How Often Should I Change My Whole House Water Filter?

A whole house water filter is the best way of ensuring all the water in your home is pure and safe to drink and use. Without such a system, even your municipal water supply may contain contaminants you don’t want to consume while well water could have all types of harmful bacteria, viruses, and other nasty surprises.

Like any system, a whole house water filter needs to be maintained to keep it operating efficiently. In the case of a filtration system, this mainly means replacing the filters at appropriate times. Failure to do so means your water will not be filtered properly or, in the worst cases, not at all, and bacteria may build up.

What to Change and When

Whole house filtration systems like Kinetico water filters have several components, and these can be arranged in various combinations, so all systems are different. However, they generally comprise a number of standard elements that require changing at intervals:

• Pre-filter will require changing every 2-6 months, depending on the type of filter you install and the level of impurities it has to deal with. The filter will be white when first installed but, if it’s now become grey, this indicates it needs to be changed.
• Main Filter Is a long-life item that can last over five years and possibly up to ten years. The recommended usage is often stated to be 500,000-1,000,000 gallons throughput although you’ll probably have difficulty assessing this.
• Post Filter is an optional feature but, if fitted, the sub-micro filter should be replaced every 6-12 months.
• Filtration tanks are good for 600,000-1,000,000 gallons and need to be replaced every 5-10 years.
• Water Softener Filtration tanks, if fitted, last around six years.
• UV Lamps kill various viruses and bacteria, and bulb life is generally about one year. Have a spare bulb so you can replace it when the current one fails.

Always consult the handbook for your system and establish a schedule to change filters. They may need to be changed more often if you have low water pressure, high levels of contamination, or if your water smells or tastes unpleasant.

Fitting New Water Filters

Whole house water filters can appear to be complex systems due to the multi-phase treatment. However, fitting new filters is a relatively simple process:

1. Turn off the mains water at the shut-off valve and, if fitted, the outlet valve.
2. Press the pressure release button on top of the filter housing.
3. Using a wrench, remove the filter housing by turning counterclockwise.
4. Take the filter out of the housing.
5. Drain the water from the housing into a bucket.
6. Clean the housing interior using warm, soapy water, then rinse and dry.
7. Insert the new filter into the housing.
8. Apply silicone grease to the rubber gasket on the housing to ensure a tight seal.
9. Screw the housing back into place.
10. Turn the water back on and you’re finished.

If this seems beyond your capabilities, we do provide a filter change service where we will also check the system is working correctly. We keep most filters in stock so can ensure you are never without them.

A water filtration system that works constantly and efficiently is vital for the health of your family. If you fail to change your filters when needed, they won’t work as well as they should, some impurities will get through and you may have a build-up of bacteria. Don’t take the risk.