How Often Should I Change My Whole Home and Drinking Water Filters?

You’ve done your homework, talked with a plumber, budgeted it all out, and now you’re taking the final step: purchasing a water filter. The rest is pretty easy. You put the filter in and it does the hard work: capturing contaminants before they cause your family harm.

However, there is a critical, ongoing step to ensure your water filter continues to do its job long after install: you must change your water filters.

Now you might wonder why filters need to be replaced. It’s simple, really. If you don’t replace your water filter, contaminants will clog the filter, leaving no room to capture any other chemicals or particles, which will then flow out along with the water.

This can also mean that your filter becomes a petri dish past its expiration date, acting as a bed for bacteria to grow and multiply. Imagine drinking that with your post-workout dinner.

As you rush to figure out when you bought your filter and when you should be replacing the cartridge, it is important to first know which system you have.

With a wide variety of filters on the market, it’s important to note that not all replacement schedules are the same. Now, we can only speak for Aquasana, but even within our own product line, make sure you know exactly which filtration system you have before you purchase a replacement filter.

When it comes to your post-filter, Aquasana uses the same 10" Post-Filter across all of our whole house systems and these should be replaced every 6 months.

Lastly, if you have any add-ons to your whole house system, like a UV light or water conditioner, don’t forget those need maintenance too.

If you’re using our Salt-Free Water Conditioner, we recommend you replace your tank every 10 years or 1,000,000 gallons.

The Aquasana UV lamp is also a popular addition for many whole house users that helps protect homeowners from bacteria and water-boil warnings. We recommend that you replace your UV lamp every 12 months.