Best Sediment Filters for Well Water (Reviews & Buying Guide 2020)

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Sediments are a pain in the neck for most people. They make your tap water muddy and clog pipes. Sediments also shorten the life of water appliances such as water-heaters and washing-machines.

Here’s the deal…

After digging through hundreds of customer reviews and doing hours of research on the best sediment filters, I think the following are the best for most people. 

(Here’s a quick summary-:)

• Best Sediment Filter For Well Water: Ispring WSP-50 (Amazon)
• Best Whole House sediment filter: Rusco Spin down Separator (Amazon)

Best Whole House Sediment Filters Reviews

ISpring WSP-50- Best Sediment Filter for Well Water

ISpring WSP 50 spin is ideal for removing large contaminants. The dimensions are the 3.5-inch width X 9-inch length.

Further, the pressure range is between 20-90 psi. According to the manual, the stainless steel ball valve allows for easy on/off flushing the sediment out.

Therefore, you don’t need to buy any cleaning tool. Finally, because the sediments are trapped at the lower part of the clear housing, you can detect when flushing is required.

ISpring WSP-50 Gives You…

• Woven wires “Made From Stainless Steel” that is able to filter lots of sediments.
• Acts as a preliminary filter to increase the lifespan of other filters such as water softeners & DIY filters.
•  Ability to monitor the filter because of the transparent housing
•  Guarantee from the seller to replace or repair the filter for the first year.
• An ability to “Automatically Flash” when dirt accumulates.

What I like

It is very easy to backflush the filter manually. You can even be able to do it daily. Therefore, improving your water pressure. To add, iSpring WSP is made of thick plastic and brass so you can be sure it’s a solid product that will not break easily. Finally, the product is well packaged, so you don’t expect it to arrive while damaged.

What I don’t like

Although the filter catches a lot of sediments, the clear-out is not so efficient. Therefore, you have to keep on monitoring the build-up of particles. If you don’t manually clear the filter the flow will drop greatly.

North Star EPASF1- Self Cleaning

 This filter is meant to be installed at the point water enters the house capturing sediments from the water and flushing them down the drain. The unit is installed with an automatic control that runs on a 9 Volt battery.

The main work of the control is count days until self-cleaning is due. Additionally, you have the option to use a 60-micron filter that the filter comes with or you can choose to buy a 100-micron filter or 150-micron filter.

North Star EPASF1 Gives you…

• A way to filter water at the point of entry for the whole house without losing pressure.
• You will never have to replace filters
• You have the option of replacing the use of the battery with an “AC Power”
• Ability to filter a large amount of water before it needs to self-clean.
• Uses a 9V with an average life of 750 hours with low battery indicator

What I like

Although the filter is self-cleaning, you have the option of manually cleaning the shower filter. Also, the self-cleaning feature means you will never have to change filters. Finally, If you don’t want to keep changing batteries, you have the option to install AC converter (not included when buying)

What I don’t like

The flow rate of North Star is at 35 GPM which is a bit low. In addition, the pressure ranges from 30-125 PSI

Rusco Screened Spin-Down Filter System

I have included Rusco Screened spin-down filter because of how flexible. It is easily one of the most versatile sediment filter available. It can be used for Drinking water, landscaping agriculture and livestock feeding systems.

As you probably know, the maker of this filter Rusco company has been a leading provider of sediment filter solutions for decades. They’ve built a reputation with their customers that’s second to none in terms of quality of there sediment trappers.

Rusco Screened Spin-Down Filter Gives you…

• Ability to maintain high flow rates of up to 50 GPM
• You don’t have to fear reduced pressure because it can give a maximum pressure of 150 PSI.
• A variety of port sizes depending on your needs.
• You can choose between 1.5″, 2.0″ 1″ and 3/4″ sediment trappers

The good

Rusco spin-down is a very flexible sediment trapper and it can be used in a wide variety of are. In addition, it comes with a variety of mesh size selection so you can choose the one that works well depending on the type of sediments you have.

The Bad

Unlike other units we’ve looked at Rusco Spindown is a bit pricey.

Berkey BK4X2-BB Big

Berkey BK4X2-BB Big is a system that can clean both dirty well water or treated city water. The filter system gets rid of not only sediments but also microorganism that might be found in the water. It has a storage capacity of about 2.225 gallons. In addition, it is made of high-grade stainless steel, so you can be sure it has a solid design.

Overview

• Made with stainless steel
• Capacity to clean 3.5 Gallons per hour
• Includes branded stainless steel water container
• Filter life of 3000 gallons

What I like

It’s obvious this is one of the best water filters in the market.  In addition, the capacity to process 3,000 filters is impressive.

What I don’t like

The cartridges are not made by the same company. Therefore, the quality is not of the same quality. In fact, some customers who bought the product on Amazon complained of the filter being of low quality.

Hayward S310T2 Pro Series- Best for filtering sand

Hayward pro series utilizes a unique technology to increase the flow rate. This patented technology reduces energy consumption because of the high flow rate. It’s easy to assemble and install, so you will not need to call a plumber to install it for you. In addition, it’s made from non-corrosion-proof polymeric materials, so you can expect years of filtration without any problem. It uses 6 vari flow control valves which are good for maintaining good pressure. You choose a variant of sizes from 22″, 24″,27″, and 30″

Overview

• uses high rate flow technology
• Made using corrosion-proof polymeric material
• 98 Gallons per minute
• Full-size internal piping and 47,040 Gallons Turnover in 8 hours
• 30.5 inches sand filter tank
• 6 position valve option
• vari flow control valve

What I like

The best thing with Hayward S310T2 Pro Series is that its long lasting because it is made with durable corrosion-proof materials. The filter has great quality components that are long-lasting.

What I don’t like

The packaging is not that great. In fact, some client left that review on Amazon. Another thing, the weight is a bit too heavy compared to its size.

Water Filter Buying Guide

The first step when choosing the best sediment filter for well water is to identify the kind of sediments you have. As you will find out, the type of sediment determines the type of filter you use.

Off the bat, you should know that sediment filters are only appropriate when you have solid particles.

If you have contaminants dissolved in water such as iron and calcium, you have to go for filtration systems with “Additional Power” such as water softeners.

When buying a water filter, you should consider the following parameters.

Flow rate- The capacity of the filter to clean water is measured by Gallons per minute.

Type of impurities that you’ve. Different water conterminant require specific types of filters to get rid of this contaminants.

Operation Pressure-Every filter has a maximum rated pressure that it can operate on.

Finally, you should consider the budget. A water filter can get really expensive with some going for thousands of dollars. You should consider your budget before making a decision.

Types of sediment filters you can choose from.

• “Spin-Down” are good at filtering very dirty water at a high flow rate. The advantage of using a spin down filter is you don’t need to change cartridges, and they can handle large particles such as sand.
• Centrifugal separator filter -Works the same way as gravitation force which makes particles settle at the bottom. In this case, the gravity force is increased by the centrifugal force.
• Cartridge filter systems- Cartridge use filtration media such as carbon. Water passes through the cartridge and the media will absorb contaminants. The big disadvantage of this type is the cartridges have a limited lifespan.
• Backwashing media filters-This are tanked filters which filter using filtration media. When the filter bed has accumulated lots of sediments it renews itself by back-washing. Back-washing is where water enters from the bottom of the filter bed and lifts and rinse the be and then exit through the top.
• Ultra Filtra on UF membrane systems-Ultrafiltration uses a membrane with small poles to separated sediments from water.

Sediment Filters FAQs

Filtration is the removal of particles from water by taking it though a permeable media. Filtration process can be grouped into several groups depending particles size or the way that the particles are removed.

Surface filters are filters which have pours which act as sieve. Particles that are bigger than the pores are trapped on the surface of the filter

Depth Filters

The depth filter traps particles within the permeable medium. The advantage of a depth filter is that it can remove many types of contaminants while surface filters are only able to remove solid.

Absorptive filters

The absorptive filter media are capable of retaining smaller than the filter pore size.

What does sediment filters remove from the water?

As the name suggests sediment filters act remove solid particles that are found in water. These particles include sand, rust, rocks, and organic material that are found in the water. Sediment filter does not remove substances that are dissolved in water such as heavy metals and other chemicals such as fluoride.

What is a sediment filter cartridge?

Filter cartridges are the components that carry the filtration agents. The filtration agents include absorbent materials such as carbon and KDF. The absorbent material normally gets depleted as the filters work, so you will need to keep on replacing the cartridges.

Types of filter cartridges

• Spun
• Melt blown,
• Resin-bonded
• Pleated filter
• String wound

Melt Blown v/s String wound v/s Spun filter

String wound filter Cartridges

String wound cartridges were the first type of filter element that humans started using. These filters are good at trapping microparticles that range from 0.2 to 10 microns. They are good because they are an all-purpose filter.

Melt Blown Filters Cartridges

Melt blown filters are made by a process where air flowing at high velocity blows through molten polypropylene resin to form layers of webs. unlike sting wounds, melt-blown are able to process chemicals. Thus, they are good for various industrial application.

Pleated Filter Cartridges

The pleated cartridge is surface types filter. Unlike the melt blown filter, pleated cartridges are more expensive. They are able to filter between 0.45 to 0.1 microns.

Media Filter cartridges

Unlike the other filters that work mechanically, media filters chemically change the water. There are many types of filters that are used. For example, Activated carbon, KDF, calcite,, mixed bed DI resin, and others

Polypropylene Water Filter Safety

Polypropylene and pet are safe to use because they don’t contain bisphenol-A (BPA) Which is mainly found in polycarbonate. Bisphenol A is found in hard plastics and it can imitate the body’s hormones leading to malfunctioning of the body cells.

Therefore, polypropylene filters are safe. However, you should ensure that your filters are not made of polycarbonate because they are harmful.