User:Jonathan/Tankless Revers Osmosis Physical DRM (Culligan, Waterdrop)

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Culligan and Waterdrop are using a plastic key (physical DRM) to lock their water filters out of each others systems

Jonathan/Tankless Revers Osmosis Physical DRM (Culligan, Waterdrop)

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.

Culligan Filter with plastic key removed.

Water drop key (left) Culligan key (right)

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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• GE Refrigerator water filter DRM