Are Whole House Water Filters Worth It?

We sell whole-house water filters, so you would expect us to say yes. The more useful answer is: it depends on where your water problem is. A whole-house system treats water once, at the point it enters the home, so every shower, tap and appliance gets the same water. That is worth paying for when the problem is everywhere. When the problem is only at the kitchen sink, or is really hardness, there is a cheaper fix and you should buy that instead.

Start with what is actually in your water

Everything below depends on knowing your water. If you are on city water, your utility publishes an annual water-quality report, often called a Consumer Confidence Report, that lists what was detected and at what level. If you are on a well, nobody tests it but you, so start with a water test. Guessing from taste or from a neighbor's experience leads to buying the wrong equipment.

When a whole-house filter is worth it

• Chlorine or chloramine bothers you in the shower, not just the glass. Disinfectants vaporize in hot water. If dry skin, hair or the smell of a pool is the complaint, a kitchen filter cannot help; only treatment ahead of the water heater can. See our pages on chlorine and chloramine.
• You want to reduce a contaminant at every fixture. If your water report shows something you want reduced in bathing and laundry water as well as drinking water, point-of-entry treatment is the only way to do it once.
• You are on a well with sediment, iron, sulfur or odor. These affect fixtures, appliances and laundry, not just taste. A whole-house setup is the normal answer, usually with a stage chosen for the specific problem. Start at the well-water planning page.
• You are protecting appliances. Sediment and chlorine shorten the life of water heaters, dishwashers and washing machines. Filtering at the entry point protects all of them.

When it is not worth it

• Your only concern is drinking-water taste or a drinking-water contaminant. A good under-sink or reverse osmosis unit treats the water you drink and cook with for a fraction of the cost. For some contaminants, such as fluoride, under-sink reverse osmosis is the appropriate treatment and a general whole-house filter should not be sold to you as the answer. See our fluoride page.
• Your problem is scale, spots and soap scum. That is hardness, and a filter does not fix it. You need a water softener. Many homes run both, filter first and softener second, but if hardness is the whole problem, buy the softener.
• Your water report is clean and nothing bothers you. Then there is nothing to fix. A filter is insurance against problems you have identified, not a general upgrade.

Whole-house filter, softener or both?

These do different jobs. A filter is chosen for the contaminants it is designed to reduce: chlorine, sediment, specific metals or chemicals, depending on the media. A softener exchanges calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium to stop scale. Neither does the other's work. If your report shows both hardness and something you want filtered, plan for both and have the plumber specify the installation order. Our comparison page covers when a simpler option is enough.

What "worth it" costs

A whole-house system is a larger purchase than a kitchen filter, and the honest comparison is total cost over the years you own it, not sticker price. Cartridge systems cost less up front and more in replacement sets; tank systems cost more up front and have no cartridges, though the media is eventually replaced. Our cost guide breaks down equipment, installation and upkeep, and the ownership-cost worksheet lets you run the numbers for your own home.

How AquaOx fits

We make three whole-house systems. Carbon by AquaOx is a carbon tank for city water where chlorine, taste and odor are the concern. The AquaOx and The AquaOx XL are multi-media tanks with automatic backwash, sized for different peak flows, for city or well water with appropriate pretreatment. The whole-house systems page compares them by water source, home size, flow and warranty, and the documentation page explains what to ask for before you trust any performance claim, including ours.

If you send us your water report, we will tell you which situation you are in, including when the answer is a softener or a kitchen filter rather than something we sell. Ask us.