Countertop Water Filters

Pelican is one of the best water filter manufacturers. Their products are efficient, durable and reasonably priced. In terms of whole house water filters, their range of products is quite limited. Mainly, it consists of two products the PC600, and the PC1000. On their website, you will find 4 distinct products, but upon a closer inspection, you will see that there are in fact only two products, the PC600 and the PC1000, sold with and without an UV filter. Both filters presented bellow come with a NSF certification for the carbon filtration media, and a WQA certification for the structural tanks, the bypass valve and the bypass fittings. Lets take a closer look at these two filters and see whether or not they are worth the investment.

Pelican Premium PC600

This whole house water filter is suitable for small homes, with 1-3 bathrooms. Having a 600,000 gallons capacity, its filtration media should last for about 6 years. This products manufacturer recommended retail price is $799.00, but occasionally, you can find it on sale with a $50-$60 discount. This system comes with a 5 year performance guarantee, a 90-day satisfaction guarantee and a limited lifetime warranty on tank and parts. While the lifetime tank warranty is impressive, when it comes to whole house filters, the media warranty is the one that matters. In this case, we have to say that Pelican scores less points than Aquasana, for the same capacity filter (for their 600,000 gallons filter, Aquasana offers a 6 year performance warranty).

General features

The Pelican Premium PC600 is a 4 stage filtration system. The first stage consists in a 5 micro pre-filter which traps sand, sediment, silt, debris and other contaminants bigger than 5 microns. The second and the third stage consist in the granular activated carbon medias. The GAC consists of high-grade activated carbons based on coconut shell. Supposedly, activated coconut carbon is the best choice in this field as it is very porous and it traps even the smallest contaminants. The GAC’s main targets are chlorine, chloramine, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, industrial solvents and numerous other contaminants. Last but not least, during the fourth stage, which consists of a copper and zinc oxidated media, the system reduces bacteria and algae, and prevents their further development. In a nutshell, this system performs very well, delivering cleaner, better tasting water. It doesn’t require any electricity, nor does it need a drain. Moreover, the installation and the replacement of the filtration media are very easy to perform, and don’t require the assistance of a professional plumber.

Technical Specifications

The tank of this whole house water filter has a 9″ width. The system supports a 10 gallons per minute maximum flow rate. This is an decent flow rate, better than the one supported by the Aquasana filters. However, in small homes, the flow rate is rarely a problem. For this system, the manufacturers recommend a 25-80 PSI operating pressure and a 36-129 F operating temperature. The system comes with a sediment pre-filter which should be changed, every 6-9 months. As far as we can tell, the filter doesn’t have an indicator light, so it is best if you change it every 6 months in order to be certain that it will always be efficient. As far as the main filter media, it should be changed every 5-6 years, or more precisely, every 600,000 gallons of water. Basically, you replace the main filtration media, while retaining the tank and all fittings. This translates into lower replacement costs, compared with competitive products. This replacement choice is also better for the environment as it diminishes waste.