APEC Water Systems WFS-1000 Super Capacity Premium Quality 3 Stage Under-Sink Water Filter System

I purchased this to replace an Amway E-84 filter system. Upon replacing a kitchen sink faucet and all of the related decades-old plumbing and valves, I didn’t want to use the existing saddle valve setup anymore. Besides, the E-84 replacement filter elements are no longer available and I saw a lot of mixed reviews on the aftermarket substitutes. This unit looked good and the reviews were good so it looked like a winner. Installation is so easy, even a caveman………..well, you know! They supply a “T-fitting” that connects to your water supply valve and then feeds your faucet as well as the filter. Since I did all of my plumbing changes before selecting a filter, I had put in a separate supply valve for the filter. So the only change I needed to make was to add a brass 3/8” compression cap ($2.36 at Home Depot - SKU #613289) with a rubber washer to the T-fitting (see photo) and then just connect the supply hose for the filter. The rest was a snap. Installation of the faucet is simple—don’t over tighten it! You just need to snug it up. Some of the faucet parts are plastic where my previous unit was all metal, but a new “A” brand filter is almost $1200! For the cost of this unit, I don’t mind a few plastic parts. The faucet works fine and is also quite a bit taller which makes it easier to fill large pots and pans when cooking. I have to say that for the price, I am very impressed. The water tastes great and filter changes will be a lot easier that my previous filter. In addition, the water flow is excellent. APEC even offers the opportunity to register online to extend the warranty on this filter. Depending on where you live and what your source of water is, they offer a variety of filter cartridges to fit your needs. This unit is definitely a winner and I highly recommend it.

I've been installing drinking water filters in every house I 've lived in for many , many years. Whether I've owned or rented. Country cottage, or city condo. The last one was a 2 stage G.E. undersink model which lasted about 9 years, until the filters started to get bad manufacture reviews. It's hard to find filter systems that are super quality, pro size, like the APEC WFS-1000 without going reverse osmosis. This system is the same size as a whole house filter, but made for undersink drinking water! All other filters I've used up to this point are pathetic in comparison. This system just makes sense! And it fits easily under my smaller single size condo sink. It installs with high quality, easy fit, parts. The tubing simply slips into quick connect style fittings. The tubing is industry standard size. You won't have to look for some companies special, proprietary connectors and tubing size, years down the road. This is heavy duty, high quality, stuff you'll find at your hardware store. But APEC puts it all together with American parts. The standard issue sink faucet is above average quality, and the water flow is way more than the 2 stage filter I replaced! Taste is as good as it gets! Really! And you just gotta know that water quality is superior, because of overkill in the filtering capacity, when compared to anything but a reverse osmo-system, but without the wasted water. The only upgrade I wish APEC supplied, is a clear canister for the 1st stage grit filter. This would put the system "over the top" in convenience for filter experts like me. Since water supplies vary from place to place, a person could visually monitor the condition of his replacement schedule, without relying on an arbitrary 1 year change-out. This schedule in reality is directly effected by tap-water quality, and amount used, in a specific time. Also, check it out....the price is right!!

As a system, its fantastic. The universal 10" filter cartages allow you to put in whatever your hearts desire, from standard carbon filters, to Hydrogen Sulfide Reduction filters, to special nitrate removing filters. The setup was easy and straightforward, they included teflon tape which was a plus. You really don't need to go to the hardware store at all. However after doing some research, it appears that the filters included in this kit are good for removing chlorine and other compounds but not lowering TDS. With the filters that come with it, the TDS is lowered by 10 or so, from 350 at the tap, to 341 from the filters. I tested it against my Britta water pitcher and it averaged 230 over 3 readings. The pore size of the filters is about 5 microns, which is small (the thickness of a piece of printer paper is around 50 microns), but you can definitely get smaller. After searching around on the APEC website, you can buy filters down to 0.5 microns. Further digging led me to another company that sells a sediment filter with a pore size of 0.2 Microns for about $35. I can't find anything smaller. The bottom line for me is getting a 200 or lower TDS from this filter system. Maybe its impossible without R.O. But I will update this review once the 0.2 micron filters get here. ***UPDATE*** After the 1micron and .5micron filters arrived I installed them in my unit. Alas it only lowered the TDS by an additional 20, so you can lower the number of TDS by 30 (±10) when using the 5micron, then the 1 micron, then the .5 micron. Lets be honest though TDS stands for total dissolved solids, asking a normal sediment filter to remove that is a tall order. I will say it did improve the taste though.

Update one and a half years later: 1st stage filter: We use at least 10 gallons and at most 30 gallons per day for the entire household. This is to clean prepped and final rinse ingredients, and drinking and cooking water. After a year, the 1st stage sediment filter I replaced was only half spent based on the color and condition depicted by the manufacturer's info. Our municipal water supply is clean to some level, but delivery pipelines tend to make things dirty along the way. I can push the filter probably to 1.5 years before replacement. However! Do take into consideration about bacterial formation inside the system. Have your filter test for bacterial formation before thinking in prologing the replacement. 2nd and 3rd stages: I replaced them both. Comparing the manufacturer's photos side-by-side, the filters were not even half spent. Again, replacing them per manufacturer's recommendation is a wise way to minimize risk. I have the filters tested for bacterial formation, and filter water evaluated. The quality rated to pass the strict drinking water standards. This includes any PFAS and heavy metals. PFAS was not indicated on the filter's specs, but what little was in the water supply, the filtered water came back as non-detect. Taste: After around a month of constant usage, the taste of the new filters go away. It actually has a unique sweet taste rather than the harsh chlorine taste. I don't use the reverse osmosis because I rather have the natural minerals for my cooking and drinking for the essential flavors the water brings with the ingredients. I also have a secondary filter system in my fridge by splitting the filtered line from this system. The non-reserve osmosis secondary filter provided additional filter that removed practically everything bad tasting to 2/3 of the minerals, compared to the unfiltered water. There's literally no taste left after the fridge's filter. My family prefered that over the initial filtered water. Volume: This thing spits out filtered water faster than my sink aerated faucet. We switched to cleaning our ingredients using the filtered water over the regular faucet to minimize the unsavory chlorine taste. Original review: I'm experienced in using 2 to 3 stages and reverse osmosis systems going as far back as the 1990s. The key is to make sure to check your water district and the local municipal water supply consumer confidence report(s) yearly before determining to purchase the proper system. If you're using for your own well water supply, or tainted water supply from the water supplier, it's best to read up on the capacity of the models before purchasing. I'll dive right into things. The last model I had was the Aquasana 5300+ 3-stage. I purchased the unit 5 years ago, with spare new filters at $70 to replace. The filter cases leak due to warping. Not one, not two, but all three at the same time. What are the likely chances after the case replacement 2 years ago? Pros: 1. 10% larger than the compact 3-stage Aquasana 5300+ unit. However, if you compare components side-by-side, you can see the robustness of this unit. The tell-tale signs are the metal mounting base and the thickness of the filter cases. You can see the differences immediately. 2. Filters are larger and denser. Robustness is the word. 3. Easy installation. The parts are practically married to the existing parts under the sink. I took it slow, used all the provided parts, and ensured total sealing during installation. Not even a drop of water dripped from any part. Knock on wood of course. It's been close to a month, and still not a drop of water anywhere. I learned my lessons from the Aquasana, and I placed a thin plastic bucket and water leakage alarm as I did for my water heater. Better to be safe than sorry with a tiny investment. 4. The flow of the filtered water is phenomenal. Twice to thrice the volume of the Aquasana 5300+ in a given minute. I have to crank the cold water supply way down just to prevent the filtered water from jetting out like a hydrobeam. 5. Long filters' lifespan. Aquasana's filters literally forced you to replace every 6 months, but I tend to delay things a bit longer after evaluating the filters for the prior years. The first stage filter turned completely yellow. Since the unit's filter is confident in lasting up to 12 months, we'll definitely need to see the claim. I'll be sending in the filters for testing to verify the bold claims. Cons: Yes, there are downsides to this but do read things through before making your decision. 1. The faucet unit is not completely water-tight. What do I mean? The looseness of the faucet body is the downfall in allowing the water to bottom. When you plan on spraying down the sink to clean it, don't spray on the faucet body where the tube turns. A small amount of water will make it through the bottom. The base of the faucet body is not a problem at all. Perfectly sealed. I added silicone sealer to the base just in case during installation. No water can make its way through the bottom of the faucet unit's base. 2. The higher the flow, the cloudier the water for the first few minutes. If you want that clear water without the cloudiness, turn the pressure down and allow the water to flow out slowly. We don't care. We just want fast water coming out. After sending the filtered water in for testing, we already know the filtered level. 3. Taste can be a tad off for the new filters. Don't expect your water to taste plain and unflavored. It does have an odd light plastic and carbon (coal-like) taste at the start. However, that goes away in a few days of continual usage. We flushed the line for 15 minutes at max pressure the unit will allow (well below the 80 psi warning) before the first use as well. I'm happy with the unit so far. I'll update along the way if something goes wrong.

We are very happy with this filter system so far. I replaced my dupure two filter system with this one. The installation was very easy if you are handy. I was lucky that my house came with the existing system so it made the installation even easier because all the connections were already there. The snap (shark-bite type fittings) are a breeze and don't leak. The taste on the water is definitely better than straight from the tap. One of the things that led me to this system is all the other positive reviews and the fact that the filter sets last much longer than and are more than half the price than the proprietary dupure filter sets. To put it in perspective, 1 replacement filter set from dupure costs almost as this entire system costs. You do the math on the savings over the course of just 1 year. Couple things to note: 1. The instructions note that you can either sit the filters on the cabinet bottom or on the cabinet wall. I chose to mount them on the wall so that I did not loose storage space for my trash bags. The system does not include heavy duty screws to mount it to the wall, you will have to make a trip to the local hardware store for these. 2. I also experienced a leak from one of the APEC installed incoming water fittings on the side of the bracket unit. It was a simple fix to unscrew the unit and reapply the correct amount of Teflon tape and screw it back in. 3. The only other thing to note is that the system only comes with the chrome water spout. You can purchase a different one from APEC for additional money. I wish that APEC would give you the option to pick which water spout comes with the system. Even if it cost a couple extra dollars so that you can buy one that matches your existing faucet. Overall, we are happy with the unit and would recommend it!

This three filter system is a piece of junk. The manufacturer changed their housing design without proper documentation of the o-ring size change to accommodate the new housing. Only after spending hours on the phone with customer service was I able to get the answer that my filter housing require different o-rings. After order, from Amazon, what were supposed to be the correct o-rings and still having leaks I removed the whole assembly and discarded it. I ordered the o-rings through Amazon because APEC wanted $18.00 shipping fee to send me the three correct o-rings. I would not use APEC filters as they are not reliable and they abuse you with their shipping fees.

I can only rate the taste of the water, not whether various impurities are gone. The water tastes very good. About as good as bottled water. We had been using a Brita pitcher which was working really good, but then the water quality in our area got a lot worse. I assume it is/was related to drought conditions. The water tasted horrible even with new Brita filters. This filter system fixed that, although I have to say that the water straight from the tap has improved some during the same time. Still pretty bad straight from the tap though. Our problem is with chemical tastes. I didn't want minerals removed, so reverse osmosis was out. This was extremely easy to install. A few people complained about the feed water adapter and I have to say that this is the weak link with the product. Mine didn't leak, but the needle valve was stuck. I did get the valve working fine, but I was a bit worried I was going to break the thing since it took some real effort. Other than the feed water adapter, everything was very straight forward to install and seems to be very high quality. Filter replacements are cheap and supposedly the filters last about a year. If not, I'll come back and ding this review a star. I recommend this product, but make sure you know if you just need a carbon filter (this system) or reverse osmosis (some other system) to address whatever problem you are having with your water. Note that this system uses two carbon filters. They are the same part. At first, I thought this is a gimmick. It is not. It results in the water having to go through more carbon area and improves the filtration results.

Its a really easy setup if you are replacing a system. The quality is solid, this is the second system I purchased. The manual says to replace the system every 3-5 years, mine lasted 4 months short of 5 years so keep that in mind. Depending on the filters you purchase, it takes all 10x2 filters but make sure you get a good micron sized filter. I live in a brown water area so i get 1/2 micron filters for the first 2 and then a .1 micron for the last stage. The filters are what matters most but the unit itself held up good with 6 month changings. Also, just in case your a new to this, when you are installing a filter, make sure you wet your hands and leave the rim wet to the plastic cartridge holder. If you don't, it may leak.

Was initially worried I might have to do some shopping to find the necessary tap fittings (and adapters), but this kit came complete with everything. I've had it for a few weeks now and the water is great! No Chlorine smell at all - and the difference between the water coming out of this, and the unfiltered water from the connection next to it is night and day!

Filter housing cracked after 2 years of use, barely longer than the filters you need to change. Do not recommend as a “Premium” USA product.

Después de casi 2 meses de uso, puedo decir que estoy 100% satisfecho. El producto es premium, cumple con lo requerido. El agua es completamente insabora e incolora, no podría diferenciar entre la de garrafón. Hice la prueba probando directo de la llave y del filtro y es impresionante la diferencia. Recomiendo este filtro que a pesar de ser un poco más costoso que similares, se nota la calidad. Fácil instalación, tiene todo lo requerido (incluso trae una cinta teflón). Solamente es necesario contar con broca de 1/4 de alta velocidad para hacer el orificio en la tarja de aluminio y listo.

I was hesitant because there are SO MANY filters with so many different price points and reviews. I went for this one because it was rated highly on the taste, and because it has a high throughput. I couldn't be happier - our family drinks more water now because it's easy to fill the water bottles. Benefits: - great taste - high throughput - clear instructions for installation Cons: - it was hard to install in our outdated kitchen because the hose sizes were different. A converter would have saved us a few weeks of waiting for parts

I bought this in April 2023, and thank God I was home to see it started leaking between 1 and 2 fiter. As seen in the photos it has started to crack , on all intakes .