Pentair Pentek CBC-BB Big Blue Carbon Water Filter, Whole House Heavy Duty Carbon Block Replacement Cartridge with Bonded Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) Filter, 10" x 4.5", 0.5 Micron, White

I got this to replace an old 7-stage cartridge for my under-sink filter. While it would take a miracle to make my municipal river-water tap water taste great, this filter does a fine job of making it drinkable and refreshing.My house still has some galvanized pipes that are rusty and impart noticeable odor and taste in my water. This filter does an effective job at removing this. Also my city makes the water smell like a swimming pool. That smell is 100% gone now.I bought this one over similarly-priced granulated carbon filters at Lowes for that extra level of protection offered by block carbon. It is built very sturdily and has a good weight to it. The micron filter on the outside feels high quality.Carbon block is a very basic but effective filtering method that won't remove everything but does a good job of general improvements to municipal crap water. I would recommend if you're on a budget and want to upgrade from Brita filters or need to swap out an old granulated carbon filter. I feel like the multi-stage filters do a better job and get out more metals and chemicals, but they cost 4x more than carbon and don't last long. I'm comfortable enough with this filter as a safety measure for better water.

This Pentek filter works great. I use an APEC RO system under the sink. It's a good RO system but the APEC system's second and third stages come with 10 micron filters and the water still has a taste. I replaced the third stage with this Pentek .5 micron and the water is noticeably cleaner tasting. I seriously haven't found better tasting water.However, I did notice a CA Prop. 65 Warning on the label: "This product contains chemicals known to the state of CA to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm." and also that it's "Made in China". Between the two it makes me nervous. And the label says "Not performance tested or certified by NSF" yet also says "This cartridge is tested and certified by NSF International under NAF/ANSI standard 42 for material requirement only".. SO...Which is it? This is not enough to knock a star off the rating but I do lose that peace of mind. I wish I knew what it was that Prop 65 was referring to, the carbon? plastic? Is it NSF tested or certified? I don't see other filters with disclaimers so why the caveat emptor for this one?

Fits well works well. But with all carbon block filters don't forget to put a silver dime down the center before installation. Silver is a natural antibacterial substance. And after the water goes through the filter and the chlorine is removed it's always nice to have the silver there. But that's just my opinion.

Made in China. Not certified by NSF, only “independently certified”

Why did you pick this product vs others?:This is a direct brand replacement. I believe it is the best value filter you can get. It replaced our last filter we have been using for a year, way beyond it's volume and expiration period and still removes most of that reservoir water smell from the tap.This replacement along with a Brita filter pitcher for a fringe improvement gives us near snow melt well water quality you get in the high mountains in the spring. Our tap water isn't anywhere near the hard water you get from a southern California tap but has a bit of lake water smell, occasional mold fungus that immediately starts growing on the toilet bowl with a lot of new PVC pipe leaching into it, while on it's way here. Following any fungus blasts some kind of fungicide usually follows.Needless to say, a chemical reducing .5 micron biological safe water filter is a must here.This is the one that has led the pack for us.

Good

We purchased this undersink cartridge at least twice, but the one we installed on 1-20-25 is already totally clogged! Within 2 months! 20,000 gallons? We don't even use this water for drinking, cooking (have a well for that). So there is no way we have ran anywhere close to 20,000 gallons through it. MOF, we haven't used 20K in total , including 2 showers, commodes, hot water, outside water hoses, dishwasher, clothes washer. Naturally, no recourse with the seller.......... UPDATE!! Amazon made it good! That's why Amazon is the best... Thank you.

Good filters at a decent price.