How Long Do Kinetico Reverse Osmosis Filters Last?

UPDATED: January 22, 2023

Your Kinetico reverse osmosis drinking water system has been working great and your family has been enjoying your filtered reverse osmosis drinking water for several months now. But all of a sudden, the water from your Kinetico reverse osmosis system slowed down to just a trickle. Could it be the filters, and how long should Kinetico reverse osmosis filters last?

The filters of a Kinetico reverse osmosis drinking water system are designed to filter 500 gallons of water before they need to be replaced. For an average family of four, Kinetico reverse osmosis filters will last between 9 to 12 months.

It can be hard to estimate how long your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters will last but understanding how they work and why they should be replaced after they have filtered 500 gallons of water will help to keep your Kinetico reverse osmosis working at its best.

How long your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters will last is based on your water usage.

Because Kinetico reverse osmosis filters need to be changed based on the volume of water used and not the amount of time used, you can’t always be sure how long your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters will last.

But knowing how much reverse osmosis water your household uses regularly will help give you a close approximation of how long they will last.

An active family of four that drinks plenty of reverse osmosis filtered water each day will naturally need to change their Kinetico reverse osmosis filters more often than a single person that just uses their reverse osmosis water for a cup of coffee in the morning.

If you can estimate how much reverse osmosis water your household uses each day, you should be able to get a good idea of how often you will have to change your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters.

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Approximate days/months that your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters will last for your daily water usage.

Gallons of RO water used per person per day	Water used for	1 Person	2 People	3 People	4 People	5 People
1/4 gallon per person	Coffee/Tea	2000 Days/67 Months	1000 Days/33 Months	667 Days/22 Months	500 Days/17 Months	400 Days/13 Months
1/2 gallon per person	Coffee/Tea/1 Glass Drinking Water	1000 Days/33 Months	500 Days/17 Months	333 Days/11 Months	250 Days/8 Months	200 Days/7 Months
3/4 gallon per person	Coffee/Tea/ 2 Glasses of Drinking Water	667 Days/22 Months	333 Days/11 Months	222 Days/7.5 Months	167 Days/5.5 Months	133 Days/4.5 Months
1 gallon per person	Coffee/Tea/ 4 Glasses Drinking Water	500 Days/17 Months	250 Days/8 Months	167 Days/5.5 Months	125 Days/4 Months	100 Days/3.3 Months
1 1/2 gallons per person	Coffee/Tea/ 4 Glasses Drinking Water/ Cooking	333 Days/11 Months	167 Days/5.5 Months	111 Days/3.7 Months	83 Days/2.75 Months	67 Days/2.23 Months

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How Kinetico reverse osmosis filters work, and why they should be changed every 500 gallons.

The Kinetico MACguard T&O (Taste and Odor) cartridge 9306B (Orange), the Kinetico VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) cartridge 9307A (Blue), and the Kinetico VOC+Lead (Volatile Organic Compounds and Lead reduction) cartridge 9308A all have a finite amount of effectiveness for their individual purposes.

The media that is in each of these filter cartridges is very effective for reducing poor taste and odors, volatile organic compounds, and lead from your drinking water, but they will lose their effectiveness eventually.

The water in every home is different and how many impurities need to be removed from the water from one home to another can vary drastically.

Kinetico reverse osmosis filters have been designed to effectively filter out impurities. To make sure that they will be effective for your water, they should be changed every 500 gallons.

Kinetico filter cartridges have been tested by a third-party agency to ensure that they will be effective to WQA (Water Quality Association) standards for at least 500 gallons.

Why does the water flow from my Kinetico reverse osmosis slow down when the filters need to be changed?

The MACguard/post filter on a Kinetico drinking water system should only filter 500 gallons of drinking water.

It is best for the system to not store any filtered water in the storage tank after 500 gallons of water have been filtered.

To prevent your Kinetico drinking water system from storing any poor-quality water, it will only store 500 gallons of filtered water.

Kinetico uses a fine-tuned sequence of gears to trigger a shut-off valve that shuts down the stored water in the storage tank until the post-filter has been changed.

It is easy to forget or postpone changing your drinking water filters, but it is important that you don’t.

Having the flow of your drinking water decreased down to a trickle is a great way to make sure that your filters are not used beyond their proper effectiveness.

What does the Kinetico MACguard/post filter do that makes it need to be changed every 500 gallons?

The standard Orange or Blue post-filter on a Kinetico K5 reverse osmosis drinking water system is a taste and odor reduction carbon block filter.

Carbon block post-filters are used to capture particles that can cause odors in your water and poor taste.

Grains of carbon in the Kinetico MACguard/post filter has many pores and dimples on them where particles that can produce odor and poor taste in your water will get trapped and removed from your water.

Naturally, these grains of carbon have a limited number of pores to trap unwanted particles.

This is why they will need to be changed after they have removed 500 gallons of these odor and poor-taste-causing particles.

How does the Kinetico MACguard/post filter know that it has filtered 500 gallons of water?

Kinetico MACguard/Taste & Odor, VOC, and VOC+Lead reduction post-filters all come with a small machine screw that is in the tip of the filter.

The spring-loaded Blue indicator on the top of a Kinetico reverse osmosis system has a flat screwdriver-shaped bottom.

This flat screwdriver-shaped end fits inside the screw that is on the top of the filter cartridge.

Through a series of gears, the Kinetico reverse osmosis system meters how much water goes through the system. As it does, it slowly turns this small screw down into the filter cartridge.

After approximately 500 gallons of water have gone through the system, this screw will reach the very bottom of the threaded hole that it is in.

When the screw reaches the end of the hole, the screw will fall out into the cartridge itself. When this happens, the blue indicator will press down and shut down the water coming out of the post filter.

At this point, you will see the water flow go down to just a trickle. This trickle of water is water going straight to the water faucet without the stored water in the reverse osmosis storage tank.

Do I need to change both the MACguard/post and the pre-filter every 500 gallons?

Since it is only the MACguard/post filter that shuts your water down, you could simply change the MACguard/post-filter and your water flow would go back to its normal flow.

But since it is very important to change your reverse osmosis pre-filter as well, I always recommend changing both the MACguard/post-filter and the pre-filter every time that you change your filters.

If you do not feel that you need to change the pre-filter of your reverse osmosis system every time that you change the Macguard/post-filter, I highly recommend keeping a log or simply writing the dates that you change the MACguard/post filter right on the filter itself to remind yourself to change the pre-filter at least every other time that you change the MACguard/post filter.

How often does Kinetico suggest that I change my reverse osmosis filters?

Kinetico, like most manufacturers of reverse osmosis systems, recommends that both the post-filter and pre-filter of their reverse osmosis systems and the MACguard filter (not reverse osmosis) should be changed annually if not more frequently.

Most water professionals agree that changing any water filter annually is a good way to ensure that your water will be filtered correctly.

Water filters do not last forever and every household is different, but changing drinking water filters at least once per year is highly recommended.

Do I need to have a Kinetico service person change my reverse osmosis filters?

Not at all! Actually, Kinetico drinking water filters are some of the easiest drinking water filters to change for a homeowner with just a little bit of do-it-yourself abilities.

First, remove the filters from their packaging, and then fill each filter with water from your drinking water system.

Do this by holding them at a 45-degree angle so the water goes into the small channel on the side of the tip of the filters.

Hold the filter under the water until you see the water come up through the center of the top of the filter. When the water comes out of the center, the filter is full of water. Do this for all filters that you are replacing and set them aside for now.

The simple way to change your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters.

To remove the old filters, simply shut off the water supplying the drinking water system (often a white or white and blue plastic valve that only needs a quarter turn to shut off).

Then turn on the drinking water faucet and shut off the valve on the storage tank.

Once the water has stopped flowing from your faucet, you can give each filer a quarter-turn counterclockwise.

Then with a little wiggle, pull down on the filter and it should pop off relatively easily.

Next, reverse the process to push the new filter into place and give it a quarter turn clockwise to secure it in place.

The only tricky part is to line up the post-filter with the bottom of the blue indicator that sits in the very center of the top of the post-filter.

If you have problems getting the post-filter on, I recommend stepping away from the system for a few minutes and then trying again, it can be frustrating the first time you try it.

Once you have changed the filters, dry any water from the area and turn the water supply and the tank valve back on. Check for leaks, and you are back in business.

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Here’s a short video on how to change your Kinetico reverse osmosis filters.

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Where can I buy Kinetico reverse osmosis filters so I can change them myself?

Kinetico is very strict on who can sell their products and where you can buy them, including their drinking water filters. You will most likely have to contact an authorized Kinetico dealership and order the filters from them.

To Sum Up!

Kinetico water systems have designed their reverse osmosis drinking water systems so that the post-filter will shut filtered water production after 500 gallons of filtered water have been produced.

This is so that they can ensure that the water coming from your Kinetico reverse osmosis drinking water system is of the highest quality that the system can produce.

If you expect that your family will require a lot of reverse osmosis water, changing Kinetico reverse osmosis filters can get a bit expensive.

For an active family that will use a high volume of reverse osmosis drinking water, a more economical standard reverse osmosis drinking water system.

A standard reverse osmosis system will use filters that are half the cost of Kinetico reverse osmosis filters and might be a better option.