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Culligan and Waterdrop are using a plastic key (physical DRM) to lock their water filters out of each others systems
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | |
| Product Type | Hardware |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://www.culligan.com/product/culligan-aquasential-tankless-ro-drinking-water-filter-system |
I (Jonathan) purchased a Culligan Aquasential Tankless Reverse Osmosis System (RO) a few years ago. Every year the filter beeps and needs to be changed out. Culligan after COVID decided that the filters are now much more expensive than they were when I purchased the RO. The only way to purchase cartridges for the RO are through contacting a sales person at Culligan and either going to their office or paying them $5 to drive to my house and hand it to me.
With the absurd nature of being more or less held hostage to their proprietary filters and process I spent time every year looking for alternatives. This year (2026) I found it! Waterdrop created an RO filter with the EXACT same filter size and locking system that Culligan uses on my model.
I ordered 2 Waterdrop filters from Homedepot and when they arrived I realized that there is a plastic key on both brands of filter that prevents them from being directly interchanged. Luckily they were not very solidly attached and I was able to pry them off with a butter knife. I put one of the Waterdrop filters in the RO with the Culligan key replaced onto it and then put the second Waterdrop filter in without a key and it worked just the same.
Consumer impact summary
Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of the product (if applicable):
- User Freedom
- User Privacy
- Business Model
- Market Control
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Attempting to physically lock two cloned RO filters from one another with a key is anti-consumer behavior that needs to be called out. Culligan profits heavily from locking consumers into a high upfront cost RO system with expensive filters and no other way to get them than to call a salesperson to come by your house.
See also
Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.
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