Whirlpool Standard Capacity Household Filtration System #WHKF-DWH, Filter Not Included, Reduces Sediment, Sand, Soil, Silt, & Rust

What i ordered

I bought this filter housing as a replacement for a nearly identical one that I had used for years. The older one was not transparent, and it seemed to be developing cracks at the bottom. The transparency of this one was a plus for me because several times in the last year or so, the water in the housing was latte-colored when I replaced the filter. If that happens again, now I’ll be able to see it when it does. This filter was a trick to install because it was just a tad different in size from my older one. I used the old bracket, but had to replace some of my copper tubing to get the lengths right. And then I had a hard time stopping the leaks at the housing. The cap is plastic, but there are threaded metal rings at the inlet and outlet ports. I took the whole thing down and re-taped the parts that screw in to the ports, but one side still dripped very slowly. I gave up and let it drip into a paper towel for a few weeks. The drip was just enough to show a single damp spot on the paper towel. Then after a few weeks the dripping stopped; the towel was dry. If this is your first whole-house filter, you may need professional installation. You’ll need to find a place where it will accessible for filter changing. You need to think about where the bracket can go to leave things accessible. At a minimum you will need shut-off valves on both sides of the filter, and you might want/need a bypass pipe that can go around the housing. Then you will need the basic plumbing fixtures to connect to the housing between the shut-off valves. I have changed the filter in this housing once. First you turn off the water flow with your shut-off valves on both sides. Then you MUST release the pressure with the little red button on top of the housing. After doing that, it was easy to break the housing loose and get it turning free to unscrew it. I was a bit dismayed that it didn’t release the water in the cap before the housing came off completely. Maybe I should have hit the button again. But there was still water in the cap when the housing dropped, and that water went everywhere. My unit is accessible with a step ladder, but it was awkward when the housing dropped out and water went to the floor, and I was holding the housing, heavy with water and filter, above my head. I could have done with less water. After that, the filter replacement was easy, but then I struggled to get the housing aligned right to thread back into the cap. It took several tries, and the thing is really heavy with a heavy filter. Having found latte-colored water in a whole-house filter housing, I have been using a better filter than the simple paper ones. Doing that really improved the taste of water from the tap. I would also not do without a whole-house filter.

This is a decent filter and uses standard cartridges. My only complaint is that it can be tough to get the bypass button and lever to work for the easy cartridge changes that are promised. I’ve head to shut off the water a couple of times and release pressure to make the bypass work. Not horrible, but not as good as expected.

I just received this whole house filter housing and my first impression is that it's made very well - better than any I've owned in the past. In fact, this is replacing one that failed and caused a real problem. That is that a tiny piece of white seal blew out of the filter holder and plugged a tiny orifice in my water softener and it was a pain figuring out what was causing the problem. I thought I just received a lemon so I re-ordered another one of the same kind and the exact same thing happend. In addition to messing up my water softener, the bypass and off positions didn't work anymore. One thing I definitely insist on is brass or stainless steel threaded inserts in the inlets and outlets and this one has stainless steal inserts. In the past that was pretty much standard and I was suprised to see that most filter housings these days don't have that feature. That's a shame because you really have to tighten the connections to avoid leaks. Speaking of leaks, I just installed this water filter housing in about ten minutes (replacing my old filter housing so I didn't have to cut pipe. I don't have a single leak. I mention this because one reviewer who says he's an experienced handyman found that his filter housing leaked when he only used Teflon tape. He removed it and used pipe dope. I didn't have that problem but I wrapped the threads about 6 times with Teflon tape. Be sure to wrap clockwise as you look at the end of the fitting. I've seen so many people in YouTube videos wrap counter-clockwise and that can force the tape out of the threads. What I think could be improved is that the O-ring seal for the clear housing is set in a groove in the housing top itself and it can easily fall out. It could even get stuck in the head and if you aren't careful and forget to check for that, you may have a big leak on your hands. In every other water filter housing I've had, the O-ring fits in a groove in the head, not the filter container. I laid a thin bead of silicone grease in the groove and pressed the O-ring into it to possibly hold the O-ring in place and also help seal the filter container. I also put a thin coating of silicone grease on the threads of the head. This helps to keep it from becoming hard to remove the cannister and it also helps prevent leaks. I've always done this and it's been very helpful. Whatever you do, don't ever put petroleum based grease (including Vaseline) on the O-ring. It will destroy the O-ring and I've even seen that happen. Petroleum based greases attack rubber. Use silicone grease. I'll update this review if something goes wrong in the future but, for now, all is good.

Well, oddly enough writing a review never thought I'd actually have to write. This is one of those products that shouldn't have any issues...ever. But here we are. Walked down into my basement and heard a strange hissing sound. Ran into furnace room where water piping, etc is also located and saw it was getting flooded and coming OUT of the canister. NOT leaking at the seal/pipe fittings, or anything else, was blowing through the BOWL. There's a fine split in the bowl (look at the photos). There is NO damage to the outside of the bowl, has never been dropped, just had the filters changed as specified. I did get at least a couple years out of it. But will be looking for a new brand after this. With as thick as the plastic is on that bowl, this shouldn't have happened. As a mechanical engineer, only thing I could think of is there was a small fracture that didn't get picked up in the manufacturing process and over time the pressure finally pushed it through.