What Is a Whole House Water Filter?

dog drinking clean water treated by a whole house water filtration system

What Is a Whole House Water Filter?

Updated: September 9, 2021 January 17, 2020

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Updated: September 9, 2021

Published: January 17, 2020

A whole house water filter, also referred to as a point-of-entry tap, is a system installed where your main water line enters your home. It can help reduce contaminants such as chlorine, iron, sulfur and more from your water. Whole house water filters bring cleaner water to every tap in your home. This means you’re able to access filtered water throughout your house when you wash the dishes, make coffee, take a shower, do laundry and brush your teeth.

Choosing the best whole house water filter will depend on what’s in your water. Culligan Water offers a wide range of whole house water filter systems with different types of filters. Some are designed to tackle the foul odors of chlorine, while others work to reduce sediment, iron, sulfur and arsenic in your water. Don’t know? We can help with a free in-home water test.

How Does a Whole House Water Filter Work?

How Does A Whole House Water Filter Work? Water goes through a bit of a journey before it reaches your faucet. It begins from a natural source, such as a lake, river or the ground, and flows through the earth into a treatment center. Along the way, water can pick up dirt, particulates and other contaminants that can make it hard, smell bad or taste off.

While the treatment center processes and treats the water before distributing it to your home, not everything is removed especially as new and emerging contaminants like PFOA, PFOS, pesticide and pharmaceutical runoff has impacted our water sources and many treatment centers weren’t set up to eliminate some of these contaminants. Further, water can pick up more contaminants as it travels from treatment centers to your home from aging infrastructure and old lead piping. This is where a whole house filter can help.

Do you get your water from a well? Well water often has dirt, silt, clay and other types of sediment — all things a whole house water filter can help with. In fact, Culligan’s High Efficiency Whole House Well Water Filter Systems are customized to treat well water that’s specific to your region, so you can enjoy better quality water no matter where it originated from.

More than just a water filter for your faucet, a whole home filtration system helps to take hard or problem water and turn it into cleaner, safer water that’s better for your entire home and your loved ones.

Depending on which whole house filtration system you choose, your water will be processed through several levels of filtration to help catch as many impurities as possible. In general, a three-stage process takes places which includes:

Whole House Water Filter Stages

The Pre-Filter Stage
This stage is designed to remove your water’s larger particulates and contaminants. This typically includes impurities like sediment and silt. Water containing sediment can damage your plumbing and appliances over time, but this filter will help catch these unwanted purities. Be careful not to neglect your pre-filter. It’s recommended that you replace it every 2-3 months to ensure your filtration system is working at its best.

Activated Carbon Stage
The next level of filtration helps to reduce chlorine and chloramines. Activated carbon binds and removes these contaminants in your water for an added layer of protection.

Post-Filter Stage
Any contaminants left in your water will pass through the post-filter. This stage helps to remove any remaining sediment and contaminants from your water before it reaches your taps. We recommend changing your post-filter every 6-12 months for optimal results.

How Do I Know If I Need a Whole House Water Filter?

Signs That You Need A Whole House Water Filter While some contaminants go unnoticed, others aren’t so discreet about their presence in your water. Problem water can leave stains, have a foul odor or even taste bad. Signs that you may need a whole home water filter system are:

A rotten egg smell coming from your drinking water
Streaks on your dishes and deposits on plumbing fixtures
Dry hair or skin after showering
Bad flavors in your drinking water
Rust stains on your appliances
Corroded pipes

However, it’s not always so easy to tell what is in your water just by looking at it. While some contaminants may cause your water to smell or taste bad, others can go undetected by your senses, such as:

Arsenic: Both odorless and tasteless exposure to this contaminant can become toxic over time. Furthermore, prolonged exposure to arsenic has been linked to various skin and health conditions.
Nitrates: Colorless, tasteless and odorless, this contaminant can result in the growth of other bacteria in water and increase carcinogen creation in adult bodies.
Lead: This contaminant is invisible, odorless and tasteless, making it difficult to notice. Long-term exposure can lead to adverse health problems.
PFOS: These are man-made chemicals that may have leaked into water supplies and are difficult to breakdown in the environment and human body. Because of this, studies have shown that they can accumulate in your body overtime, leading to negative health implications.

So, how do you know if you need a whole home water filter if you can’t tell what’s in your water? Testing your water is the only way to know for sure if it has picked up contaminants along its journey to your home.

How Do I Choose the Best Whole House Water Filter for My Home?

Culligan Water has several types of filters designed to reduce different types of contaminants. However, your water quality will depend on where you live and where your water supply is from. With our comprehensive water test you can find out what is in your water once and for all. Culligan Water Experts can help you choose the best whole house water filter specifically for your home and the contaminants that might be in your water.

Our whole home water filtration systems have helped improve the water in thousands of homes throughout North America. A few of our best whole house water filters include:

High Efficiency Whole House Well Water

High Efficiency Whole House Well Water Filter-Cleer Water Filter: Ideal for homes using well water, this system both softens and filters sediment from your water using four filters.

Culligan Medallist Series Whole House Water Filter: Low maintenance, affordable and efficient, this filtration system helps to reduce chlorine taste and odor in water, removes dirt, clay and other sediment and neutralizes acidic water.