Water Filtration

Whole-house filtration, plumbed like it belongs.

Better water is only half the job. A filtration system also has to live in your home for the next decade: isolation valves so service is simple, a bypass loop so the house never goes dry, housings you can actually open on filter day. Panda Plumbing installs whole-house systems that take sediment and chlorine taste out of every tap, plumbed so cleanly you will enjoy owning them.

Whole-House Systems Serviceable Installs Honest Sizing

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Whole-house water filtration canisters plumbed in copper at the main supply line of a Portland home

Know Your Water

What a filter fixes, and what it will not.

Whole-house filtration earns its keep in three ways. A sediment stage catches sand, grit, and pipe scale before they reach your fixtures, so aerators stop clogging and valves stop grinding. A carbon stage pulls chlorine taste and odor out of the water, which changes showers, coffee, and every glass poured from the kitchen tap. And your appliances benefit most of all: water heaters, dishwashers, and washing machines all age slower when they are not swallowing debris.

In the east metro, it also helps to know what you are filtering, because the answer recently changed. Gresham and Rockwood moved from Bull Run water to groundwater in 2026, and the water providers themselves note that the new supply carries more mineral content. Portland proper remains on Bull Run surface water. Two homes a few miles apart in our service area can now drink noticeably different water, which is exactly why we size and select systems by address and complaint, not from a brochure.

The honest part is what filtration will not do. Filters remove particles, chlorine, taste, and odor. They do not remove dissolved hardness minerals, so they will not stop spotting on glassware or scale on fixtures. That is a water softener’s job, and it is not one we do.

Filtration: yes, and done right

Whole-house sediment and carbon systems, under-sink drinking water filters, and fridge and ice line tie-ins, every one installed with isolation valves and a bypass so service never takes your water down.

Water softeners: no, and we say so

Panda Plumbing does not sell or install softeners. If hardness turns out to be your real problem, we tell you plainly at the consult and point you toward the right equipment, instead of selling you a filter that cannot fix it.

New brass shutoff valves installed on clean copper water lines by Panda Plumbing

The Install Craft

Plumbed to be serviced, not just installed.

Anyone can tee a filter housing into a supply line. What decides whether the system still works in five years is everything around it. Our installs get full-port isolation valves on both sides, a true bypass loop so the whole house keeps running water while the system is serviced, and a drain-down point so housings depressurize and open without a wrestling match.

Housings are mounted at working height with room to swing a filter wrench, and each one is labeled with what is inside and the date it went in. Before we leave, we walk you through a filter change ourselves. It is a five-minute job, and you should never have to pay a service call to get it done.

Sizing gets the same discipline. The system is matched to your home’s flow rate so filtered water never means a weaker shower, and every connection is dressed the way we plumb everything: clean, square, and ready to pass inspection.

Full-port isolation valves on both sides
True bypass loop, water stays on during service
Drain-down valve for easy housing changes
Labeled housings with install and change dates
A filter-change walkthrough before we leave

Ways We Build It

Four ways we put better water in the house.

Most homes need one or two of these, not all four. The consult sorts out which stages your water and your complaints actually justify.

Sediment pre-filters

The workhorse first stage. Spin-down and cartridge pre-filters catch sand, grit, and pipe scale at the main line, protecting fixtures, appliances, and every filter stage downstream.

Carbon for taste and odor

Activated carbon takes chlorine taste and odor out of the whole house, so the shower stops smelling like a pool and drinking water tastes like nothing at all, which is the point.

Under-sink kitchen polish

A dedicated drinking-water filter at the kitchen sink, the highest polish right where you cook and pour. A natural add during a kitchen remodel and an easy retrofit in most cabinets.

Fridge and ice line tie-ins

Filtered water routed to the refrigerator and ice maker with a proper shutoff and food-grade line. Clearer ice, better water, and no saddle-valve shortcuts hiding behind the fridge.

Honest Sizing

Sized by a plumber, not a sales quota.

Water treatment attracts overselling. We recommend what your water justifies, nothing more. If weak pressure sent you here, the fix is usually a pressure reducing valve or the main water line rather than a filter, and we will point you to the right one.

A video consult, first

Start free: a 5-minute video call with a journeyman plumber. Show us the kitchen tap and the mechanical space, and tell us what your water does wrong. We arrive already knowing the plan.

A recommendation you can check

You hear which stages make sense for your water and which do not. If the honest answer is a single under-sink filter, or a softener we do not even sell, that is the answer you get.

An exact price, in writing

A guaranteed number before any work begins, with the equipment named. The price you approve is the price you pay.

A protected install and a follow-up

Runners down, floors covered, worksite disinfected before we go. Housings leave labeled and dated, and our office follows up to make sure the system is doing its job.

Good Questions

Everything homeowners ask about filtration.

Do I need a whole-house system or an under-sink filter?

It depends on which taps you are trying to fix. If the complaint is drinking-water taste at the kitchen sink, an under-sink filter is a smaller job and often all you need, and we will tell you so. A whole-house system earns its keep when you want chlorine taste and odor gone from showers and every faucet, or when sediment is reaching fixtures and appliances. Plenty of homes eventually run both: broad protection at the main line, high polish at the kitchen.

How often do the filters need to be changed?

It depends on the stage and on your water. As a rule of thumb, most whole-house sediment and carbon cartridges are roughly a once-a-year job, and heavy sediment can shorten that. We size housings so you are not swapping cartridges every few weeks, label each one with the change date, and show you the five-minute swap before we leave, so staying on schedule is easy.

Will a filter fix hard-water spots and scale?

No, and we would rather say that now than after an install. Spots on glassware and scale on fixtures come from dissolved minerals, and removing those is a water softener’s job: different equipment working on different chemistry. Panda Plumbing installs filtration only and does not sell water softeners. If hardness turns out to be your real problem, we will tell you at the consult so you can shop for the right equipment with straight information.

Does whole-house filtration lower water pressure?

Not when it is sized and plumbed correctly. We match the system to your home’s flow rate and install it with full-port valves, so the filter is never the bottleneck. If pressure fades months later, the usual culprit is an overdue cartridge, which the bypass and labeled change dates make easy to stay ahead of. And if your pressure was low before any filter entered the picture, start with a pressure reducing valve check instead. A filter will not fix a supply problem.

More questions? Browse every answer on our FAQ page.