Whole-house water filter was a mistake - here's what happened in East Atlanta

I gotta disagree with everyone who swears by those big whole-house water filters. I dropped $600 on one from a local plumbing supply place near Glenwood Park back in March. First three weeks were fine, water tasted great. Then one Tuesday morning I wake up and there's water all over my basement floor. The housing cracked right at the seam, must have been a defect. I spent the next four hours sopping up water with towels and calling around for an emergency plumber. Ended up paying another $250 just for a guy to come out and bypass the whole thing. I pulled the filter out completely and went back to just using a faucet-mounted one on my kitchen sink. My water bill actually dropped by about $15 a month without that thing restricting flow. Has anyone else had a filter housing fail on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

black.patricia7d ago

My neighbor over in Ormewood Park had something similar happen with a filter he got from one of those big box stores. He was on vacation and came home to find the whole system had split right down the middle, must have been sitting there leaking for three days. His water bill was almost $200 that month and the drywall in his utility closet was all swollen and peeling. He swore off whole house filters after that and just went with a simple pitcher in the fridge, says it's good enough for making coffee.

amy_murphy152d ago

@black.patricia I saw your neighbor's situation and it makes me think the housing quality from big box stores might be even worse than what I got from the plumbing supply place. Mine cracked at the seam after just three weeks, which is insane for something that cost that much. The plumbing supply guy told me later that some of those cheaper filters use a plastic that can't handle the constant pressure changes from the city water system. East Atlanta has pretty old pipes too, so there's probably more sediment and pressure spikes than newer areas. I bet that's what happened to both of us, the plastic just gave out under the stress. Your neighbor's drywall damage sounds terrible, at least my mess was contained to the basement floor where it could drain.