need to be replaced.
The system is very easy to install without professional help and has a water flow of up to 15 GPM and a minimal impact on the water pressure.
It can operate at temperatures from 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The iSpring WGB32B is also sold with hose connectors, with options for iron and manganese removal, as well as with a lead removal feature, so you can choose the combination of filters that you need for the water in your home depending on the contaminants found in your water supply.
The whole house water filter system is sold at a reasonable price, needs filter replacements only once per 12 months, and comes with a 1-year warranty and lifetime customer support.
APEC 3-Stage Whole House Water Filter System Iron, Sediment, and Chlorine
This high-quality whole house water filter system consists of 3 powerful filters, which will remove the chlorine, iron, sand, rust, dirt, silt, VOCs, hydrogen sulfide, metallic taste, and odors from the water that runs from all the faucets and showerheads in your home.
You will be able to drink tap water straight from the tap safely, cook with it, use it for washing, and even for watering your vegetable garden.
The first filter will trap the sediments. It is washable and reusable.
The second filter in the system uses manganese dioxide to remove any iron from the water, as well as the staining and the metallic taste associated with it.
The third filter is a carbon filter that will completely remove the leftover iron, as well as chlorine, organic compounds, and foul smells and tastes from the water.
The system has a capacity of 80,000 gallons before you will need to replace the filter cartridges.
It has a flow rate of 15 GPM.
The system is 17 x 17 x 27 inches and weighs 50 lbs.
This excellent water filtering system for entire homes is also available with other filter options, including sediment and carbon, chlorine, and heavy metals removal.
The entire system is made in the USA, and with each purchase, APEC Water Systems has pledged to donate to its donation program for bringing clean drinking water to more people around the world.
AO Smith 6-Year, 600,000-Gallon Whole House Water Filter
The AO Smith whole house water filter has a huge 600,000-gallon capacity, which means that a family of four can have access to clean and safe water from any faucet in the home for up to 6 years before a filter replacement is required.
The system removes up to 97% of the chlorine from the water – either from wells or cities.
Thanks to this efficient water filtering system, you will no longer need to buy bottled water or use filters for every separate faucet and appliance at home.
You can install it easily yourself after an inexpensive sediment pre-filter and can add a descaler and post-filter and UV filter in order to create a complete water filtering system for the entire household.
With the help of this efficient filter, your health will improve, your skin will become softer, and so will your hair. Also, the air in your home will contain no harmful chlorine.
The system is designed and made to save water and requires no drainage or backflushing.
Included in the package, you will find the central water filter, a shut-off valve, a nipple, and a hose adaptor.
The size of the system is 27 (H) x 8.75 (W) x 8.75 (D) inches.
It is sold with a 6-year warranty by the manufacturer.
Whirlpool WHELJ1 Central Water Filtration System
The Whirlpool WHELJ1 is a central water filtration system that does not require any expensive filter replacements whatsoever.
In fact, as soon as you install it, you can completely forget about any maintenance, as it has a smart Filter Sense Technology, which automatically flushes and cleans the washable filter every 2 weeks.
The efficient whole house water filter is NSF certified and will help reduce the contaminants from the water running in your home as small as 40 microns. These include sediments, chlorine, and others.
The system is easy to install. Thanks to the included bypass valve, the water pressure in your house will not drop at all after the installation.
Also included are a drain hose, 2 hose clamps, 3 clips, a grommet, and an adapter elbow.
The size of the unit is 10.13 x 13.44 x 33.75 inches.
With a whole house water filter like this one by Whirlpool, you will be making a one-time investment for at least 10 years to come.
It is sold with a 1-year warranty on the parts and labor, 3 years on the electronics, and 10 years on the tank.
Home Master Whole House Three Stage Water Filtration System
The Home Master Whole House 3-stage water filtration system will efficiently prevent up to 95% of the sediments, iron, manganese, chemicals, and other contaminants from the water from the well to enter your home plumbing system.
This means that you will get perfectly clean and safe water from any tap in the house. It also means that you will be eating healthier and tastier food, wearing cleaner clothes and that your skin and hair will be free of any harmful chemicals and heavy metals.
The filtering system has a 15 GPM water pressure, so you will feel no water drop whatsoever once it is installed.
The first sediment filter can remove particles that are as small as 1 micron.
The second stage utilizes a radial flow iron reduction filter, which can reduce the iron in the water significantly.
The third stage includes the filtering of chemicals, odors, tastes, herbicides, and pesticides via the activated coconut shell carbon filter.
You will even receive a free 24-oz Nalgene Tritan water bottle when you buy this system, which you can use to pour clean and safe tap water from home, and thus help the environment and save money while staying hydrated.
The system is 24 x 9 x 25 inches in size and weighs 48 lbs.
It is one of the best whole house water filters for homes that use wells as their water source.
iSpring WGB22B 2-Stage Whole House Water Filtration System
The iSpring WGB22B is another recommended option for a whole house water filter for people using city water with chlorine and sediments.
The system will efficiently remove up to 99% of the chlorine from the water, which runs in your home, and which you use for drinking, cooking, washing, cleaning, and showering.
The system will also remove up to 95% of the sediments like rust, sand, industrial solvents, VOCs, as well as pesticides and herbicides from your water.
The sediment filter can trap contaminants, which are as small as 5 microns.
The CTO carbon block filter will help remove the chlorine and the other harmful chemicals, odors, and tastes from the water.
Both of the filters have a high capacity of up to 100,000 gallons of water, which means that a household with four people will have clean running water for a year before there is a need for a replacement of the filters.
The system has a peak flow rate of 15 GPM and can operate at temperatures from 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Its size is 16 x 10 x 31 inches, and it weighs 33 lbs. and it is very easy to install without professional help.
This reasonably priced whole house water filter can also be purchased with other filter types specifically for removing iron and manganese and for removal of lead from the water.
EcoPure EPWHE Whole Home Water Filtration System-Automatic Bypass
The EcoPure EPWHE costs less than $100 and is one of the most innovative whole house water filters on the market.
It is designed to make filter replacement easier than ever. Thanks to its automatic bypass, you won’t even have to stop the water supply when you are replacing the filter. The actual replacement can be done in a matter of seconds, without any tools required, and without having to touch or handle the dirty filter.
The filter can clean the water in your home from sediment, silt, sand, dirt, and other particles as small as 5 microns, as well as from chlorine odor and taste.
The filter life is for 6 months, and a new filter will cost you about $40.
There is a less expensive filter offered for this water filtering system, which will remove sediment as small as 30 microns, as well as the smell and taste of chlorine.
The no-mess whole home water filtration system is NSF certified.
It comes with a mounting bracket, a vent tube, a filter, and installation instructions.
Aquasana Whole House Water Filter System – 10 Year, 1 Million Gallons
The Aquasana whole house water filter system has an amazing filter capacity of 1 million gallons. This means that you can use it for 10 years or more, depending on the water usage at home.
The system includes a filter tank, a pre-filter, a post-filter, 1 and ¾ inch brass fittings, shut-off valves, and bend supports. In fact, you will receive a complete home water filtering system and all the mounting equipment required all in one if you choose to buy it.
It may be more expensive than many of the other whole house water filters, but given the large filter capacity, you will not need to buy replacement filters for at least a year. This means that the water filtering will cost you less than $0.01 per gallon in the long run.
The system is very easy to maintain and does not require back flushing and draining. This will save you time, effort, as well as water.
It features a unique up flow and dual tank design, which helps prevent any clogging, and at the same time, increases the contact of the incoming water with the filters for a better effect.
The filter can remove up to 97% of the chlorine from the water. It also helps reduce and eliminate heavy metals, algae, and bacteria, as well as herbicides, pesticides, and chemical compounds from the water entering your home.
To ensure that the system works properly, it is recommended that you replace the post and the 20-inch pre-filters once every 3 months or depending on the sediment level in your water source.
The pre-filter and post-filter will capture and trap any rust, silt, dirt, and any other sediments.
The size of the entire system is 9 x 46 x 44 inches.
With a complete water filtering system like this, you can rest assured that every glass of tap water you drink is safe and that each time you take a shower, your skin and hair will be softer. Also, you will protect your appliances that use water and improve the health of every member of the household – pets and plants included.
3M Aqua-Pure Whole House Sanitary Quick Change Water Filter System
The 3M Aqua-Pure whole house water filter offers one of the easiest filter cartridge replacements among all of the systems on this list.
It features a Sanitary Quick Replace design, which allows for a fast and effortless replacement of the cartilage without needing to contact the filter or use a filter wrench.
The water filtering system by 3M has one filter which is capable of removing the sediments and chlorine from the water efficiently and without the loss of water pressure. The filter has an activated carbon filter, which will also remove the unpleasant odors and taste, as well as the harmful chemicals from the water.
The single filter has a capacity of 100,000 gallons of water, enough to clean the water in homes with four inhabitants for about a year.
It has a 1-inch inlet and outlet and supports a peak flow of up to 20 GPM.
The head is made of premium quality stainless steel, which can be installed on existing copper piping, and comes with a 25-year guarantee.
The system by 3M is NSF standard certified.
The whole house water filter system by 3M provides the perfect balance between quality and price. It is offered at the cost of just over $200 and will last for a year before the filter needs to be replaced.f
If you add an inexpensive sediment pre-filter, the filter may last for up to 23 months for a family of 4.
The size of the system is 6 x 6 x 27 inches, and it weighs 9.8 lbs.
What exactly is a whole house water filter?
As the name suggests, this is a filtration system that filters all of the water which enters your home. Systems like this are also called POE (point-of-entry) because they are installed at the very beginning of the plumbing system, before the heater. This allows them to efficiently filter every single drop of water that runs in your house – cold or warm.
So, the filtered water will run from every single faucet, every shower and will be delivered to your dishwashing machine, your washing machine, your toilets, and every other appliance connected to the plumbing system in the house.
Features to look for when buying a whole house water filter
Because we all use different water sources and live in different areas, the quality of the water in our homes differs. This means that if one water filtering system works perfectly for someone in one city, it may not be efficient at all in another.
Since whole house water filtering systems are important for our health and are also usually quite expensive, it makes sense to consider the features you should look for when choosing a whole house water filter for your home.
Here is what to consider when shopping for a whole house water filter:
Your overall water consumption
If you want to make the right choice and get a filtering system that will work adequately and filter all of the water in your home, you should first consider your whole household water consumption.
Choose a filtering system that will meet your consumption without the need to replace the filters every month.
Calculate how much the filters cost and how often you will need to replace them, given your current consumption, to make the most financially reasonable choice.
By planning ahead, you will know how much the average cost of maintaining the whole house water filter system will cost you over time.
Try to balance the consumption of water and the longevity of the filter for the best results.
The water quality, and the contaminants in it
To ensure that you purchase the right type of whole house filtering system which will actually clean your water and ensure that it is safe to drink and use on a daily basis, you need to know what the contaminants in your water are.
The best way to find out is to test the water with a home test kit or ask a professional to perform the tests.
Even without a test, if you are using municipal water, you can be pretty certain that it is chlorinated. If your water source is from a well, there are risks of heavy metal, chemicals, and other contaminations too.
Even though chlorine is an excellent disinfectant and is essential for decontaminating the water, in high doses, it could be harmful to you. Plus, some people are allergic to chlorine.
The tell-tale signs that your water needs filtering include a cloudy appearance, a strange smell and taste, dust and other small particles floating in it, high levels of bacteria, and others.
You should choose a water filtering system that is capable of reducing or eliminating the specific contaminants your water is affected by.
Many of the whole house water filters on our list have sediment and chlorine filters. These are more suitable for those of you using municipal and chlorine-treated water.
Others will capture and trap sediments, as well as certain heavy metals like iron or lead. These are suitable for households using well water or water with high levels of these harmful heavy metals.
The size of the particles removed
Each filter has a certain capacity for removing contaminants and particles of a particular type and size.
After looking at your water test results, you should pick a filtering system that can remove the contaminants found in your water.
The high-quality filters will remove particles and pollutants as small as 0.35 microns. These are suitable for water that comes from a highly contaminated source.
If your water test results are not so alarming, you may want to opt for a less expensive filter that removes particles as small as 1 micron.
1 micron is equal to a thousandth of a millimeter.
The filtration stages
Just about all whole house water filters can remove the sediments and other primary contaminants from the water. These include sand, dust, rust, chemicals, and others. In fact, many inexpensive whole house water pre-filters can do this job pretty well too.
Most of the filtering systems on our list offer more than one stage of filtration. This means that the pre-filter will trap the larger particles, and the water will pass through the next filters for additional filtration for specific contaminants like iron, lead, manganese, bacteria, and various other impurities, as well as the foul smell and taste of the water.
Keep in mind that only the reverse osmosis filtering systems can guarantee that 100% of the impurities will be removed from your water. This though is an extremely expensive investment to make, so if you do not have serious problems with contaminations, you may want to opt for the two or three-stage filtering systems which can remove 95-97% of these contaminants instead.
The filter type
As mentioned earlier, the different types of filters can block different types of contaminants. It is essential to base your choice of a whole-house filtering system on the water tests and choose the filter types that will remove the pollutants plaguing your own water source.
There are filters for chlorine, pesticide, herbicides, and VOCs, as well as filters for heavy metals like lead or iron. The UV filters are a must if the water test results show high contamination of bacteria.
Filter NSF certification
The certification of a filter proves that it can remove the precise contaminants it is being advertised for.
There are several standards for filter certification by the NSF and ANSI, including:
NSF/ANSI 42 – filters that reduce odor, chlorine taste, and particulates only
NSF/ANSI 53 – filters that utilize carbon to eliminate certain heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides, giardia, and others
NSF/ANSI 401 – filters which are capable of capturing pharmaceuticals found in water, including chemicals, prescription drugs, pesticides, herbicides, and others
NSF/ANSI 58 – filters used by the reverse osmosis water filtering systems for removing radium, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, perchlorate, heavy metals, and other dangerous contaminants
The longevity of the filter, and the replacement interval
As you can see from our product descriptions, each system, and each filter has a specific capacity. Some have capacities of 50,000 gallons, others for 100,000 gallons, and we have picked a system that has a humongous 1,000,000 gallon capacity too.
This capacity is the amount of water the system can filter before its cartridges or filters need to be replaced.
An average household of four people can expect to use a filtering system with a 100,000 gallon capacity for 1 year.
The same household can use a filter with a capacity of 1 million gallons for up to 10 years before the need for a replacement.
Some systems have quick-change systems, making filter replacement very easy.
Others, like the Whirlpool whole house water filter, are actually filterless and flush themselves automatically, but they are not as advanced in removing some more specific contaminants from the water.
So, calculate your overall water consumption, and check out the capacities of the filtering systems, as well as the prices for the replacement filters before buying a whole house water filter. This will give you an idea of the ongoing maintenance costs you will need to prepare for.
The flow rate of the system
In order to prevent any drops in the water pressure throughout your home, you should opt for a water filtering system with a flow rate sufficient to supply every single faucet, toilet, shower, appliance, and other place in the home that require water with filtered water. You should choose a filtering system that will have no impact on the normal water flow, even if several faucets are opened simultaneously.
A system with a flow rate of 10-15 gallons per minute (GPM) should be sufficient for most average households.
The warranty
Since most whole house water filter systems are quite expensive and will have ongoing costs over time for filter replacements, you may want to check out the warranty terms of the different manufacturers before picking the right filtering system for your needs.
Obviously, the longer the warranty, the better.
Some of the systems on our list offer 30-day to 6-month money-back guarantees too, which is another excellent offer for peace of mind.
Additional features
There are some other features that are worth taking into consideration when shopping for a whole house water filter.
One is the ease of installation. This is important if you are looking for a system that you can install by yourself. Some of the water filter systems come with all the tools and kits needed for installation. Others are more complicated and may require a professional plumber.
The cost. Obviously, the cost is something that everyone pays attention to. But remember that a whole house water filter may be a one-time purchase, but the majority of these installations need ongoing maintenance and filter replacements, some of which can be pretty costly.
The types of filters for whole house water filter systems to choose from
While all of the whole house filtering systems work on the same principle and are attached at a point-of-entry to the main water line, prior to the heater and before entering the home, the different filters included in these systems have different functions.
Here are the basic types of filters to consider for your own whole house water filter system:
The pre-filter
The pre-filter is usually an inexpensive and straightforward filter, which, in most cases, can be washed and reused or will clean itself. The pre-filter captures the larger contaminants, like slit, rust, sand, dust, debris, and sediments.
Not only will this filter prevent these larger particles from entering your home plumbing system, but it will also keep them from passing from the next, more complex, and more expensive filters in the system.
A good pre-filter can seriously expand the longevity of the other filters in the system.
An activated carbon filter
This is among the most essential components of any whole house water filtering system, as it is capable of removing a wide variety of contaminants.
The activated carbon has a porous surface that attracts and absorbs the contaminants naturally.
Activated carbon filters can remove smaller sediment particles, VOCs, as well as any bad smells and tastes from the water.
In some cases, these filters are impregnated with silver in order to eliminate bacteria as well.
Copper zinc and mineral filter
This one is usually located after the activated carbon filter and can remove a large percentage of the remaining contaminants from the water. It can remove the residual chlorine, heavy metals, and microorganisms, including bacteria. It also helps descale the water.
A water softener or descaler
After the incoming water has passed through the filtering system, it may pass through an optional water descaler or softener. Many manufacturers use ion-exchange filters, which help soften the water through special sodium ion-filled resin beads. Others use salt-free softeners instead.
A UV filter
This is another optional filter that you can consider adding to your whole house water filter system. The UV filter is capable of eliminating any remaining microorganisms, viruses, and bacteria in the water after it has passed through the filtering system.
A UV filter is a must if your water has high bacteria contamination.
The post-filter
This is the final stage of the water filtering process. The post-filter will remove the smallest particles that have made their way through the primary filters. Usually, post-filters look like mesh. The size of the holes of this mesh is what matters. There are some post-filters that can stop particles as small as 0.35 microns from passing through, though the more common type of post-filters is capable of capturing particles as little as 1 micron.
Final words
We hope that our in-depth buying guide for whole-house water filtration systems has helped you make a better educated choice about which one would be best for your requirements.
We advise you to do a water test and gauge your household’s overall water usage before continuing. You may use these two stages as a starting point to identify the best water filtration system that can both effectively remove the specific toxins in your water and be as cost-effective as feasible.
You can be confident that all of the occupants, pets, plants, and appliances in the house will be considerably safer and healthier with a high-quality whole-house water filter system.
Using different filters for each faucet or appliance, purchasing bottled water, and forgoing the cost of repairing and replacing water-using equipment harmed by sediment buildups will all result in significant financial savings.
Good luck with your purchase, and enjoy your perfectly clean water from any faucet in the house, with one of these excellent whole house water filters!
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