Chloramine Filters for Valley Homes

Why is chloramine harder to filter than chlorine?

Chloramine is harder to filter because carbon has to break it down chemically rather than catch it, and that reaction is slow. The Water Quality Association's chloramine technical sheet describes chloramines as small, stable molecules with no net charge, which makes them "difficult to remove by distillation, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange resins."

Free chlorine is quick work for carbon. WQA's carbon technical sheet says dechlorination needs a contact time of only 30-40 seconds, and that a chloramine filter "has to be sized about four times the size of a regular GAC filter used for chlorine."

What is catalytic carbon in chloramine filters?

Catalytic carbon is activated carbon treated to speed up the reaction that splits chloramine into chloride, ammonia and nitrogen. WQA notes that sellers may describe it by a "peroxide number" alongside the usual iodine number, and that catalytic carbon removes chloramine better at higher pH.

Valley water sits on the higher side of neutral: LADWP's Valley sources averaged pH 7.7 to 8.3 in 2025, and Burbank's averaged 8.4. That suits catalytic carbon, though pH is only one factor next to contact time and the age of the media.

Contact time is simple arithmetic. WQA's example: one cubic foot of carbon holds about 7.5 gallons of media, so water running through it at 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) spends 3 minutes in the bed. A 1.5 cubic foot tank holds about 11 gallons of media; at WQA's 5 minutes for catalytic carbon, that tank would be sized for roughly 2.2 gpm of flow, and less contact at higher flow.

That arithmetic is a planning figure, not a pass or fail line. Ask the seller what flow rate the tank was sized for and what chloramine level it was tested against.

Whole-house or point-of-use chloramine filter?

A whole-house (point-of-entry) tank treats every tap, shower and appliance; a point-of-use filter treats one faucet. The table below shows what each Valley supplier uses, which sets how much chloramine a filter has to deal with.

Reports print these as ppm, which is the same as mg/L at these levels. A whole-house tank makes sense when the goal is the shower, the laundry or the smell at every tap. It also protects rubber parts: LADWP's water quality FAQ notes that chlorine or chloramine slowly breaks down the black rubber lining of flexible supply hoses, and says newer hoses carry disinfectant-resistant linings.

A point-of-use filter makes sense when the goal is drinking water, coffee or an aquarium top-up. Its low flow, often under 1 gpm, gives the carbon more time per gallon. Before buying either, try LADWP's at-home fix for a bleachy taste: remove the aerators and run every faucet for 5 minutes, since the taste often comes from chloramine reacting with buildup in home plumbing.

Which certifications cover chloramine reduction?

NSF/ANSI 42 carries a separate "Chloramine Reduction" claim, and only a model listed for that claim has been tested for it. NSF's chloramine reduction listing, read on October 27, 2026, lists countertop, faucet-mount, plumbed-in, refrigerator and commercial modular units, each with a rated flow and service cycle; no residential whole-house tank appeared on it.

Three things trip buyers up:

• Chlorine is not chloramine. Many listings show "Chlorine Reduction" only. A chlorine claim says nothing about chloramine.
• Materials marks are not reduction claims. NSF/ANSI 61 and 372 cover parts and lead-free materials, not what the filter takes out.
• California registration does not apply. The State Water Board's device FAQ says models certified only to NSF/ANSI 42 are aesthetic and fall outside its registration program.

No chloramine reduction certification was found for the two shops' whole-house carbon tanks; their chloramine wording is the shops' own claim.

How long does a chloramine filter last?

A certified filter lasts its rated service cycle in gallons, and an uncertified tank lasts as long as its carbon keeps reacting, which only a test can show. Each NSF/ANSI 42 listing pairs the claim with a flow rate and a gallon rating; one countertop model on NSF's chloramine list, for example, is rated at 0.7 gpm for 1,320 gallons.

The State Water Board's consumer page puts it plainly: replace the element after the stated number of gallons, or the device stops reducing contaminants. For a whole-house tank with no certified gallon rating, a total chlorine test before and after the tank, using the DPD method WQA lists, shows whether chloramine is getting through. The home testing page covers what a kit can and cannot tell you.

What does a chloramine filter not remove?

A carbon chloramine filter does not remove hardness, dissolved minerals, fluoride or nitrate, and it should not be relied on for lead unless the model carries an NSF/ANSI 53 or 58 lead claim. Carbon also leaves behind the products of the reaction: WQA says catalysis yields ammonia, chloride and nitrogen, which ion exchange or reverse osmosis can then reduce.

LADWP's 2025 report singles out two uses where removal matters. Anyone running home dialysis equipment "should make necessary adjustments to remove chloramines," so follow the dialysis provider's instructions rather than a household filter. Fish keepers need treatment too; LADWP's FAQ says pet-store neutralizers and granular activated carbon remove both chlorine and chloramine.

For scale, look elsewhere: Burbank's water averaged 286 mg/L hardness (about 16.7 gpg) in 2025, and carbon leaves every bit of it in. Hardness is a softener question, and lead is covered on lead in Valley tap water.

Where do the shops' carbon filters fit?

The two shops linked here sell upflow tanks of catalytic carbon that, in the shops' words, handle both chlorine and chloramine. SoftPro's Chlorine+ whole-house filter (sold by SoftPro Water Systems, which shares owners with this site) comes as a 1.5 cubic foot tank at the shop's listed price of $1,097 in October 2026; Quality Water Treatment lists a 1.0 cubic foot size at $917 and a 1.5 cubic foot size at $1,097.

Those are optional comfort upgrades. Read your supplier's report first, decide whether the goal is the whole house or the kitchen tap, and use the contact-time arithmetic above when comparing tank sizes. A drinking-water-only goal may be better met by an under-sink reverse osmosis system with a carbon stage.