Chlorine & chloramine
The swimming-pool taste and smell, reduced by the carbon stage.
From $3,850 fitted · Greater Milwaukee
Four filters. Every tap in the house.
One system where the water comes in — so the shower and the laundry are treated too, not just the kitchen faucet.
Installation included across Greater MilwaukeeAbout two hours, start to finish. No separate installation charge.
First year of cartridges includedThe set after that is 20% off. Each cylinder changes on its own schedule.
How it works
Four cylinders, in order
Water passes through each in sequence. Every one does a different job, and every one is replaceable on its own — you change what’s worn out, not the whole unit.
1
General sediment filter
Pentair DGD-5005. A dual-gradient depth filter — coarse grit is caught at the surface, finer particles deeper in, so it holds far more before it clogs.
2
Granular activated carbon
GAC-20BB. Reduces free chlorine, chloramine and the organic compounds behind bad taste and smell. Carbon is the most absorbent material known.
3
Polyphosphate media
RFFE-20BB. Sequesters calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese so they can’t bond and form scale or rust deposits in your pipes and appliances.
4
Cyst filter, 0.5 micron
Pentair FloPlus 20BB. A 0.5-micron carbon block built for high flow at low pressure drop — the finest stage, catching what the first three left.
Point-of-entry system, model QWS Flex 4V.1, manufactured by Qualified Water Systems in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Up to 8 gallons per minute and 12,000 gallons per day. Takes standard 20″ Big Blue cartridges, so replacements are widely available rather than proprietary.
What it does
Better water at every tap
Not just the kitchen faucet — the shower, the laundry, the garden tap, the pet’s bowl. One system, fitted once, and everything downstream is treated.
Sediment & particulates
Sand, silt, rust and grit, in two stages — coarse first, then down to 0.5 micron.
Scale & corrosion
Polyphosphate keeps hardness minerals from bonding and furring up your plumbing.
Taste & odour
The earthy and chemical notes that come with municipal treatment.
Minerals stay in
No RO membrane, so calcium, magnesium and potassium pass through. Filtered water, not stripped water.
Adds nothing of its own
Every wetted part certified lead-free to NSF/ANSI 372, materials certified to NSF/ANSI 61.
Where it goes
It fits where your water comes in
Wall-mounted or floor-standing, wherever the supply enters. It needs no additional internal plumbing and no power — so a basement, a laundry room or a utility corner all work.
Optional upgrades
If your water needs more
The Flex 4V.1 covers what most Milwaukee-area homes need. Where a water test shows something it doesn’t — or you want your house watched for leaks — these go on top.
UV purification
A lamp stage that disrupts the DNA of micro-organisms so they can’t reproduce. It only works in already-clear water, which is why it goes behind the filtration stages rather than instead of them.
Leak detection and alerts
Fits any of our systems. Real-time monitoring with alerts to your phone, water usage and flow statistics, freeze and drip warnings, and remote whole-home shut-off on the control version.
Contaminant-specific cartridges
Where a test shows something the four standard stages don’t address — heavy metals, high iron, well water with its own character.
Know what’s in your tap
Check your local water quality
Before you buy anything from anyone, find out what’s actually in your water. Enter your ZIP code and we’ll take you straight to the results for your utility.
Tap water data for ZIP
Here’s what the database will show you:
- Every water utility that serves your ZIP code
- Which contaminants were detected in testing
- How each compares to the legal limit — and to EWG’s stricter health guideline
- Your utility’s own annual water quality report
Data by the EWG Tap Water Database · Environmental Working Group
EWG is an independent non-profit with no connection to us, and the database is their work, not ours. We send you there because you should hear what’s in your water from someone who isn’t trying to sell you a filter. Results open on ewg.org in a new tab.
Lead service lines
Your village is replacing lead lines. That takes years.
The EPA requires every lead service line in the country to be replaced by 2037. Whitefish Bay, Shorewood and Fox Point are all working through it now. We’ve written a plain guide for each — how to find out what your line is made of, how to test your water, what it costs and who pays.
Filtration is not a substitute for replacing a lead line, and we won’t tell you it is. If lead is your concern, say so — it changes which cartridge we’d recommend, and we’ll show you the certification for that specific filter.
Compared with the alternatives
Why not just reverse osmosis?
RO is the system most people have heard of. It does a real job — but under the sink, for one tap, at a cost most people don’t see until the water bill arrives.
| Traditional reverse osmosis | Point-of-entry filtration | |
|---|---|---|
| Minerals | Demineralises — strips calcium and magnesium out | Leaves beneficial minerals in the water |
| Coverage | Under-sink models treat one faucet or the fridge line | Every tap — drinking, cooking, bathing, laundry |
| Water waste | Wastes 3–5 gallons for every gallon treated | No waste stream at all — up to 8 GPM, 12,000 GPD |
| Cost | A whole-home RO system costs 4–6× more | One appliance, one install, 10-year housing warranty |
Being straight about the trade-off: reverse osmosis removes dissolved salts and solids that filtration does not. If your water has a specific dissolved-solids problem, RO at a single tap may genuinely be the right answer, and we’ll tell you so. For most Milwaukee-area homes it isn’t.
Start with a free in-home water test
We come out, test what’s actually in your water, and recommend the cartridges that match it. If this isn’t the right system for your house, we’ll say so.
The QWS Flex 4V.1 starts at $3,850 — fitted, with your first year of cartridges. See what that includes
(414) 710-0106The in-home water test is included with the purchase of a Stonehouse Protect filtration system. If you need independent lead testing on its own, your village or a certified laboratory can arrange it — and we’ll happily point you to them.