Advanced Replacement Water Filters - Reverse Osmosis System - FX12M

First off, I'm using this in a GE system that was purchased from Home Depot. Since Home Depot periodically changes vendors (well, every few years if that), sometimes you get blindsided by a product with replacement parts no longer being locally available. Additionally I like many felt that these parts were way too expensive to pay year over year the replacement cost. What I found out over time however leads me back to factory parts like this... Companies like GE that sell these parts have a long term reputation to maintain. Therefore they don't necessary "skimp" on parts where quality plays a huge factor. On the other hand, they also charge an arm and a leg for these quality items. For home users, its about finding a happy medium. There are two filters in the GE reverse osmosis system, this one and then two others of a different type. This one is the "expensive" filter whereas the other two are much less expensive. In looking at reviews, working with HD and their water quality free testing kits, and just generally trying to "taste test" some of the important things I've found include... Don't skimp on this one particular filter. If you are going to go for a lesser quality item, do that with the other two filters, not this one. This is not like your normal "screening"filter. Rather, this one has pressure push the water through a series of membranes and the water that gets all the way through is your drinking water whereas the items that skim on the membrane are pushed out the other side of this filter and later "dumped" down the drain. (this isn't completely accurate but give a general idea). This particular filter has more functionality and ultimately is the end of the line where your final filtration happens. This is why its an unusual cartridge with an O-Ring on the outside of the canister (this is very important along with the diameter of the cartridge itself for correct usage). I've had the cheaper versions that you see here on Amazon either leak, have bad seals, not actually use the membrane in the correct manner, etc. And the tests of water quality that I've gotten back reflect the cheaper filters do (over time) a much worse job. Testing right after you get them is a little unfair as they tend to work at first. Anyway, like I mentioned before, if you want to shop for cheaper filters, do it with the rest of the filters in your system, not this one. Our city water is pretty nasty. It meets the required inspection values, but those ranges for passing are pretty wide. Yep, I won't die from the water, but I do have rings around tubs and it has a different taste to it. What I've done overall to the house was to first install a whole house filter. This is where I'm the cheapest with EBay filters. Enough to get the nasty stuff out. Our water is bad enough I'm changing this one every 3 months and what I pull out looks like slick rust on the filter. We then added a water softener to pull out the hard minerals that get through our whole house filter. This eliminated most of the rings around our showers and toilets. Lastly our cooking and drinking water are off of the GE reverse osmosis filter. We installed a separate water faucet in the sink for filtered water and T'd off the connection to the refrigerator water line. This allowed us to replace the refrigerator filter with a blank and not have to constantly replace that as well.

Geniune GE part. You can't go wrong.

Product was as described. It works great in my RO filter, and I was very happy with the price. Update: I have purchased 2 of these through Amazon. I didn't have any trouble with the first. The second one came with a defective flow control. My water quality and pressure dropped significantly when I installed this membrane and flow control. I got a replacement membrane, thinking that was what was defective. I failed to replace the flow control again, because it's just a tiny piece of plastic and looked perfectly fine. I have been dealing with poor water quality for the past two months. I was convinced the original (second) membrane was defective and had somehow ruined my water filter. (That membrane was covered in crystals when I pulled it out after just a few days use.) I was looking into replacing the entire unit, because we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Finally, I decided to pull out the flow control and see if it was clogged or something. Turns out that it was completely sealed on one end with very thin plastic that I could barely see. I poked a hole in it, and my filter is working perfectly again! My TDS readings have been as follows: From the tap: low 400s ppm From the filter a few weeks after installing the defective flow control: mid 300s to mid 400s (sometimes HIGHER than from the tap) From our fridge filter that we don't use and haven't replaced in over 3 years: around 350 ppm After poking the hole in the flow control: around 20 ppm! The moral of the story: check to make sure water can actually flow through the flow control before installing it! For those that don't know, the flow control restricts the water flow that goes into the drain tube. Essentially, it is there to dispose of all the solids that are dissolved in your water; without a working drain tube, the RO filter is useless. Now I know.

The membrane (in conjunction with the carbon pre- and post filter) brought my water's dissolved solids down from 99 p.p.m. to 26 p.p.m. and eliminated the foul odors (chlorine and iron) and tastes from my municipal water supply. The price is competitive with what we have seen on-line and at the local big box hardware store. The shipping was free and more convenient than a trip to the store.

This is not an original GE membrane filter and like other "FX12 compatible" filters I have tried it is inferior. Started out working good, but two months later the flow has reduced greatly. With original GE FX12 filters I have good flow for over a year and i have had the same GE RO system for over 15 years so I know how long a membrane filter should last with our usage.

This membrane was the exact one that we wanted. It fit the system and was fairly easy to install. We change this item every 2 years and the filters every 6 months. Now that we know that Amazon carries them we won't have to look all over creation to find them. Amazon is also cheaper that others that we have purchased.

We have been using this FX12M GE brand reverse osmosis membrane Made in Taiwan for our water purification system for several years. Works great and no issues. Excellent!

Installation of the filer was easy once the housing was removed. GE has the wrench to take the cap of but the housing was smooth with no real way to get a grip. I used a handle/strap type jar opener to counter the torque of the wrench in the cap removal but it slips. I solved that by using a strip of 3M double back tape to give strap more "grip". Installation was easy as the instruction indicates. Just remember to flush the intial water that goes through this filter as instructed. I wend a bit overboard to assure the water is clean of the "preservatives" as I have a 15 months old daughter that just loves drinking lots and lots of water.

This RO membrane worked great. It cleans the water of most disagreeable elements. It is somewhat slow and produces about a gallon a day. I had similar issues with the original one, but it seemed to speed up over time.

The Product Fits And Works Very Well

Works as expected.

no problems, no issues, no concerns. I ordered it, it arrived, then I installed it. Can't say much more than that.

Fit my grandma's filter perfectly.