You certainly have many choices as you shop around for a new whole house filtration system.
If you have been reading some of the whole house filter reviews on our website, you may have even come across the one I did on the Pentair Pelican PC1000 water filter.
In that review, I posted a lengthy list of advantages of using that system along with a short list of drawbacks. Needless to say, I had no problem including the Pelican PC1000 on our list of the best whole house filters.
As you take a look at the Pelican PSE2000 system here, you may notice that you will see many similarities between the Pelican PC1000 and the Pelican PSE2000 systems.
That’s because the Pelican PSE2000 is an upgraded version of the Pelican PC1000 with the main enhancement being a water softening component.
So, if you purchase this whole house filter you will get all of the benefits that come with owning the Pelican PC1000 plus the ability to eliminate many hard water-related problems.
Let’s take a closer look at this advanced version of one of Pelican’s top whole house water filtration systems.
Table of Contents
Pelican PSE2000 Whole House Filter Features
Here are what I consider to be the best traits of the Pelican PSE2000 whole house water filtration system (also referred to as a whole home, point of entry, or media filter):
Uses proven GAC and KDF-55 filter media
While some point of entry (POE) filters only use carbon filtration, this media filter does that one better and combines proven GAC (granular activated carbon) water treatment with KDF-55 filter media.
GAC filter media consists of high-quality carbon mesh fibers that are made from coconut shells.
They are known to efficiently remove chlorine, some chloramines, and many worrisome common water contaminants such as industrial solvents, VOCs, pesticides, and herbicides.
KDF-55 copper and zinc oxidation media are added to enhance this process. It does that by helping to remove chlorine from your tap water in a way where it also helps extend the useful life of the system’s GAC filtration media.
This enables the Pelican PSE2000 to remove 97% of the chlorine that passes through it and make your water safer to drink in other ways too.
It’s a process that’s very important for you and your family’s health if you drink water from a municipal water supply that uses chlorine as a disinfectant.
Added Water Softening
If you have been experiencing some of the nuisance problems that go along with having hard water problems, such as hard to clean and unsightly limescale forming on bathroom fixtures, then this point of use water filtration system can help.
Although it does not remove hard water minerals completely such as some quality water softeners do, it does condition water in such a way that it prohibits limescale from being able to form.
Best of all, it does this in a way that requires no effort on your part such as adding salt and backwashing the system regularly.
Durable/Good-Looking Stainless-Steel Tanks
When you invest in something such as a whole house filter, it’s not unreasonable to expect that system to last you a long time.
You will get that from the Pelican PSE2000 and helping this cause is its strong stainless-steel tanks that encapsulate its water filtration media and water softening components.
It also does not hurt that these tanks are made out of good looking stainless-steel. So, they don’t become an eyesore no matter where you install them.
Suitable for Medium and Large Size Home Use
Another important factor to consider when looking for a whole home filter is its capacity. This is especially true if you own a medium to large size home.
That is not a big worry with the Pelican PSE2000. It will allow for a very nice 12 gallon per minute (GPM) water flow through the system. It’s also designed to be used on homes that are on city water that have up to 6 bathrooms.
Included 5-Micron Pre Filter
Even the cleanest-looking water from a municipal treatment facility will most likely have some sediment in it. This can come from both the water and the plumbing that it has passed through.
Pelican recognizes this fact and that’s why they included a 5-micron sediment pre-filter with the system. It will help protect the other filter media from getting clogged up with large size particles and, in turn, reduce the system’s efficiency.
Pros/Cons
These are the main advantages and drawbacks of owning the Pelican PSE2000:
Pros:
- Combines proven GAC and KDF-55 filter media
- Eliminates many hard water-related problems
- Removes chlorine taste, odor, and appearance
- Large home compatible
- Made by a reputable water filtration company
- Durable and good-looking stainless-steel tank
- Single-tank media style filter (very low maintenance)
- Comes with a 5-micron sediment prefilter
- Generous 12 GPM flow rate
- 1,324,800-gallon 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 installation costs can be high
- No programmable controls
- DIY installation may be complicated for some
Installation
While its close cousin the Pelican PC1000 is largely a DIY installation compatible POE filter, the extra tank that comes with the Pelican PSE2000 makes it more difficult to install.
It means there is one additional water connection that’s necessary to install the system the right way. This may cause you enough concerns that you may want to have a professional such as a plumber handle the installation for you.
Fortunately, almost everything that’s needed to install the Pelican PSE2000 comes right in the package including
the system bypass valve (pictured above) which attaches to the top of the main filter tank. All that you have to supply is the plumbing pipe and even that can be purchased as part of an add-on installation kit from Pentair.
There are also mounting brackets (see above) that are included to hold both media tanks firmly in place if they are being installed near a wall.
If you have some household plumbing experience, I do believe that then you will be able to do a DIY system installation without having too many problems.
Maintenance
Under the benefits of having a Pelican PSE2000, I listed one as being that these are very low maintenance systems. That makes them ideal for those that like enhanced water in their home but don’t like to go to too much effort to maintain their water filters.
What does it take to maintain one? It starts with having to replace the sediment filter every 3 to 6-months or if there is a significant drop in household water pressure because the sediment pre-filter got dirty.
Changing the filtration media in the main tank only takes place about every 5-years.
So, once you install the Pelican PSE2000, it’s as close as you can get to a place and forget it point of entry water filter as you can get.
How Does It Stack Up Against Competitors?
Without a doubt, I think the Pelican PSE2000 stacks up well against many of the best whole house water filters that can be found in the marketplace.
This is especially true when you factor in its maintenance-free water conditioner that will help eliminate many hard water-related issues for you.
It’s also very simple to use and maintain to go along with being one of the best-looking whole house filter systems which is important if you are going to install it in a high traffic area such as your garage.
The Bottom Line on the Pelican PSE2000
I had some reservations about the Pelican PC1000 water treatment system and some of those have carried over to the Pelican PSE2000. That includes traits such as having no programmable controls and the fact that it has a high initial cost.
I am also surprised that Pelican does not offer this in a package that includes a more traditional salt-based water softener that removes hard water minerals almost completely as opposed to just having a water conditioner.
Even with these considerations, I would still have no problem recommending the Pelican PSE2000 water filtration system to you if you have incoming city water that has been disinfected by using chlorination.
That’s because its combined GAC and KDF-55 filter media will remove a significant amount of the chlorine that passes through the system and make your tap water safer for you and your family to drink.
Having an added water conditioner that prevents limescale is also a nice bonus and the fact that this type of POE water filter is so easy to maintain is also a big selling point.
It’s definitely a whole house filter system that is worth at least checking out if you are shopping for a new one.
