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Pelican PSE1800 Review
Our Review
- Combines impactful GAC and KDF-55 filter media - 4.5
- Added water softening - 4
- Stainless-steel tank construction - 4.5
- Provides adequate water flow for small and medium-sized home use - 4.5
- Included 5-Micron Pre Filter - 4
Pros
- Combines proven GAC and KDF-55 filter media
- Eliminates many hard water-related problems
- Treats 100% of the water coming into your house
- Removes chlorine taste, odor, and appearance
- Small home compatible
Cons
- Initial costs are high
- No programmable controls
- DIY installation not recommended for all
- Conditions water as opposed to removing hard water minerals
- Not recommended for use with poor quality well water
Overall Rating – 4.3
Some feel that their home may be too small for whole house water filter installation to be practical.
That’s hardly the case at all and some manufacturers such as Pelican Water Pentair have made systems that are specifically made to be placed in smaller sized homes with 1 to 3 bathrooms.
One of those whole house filters that’s made for small to medium homes sized by that company is called the Pelican PSE1800.
It’s a system that’s made up of two of their most reputable water treatment products. These are a Pelican PC600 water filter plus a non-salt-based, hassle-free water softener.
It’s definitely a water treatment system that’s worth taking a closer look at if you are searching for a whole house water filter for your home that has 3 or fewer bathrooms.
Pelican PSE1800 Whole House Filter Features
This is what I like the most about the Pelican PSE1800 whole house water filtration system (also called whole home, point of entry, or media filters):
Combines Impactful GAC and KDF-55 Filter Media
While some point of entry (POE) filters mainly focus on just using carbon-based filtration, that is not the case with the PSE1800 because it combines proven GAC (granular activated carbon) water treatment with KDF-55 filter media.
Its GAC filter media consists of highly absorptive coconut shell mesh fibers that are intended to remove such harmful water impurities as chlorine, some chloramines, industrial solvents, VOCs, pesticides, and herbicides.
The included KDF-55 copper and zinc filter media provides an additional oxidation process that helps remove chlorine even better and it also helps extend the useful life of the system’s GAC filtration media.
It’s a process that’s very important for you and your family’s health if your water comes from a chlorine-treated city water supply as it effectively removes 97% of the chlorine that passes through it.
Added Water Softening
Hard water-related problems such as unsightly and difficult to clean limescale on bathroom, kitchen, and other home surfaces are nothing that you want to deal with.
That’s why installing a whole home water filtration system that has a water softening component such as this one does is a nice bonus.
Although it does not remove hard water minerals in the more traditional way such as some quality water softeners do, it will alter the properties of hard water minerals so that they no longer have the ability to cause problematic limescale.
You will also enjoy the fact that its water softening component does not require much effort on your part such as adding salt or backwashing the system as salt-based water softeners do.
Stainless-Steel Tank Construction
The Pelican PSE1800 comes with tanks that are made of durable and long-lasting stainless steel. That ensures that they will hold up to just about any inside environment that they are placed in (I recommend against installing them outside of your home).
That stainless-steel exterior also helps keep this advanced water treatment system from becoming an eyesore no matter where it’s placed around your home.
Provides Adequate Water Flow for Small and Medium Size Home Use
Water flow is always a main consideration when looking to install any type of whole home filter. That is not a major issue when water is flowing through the PSE1800 as you will not notice much impact if any on your home’s water pressure.
It allows for a very good 8-gallon per minute (GPM) water flow through it. As was mentioned, that should make for plenty of water flow through your home if it has only 1 to 3 bathrooms.
Included 5-Micron Pre Filter
Pentair has been in the water filtration business for over a half-century so they know the potential negative impact that large size water contaminants can when they come into contact with GAC and KDF-55 filters
That’s why they include a 5-micron sediment pre-filter in all of their whole house water filtration systems such as this one. These effectively filter out sand, rust, dirt, silt, and many other common impurities that are found in household water.
This helps to extend the useful life of the systems GAC and KDF-55 filters and helps to keep them performing at a high level.
Pros/Cons
These are the main advantages and disadvantages that come with owning and operating a Pelican PSE1800 POE filter:
Pros:
- Combines proven GAC and KDF-55 filter media
- Eliminates many hard water-related problems
- Treats 100% of the water coming into your house
- Removes chlorine taste, odor, and appearance
- Small home compatible
- Made by an experienced water filtration company
- Durable and good-looking stainless-steel tanks
- Very low maintenance
- Comes with a 5-micron sediment prefilter
- Generous 8 GPM flow rate
- 600,000-gallon plus treatment capacity
- 5-year warranty
- Free Shipping
- Money-Back Guarantee
Cons:
- Not recommended for use with poor quality well water
- Conditions water as opposed to removing hard water minerals
- Initial costs are high
- No programmable controls
- DIY installation not recommended for all
Installation
Do I feel that this water treatment system can be easily installed by anyone? No, but that does not mean that DIY installation is not possible with it.
I believe that you can handle installing it yourself if you have a good understanding of how to put together plumbing components. If not, I don’t believe a plumber or a handyman would take more than a couple of hours to install the system.
It also helps that Pentair has included just about everything that you need (except plumbing pipe and connectors) to complete the installation.
The package includes:
- Prefilter
- Mounting Bracket
- Carbon Filter System
- NaturSoft Salt-Free Water Softener Alternative System
- Bypass Valve/Fittings
- Owner’s Manual / Installation Guide
Maintenance
One of the aspects that Pelican focused on when designing its PSE1800 filtration system was to make sure that it was as maintenance-free as possible.
They have definitely succeeded here as its sediment filter only needs to be replaced every 3 to 6-months or if there is a significant drop in your home’s water pressure because of a dirty pre-sediment filter.
The filter media in the main tank only needs to be replaced once every 5-years.
So, once your Pelican PSE1800 whole house water filter has been installed there is very little you have to do to ensure that you have cleaner and healthier drinking water flowing throughout your home.
How Does It Stack Up Against Competitors?
There are many reasons why the Pelican PC line of water treatment devices often makes an appearance on our best whole house water filters list. These point of entry water filters can go feature for feature with all but a few whole home water filter models.
This gets even better when a salt-free water softener is incorporated into the mix as the Pelican PSE1800 has.
That ensures that your water will be enhanced in a way that it tastes better, is healthier to drink, and will not cause any nuisance hard water-related problems around your house.
Some Parting Thoughts on the Pelican PSE1800
Sure, you may get some sticker shock when you first see this whole home filter’s around $2700 purchase price.
When you stop to think about it though, when you consider how long this POE filter system lasts, you only end up paying about $300 a year for enhanced water to drink and use.
That makes the Pelican PSE1800 a lot more affordable than you may think when you first look at the cost of purchasing it. When you consider how well it removes chlorine along with the benefits of having softer water, then it is not a bad deal at all.
I see no reason if you have chlorinated city water coming into your small to medium-sized home (1 to 3 bathrooms) why you wouldn’t at least consider making the Pelican PSE1800 water filtration system your point of entry water filter of choice.
