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Our Verdict (Best for)
The Culligan FM-15A faucet water filter is easy to set up, use, and maintain. That said, the locking pin for filtered water doesn’t always stay in place if your faucet flow isn’t strong enough, which can get annoying. On the plus side, our water taste improved – although it wasn’t perfect – and had no smell, and the upfront costs are budget-friendly. However, more important are the results in our lab testing, where the Culligan FM-15A failed to completely or partially remove 5 contaminants. Additionally, while it holds certifications for 3 NSF standards, there are only 7 contaminants covered, and these are mainly substances that we consider easy to remove. Bottom line: There are better (faucet) water filters out there.
The Culligan FM-15A is a faucet water filter that mounts directly onto the kitchen faucet. It’s designed for use as a drinking water filter and can purify both tap water and properly disinfected well water.
As usual, we’ve tested the faucet filter with our own hands:
- Hands-on experience: We installed/assembled, used, and maintained it.
- Filtration effectiveness: We sent an unfiltered and a filtered tap water sample to a professional lab for analysis in order to determine real-life contaminant reduction capabilities. Plus, we checked for NSF certifications and other test data.
- More testing: We performed a taste & odor test and a filtration speed test.
- All other product aspects: We considered initial + long-term cost, product warranties, additional features, frequent customer complaints, etc.
Contents
Overall Rating: /5.00
Filtration: /5.00
Usability: /5.00
Costs: /5.00
| Type: | Faucet Water Filter |
| Price (Jan 17, 2025, w/o Short-Term Sales): | $33.99 |
| What’s Included? | 2 Faucet Adapters |
| Estimated Yearly Cost (Jan 17, 2025): | ~$50-120 |
Overall Rating: /5.00
What We Like Most
- Filtered water taste improved but wasn’t perfect. No smell.
- Holds NSF certifications for 7 contaminants against NSF standards 42, 53, and 401.
- Easy to set up, prime, use, and maintain.
- Affordable purchase price.
- 2-year (limited) warranty.
What We Don’t Like
- Failed to completely remove 5 contaminants in our lab testing.
- Limited NSF certifications and primarily for easy-to-remove contaminants.
- If faucet flow isn’t high enough, the pin you pull for filtered water won’t stay locked.
- No filter life indicator.
- A bit pricey to maintain.
- 3rd-party customer complaints about leaking, slow flow, and difficulty/impossibility of changing the filter cartridge.
How the Culligan FM-15A Compares to…
8 Other Faucet Water Filters
In this video, Sara highlights our faucet water filter top picks. The Culligan FM-15A was included in our testing, but didn’t make the cut.
Please note: Our full guide on the best faucet water filters is available here.
Video Chapters + Comparison Sheet
- Link to Comparison Sheet
- 00:00 – Intro
- 00:25 – Our 9 Faucet Filters
- 01:04 – Faucet Compatibility
- 01:20 – How We Tested & Rated
- 02:48 – Speed Test & Flow Rates
- 05:51 – How We Tested & Rated (Continued)
- 08:23 – Best Overall (PUR PLUS Vertical & Horizontal)
- 13:52 – Sara’s Favorite (Brita Elite Advanced)
- 17:34 – Summary
Full Analysis of the Culligan FM-15A
Filtration: /5.00
1. Lab Results: /5.00
Remember that our before vs after lab comparison is not an exact science. It’s informational and subject to variability, inaccuracies, and interferences caused by natural fluctuations in water quality, accidental contamination, human error, instrumentation issues, and more. Furthermore, our lab-testing is limited to those contaminants present in our water supplies and at their respective concentrations. As such, it can only give us a general idea for how effective a certain water treatment product might be.
Lab Results Chart
| Potentially Harmful | Aesthetic Issues | Feed Water Level | Filtered Water Level | Reduction Rate | |
| Water Disinfectants | |||||
| Chlorine (mg/L) | ✖ | ✖ | 0.94 | 0 | 100% |
| Disinfection Byproducts | |||||
| Bromodichloromethane (µg/l) | ✖ | 4.27 | 0 | 100% | |
| Bromoform (µg/l) | ✖ | 3.11 | 0 | 100% | |
| Dibromochloromethane (µg/l) | ✖ | 5.72 | 0 | 100% | |
| Chloroform (µg/l) | ✖ | 2.09 | 0 | 100% | |
| Metals | |||||
| Copper (mg/L) | ✖ | ✖ | 0.08 | 0 | 100% |
| Barium (mg/L) | ✖ | 0.04 | 0 | 100% | |
| Boron (mg/L) | ✖ | 0.05 | 0.04 | 20% | |
| Zinc (mg/L) | ✖ | 0.01 | 0 | 100% | |
| Lithium (mg/L) | ✖ | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0% | |
| Strontium (mg/L) | ✖ | 0.42 | 0.19 | 55% | |
| Salts | |||||
| Nitrate (N) (mg/L) | ✖ | 2.13 | 1.47 | 31% | |
| Fluoride (mg/L) | ✖ | 0.72 | 0.72 | 0% | |
| Other | |||||
| Uranium (µg/L) | ✖ | 1 | 0 | 100% | |
| Impurities NOT Detected in Unfiltered Tap Water Sample | |||||
| Explanation: | |||||
| Full Removal | |||||
| Considerable Reduction | |||||
| Concentration More Than Double of Unfiltered Water Sample | |||||
| Potential Leaching Reached or Exceeded the Strictest Public Health Guideline We Could Find | |||||
*100% means reduction to below the minimum detection level. To learn more about our testing procedures check our editorial guidelines.
Link to Filtered Water Report
Link to Unfiltered Water Report
Usability: /5.00
Costs: /5.00
Please note: This page is still a work in progress. Additional content and details will be added shortly – stay tuned!
Further Reading
About the Author(s)
Sara has been a lifelong home-improvement fan (she’s been hooked on This Old House since she was five) and taught herself any project she didn’t already know by watching YouTube tutorials. She is also an award-winning filmmaker. Armed with this skillset, Sara installs, primes, samples, uses, and maintains nearly every point-of-use water treatment systems we test – then brings her results to life on camera for our YouTube channel.
Raoul has a background in mechanical engineering and has been writing about home water treatment since 2015. He designs our product review processes, analyzes the results, and ties everything together. As editor-in-chief, he tries hard to keep the whole operation running smoothly behind the scenes.