Filtrete Standard Capacity Whole House Grooved Water Filter, 5 Microns, Universal Filter, Sump Style Drop-In Filter, 2-Filters (4WH-STDGR-F02)

I'm still skeptical if it will last for 6 months, so I give 4 stars.

There was nothing to dislike

My town has fairly good water, but I don’t completely trust what happens between the pumping stations and my house. I’m big into raising goldfish, building my own hydroponics systems, and gardening. I’ve seen the impact poor water quality and chemicals such as chlorine, chloramines, and other unknown chemicals have on fish (tumors, etc.) and plant growth rates and it can be pretty scary. So I’ve long been interested in researching water quality and finding economical ways to improve our water.The first line of defense is a Pressure Regulator Valve as we have extremely high water pressure by default. It was so strong that it was really pushing unwanted particles through the filters. Then I have two 3/4s whole house filters behind that. The first filter housing contains these 3M sediment filters. Our water by default has high mineral content (mostly iron), and the sediment filter drastically reduces the Total Dissolved Solids values in half from ~120 PPM to ~60 PPM. Also,I wouldn’t completely rely on a sediment filter to remove odors. The next filter is a 3M carbon filter which is where I remove most odors and smells. For the most part, this in itself is fine enough for cooking and showering and even drinking. With the filters on bypass, you can really taste the difference.As for the filters themselves, I’ve tried many different brands, combinations, and micron levels but always find myself coming back to these.To take things even further (which is arguably unnecessary unless you have a real water-quality problem or are on a well), I run the water through a whole house 12 GPM UV-C water sterilization system just in case something even smaller such as bacteria gets through.Next, I have under-the-sink Reverse Osmosis systems installed for drinking. These are hooked up to alkaline filters which reintroduce mineral content back into the water in order to make the PH more basic and taste less ‘sweet” since much of the salts were stripped out by the RO. With the Alkaline filter reintroducing mineral content, we’re looking at ~10 PPM which is very acceptable. Even just drinking out of the tap (which is filtered), you can still taste a big difference.Two other tips worth mentioning:1. You may want to consider having check valves installed so you don’t have water being vacuum sucked back into a public water supply. I’ve seen my own water without them going in reverse back and it’s a little unnerving. You have to figure that there’s other neighbors out there that don’t have them, so things like medications, food, chemicals, etc. can be sucked back into the public supply which may enter yours—hence I personally think it’s prudent to install a filtration system.2. Also always follow the manufacturer’s replacement instructions regarding these filters because after a while, the filters can degrade and become even worse than what they were trying to cure.

We love these filters! The filters do an extraordinary job at filtering sediment. We have a very deep, 900ft well on our mountain. Our alkalinity is perfect. We purchased all new appliances in the past couple of years. These were recommended due to their ability to filter down to 5 micron's. These not only keep us healthy, it will preserve the life of your appliances easily by double due to their filtering ability.

I don't know why people are calling these "Carbon filters." They certainly are not. These are basic filters for sediment. They are not even certified for water quality production standard 42 which is basic. They are only certified for standard 42 material standard. That means the NSF certification group only has certified that the materials of the filter should do the job of removing some sediment and odors but the product hasn't actually been tested to see if it actually does it! You will not get removal of any chemicals, cysts (common microscopic protozoa that can make you sick) nor anything like lead or other dangerous chemicals (like haloacetic acid and worse). Standard 53 is the next one up and if it is certified for "production" standard 53 it will take out some of these chemicals/protozoa just mentioned.So these work fine for just keeping some sediment out (maybe some odors) but please read up on NSF/ASI certification for water filters. I see people making all kinds mistakes and assumptions about home water filters. People are very misinformed about this and have problems also with the micron rating. The smaller the micron number the smaller the particles or molecules they will take out. Almost all chemicals are smaller than 1 micron unless they are "coagulated" into particles which they won't be if they are in your regular house water. You need special charcoal filters and reverse osmosis filters for that. Most of these filters are 5 microns; you can choose 30, 10 or 5 microns for this product. Always choose 5 if your water pressure is normal. Smaller than 5 can start to require higher water pressure to force water through and if you don't have it your water (pressure) coming out of faucets will drop and be inconvenient or worthless.

Been buying this type for years. It's on my subscription

We have a whole-house water filtration system because we have a well. Although our well water has tested negative for nasties, the pump still brings in a lot of sediment. These Filtrete versions catch a tremendous amount of particles -- so much gunk that it's scary -- and we wouldn't use anything else. Yes, they require more frequent changing because of all that they filter out, but that's worth it to know that our water is purer for it. These fit in our 14-year old Culligan cannister-type filtration system.-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

Compatible as expected, after embarrassing lesson learned. At first I was disappointed when these arrived, as I brought them down to the new filter and held it up to the clear plastic reservoir these looked much much smaller than what was inside. Keeping in mind I was aware the shape of the reservoir would distort the image, it still didn't seem like considering this factor that it would ever be a fit. So I got frustrated and left them on the shelf. Well eventually I picked some new ones up from the local store where I got the actual filtration system from, and turns out they were indeed the same size and and compatible. So lesson here is don't look through the plastic reservoir to compare sizes, you won't get it right. Trust the specs.

Traps sediment well and lasts a good length of time

Works as advertised

Ok for the price

Product is as described and fast shipping.