Culligan HD-950A Whole-House Heavy Duty Inlet/Outlet Water Filtration System, Blue

Careless dispatch without quantity and quality checks

UPDATE 9/13/15: Still good as ever after bimonthly filter changes... 2 years and satisfied. I'm using this as a whole house sediment filter and it seems to be doing a great job. I had a little backwash filter before, well I've had two of those, and they don't last very long... this was about the same price, except of course I have to change the filter... no backwashing on a paper filter. My water is straight from a clean and clear river, so I just need sediment removed and it's used for everything except the drinking water, which then goes through a reverse osmosis system. I put the replacement filters on subscription. I did not give this a "perfect" rating simply because it's still new, we'll see how it holds up through time. This unit comes with a hefty filter wrench for changing filters, but as mentioned by others, the support bracket must be ordered separately. Since my unit is located in the pump house, it has 1" schedule 40 pipes in and out, so it seems sturdy enough. I'm happy with the installation and unit. Had no leaking at all. Because I had the backwash filters before, which only caught the big stuff, I have a second, smaller filter located at the water heater and another at the washing machine, since this is river water and we get cypress needles in the fall, but those stay clean with this filter in front of them... now that's just a backup to prevent other problems if this filter breaks. I bought the level 1 sed filter for use in this housing, but also bought a level 4 filter in case I decide to filter more... but that was double the price so I hope it's not needed. I'll save it for emergencies. Since I have all pvc in the pump system, installation was very simple for me, I just installed a plastic valve at the input and output so I can close it when checking/replacing the filter (I have a pressure tank located after the filter, as well as check valves).

Product is fine, only problem is no mounting bracket, just another expense , found same problem with other makers also.

I have not hooked this up yet so I cannot rate it on performance or otherwise. But the first one arrived with a rattling inside the box. Inside there was a small orange button (pressure valve button that you see on top in the picture of the item), a screw, and a small spring. All lose inside the box and rattling. I assumed the first one was broken and so returned it and asked for an identical replacement. The second one arrived today with the same lose item rattling in the box - totally loose - not in a plastic bag or anything. When this one came the same way as the first one, I assumed that was how they shipped them (very bad practice as the three parts are very small and when loose in the box, easily lost. Anyway, I then went to the instructions to see what I was supposed to do with these parts, and they are not mentioned anywhere. So, you have to figure how to use them and hope they will work as intended. A VERY poor way to sell and package this item. Hopefully, I have put it together correctly - had to guess.

I had a smaller filter on my house which is on a water well. My well has a fair amount of sand and rust and with the smaller filter and I was having to change the filter a lot. It was a pain. I figured that if I had a larger filter, the filter change intervals would be longer and life would be better. I ended up buying this. The big blue filter media is about 4x the mass of my older filter, which means the filter could theoretically last 4x as long. I haven't had to change my filter yet so I can't say with certainty if this is true, but I don't see why it wouldn't be. It was easy to plumb this into my water supply. I have PVC pipes and just turned off my pump and cut my old PVC pipes out and put in new. Warning: this housing uses 1" PVC pipes. Yes, I know it says it in the specs but make sure you know what size your pipes are. Mine were 3/4" and I wasn't aware of that. Fixed it with some 1" to 3/4" PVC adapters. Why did I only give it four stars? Well, this filter housing uses the standard 4x10" filter size. That's good. Then I found out they make 4x20" filters and housings. You can buy a new bottom (the part that screws on) and the longer filters and then you'll have double the filter. If I had known that, I would have gone that route. I can't just change the bottom on mine because the way I mounted it and ran my PVC pipes, there isn't room for the extra 10" below it. If I had known, I would have mounted it higher and routed the pipes differently just in case I wanted the longer filters. Also, there is a metal bracket made by Culligan that is great for mounting this. Amazon sells it for about $15. Worth it.

It works but - you have to know how to install it. Use pvc and cement for the fittings, it will not leak there if you do. Now for the o ring design, it should be bigger. They recommend you do not use the wrench to tighten, ONLY to loosen. Well I'm fairly strong and hand tighten it didn't stop it from leaking. So here is what we did, when putting the bottom on make sure the filter and housing are level as you can get it during screwing the housing on, make sure the o ring is seated all the way around, then hand tighten it, have someone turn on the water, it may leak, at the point slowly and I mean slowly tighten it with the wrench until you see no leaking water. If you over tighten it just a little too much it will leak.