AO SmithWhole House Salt Free Descaler System - Works with City & Well Water Filters - 6yr, 600,000 Gl - Water Softener Alternative for Home - AO-WH-DSCLR

When we recently moved into our home, we switched from well to city water. The chlorine taste and smell of the city water was terrible! I was buying cases of water to drink and it was adding up.We decided to purchase this whole house filtration system after reading all of the great reviews. My husband installed it himself in less than a day and instantly we could tell a difference in the quality of our water. There is absolutely no smell and it tastes so amazingly fresh! The size of this device is very compact and fits in a convenient area that's not in the way.In six years, we will purchase another!! 😊

+ Has metal female thread connectors vs solid plastic threading. Has shut off, bypass and thru filter selection on handle. - reduces water flow thru less than 1/2 inch ports. & the bracket is weak so I used oversized washers to bolster it. fyi:I added a water regulator (on 3/4 inch copper lines) so psi is less but workable. Used 1807 astm pipe and parts (the most common size). Shark uses its own pex size for crimping. I avoided it. Their product is good, but I chose a more universal size-1807 astm. I set up a manual bypass of filter system in case of a quicha event. The Lower connection w the 1/2 inch white pex is for flushing filter when new or when the water company sends excess debris when working on street lines. Not necessary if you flush out to connected exterior faucet. Using pex w crimps was a joy. (vs soldering) You can still rotate pipe after crimping. I'll let you know how the filter works in a few months...maybe. The sediment filter dropped the hard water count by about 10%. Less junk for my kidneys. (the carbon filter on the fridge also reduced the hard water count)

Easy to install

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.

Works great!

I replaced an older filter with the AO Smith model. I had changed the old filter system many times without difficulty: release the pressure; rotate the filter housing off; put in a new filter; screw the tank back into place. Because the shutoff valves and plumbing were already in place it wasn't difficult to connect the AO Smith filter holder to the water system. With the filter cap connected, I attempted to screw the clear filter tank into the holder. The threads were extremely difficult to align properly. I disconnected the plumbing and placed the filter cap carefully upside down to see what was wrong. Even with perfect alignment, the filter housing was very difficult to turn. The threads were obviously not well manufactured to match. I used some fine steel wool to make sure there no imperfections in the threads and finally got the tank to screw into the cap, but still with considerable difficulty. I re-connected the unit to the water supply. Unfortunately when the system is installed, the tank must be screwed up into the holder, so getting the alignment correct is basically impossible. It was past the return window so it's now in the trash and I'm looking for a better-manufactured filter system. SOLUTION: As soon as your whole-house filter arrives, open the box and see how easily the parts go together. If they don't screw together easily, return it. PS. This system also did not have a groove for the o-ring seal. Another ding against this product.

I replaced an old non-transparent filter housing with this AO Smith transparent version. Being able to see the state of the filter is a huge convenience. The filter it comes with is a basic sediment filter, which is okay but not ideal for drinking water. I replaced it with a .5 micron filter which is ideal for drinking water.

Works fine