AO-WH-Filter

Making sure the water coming into my home faucets, showers, hoses, and sprinklers is as pure as possible is very important to me. All city and well water has either chemicals for treatment and/or minerals that can reduce the life of appliances like dishwashers, water heaters, washing machines, and these chemicals and minerals are not good for your skin, hair, sinks, showers, and clothes. I originally called 5 different plumbers to quote me to install a whole house system that could address these issues. Prices ranged from $3000 to $10,000 installed. I did EXTENSIVE research including talking to my city water department to determine exactly which chemicals were added to treat my water. I also had the water tested to determine the amount of chemicals, minerals, and sediment that I was trying to remove from the water. After a week of research I found this product on Amazon that would filter most of my concerns for only $329. Because I have brand new appliances including two tankless water heaters, I wanted extra purification features. For this I bought separately the GOLDEN ICEPURE 3 Stage Whole House Water Filter System for $299. I'm fairly handy but was not comfortable installing on my own. I hired a plumber, and for $600 and they installed both units for me in about 4 hours. So, out the door I only spent $1200 for a great system! My family immediately noticed a difference in the shower. Everybody noticed their skin was softer and not irritated, soap and shampoo washed off easier, and clothes came out cleaner and softer. I like to wash/detail my cars at home and I noticed the water spotting was much less and easier to clean than before I had the system installed. PROS: 1. MUCH CHEAPER than a whole house water filtration system even when adding on additional filtration system. 2. Low profile for space saving installation 3. Works great and water tested showing chloramine, sediment, and water hardness removed 4. Saves money up front and long term by extending life of appliances that use water and are normally damaged due to mineral deposits 5. Skin feels better and not irritated 6. No salt to refill 7. If the power fails the system will still function as apposed to electric descalers 8. My wife is happy! CONS: 1. I would not attempt to install this on my own. Its not really supposed to be a DIY for the average home owner. My plumber said it was easy to install and I'm happy with that. This has been installed for 9 months without any issues. I will update the review if something changes.

I finally got around to having this installed by a plumber in my water softener loop. I had one that was 8 years old (another MFR) that I recently removed and decided that I NEEDED a chlorine filter. My old one was about 4 feet high and I wasn't sure if I needed to replace it or not, but I felt after 8 years, it must be due. I flushed this with the garden hose and the water was running clear in less than 10 minutes, so that was easy. What took me so long to install this was actually the plumber I was using. He had been to my home for a water softener and then again to remove the old chlorine filter. After BOTH visits, my water tasted and smelled like acetone for about 3 days even after flushing for over an hour. Well, I will tell you WHY this happened. The original plumber was in a rush and did not let the pvc primers/glue cure and completely dry enough before turning the water back on! I got a new plumber who waited about 45 minutes for it to cure and dry.....no smell or taste in the water! If you are doing this yourself or hiring someone, make sure you/they wait more than enough time for it to cure and dry COMPLETELY. If your water smells or tastes like acetone, there was not enough time given to dry/cure. And in my case 15-20 minutes was not enough time but 45 minutes worked well. If you get the smell/taste of acetone after turning the water on, the only thing you can do is wait it out, about 2-3 full days. The thing I noticed about this filter is that it is made by the same manufacturer that makes Aquasana filters. How do I know this? It was on the shipping label from the MFR to Amazon, then Amazon to me (there were 2 labels on the box) These exact filters are sold in lowes too for the same price here, but you don't have to lug it around and you may save on sales tax ordering online. I thought they were much heavier than they actually are which is why I ordered here. It works well, I smell no chlorine on any tap in the house. I also installed a pre-filter, (AO smith as well) that I picked up locally and installed that BEFORE this charcoal filter to get any sediment and rust particles from the city water. Yes, city water does have it and after one day, you can see the prefilter is no longer pristine white. After 3 days the prefilter is a light orange and I NEVER had a visible rust problem in my home. Now I know why my salt softener filter was slightly orange after a month! rust in the water. AFTER the charcoal filter is my salt water softener. I will absolutely buy this filter again in 6 years when it comes time to replace it. Great filter, great price, Amazon convenience and customer service if you need it.

I researched a lot of filters and bought an A.O.SMITH product. Absolute quality. Better than the one I already have and works perfect.

2 year Update (June 2022) ------------------------------- It has been working satisfactorily but one problem has cropped up. It started leaking at the white circular flange where my finger points to. It is very minor drip, maybe an ounce a day and you can see the dampness on the floor around the base in the picture. Not a deal breaker but not happy either. 3 month Update (Sep 2021) ---------------------------------- I am writing this review three and a half months after installing enough time to get a good idea. The water is 17-18 GPG hardness from my city water supply I can definitely see a significant reduction in hard water scale formation. It does not completely eliminate but reduces it by 80-85% which is good enough for me. It forms light white smudges (not caked on scale like untreated hard water does) and the smudges are easily wiped out with damp cloth , no. CLR needed. Installation ************** This entirely depends on your water inlet pipe situation and plumbing skills. For my house the city water pipe was outside the garage (about 8 inches away and 6 inches underground ) and went under the foundation to surface at the faucets and appliances. So there was no section running inside the garage along the wall to install the descaler. The only way to do it was cut the pipe outside the grarage just before it went under the foundation, pull a loop from there into the garage through the filter + descaler and connect it back out. This was way beyond my plumbing skills and had a plumber do it, it cost me $600 but was well worth it. He did an excellent job and there has not been a drop of water leak. If you have the water inlet pipe easily accessible in your garage or basement and have medium level plumbing skills it can be installed easily.

Works great

I purchased the entire AO Smith Water system: prefilter, whole house filter, "Whole House Water Softener Alternative - Salt Free Descaler" (the title AO Smith uses), and post filter. I never saw any improvement with the hard water build up in my bathrooms and appliances. After a month I decided to buy some hard water testing strips. I tested untreated water, and the AO smith treated/filter water. Both strips indicated the same level of hardness. I call customer service thinking I had a bad "AO Smith Whole House Water Softener Alternative - Salt Free Descaler System for Home" which was as useful as the softener its self. She just kept reading the same scrip to me over and over no matter what question I ask. Basically she told me its not a softener, but a descaler, but could not explain the difference between a softener and descaler, or why they advertise it as a salt free water softener alternative if it does not soften the water, or remove any of the hard water from the water. I was told an AO employee who handles all the Amazon purchases would be contacting me. That has been over 2 months ago and still no contact. I was a General Contractor for over 12 years so I have a pretty good understanding of plumbing and from what I can tell without cutting open the device, it is nothing more than a 4 gallon settling tank. I plan on cutting it in half to see what it is and posting pictures so other people don't get scammed out of $400.00. On the other hand the AO whole house filter has removed the unpleasant smell and taste from my water. But we will see how long it lasts. A 600,000 gal warranty is only as good as its customer service, and AO Smith customer service is not worth the effort it takes to pick up the phone.

So far so good.

Exact replacement of existing. Arrived on time and undamaged.

Ce filtre est installé pour toute la maison. Réellement efficace.

I had to wrap the threads and unheard of 10 wraps to seal and bottomed out the nipple and still not really snug in the tank, likely not the nipple size and a drop still appears,I'm hoping mineral deposits will seal in time. They tell you not to use dope or sealant on the tank.

System works very well, bought the pre filter as well and I would recommend to do this for sure as a life extender to the main charcoal filter. Water is perfectly clean and no detectable chlorine what so ever.