Culligan FM-15RA Level 3 Faucet Filter Replacement Cartridge
by Culligan
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Culligan FM-15RA Level 3 Faucet Filter Replacement Cartridge
Customer Review: Bye bye Brita's crappy plastic adapters...Hello all-metal adapters from Culligan
Summary: 4 Stars
I've returned/exchanged nearly half a dozen Brita on-tap systems because they can't seem to stay on my faucet with slightly amount of pressure causing me to get sprayed with water as the filter comes flying off. It's all because of the how the Brita is screwed onto the faucet, all the parts are plastic, meaning all the threading is plastic. Plus to make it worse, the threading themselves were very shallow, so they don't lock in well at all, so it's no surprised that any small amount of water pressure can pop it right off. I also looked into PUR, but they also has a plastic threading system, so I didn't even both to give them a try. So for the past year or so, I store drinking water by the gallon, and when I need to refill, I would re-attach the Brita filter and run my water very slowly....a pain in the @ss to say the least.
I'm so glad I stumbled on this faucet filtration system. Too bad major stores like Target don't carry this brand, or else I would've bought it a long time ago. Thank god for Amazon. The instant I saw the all-metal connectors, I knew this would be my solution. I quickly skimmed through the reviews and confirmed it uses metal adapters, and I bought it with no hesitation. Two days later, the filter shows up at my door step (I LOVE PRIME!!), and I installed it right away. I have a no-frills Kohler faucet and the adapters fits perfectly. Culligan provides the same size adapters that Brita provides.
The water tastes fine, I could not tell any difference from the Brita. The reason why I only gave it 4 stars was because the filtration is kinda slow and there's no internal LED to indicate it's time to change the filter.
PROS:
- All-metal adapters...no more flying filters and wet faces (I hate you Brita!)
- Cheaper than Brita and PUR
- Provides the taste quality as Brita
CONS:
- SLOW WATER FLOW. No matter how strong I turn my faucet on, the water flow out of the filter stays the same.
- No internal filter life indicator like the LED light in Brita
- Filter not carried in major chain stores, not that big of a deal since I buy all my stuff on Amazon anyways.
Customer Review: Great filter if you follow this little bit of advice...
Summary: 4 Stars
At first, I did experience what a few of the other reviewers mentioned: after a short while the filter didn't appear to have any affect on the taste of the water.
The problem, I discovered, is that if you run the water through the filter too quickly (by opening up the tap all the way) the charcoal filter just can't do its job. As a rule of thumb, only allow enough flow through the filter so that it takes about 10-15 seconds to fill up a glass of water, and you'll have great tasting water. So, if you have high water pressure, make sure you don't open of the faucet all the way when filling a glass. There's just no way a filter as small as this can do its job properly at the max flow rate of most faucets. You really need a large in-line filter for that.
Note that this only applies to the filter's odor and taste removal properties, because this involves a chemical reaction of sorts where activated charcoal pulls chlorine (and other chemical) out of the water by binding to them. This is a completely different mechanism than what you normally associate with filtering, such as particles being caught in a mesh (which is essentially how the rest of the filter works in these, and so it's really only the odor and taste that is affected by the rate at which you let water through the Cullgan).
Customer Review: TDS Measured (Not Good)
Summary: 2 Stars
I won't bother telling you how the water tastes, or any of that subjective stuff. I have a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) and here are my measurements (averages):
Regular tap before installation of Culligan:
265 PPM
Tap with Culligan filter ON:
265 PPM
Tap with Culligan filter BYPASSED:
250 PPM
Conclusion:
The filter does nothing in terms of reducing particulate matter. In fact, the Culligan's own aerator (used when the filter is bypassed) is better at that. It's basically the wire mesh thing.
My tap is roughly 8 times dirtier than store-bought spring water (35 PPM on average that I've measured). The filter did not help me there.
The only reason I am keeping the Culligan is it will HOPEFULLY KILL whatever those particles ARE. I would rather drink 265 PPM of dead, inert material than 265 potential sources of disease.
I am very disappointed. I'm not equipped to prove how much disease is being prevented. Fortunately, the product is relatively cheap, so it deserves at least two stars. I doubt any of the other filter products fare much better as I have tried Brita and PUR in the past (don't remember my measurements, but they were terrible as well as being expensive).
Customer Review: The best one yet
Summary: 4 Stars
After searching for a reasonably priced faucet filter I decided on this one. Even the replacement cartridges are reasonable. I've gone thru Brita and Pur, the latter being the absolute WORST-leaking from every part possible- this one fit the bill. The only thing I have trouble with is if I have to remove it for some reason it's difficult to screw back onto the end of the faucet. Once on it's tight but it takes a little doing for me. The pin on the side that controls the flow of water into the filter now doesn't always pop back in. Someone that recommended this one to me has the same thing happen. But it's not a big problem. If it stays out, I pop it back in. I had to return the first one I got because the pin wouldn't stay out, first try,too, and pulling it out trying to make it stay out it pulled off completely. It happened to be bent on the inside, a factory problem. I got in touch with Amazon and in 2 days I had another one. You guys sure are great about that! This one has been fine, minus the pin thing, but the water tastes great. I got the subscription service to get a replacement cartridge once a month because I use a lot of water out of it. To me as far as these types of filters go and the price range it's the best one.Customer Review: A Water Faucet Filter That Actually Works!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Brita faucet filter does an excellent job of filtering out impurities from tap water -- that is, when it manages to stay attached to the faucet. However, in my experience with it (two years and two different models), a tremendous amount of my valuable time was wasted trying to reattach the filter after it would repeatedly fall off. Although I have no direct experience with the Pur faucet filter, my understanding (drawn from other reviews) is that it suffers from the same problem.
Happily, after purchasing the CULLIGAN Faucet Filter several months ago, I can now report with confidence that it is plagued by no such similar defect. In other words, once attached, it remains firmly in place, and works every bit as effectively as rival brands. So for anyone who has tried those other brands and encountered endless frustration in endeavoring to keep them attached to the faucet, my advice is: Don't give up just yet! Try the Culligan model. It's solidly built, competitively priced, and replacement cartridges are readily available from Amazon. For me, at least, the Culligan at last put an end to the gratuitous, time-wasting burden of having to continually reattach a recalcitrant water filter.