The popularity of whole house water filtration systems is on the rise because of its effectiveness in producing quality water. It is extremely beneficial in removing common contaminants found in well water. Well-water is not in an ideal condition for use or consumption when it is in the raw state and requires a thorough cleaning in order to get rid of extra minerals and contaminants.
A water filtration system can be the ultimate go-to product for this purpose. Especially if you are uncertain about the quality of water that you use. Whole house water filtration systems can be seen as a more convenient and inexpensive option to invest in. It is for this reason why so many people are willing to purchase them. The only problem is that there are so many options available in the market, this makes the buying process harder for us. This is why today, we have outlined the best whole house water filtration system for well water to help you identify the one that suits your needs the best.
Best Well Water Filter Reviews
Top 9 Well Water Filtration Systems (Compared) | ||
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![]() | Editor's ChoiceSpringWell Whole House Well Water Filter System
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Aquasana Well Water Whole House Filter
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Express Water Heavy Metal Whole House Water Filter
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iSpring WGB32B-PB 3-Stage Whole House Water Filter
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![]() | Pelican Iron & Manganese Water Filter
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![]() | ULTRA SpringWater Whole House Well Water Filter System Combo
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![]() | Pelican Premium Whole House Water Filter System
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Home Master HMF3SDGFEC Whole House Water Filter
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IFilters Whole House 2 Stage Water Filtration System
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Let’s start reviewing all these well water filters without wasting any further time.
1. SpringWell Whole House Water Filter System – Best Overall
- Flow Rate: 9 GPM
- Efficiency: 99.6%
- Filtration Capacity: 1,000,000 gallons of water
- Best for: Removes iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide
More Features: Weight is 82 pounds and it’s suitable for 1-3 bathrooms. It has a Lifetime warranty.
This whole house water filter is specially designed to treat well water. The water goes through multiple filtration stages to become clean, healthy, and safe to use and drink. It comes with a salt-free descaler and UV filtration system to make your well water clean and free from contaminants.
The unit is designed to provide maximum filtration without a need for regular maintenance. It’s unique upflow and dual-tank design is responsible for increasing the time that the water spends within the contaminant removal media resins. Also, it prevents clogging to never reduce the flow rate. The water tanks are quite long-lasting. Also, the filters are easy to replace.
When the well water enters into the filtration system, it meets with the sediment-pre filter. And then it goes into the salt-free softener, copper-zinc & mineral stone, activated carbon filter, sub-micron post-filter, and the UV filter. Each filtration stage works well to remove various contaminants and pollutants.
The sediment pre-filter is of 20-inches that is two times effective than the 10-inch pre-filter. It makes the water free from sediment, rust, and silt. The salt-free softener stops minerals from forming scale build-up. And the copper-zinc & mineral stone is responsible for cutting down heavy metals, chlorine, and scale along with restricting the development of bacteria and algae.
The activated carbon filter is used for the removal of different chemical compounds, herbicides, and pesticides. The purpose of adding a sub-micron post-filter is the elimination of remaining particles and sediment. And in the end, there is a UV filter that removes viruses, bacteria, and germs.
This whole house well water filter doesn’t need drainage lines or backflushing. Also, it doesn’t include any contaminants back into the water.
2. Aquasana 500,000 Gallon Well Water Whole House Filter – 6-Stage Well Water Filtration System
- Product dimensions: 69 x 10.5 x 57 inches
- Filtration Capacity: 5,000,000 gallons of water
- Best for: Sediment, rust, silt, and heavy metals
More Features: One thing that you might see as a drawback is that it is an expensive product. Also, customer service is not great.
This whole house water filter is specially designed to treat well water. The water goes through multiple filtration stages to become clean, healthy, and safe to use and drink. It comes with a salt-free descaler and UV filtration system to make your well water clean and free from contaminants.
The unit is designed to provide maximum filtration without a need for regular maintenance. It’s unique upflow and dual-tank design is responsible for increasing the time that the water spends within the contaminant removal media resins. Also, it prevents clogging to never reduce the flow rate. The water tanks are quite long-lasting. Also, the filters are easy to replace.
When the well water enters into the filtration system, it meets with the sediment-pre filter. And then it goes into the salt-free softener, copper-zinc & mineral stone, activated carbon filter, sub-micron post-filter, and the UV filter. Each filtration stage works well to remove various contaminants and pollutants.
The sediment pre-filter is of 20-inches that is two times effective than the 10-inch pre-filter. It makes the water free from sediment, rust, and silt. The salt-free softener stops minerals from forming scale build-up. And the copper-zinc & mineral stone is responsible for cutting down heavy metals, chlorine, and scale along with restricting the development of bacteria and algae.
The activated carbon filter is used for the removal of different chemical compounds, herbicides, and pesticides. The purpose of adding a sub-micron post-filter is the elimination of remaining particles and sediment. And in the end, there is a UV filter that removes viruses, bacteria, and germs.
This whole house well water filter doesn’t need drainage lines or backflushing. Also, it doesn’t include any contaminants back into the water.
3. Express Water Heavy Metal Whole House Water Filter – The Heaviest Whole House Water Filter for Well Water – 0.25 GPM Flow Rate
- Product dimensions: 23.5 x 8.5 x 30 inches
- Weight: 65 Pounds
- Filtration Capacity: 1,000,000 gallons of water
More Features: The best thing about this filtration system is that it doesn’t wastewater. The pressure gauges are included.
Another 3-stage water filtration unit for well water is from Express Water. With a flow rate of 0.25 gallons per second, it is one of the fastest filtration units.
There is no need to spend your time and money on its maintenance. Its simple design makes the filter replacement quick and easy. Also, the first stage housing is transparent that allows the users to keep an eye on the condition of the filter for on-time replacement.
The 3-stage filtration process eliminates various major well water contaminants. The first stage of filtration uses a sediment filter that features four filtration layers. It prevents sediment, rust, sand, and dirt down to 5 microns from passing with the flow of water.
The second stage of filtration uses a KDF filter that is constructed with catalytic carbon along with ionically charged zinc and copper particles. It is responsible for eliminating heavy metal contaminants including arsenic, lead, iron, mercury, chlorine, aluminum, hydrogen sulfide, and more.
The last stage uses an activated carbon filter to remove various chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, turbidity, and bad taste and odor.
Other than this, the unit comes with easy pressure release buttons for easy filter replacement. Also, it features a stainless-steel frame so that the unit can stand easily and firmly.
But one thing that is not good about this filtration system is that the water pressure drops massively across the KDF filter.
4. iSpring WGB32B-PB 3-Stage Whole House Water Filtration System – Best for the Family of Four
- Product dimensions: 21 x 8 x 27 inches
- Weight: 2.38 Pounds
- Filtration Capacity: 1,000,000 gallons of water
More Features: The unit also offers an excellent water flow rate of 15 gallons per minute. The 1-inch inlet and outlet create very less impact on the water flow and it brings the best water flow.
The iSpring offers a 3-stage whole house water filtration system that is perfect for treating well water contaminants. It not only provides you healthy and contaminated-free drinking water but also keeps your appliances protected and extends their life.
It must be installed at a point where the well water enters your house. As it is a whole house filter, so you are going to get the filtered water from every tap of your home for drinking and other use.
When the water enters into this iSpring filtration system, it gets an effective treatment from the polypropylene sediment filter. This high capacity filter removes sediment, rust, large particles, dust, and silt. The second stage of water filtration includes CTO carbon block filter that features coconut shell carbon. It removes chlorine, pesticides, VOCs, herbicides, and other pollutants that change the smell and taste of water.
Both the sediment and carbon block filters meet the NSF/ANSI standards to provide excellent quality filtration.
The filter is also responsible for removing lead and iron in its third filtration stage. It reduces lead quite effectively to below 15 ppb. Other than iron and lead, it also eliminates other remaining heavy metals to offer you harmless water to drink and use.
The filter also keeps healthy minerals inside the water to provide you healthy drinking water.
But despite all the right things and features, the filter unit is painful to install according to some users.
5. Pelican Iron & Manganese Water Filter – Best Iron & Manganese Water Filter
- Iron removal filter: 10 PPM
- Filtration Capacity: 600,000 – 1,000,000 gallons of water
- Best for: Iron and Manganese removal
More Features: This 4 stage water filter comes with 7 years warranty. The filter can work well up to 5 years that’s an excellent average.
Effectiveness: Pelican iron and manganese filters are perfect for all the well owners suffering from iron contamination in their water. A high iron concentration can be a nuisance in your daily life. Apart from gruesome red-colored water, iron and manganese can shorten your appliances’ life, make your laundry look dirty, and leave spots on surface tiles and crockery. Pelican brings a perfect solution for all this trouble: a 10 PPM iron removal filter. It is way more effective than other filters in the market, which can remove a maximum of 7-8 PPM iron concentrations. Pelican removes iron, improves taste, and eliminates odors from your water.
Working Mechanism: The system, being one of the most effective in the market, makes use of 4 stages to remove iron and manganese from your water.
- Stage 1: Sediment Filtration Stage – The first stage is the sediment filtration stage. It employs a 5-micron sediment filter to remove suspended particles like dust, rust, debris, dirt, and sand from your water. These particles can impact your plumbing fixtures and significantly reduce the water flow rate. They are also harmful to your appliances.
- Stage 2: Chlorination System – The chlorinator is directly installed in the water supply line. Unlike the other chlorinator systems, the good thing about this system is that it does not need electric power to run. The water pressure drives the system and pulls the required amount of chlorine concentrate. Once the water is mixed with concentrate, it leaves the system downstream. The amount of water entering the chamber decides the amount of chlorine taken. The pressure (slow or fact) of water has no impact on the volume of concentration taken from it.
- Stage 3: Iron Removal Stage: With the help of a powerful greensand-plus filter, all the iron in the water is trapped in this stage. The iron and gravel are then flushed out of the system through the backwashing system.
- Stage 4: Carbon Filtration – The last stage ensures there is no chlorine left in your water. The chlorine added in the second stage to ensure the disinfection is now being removed in the last stage. It ensures that chloramines, VOCs and other harmful contaminants are removed from the water.
Flow Rate: Based on the flow rate, Pelican offers two variants for its buyers. You can either chose from 1-3 washroom model (10 GPM) or 4-6 washroom model (15 GPM). Both of the options have a superior flow rate, and you can easily open kitchen tap with a reasonable flow rate.
Capacity: The filter has a working capacity of 600,000 – 1,000,000 gallons of water, which can be used in a period of a maximum of 5 years. You would need to change the filtration media after any of the above limits have passed.
Installation: It would not be difficult for you to install the system if you are a DIY person and know about the plumbing connections in your home. A detailed installation guide is available and can be downloaded from here.
Warranty and Certifications: When it comes to the warranty cover, you get a 3-tier warranty on this filter. A 90-day satisfaction guarantee, a 7-year limited warranty on the solid-state microprocessor (the head unit), and a limited lifetime warranty on tanks and parts make this filter stand out from the rest. The materials used in the filter are approved and certified by NSF/ANSI and WQA for standards like 42 and 61.
Technical Details: Both the variants can operate at a temperature range of 36-120 F and handle water with pH in between 7-11. The optimum operating pressure is 25-80 PSI. The connection size is 1-inch, and the drainpipe is 50-feet in length. All the things needed for setup are included in the box.
Pros
- Can filter a high concentration of iron and manganese
- Extensive warranty cover
- Excellent flow rate
- Non-electric System
Cons
- The chlorine injector system makes disturbing click noises
Our Opinion and Verdict: The only issue with this filter is its system makes disturbing click sounds. Other than that, it is a state of the art iron/manganese removal filter. We give this filter a rating of 9.6/10.
6. ULTRA SpringWater Whole House Well Water Filter System Combo – Best for the Family of Four
- Water flow: 9 – 12 GPM
- Efficiency: 99.96%
- Filtration Capacity: 1,000,000 gallons of water
- Best for: Iron, Manganese, hydrogen sulfide
More Features: This water filter comes with a Lifetime warranty and 6 months money-back guarantee.
If your well water contains higher levels of hydrogen sulfide, iron, and manganese, then this ultimate combo system is for you. It is the combination of the whole house well system, whole house carbon filtration system, and a salt-free water softener. You can either buy a system for 1-3 bathrooms or 4-6 bathrooms according to your needs.
The whole house well system eliminates 1 PPM of Manganese, 7 PPM of Iron, and up to 8 PPM of Hydrogen Sulfide. Then the well water goes through a carbon filtration system where four different filters remove other harmful contaminants. These filters include pre-sediment filter, KDF filter, and coconut shell carbon filter. After four-stage filtration, water goes into the salt-free water softener that uses Template Assisted Crystallization (TAC) system to remove hardness.
Other than this, if you want to remove bacteria and viruses, then you can add the SpringWell UV water purification system. You have to buy this system separately.
Its innovative, well system head allows you to control the overall system. With Bluetooth technology, you can adjust different settings like backwash cycles, timing, air draw, and more.
You will also experience no drop in water pressure. The 1-3 bathroom unit has a flow rate of 9 gallons per minute, and the 4-6 bathroom unit offers 12 gallons per minute.
Also, its installation is easy but takes time. The kit includes pre-filter housing, sediment filter, mounting bracket, bypass valves, and an electronic head. Also, there is an O-ring, hose bib assembly, hose clamp, and a spanner wrench. To install the unit, it is recommended to hire a plumber or handyman.
7. Pelican Premium Whole House Water Filter System
- Flow rate: 8 – 12 GPM
- Filtration capacity: 600,000 – 1,000,000 gallons
- Removes: Chlorine, micro-organisms and other contaminants
More Features: The unit is perfect for small family. It’s 97% effective against chlorine and sediments. Moreover, it comes with 90 days money-back guarantee.
Effectiveness: The whole house’s well-water filtration system is particularly effective against chlorine, microorganisms, and several other contaminants found on your water. It can remove up to 97% of chlorine and provide you with quality water in each tap. The filtered water will make your skin and hair healthier, enhance your health, and improve the taste of your food and beverages.
Working Mechanism: The filter uses a 4 stage filtration process to provide you water, which is better than bottled water. A brief explanation of each stage is given below
- Stage 1: Sedimentation Filtration Stage – A 5-micron sediment filter ensures that no suspended particles are left in your water. Sediment filtration is very important for the extended life of plumbing and appliances. A sediment filter must be replaced every 6-9 months to ensure effective results.
- Stage 2 & 3: Activated Carbon Media Filtration Stage – These stages remove chlorine, chloramines, VOCs, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and other harmful contaminants found in your water. This stage uses a high-grade excellent quality meshed blend of a catalytic coconut-carbon filter.
- Stage 4: Copper and Zinc Oxidation Stage – The last stage uses a Pelican special copper-zinc KDF media. It is placed to ensure that bacteria, viruses, and any other pathogens do not leave your water from the machine. It ensures that all the bacteria and viruses are oxidized and removed from the water. The protection may not be as solid as a UV light, but it is pretty decent.
Flow Rate and Capacity: If you live in a small house, then the 1-3 bathroom-model is perfect for you. It offers a flow rate of 8 gallons per minute and has a filtration capacity of 600,000 gallons. For the larger model, with a capacity of 4-5 bathrooms, you get a faster flow rate (12 GPM) and 1,000,000 gallons. You can use this volume of water in 5 years, and then you would need to replace the tank-1 media.
Installation: Just like the Pelican filter reviewed above, installing this one is also not rocket science. you may be able to do it yourself if you know how to manage your plumbing and make some connections, a detailed guide to help you out while installing the system is available here.
Warranty and Certifications: This model also has a 90-days money-back satisfaction guarantee, a 5-year performance guarantee, and a limited lifetime warranty on tanks and parts. This warranty does not cover the replaceable parts. The filter and the parts are certified against NSF/ANSI 42 and 61 standards.
Technical Details: The filter can handle the temperature and pressure of 36-120 F and 25-80 PSI, respectively. The tank sizes are 9-inches and 12-inches based on the capacity of the specific variant. All the connections are 1-inch in size to enhance the flow rate.
Pros
- Excellent performance
- Huge filtration capacity
- Low maintenance unit
Cons
- The unit makes noise while operating
Our Opinion and Verdict: This filter will give you peace of mind, improve the water quality, and notice that your skin, hair, and health have improved. We recommend this filter for all the people looking for a well water whole house filtration solution. We rate it a 9.6/10.
8. Home Master HMF3SDGFEC Whole House 3-Stage Water Filter – Comes with Oversized Filters – 15 GPM Flow Rate
- Product dimensions: 24 x 9 x 25 inches
- Weight: 48 Pounds
- Filtration Capacity: 1,000,000 gallons of water
More Features: This filtration unit also requires less maintenance as the oversized filters make this unit maintenance-free.
The Home Master offers a reliable 3-stage well water filtration system that features oversize filters to provide improved water flow rate. Also, the size of the filters reduces maintenance frequency. With a 1-inch port, it offers the best possible flow rate of 15 gallons per minute.
The filtration unit is quite capable of removing various well water contaminations up to 95%. Its multi-stage filtration process is quite effective in removing multiple impurities that make the water dirty, unhealthy, and unsafe.
The first stage of water filtration includes a high-capacity PP Sediment filter that removes large particles, dust, silt, and rust. It features four filtration layers from 25 microns to 1 micron to prevent both the large and small particles from passing with the flow of water.
The second stage filter is the iron reduction filter that features a radial flow design. It reduces iron along with manganese and sulfur up to 3 ppm. The filter offers excellent filtration with less pressure drop due to its radial flow design.
In the last stage of filtration, the activated coconut shell carbon filter eliminates various harmful chemicals. Also, it improves the water taste and removes the bad smell.
Other than this, the unit requires feed water pressure from 20 psi to 90 psi and temperature from 40F to 100F.
One drawback of this filter according to some users is that it doesn’t effectively remove the sulfur smell.
9. iFilters Whole House 2 Stage Water Filtration System – 3 GPM Flow Rate
- Product dimensions: 18 x 12 x 6 inches
- Weight: 7.8 Pounds
- Flow Rate: 3GPM
- Efficiency: 94%
More Features: This water filter comes with a built-in pressure-relief button due to which there is no loss of water pressure. Furthermore, it’s easy to install. It has 5-micron rated filtration.
This whole house water filtration system from iFilters is designed in California. It is a 2-stage filtration unit that reduces and filters various contaminants from both the well and city water. With 5-micron rated filtration, it removes 95% of sand, dirt, and sediment along with silt and scale particles. Also, it eliminates chlorine taste and odor, heavy metals, mercury, industrial pollutants, and pesticides.
The first stage has a high-quality polypropylene sediment filter that offers exceptional sediment filtration, and the second stage treats water with a coconut shell granular activated carbon filter to remove chlorine taste and odor.
The maintenance of the system is quite simple. The built-in pressure relief button helps you to remove the filters for replacement and maintenance easily. The system also comes with standard threaded ports for easy installation at any home or office.
If we talk about its flow rate, then it is 3 gallons of water per minute. And the life of the filters is up to 6 months. But it totally depends on the quality of water you are getting through the well or city water line. The replacement filters are quite affordable, that is also a plus. But make sure you are replacing the installed filters with the original OEM tested filters. If not, then you may fail to experience the same filtration performance.
The system comes with a 1-year parts warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee. Also, the components used in the construction of this whole house water filter are all NSF approved.
What is Well-Water?
Water that comes through our pipes is pumped out from the ground and often contains all kinds of minerals and impurities. Well-water comes from rainwater that is stored in underground porous rocks. Underground water often absorbs magnesium, chlorine, chlorides and other contaminants while underground. According to this article, contaminants like these can become harmful in larger quantities. They can also make our water taste or smell weird. This is why well water must be properly filtered before use.
A whole house water filtration system will help remove all harmful bacteria from your water that gives it a bad taste and odor. The water is filtered either through a biological process or a physical barrier, both are equally effective.
Why do you need one?
Clean drinking water is a necessity for most of us and something that shouldn’t be compromised on. Most of the regions we live in have water sources that require filtration. Well-water comes from the ground and contains all kinds of harmful contaminants and impurities that can be damaging in many ways. The odor in well water itself is unnerving and comes from the bacteria present in it.
A whole house water filtration system would be effective in the removal of such elements and odor. It can provide you with a supply of clean and safe water at all times. These filters can effectively turn hard water into soft water.
Hard water vs Soft water
A whole house water filter system will ensure that the water running through your pipes is cleaned of any extra particles that make it “hard”. Most of us are not familiar with the term hard and soft water, so let’s see what they mean.
Hard Water
Hard water generally contains a greater amount of minerals including limestone, chalk, and dolomite. While these minerals are not harmful for consumption in small amounts, they can build up in your plumbing and damage it over time. Along with damaging your plumbing, they can also damage your skin and hair. Hard water tends to rob the skin and hair of moisture, making them dry and irritable.
Soft Water
When hard water gets treated for the removal of excessive minerals, it turns into soft water. Soft water tastes better, is less damaging for your body, and doesn’t harm your plumbing either. The treatment includes replacing mineral ions with sodium ions to reduce the hardness of the water. It is important to note that sodium can be unsafe for watering plants and so it should be avoided for this purpose. It is not otherwise harmful to your health.
Whole house water filters are the most convenient and inexpensive way to treat your water for hardness when compared with other options. They are effective in removing contaminants. These filters are installed between your main water source and the faucet that distributes water to the rest of your plumbing. These faucets act as a barrier and stop the minerals from passing through them.
Things to keep in mind before investing in one
Drinking clean water is a necessity for all of us. Recent studies have raised questions regarding the quality of water we are consuming on a daily basis.
There are all kinds of filtration systems available in the market. This makes it hard to figure out exactly what sort of system should you go for. To make your task easier we have identified the key factors to look for before making your final decision.
You should learn more about the quality of your water supply. This will help you figure out the contaminants present in it and find a filter system that can effectively deal with them all. If your water supply comes from a well then a whole house water filtration system would be more suitable than purifier pitchers or other filters. Most water quality reports can be accessed online easily and can help you easily identify the different contaminants present in the water.
The other thing to look for is the filter types that most of these filtration systems contain. It is important to note that all the filters can remove basic contaminants, unpleasant smells, and improve the taste. The models especially focused on well water will treat other heavy metals, minerals, and impurities as well. The only drawback is that these filtration systems can be expensive to purchase and install. Another thing to look for is the flow of water and if the system will be able to provide you with enough water to fulfill your daily usage requirement or not. Your water flow should bet at least around 10 to 15 gallons per minute. Anything below this would not be sufficient to cater to bigger houses.
Cost is equally significant when it comes to making a purchase. You might want to get the best setup for the lowest cost, most of us do. However, these filtration systems can be expensive. It is important to note that you would not have to only pay the initial cost but also others including filter replacements and capacities costs. The last thing to look for is the storage and space required to install these whole house water filtration systems.
To sum things up, the key factors to look for include:
- The quality of your water supply
- Type of filters
- Flow of water
- Costs
- Storage
All of these will assist you in making a decision that fits your needs the best.
In my opinion, I am not really satisfied with iSpring WGB21B design cause it did not allow for visual assessment of the filter so I don’t know when should I replace a new one. I only know this problem after buying it. It can be better if the cartridge was translucent.