Quick Tips: Knowing When To Change Your Water Filter

I’m sure you’ve seen an expiration date on something and had it be completely wrong. Well, water filters can be the same. Though it’s recommended you change them every 6 months or every 300 gallons, there are several factors that can make those numbers inaccurate.

This is our Quick Tips guide for knowing when to change your filter.

Tip #1: How Much Water Are You Using?

On average, we need to drink one gallon of water per day to stay sufficiently hydrated. However that's just a statistic, and how much filtered water you use is entirely dependent on your lifestyle. If you have a larger household, spend a lot of time doing athletics or working out, or if you just love the benefits that drinking a lot of water brings, you'll need to replace your filter ever 4-5 months since your average usage is higher.

Tip #2: Seeing Brown?

An easy way to tell if you need to replace your water filter is to look at your water. If it looks a bit more like tea or coffee than clean drinking water, don't panic and call your water company, just replace your filter.

Tip #3: Sometimes Life Is Hard (And Your Water Can Be Too)

Hard water may sound like an oxymoron, but all that means is your water has a higher concentration of minerals than average. If you find yourself using what seems like an excess amount of shampoo, conditioner, detergent, etc. to get things clean, or if your skin and hair are feeling dry and irritated, there’s a chance you have hard water. There are a few simple at-home tests to determine if you have hard water, and if you’re living in America, this handy map will point you in the right direction.

If you do have hard water, you will need to change your filter more frequently as the amount of minerals being filtered out of your water is higher than average. Changing your filter every 3-4 months is a good rule of thumb here.

Tip #4: Go With The Flow-rate

After a few months of filtering, minerals and sediments build up in your filter, which can impede the flow-rate of water out of your device. If you notice a change in flow-rate- i.e. notice that the water stream is weaker than before- it’s time to change your filter.

Tip #5: The Taste Test

A big reason to use a water filter is to improve the taste of your water. If you notice that your water no longer tastes delicious and fresh, or if it has that gross chlorine taste we all know and love (not), swap in a new filter. Your taste buds will thank you.

 Written By: Keanna Kahn