AO Smith Whole House Salt Free Descaler System - Works with City & Well Water Filters - 6yr, 600,000 Gl - Water Softener Alternative for Home - AO-WH-DSCLR

I bought 2. A pre filter and post filter it is easy to tell how well it works because the pre filter is nasty and the post filter is clean. It goes through a whole house filter and descaĺer before the post filter. It's nice to be able to see it work.

Water now clean, no hard water oder or taste.Even feels different. Will buy again.Well worth the result.

This was a replacement of a previous filter system. We had no issues and that is why we purchased the same unit. This is a great product. We had to return the product because one of the imports had been stripped and would not probably connect to the water source without leaking. Sometimes you just get an item that was not manufactured correctly. I would recommend this system. The return process was easy.

The whole house water filtration system was the best thing. I installed it with the descaler and it works great. Clean water at last.

I finally got around to having this installed by a plumber in my water softener loop. I had one that was 8 years old (another MFR) that I recently removed and decided that I NEEDED a chlorine filter. My old one was about 4 feet high and I wasn't sure if I needed to replace it or not, but I felt after 8 years, it must be due. I flushed this with the garden hose and the water was running clear in less than 10 minutes, so that was easy. What took me so long to install this was actually the plumber I was using. He had been to my home for a water softener and then again to remove the old chlorine filter. After BOTH visits, my water tasted and smelled like acetone for about 3 days even after flushing for over an hour. Well, I will tell you WHY this happened. The original plumber was in a rush and did not let the pvc primers/glue cure and completely dry enough before turning the water back on! I got a new plumber who waited about 45 minutes for it to cure and dry.....no smell or taste in the water! If you are doing this yourself or hiring someone, make sure you/they wait more than enough time for it to cure and dry COMPLETELY. If your water smells or tastes like acetone, there was not enough time given to dry/cure. And in my case 15-20 minutes was not enough time but 45 minutes worked well. If you get the smell/taste of acetone after turning the water on, the only thing you can do is wait it out, about 2-3 full days.The thing I noticed about this filter is that it is made by the same manufacturer that makes Aquasana filters. How do I know this? It was on the shipping label from the MFR to Amazon, then Amazon to me (there were 2 labels on the box) These exact filters are sold in lowes too for the same price here, but you don't have to lug it around and you may save on sales tax ordering online. I thought they were much heavier than they actually are which is why I ordered here.It works well, I smell no chlorine on any tap in the house. I also installed a pre-filter, (AO smith as well) that I picked up locally and installed that BEFORE this charcoal filter to get any sediment and rust particles from the city water. Yes, city water does have it and after one day, you can see the prefilter is no longer pristine white. After 3 days the prefilter is a light orange and I NEVER had a visible rust problem in my home. Now I know why my salt softener filter was slightly orange after a month! rust in the water. AFTER the charcoal filter is my salt water softener. I will absolutely buy this filter again in 6 years when it comes time to replace it. Great filter, great price, Amazon convenience and customer service if you need it.

I purchased the entire AO Smith Water system: prefilter, whole house filter, "Whole House Water Softener Alternative - Salt Free Descaler" (the title AO Smith uses), and post filter. I never saw any improvement with the hard water build up in my bathrooms and appliances. After a month I decided to buy some hard water testing strips. I tested untreated water, and the AO smith treated/filter water. Both strips indicated the same level of hardness.I call customer service thinking I had a bad "AO Smith Whole House Water Softener Alternative - Salt Free Descaler System for Home" which was as useful as the softener its self. She just kept reading the same scrip to me over and over no matter what question I ask. Basically she told me its not a softener, but a descaler, but could not explain the difference between a softener and descaler, or why they advertise it as a salt free water softener alternative if it does not soften the water, or remove any of the hard water from the water.I was told an AO employee who handles all the Amazon purchases would be contacting me. That has been over 2 months ago and still no contact.I was a General Contractor for over 12 years so I have a pretty good understanding of plumbing and from what I can tell without cutting open the device, it is nothing more than a 4 gallon settling tank. I plan on cutting it in half to see what it is and posting pictures so other people don't get scammed out of $400.00.On the other hand the AO whole house filter has removed the unpleasant smell and taste from my water. But we will see how long it lasts. A 600,000 gal warranty is only as good as its customer service, and AO Smith customer service is not worth the effort it takes to pick up the phone.

+ Has metal female thread connectors vs solid plastic threading. Has shut off, bypass and thru filter selection on handle. - reduces water flow thru less than 1/2 inch ports. & the bracket is weak so I used oversized washers to bolster it. fyi:I added a water regulator (on 3/4 inch copper lines) so psi is less but workable. Used 1807 astm pipe and parts (the most common size). Shark uses its own pex size for crimping. I avoided it. Their product is good, but I chose a more universal size-1807 astm. I set up a manual bypass of filter system in case of a quicha event. The Lower connection w the 1/2 inch white pex is for flushing filter when new or when the water company sends excess debris when working on street lines. Not necessary if you flush out to connected exterior faucet. Using pex w crimps was a joy. (vs soldering) You can still rotate pipe after crimping. I'll let you know how the filter works in a few months...maybe. The sediment filter dropped the hard water count by about 10%. Less junk for my kidneys. (the carbon filter on the fridge also reduced the hard water count)

So far so good I think this works been installed for a bit