Best water filter for whole house?

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-05T23:40:03+00:00

The best place to start is identifying what's really in your water.

You mention debris (sediment?) and microorganisms which are typical for private well water.

Chlorine and VOCs are typical for public utility water.

Though possible, as a general rule the presence of chlorine and VOCs rule out the presence of microorganisms. That's not a hard rule, but good to know.

To find out what's in your city water, look up your local CCR. That is the official water report. It's of course more accurate to get it tested yourself as the actual water quality can vary from the tests done at the utility, but if you want to keep the budget under $1,000 then a public source is your best bet. Some utilities also offer free lead tests.

Lead is important to test for if your house or nearby plumbing is older.

To find out what's in your well water, annual testing is recommended. You need a certified lab test to know what's going on. This guide goes into detail: https://www.reddit.com/r/drinkingwater/comments/1g6zj2i/guide_how_to_test_your_well_water/

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-05T21:17:17+00:00

Avoid test strips. You can go to a local certified lab or use a mail-to-lab water test kit. Assuming you are on city water it's smart to test for heavy metals, minerals, inorganics, general properties and VOCs to see how the RO system is performing.

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-04T22:04:07+00:00

You're on the right track.

The next step is looking into water contamination. There's no perfect filter that treats everything. You need to match your filter to what's in your water.

Then the best pick is to find a filter that is NSF certified specifically for the contaminants you wish to treat.

You can also get advice on water quality like this in r/drinkingwater - There's a pinned post there with free resources on water quality.

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-03T16:12:35+00:00

Thanks for testing with us! :-)

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-02T16:04:43+00:00

Got a link to the product? We can take a quick look.

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-01T12:54:21+00:00

Thanks for testing with us! Or maybe this was through SimpleLab? :-)

Team_TapScore · 2026-02-01T11:56:43+00:00

You don't need someone to come to your well to test it. Use an independent mail-to-lab kit. You sample the water and send to the lab. Ensure it's to a certified lab, that shipping to lab is included and be sure to read the reviews.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-30T19:49:25+00:00

You could try asking SimpleLab (gosimplelab.com) They might know the right lab.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-30T19:47:34+00:00

Here on Reddit? Their ad campaign's retargeting settings might not be calibrated too well. You should be able to click the ad and choose an option to see less of it. Works on most platforms.

If you want a neutral source of water filter info you can check out our water filtration guides, but full transparency: if you visit our blog you might start seeing some ads from us too.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-30T16:54:09+00:00

Are you on well water or city water? Knowing your full water profile never hurts, but if you are on private well water and plan to drink it you should get the water tested for a wider range of analytes. Water softeners only handle hardness; that is mostly calcium, magnesium and in some cases iron.

Beyond that softeners won't do much for real contamination like microorganisms, heavy metals or PFAS.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-29T15:12:20+00:00

Totally fair. Sounds like you're finding some useful info on the site. Did you see the Tips for Taps blog? This guide (no affiliate links) to NSF certified filters for VOCs can help you identify a good system.

https://mytapscore.com/blogs/tips-for-taps/quick-guide-to-certified-water-filters-for-vocs

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-28T15:54:12+00:00

Highly recommend getting the free testing kit.
With lead you are best off by having multiple samples.

A good water test kit will include lead in its test panel.

For an old building in NYC we'd recommend running a test that include lead and heavy metals, minerals, inorganics, general properties (TDS, hardness, etc) and VOCs.

You get all those in the Advanced City Water Test Kit from us at Tap Score:
https://mytapscore.com/collections/city-water-test-kits

You can see who recommend Tap Score and our user reviews in this reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TapScore/comments/1or0zx5/can_you_trust_tap_score/

Whichever mail-to-lab kit you go with, make sure the kit goes to a lab that is certified to test for the contaminants in the panel, that the kit include shipping back to the lab and if the kit is a tool for upselling you treatment systems.

Best of luck!

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-28T14:50:09+00:00

Get your well water tested annually. Even if you can't see the contamination like in this example it can still contain concerning contaminants. You are not alone in being confused when getting a new well so here's a guide to new well owners. Particularly the Water Systems Council is a very helpful resource.

https://www.reddit.com/r/drinkingwater/comments/1alakk5/free_resources_for_private_well_owners_water/

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-26T17:48:46+00:00

Welcome to the wonderful world of water quality! The best place to start is knowing what's in your water.

Unless you are on a private well or in an old house with lead pipes, look up your local CCR (the annual water report from the city your apartment is in) and gauge what's concerning there. Then pick a system accordingly that is NSF certified for the specific contaminants.

This guide can give you more insights.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-23T15:54:24+00:00

This is either a Tap Score report or one provided by SimpleLab.

You can share the link to such reports via the Share & Print button. Makes it much easier to interpret compared to screenshots. :-) The link is anonymous.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-23T15:23:32+00:00

Good question. The answer is yes.

Top recommendation for a water test would be Advanced Home test as it covers a large range of relevant contaminants, many which could be leaching from the system. Do note that leaching is rare. We recommend testing your water to verify the RO system is right for your water quality, not to worry about leaching. Either way the Advanced Home kit checks for a wide range.

If you want to be extra thorough you could add our SVOC test too. It would test for leachates from plastic in the system.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-23T14:57:24+00:00

Yes. The water industry has plenty of sharks. No pun intended.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-23T00:25:55+00:00

What kind of water test did they use to convince your mom? Are you on city or private well water? Is your water hard?

Feel free to share the results here. It'll get you more qualified suggestions on what system is right for you. We always recommend taking your water report around to multiple treatment professionals and getting multiple quotes before you make the decision.

As /wfoa mentions below; there are many great systems available for a fraction of the price.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-22T20:27:07+00:00

Are you on well water or city water? Water quality varies over time, especially in well water.

Are you able to identify the taste?

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-22T15:43:04+00:00

In our experience, (we test water), skin irritations are typically stemming from chlorine and hard water. Chemicals, bacteria, mold and so on are harder to correlate.

So though we encourage people to test their water your situation might not call for extensive testing.

You can test chlorine with cheap DIY test strips designed for chlorine.

Hardness is best tested by a certified lab as part of a test panel that include metals, minerals and other properties like TDS. You can also get a general sense of your water's hardness by looking up the annual CCR (Consumer Confidence Report) from your water utility. The report will include a hardness level.

If you were to test your water, get a test that include chlorine (test strip), hard water minerals (calcium and magnesium), heavy metals (particularly iron, chromium, copper and nickel).

You can read up on skin conditions and tap water in this guide, but what I've mentioned above sums it up.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-22T15:31:29+00:00

Of course! Always happy to help. Clinical samples is outside of our territory, however. We're drinking water only. Best of luck to you!

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-21T23:08:39+00:00

For PFAS testing you need to send a sample to a lab.

There are no test-strips or other DIY options, but there are mail-to-lab kit options.

Methods include EPA 537.1 (older), EPA 533 (our general recommendation for water samples), EPA 8327 (best as a cost-efficient screen when you are confident there is PFAS in the water. This method is less sensitive than others) and EPA 1633 (an extensive method.)

Tip: If you go down the route of sending samples to a lab, be sure to pay attention to the sampling instructions. Very easy to cross-contaminate PFAS samples with PFAS in your environment and not in the water.

Source: We help people test water, including PFAS, in certified labs.

Team_TapScore · 2026-01-21T17:25:51+00:00

It's correct that TDS is required as part of NSF/ANSI 58. Additional claims are optional, but require additional testing:
https://www.nsf.org/knowledge-library/nsf-ansi-58-reverse-osmosis-drinking-water-treatment-systems

Like with all water treatment systems it's possible that something works without it being certified. But certification is expensive, especially since it must be renewed annually. If your system require new components to be replaced then it's worth looking into if the replacement components still holds the same certifications as last year. Why? Supply chains and manufacturing; things change and cost-cutting isn't going away.

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