Question:
First some background info:In my kitchen I have an under the counter 3 compartment Omni WaterFilter housing, which I've had for over 10 years. I use 3 differentkinds of filters. The first housing has a sediment filter which getsreplaced every 3 months, the 2nd has a activated charcoal filter formore filtering, and the 3rd housing has an expensive carbon block filterthat takes out anything and everything else. The 2nd and 3rd filter getreplaced every 6 months. I also vigorously clean the inside of thehousing every 6 months with bleach.

When my local Home Depot stopped carrying Omni replacement filters, Iwent with what they had, which was GE replacement water filters andCulligan water filters, that are made to fit in my filter housing. Noproblems with the replacements, but on specs alone, the Omni filterswere supposed to be better. When my local Lowe's started carrying theOmnifilter brand, I went back to that brand of filter.

Lately, for the last year, the water has been tasting terrible, reallyterrible, and not the water that comes out of the tap, but the waterthat comes out of the filter. I replaced the filter faucet, the filtersupply tubes, new filters, practically everything was replaced exceptthe filter housing, and the water still tastes terrible. I removed theexpensive carbon block filter today, and everyone agrees the water ismuch better, but this filter with it's under 1 micron size filters outwhatever pesticides, lead, etc.. that most filters won't.

All that leads me to this:

Would you know if these filters are actually made by differentcompanies, and just resold by Omni, GE, Culligan, etc.. OR is it likelythat these are made by different companies and I can get a differentwater taste by trying someone else's filter?

I thought I remember the water tasting better with the GE filters, butit's been 2 years since I used those, and I could be wrong.

Answer: I always change my filters before they are due, and it tasted bad beforethe change, and since the change, only thru the filter system, not theregular house faucet.

It makes me wonder, since I bought the same Omnifilter brand filter thelast few times, if it's possible for them to have a bad run of filtersthat affect the taste negatively.

Time has nothing to do with itin spite of what the label says. The amount of water and the condition ofthe water has everything to do with when they must be changed.

Our city water sucks. The so called six month filters last about two monthshere. It varies according to the time of the year and how swampy the waterflavor is at any given time. You may have had a few days of really nastystuff that shortened the life. Change the filter and move on.

When I say "Before they are due", that means I change it before therating for the filter says to change it. Of course the condition of thewater has everything to do with it, but you can't tell the condition ofthe water by looking at it, I'm not going to have it tested beforechanging them, and even the first sediment filter is not bad lookingwhen I replace it every 3 months. The water never runs slow, so thefilters are not being clogged.

My point was, that I maintain my system, maybe more than most. Peopleget lazy when it comes to changing filters on time and doing scheduledmaintenance of any kind, and I'm not one of them.

Did you read the first line I wrote? That it tasted bad before thefilter change, and tasted bad after the filter change? 3 new filters?

The water tasted exactly the same the minute I put all new filters in,new water supply lines in, and a new faucet.I'll also add, that because I have 3 filters in this unit, the 2nd and3rd more expensive filters would outlast their rated 6 month life,especially the 3rd one, because of a sediment filter coming before the2nd filter.Water out of the tap tastes great, but want to filter it because youdon't know what you can't see in it, and I've been filtering it for over10 years with no taste problems.

I already changed the filters, so "moving on" doesn't apply to me either.