APEC WFS-1000 Review

If you’re looking for the most affordable way to provide pure and great tasting water for your home, Apec’s WFS-1000 is among the best under sink water filters available. 

In this Apec WFS 1000 review, our team is aiming to give you a complete picture of whether the WFS 1000 is the right filter for you. Through dozens of hours of research and testing, we’ve compared it to major competitors and evaluated its strengths and weaknesses. In the following sections, you’ll find our judgments on who this system is right for, and who might want to pass on it.

Components

The Apec WFS-1000 comes with almost everything you need to install it in a house with standard plumbing. This includes:

• John Guest Quick-Connect fittings
• 5 feet of food grade tubing
• versatile ½” to 3/8” feed water adapters
• High quality lead-free faucet
• Wrench
• Feed water valve
• Inserts
• Teflon tape
• Manuals

You also may need a drill to make pilot holes for mounting. More on that in the “Installation” section below.

The system itself houses all three filtering stages in a hard plastic and metal case. All three filters are included with the system when you buy it.

How It Works

The Apec WFS 100 uses a 3 stage filtering system.

Stage 1 – a polypropylene sediment filter removes dust, large particles, and rust. At 5 microns, it’s fine enough to trap most particulate matter.

Stage 2 – an extruded carbon block filter removes unpleasant chlorine, tastes, odors, cloudiness, colors, and volatile organic compounds.

Stage 3 – a second extruded carbon block filter ensures complete removal of tastes, odors, and chemicals.

Water passes from your cold water line through each of these phases. Then it is dispensed via a dedicated faucet that you’ll install on your sink.

Performance

The Apec WFS 1000 super capacity water filter has two NSF/ANSI certifications.

Certification 42 means that it’s excellent at removing aesthetic impurities. This includes unpleasant odors, tastes, and cloudiness.

Certification 53 means that it filters out contaminants that have known negative health effects. This includes things like lead and volatile organic compounds.

This system does not have Certification 401, for removal of “emerging contaminants,” which many other 3-stage filters have. If that is one of your priorities, removing contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and chemical runoff that are found in some wells and municipalities, you’ll need to invest in a ANSI 40 Certified system. Fair warning, they do tend to be a bit more expensive.

Flow Rate

Because it uses a simple selection of filter media, the Apec WFS 1000 has an excellent flow rate of .75 gallons per minute. This assumes that your water pressure is between 20 and 85 psi to begin with though. If you have low water pressure to begin with, the flow rate will be negatively affected.

Installation

Installation for the Apec WFS 1000 is usually straightforward. That’s assuming you have a spare hole in your sink to install this system’s dedicated faucet. If not, you’ll need to cut or punch out a hole to accommodate it.

Assuming you do have a space for the faucet, everything necessary for installation is included with the product’s packaging. 

The system is mounted via teflon tape, and quick connect fittings make attaching the tubing quite easy. It even comes with the wrench you’ll need to attach the fittings to your existing water line.

Filter Replacement

One of the biggest draws for the Apec WFS 1000 is its long lasting filters. Each is certified to filter up to 2500 gallons of water, easily lasting 12 months or more. 

By comparison, many competitor filters wear out in half the time. For the WFS 1000, less frequent filter changes equate to less money spent on replacement cartridges.

It is worth noting that filter replacement is a little more involved than with most under sink water filter systems. You’ll need to turn off your water supply first. Then unscrew each filter, remove the old filter, and replace it with a new one. 

Thankfully, filter replacements for this system are quite affordable. At the time of writing, a full set of filters cost just $39. That makes this one of the best value filter systems over time.

Build Quality

Everything included with the Apec WFS 1000 feels solidly built. The housing is made of metal and a durable hard plastic. The fittings and tubing are equally durable. And the water feed adapters make it easy to attach to a wide range of water source sizes. 

Overall, it’s a really well-made system — especially at the low price it’s offered at.

Warranty & Support

Apec offers a 1-year satisfaction guarantee on all of their systems. This means if you have any problems with it in the first 12 months, they’ll replace or refund your purchase.

In addition, the company offers lifetime support by a certified WQA water specialist based in California. So even after the warranty is up, you’ll be able to get troubleshooting and expert advice from a US-based support system.

Recap

In short, the Apec WFS 1000 is one of the most affordable options for an under sink water filter system. It’s offered at a great price, and filter replacements are infrequent and inexpensive. It’s not the best for strongly contaminated water. But anyone with a decent municipal water supply will appreciate the improvements it offers for water taste, smell, and clarity.

Frequently Asked Questions