AP904

I own this and got it installed about 3 weeks ago. I have city water. I did testing beforehand and saw that my tap water was high in alkalinity and calcium. I had a plumber install the full version of this filter that includes the descaler. Plumber had to cut open a hole in my townhouse garage wall. $1,400 for plumber. Great result though with very nice looking piping, very discreet and right up against the wall. The water was immediately noticeably better, after a 5-10 minute flush of the filter. Even though it is just a water conditioner/descaler rather than a softener, it has a significant softening effect. The chrome and glass in my bathrooms have already improved a lot in just a few weeks. I would say the water smells, tastes, and feels 80% better. Super easy to change the filter, so no reason this won't work perfectly for 20+ years. They could possibly even upgrade the replacement filter cartridge design in the future. It did reduce my water pressure 5-10%, not enough to care, but that was probably partially due to the loop in piping my plumber had to make. It does seem like the water pressure has improved a little recently though, so it is possible the descaler has helped increase the diameter of the piping throughout the house by loosening up some of the lime buildup in the pipes. It is most noticeable when just washing your hands. The water has a slightly slippery feel like a water softener, although only about half as slippery. I think water any softer feeling than this would be overkill. My plumber said that his company usually rebrands a nearly identical water filter to this and charges over $1,100 for it, so this is a great deal comparatively. Hard to imagine really needing more filtration or softening than this. I wouldn't waste the water pressure or time or money on a prefilter for this if you have city water; just replace the filter every so often. Over the years, it probably pays for itself at least halfway due to the increased life you get from your water heater, dishwasher, clothes washer, toilets, faucets, and fridge. I rate the overall effect and quality of this product a 9 out of 10. I still use a Brita for my drinking water because I didn't want to just throw it out, and it seems like this filtered water going into your Brita makes your Brita filters last way longer if you still want to use that.

We purchased our new, last, forever home recently and we loved everything about it, except the water smelled horrible. We have always preferred well water, but we didn't remember the water smelling this bad when we inspected the home prior to closing. We tried the activated charcoal shower head filters, but they did very little, if anything and I was beginning to think this was never going to be mitigated. We looked at every method out there and this system looked like the best option, if it would work. The filter changing method is by far the best available, so we settled on the Aqua-Pure. I installed it with CPVC and added added a spin down sediment filter in front. It took about 3 hours to plumb. After finishing late that evening, we checked the shower for smell and it was still there, but not as bad. By the next day it was completely gone and has been that way since. We had to cycle all of the old water out of the water heater before the smell would subside. We have had clean, odor free water for a month now and I can't say enough good things about this product. We'll see how long the filter lasts, but I'm hopefully optimistic that we can get 6 months to a year before a change. Great price, great system, simple solution. Update: 2 1/2 months later and our water is still odorless. I see some low ratings for this product and I believe the premature filter changes are due to not using a sediment filter in front of the AquaPure system. I use a 50 micron spin down filter in front and I have to backwash weekly and swap the reusable filter monthly due to sediment buildup. If I didn't have the spin down in front, I would probably have plugged up the AquaPure by now. 3M CLEARLY RECOMMENDS using a sediment filter in front and I believe I will get the maximum longevity from the AquaPure as a result. When my spin down filter is clean, I have maximum water pressure from my well. Update - August 15th, 2021: We have now been using this filter for 5 months and we have learned much about our well. Our well is 480'+ deep and only has a flow rate of 3gpm. Our previous home had a well not as deep but it had better water flow. We found out the hard way that you can't run a slip and slide for the grandkids without putting a strain on the well. When it gets overused, we see a lot of algae show up in our spin down filter, that is in front of our AquaPure filter. The algae clogs the spin down filter, which is a 50 micron filter, so we have to backwash it multiple times daily to restore optimal water pressure in our home. Our water without filtering is extremely smelly, like bad eggs, but the Aquapure filter removes 100% of the odor. I have seen a lot of people complain that the filter doesn't last long, but I am convinced that is because those individuals didn't use a prefilter on their system. The directions strongly recommend having a pre-filter in front of the Aquapure and I suggest a 50 micron spin down, because we have been going strong for 5 months with our Aquapure and I am amazed it is able to remove every bit of the odor. I believe we will get close to 12 months use from it. I am very pleased with our iSpring 50 micron spin down filter, as well. I will update when it becomes necessary to change the AquaPure. I would give it 6 stars if possible. One additional note. The AP917HD-S, AP917HD and AP910R all are interchangeable with the AquaPure quick change system. I purchased replacement filters, so I would have them when I needed a replacement. I tried the AP910R, because it still says in the description that it had activated carbon filter, but that is not true. The AP910R DOES NOT contain any activated carbon, whereas the AP917HD-S & AP917HD do. The AP910R did not remove any odor from my water, so don't make the same mistake and buy the AP902 system or AP910R replacement filter if you are trying to remove bad odor from your water.

Review of the AP904. Installed 6 months ago. It is a filter, not a softener, and does exactly as listed in the description. We had bad scale and sediment build up, after installation the difference was pretty obvious, but I gave this 6 month to properly give perspective on the product. Installation was easy, if you know how to plumb, otherwise have an experienced plumber do this. Makes sure to write the date and water as shown on your meter to track and know when to change the filter. Granted it is rated for 100k gallons but understand how to convert that to cubit feet so you know. Our town is rural and uses ground water so I suspect I will likely need to change at 75k gallons but I will see when the flow starts to diminish. Swapping the filter is super easy. The easiest filter swap hands down. I do recommend this for folks not wanting to invest in a house softener.

I initially purchased this filtration system because it was easy to swap the cartridges every year and had good water flow rates. It was a little expensive but worth the convenience. At the time, the AP917HD-S cartridge price was between $160 and $175. This was an annual cost for cleaner water. I can accept that, but the replacements are anywhere from over $300 to nearly $600 now - depending on the day! That's exceedingly expensive for this pretty basic carbon filter and is unacceptable. I can (and very well may) buy a good "multiple media" system for $1500 from a well known brand. While a bit larger, it is far superior and will last for about ten years. I argue that the bigger system, better, and cheaper system is far more appealing than this garbage. I get the feeling it was the bait and switch from 3M. "Buy now for a reasonable price!" Then I get the "real" price a couple years later. I'm disappointed in 3M. I wouldn't buy this again, considering the situation.

The only way to describe this is that it is an amazing small effective filter. I’ve seen filters 3 to 4 times the size and I would be hard-pressed to say they’re as affective as this small unit. The taste of the water, and how it is improve the quality of, our washer and showers is incredibly noticeable. We live in Florsa where the water is hard and filled with chlorine and calcium sediments. The water now is soft, clear and no chlorine taste and no calcium sediment on our fixtures. I can’t recommend this product enough.

So far, everything’s been good. I'm planning to install it again in my new house since we're moving. I bought it a few years ago for $269, but now it's $407 — the price has gone up a lot. :(

If you’re like me, you have residue on all of your fixtures, glasses, bowls, and silverware. And you’ve been trying in vain to fix it. Here’s a simple review. tldr version: This is very effective for fighting limescale. And with the assistance of the right cleaning solutions, will defeat it within days of installation. Above is a shot glass that I ran through the dishwasher before and after installing this filter. Long version: 1-21-24 I live in central KY. After a self water hardness test, we’ve got around 12-15 gpg. Basically, way too hard. What this means is that every time we run water in this house, we leave lime scale all over everything. We haven’t been able to use our dishwasher since we moved in, in 2022. After deciding a water softener wasn’t in the books as for the time being, I looked into alternatives. The main difference between this filter and others, is this filter has molecules that bond with the minerals that leave residue (calcium, magnesium, etc.) as well as other chems. This doesn’t necessarily get rid of these minerals, just keeps them from sticking. So if you’re budgeting but NEED a fix, this is a decent temporary solution. I’ll update this with time. (Also EXTREMELY easy to self install. Very much DIY)

Doing research into various brands we found that this 3M system would be the best for our situation. I could not install the system outside because of the Arizona heat and our water was coming into the house on the west side of the home which would have cause problems with the plastic housing. This was the only unit I found that would fit into a tight space between the hot water heater and the sink. Because of space limitations I was not able to plumb in the bypass as recommended but that's okay, a sink is right next to the unit to shut down the water line and reduce pressure for filter change. Once the filter was installed and ran for a day or two we found the water tasted better, showers felt good and we are thinking that the shower walls will remain cleaner as will the other appliances in the home. One last thing, it's just the two of us and this last month the water bill indicated a 6000 gallon use, this is far below the 100000 gallons before a filter change. We can buy a lot of filters for the cost of a system that would last 5 to 7 years. It's a great filter for a tight space and the cost is about $250..00 per year.

Bought this in advance of upgrading our water heater, as we'd been experiencing some sediment issues as well as smell (chlorine) and taste issues. I can honestly say that the difference was immediate, with the smell now completely gone and water actually feeling somewhat akin to having a softener in the system. We look forward to reduced/easier cleaning as we did have a lot of white staining on taps/fixtures prior to the installation.

Using filter on home water system (well water) Once installed have not had to remove sink spouts from being clogged with sediment.

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Update - July 22nd, 2021: The filter clogged again, even with the spin down. I’m being told by 3M that this filter isn’t suitable for our low quality water in the lower mainland. They suggest removing the AP904 and going with the 802 series, the cheap easily replaceable cotton style filters. Not very happy with this. Update - July 9th, 2021: OK, before you buy read this!! YOU NEED A PRE-FILTER. I have already gone through TWO filters in 4 months, and really they were clogged after 4 weeks, I’m just cheap so I suffer through horrible water pressure. At first I thought it might just be a faulty filter, but when the 2nd one clogged I knew it was our water. We live in the greater Vancouver regional district, and aside from chlorine I thought we had pretty clear water. Oh boy was I wrong!! Buy a 100 micron, 20 GPM spin down filter to put before it and it’ll last you much longer. If you get one with a drain on the bottom, you can close the filter output valve, turn on the bypass valve and back-flush the 3M through the spin down filter. I’ve attached a new photo with the spin down filter installed directly into the side of it. It was a $130 one from Amazon. Original review - April 8, 2021: I purchased the 904 triple stage filter in an attempt to combat the chlorine they add to the water in the GVRD. In the summer, when the water supply starts to get low, our tap water starts smelling like a pool. Ever since the Walkerton water crisis Vancouver puts a whole ton of chlorine in the water. This Chlorine irritates my wife and daughters skin, as they have Eczema. My hope is this filter will help them. I purchased test strips from Amazon and tested the water before the filter (outdoor taps) and after. In the picture, before is on the left, after is in the right. It’s still the spring right now, so our water isn’t crazy chlorine smelling, but you can see both chlorine squares are less on the test strips. It appears to be doing its job, I’ll use the test strips again in the summer and update this post. I already have all the tools for installation, but had to buy all the hardware. To do a proper bypass and two pressure gauges in pex with crimp fittings it cost almost $300 in hardware at Home Depot. I also replaced two 25 foot runs with anti-freeze faucets to my outdoor taps while I was at it, if I hadn’t done that it probably would have been about $225. So far I am pleased with the filter, it’s small, fits in my crawl space and the water tastes much better. I’ll update my review in 6 months when I’ve had more time with it.

Writing a couple years later, at the time cost was affordable, now they are simply too expensive. I'll try other makes and open them to see if 3M is actually worth the huge cost difference.