Review: Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Countertop Water Filter
Written by: Gene Fitzgerald // Expert Fact-Checking: Buddhini Dolapihilla, MBSS // Last Updated: Mar 11, 2024
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At a higher price point than the average model on this market, the Doulton HCP & Ultracarb immediately sets high expectations. Does the countertop water filter manage to live up to them though? Let’s take a look!
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Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Countertop Water Filter |
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| Price: | $ |
| Filter Process: | Ceramic Outer Shell, Activated Carbon Block, Lead Removal Media |
| Filter Life: | 600 Gallons or 6 Months |
| Flow Rate: | 0.5 gpm |
| Annual Cost: | ~$60 |
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Overall Rating: 4.0/5.0 ⓘRating based on filtration performance, filter life, price and yearly cost, NSF testing/certification, customer support, product warranty, our testing/experience, user feedback, and other factors.
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Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Countertop Water Filter – All Specs
- Model: W9331032
- Annual Maintenance Cost: ~$60
- Filter Media/Process: Ceramic Outer Shell, Activated Carbon Block, Lead Removal Media
- Filter Stages: 2
- Flow Rate: 0.5 gpm
- Filtering Capacity: 600 gal or 6 Months
- WxHxD: 4″x14″x6″
- Water Temperature: 41-86 °F
- Water Pressure: 10-125 psi
- Water pH: 5.5-9.5
- NSF Certifications: Standards 42, 53
Doulton HCP & Ultracarb – Key Features
The Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Countertop Water Filter requires no plumbing connections and hooks up directly to your current kitchen faucet – as is usual for this type of water filter.
It uses one filter cartridge – the Doulton Ultracarb, which is based on a ceramic filter candle and an activated carbon block core that also contains “lead removal media”. The ceramic shell has an absolute rating of 0.9 micron and as such can remove even tiny particles. With this filter, the system can filter out a variety of contaminants – and the company has even provided specific reduction rates for some of them:
- 99.99% bacteria
- 99.99% cyst
- 96% chlorine
- 99.2-99.3% lead
In addition, the filtration process removes sediments and improves the taste and odor of your drinking water. This is even backed by 2 NSF certifications, one against standard 42 and one against standard 53 – more on this in a bit.
All in all, this looks like a decent filtration process.
By the way, you can use a diverter valve to switch between filtered and unfiltered water very easily. The filter is made of BPA-free food grade plastic. It’s made in Britain.
Filter life: 6 months or 600 gallons. We estimate $60 in annual cost which is highly affordable.
Doulton Countertop Pros
- Connects directly to existing kitchen faucet.
- Effective water filtration process backed by NSF certifications.
- Affordable to maintain.
What Contaminants Are Being Removed?
According to the manufacturer, the Doulton HCP & Ultracarb can reduce or remove the following contaminants:
- Chlorine: 96%
- Bacteria: 99.99%
- Cyst: 99.99%
- Lead: 99.2-99.3%
- Sediment
- Heavy metals
- Insecticides
- Herbicides
- Phenols
- TTHMs
- Bad taste & odor
The Doulton HCP & Ultracarb – learn more on Amazon.com
Installation
Installation is very simple, as with most of these countertop models – definitely easy to DIY!
Please consider these instructions as a general guideline. Always make sure to check and follow your user manual before getting started.
- Use the diverter valve to connect to the cold water tap.
- Unscrew the filter body from the filter head.
- Remove the ceramic filter from its packaging.
- Attach black washer to filter, and screw back into body.
- Hold the filter upside down.
- Let water run through the filter until it fills up completely.
- Turn unit back upright and let water run through it for 10 minutes.
- Leave filter unused for 24 hours.
- Flush 15 liters of water and discard them.
- Check for leaks.
Video
The Package (Parts)
- Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Countertop Water Filter
Maintenance
Maintaining the filter is easy – you just need to replace the cartridge every 6 months, or every 600 gallons. This comes down to around $60 per year, which is very cheap compared to other similar models.
Additionally, you will need to clean the ceramic filter occasionally – just use a stiff brush under running water.
Manual
Sorry, but we couldn’t find the official product manual online.
NSF and Other Certifications
The Doulton HCP & Ultracarb comes with 2 NSF certifications:
- NSF 42: reduction of chlorine and nominal particulate (Class I), improvement of odor and taste.
- NSF 53: reduction of cyst, lead, and turbidity.
Earlier Product Versions
There are no earlier product versions.
Cons
- Higher upfront price for what you get.
- Website claims that the model can remove 230+ impurities, but actual reduction rates given are far less thorough.
- Flow rate of only 0.5 gpm, which is quite slow for a countertop water filter and more in line with a tankless RO system.
- A lot of information is missing online.
- Some customers report a degradation in taste.
- Plastic can crack after some time.
Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Review: Our Verdict + Best for
In our opinion and based on the information we have, the Doulton HCP & Ultracarb is an okay model overall, for a countertop water filter, but too expensive for what it brings to the table. We would have appreciated additional NSF certifications or at least some extra testing for more contaminants. All in all, 4.0 out of 5 stars.
Our Rating in Detail:
- Filtration Performance: 4.0/5.0
- Filter Capacity (Life): 4.0/5.0
- Purchase Price: 3.5/5.0
- Annual Cost: 5.0/5.0
- Overall: 4.0/5.0
Comparison to Other Countertop Water Filters
If the Doulton countertop filter seems too expensive for what it does, don’t worry – there are plenty of alternatives out there!
AquaTru |
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| Price: | $$$ |
| Filtration Process: | Sediment/Carbon, RO, Carbon Block |
| Filter Life: | 600-1,200 gal |
| Water: | 1 Gallon in 10-15 Minutes |
| Annually: | ~$100-120 |
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Overall Rating: 4.5/5.0 ⓘRating based on filtration performance, filter life, price and yearly cost, NSF testing/certification, customer support, product warranty, our testing/experience, user feedback, and other factors.
Get 15% Off! Use Code: |
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ProOne ProMax PMC-3000 |
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| Price: | $$ |
| Filtration Process: | Ceramic Outer Shell, Carbon Block Core |
| Filter Life: | 900-2,600 gal |
| Water Flow Rate: | 0.2-1.0 gpm |
| Annually: | ~$85 |
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Overall Rating: 4.0/5.0 ⓘRating based on filtration performance, filter life, price and yearly cost, NSF testing/certification, customer support, product warranty, our testing/experience, user feedback, and other factors.
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Doulton HCP & Ultracarb |
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| Price: | $ |
| Filtration Process: | Ceramic Outer Shell, Activated Carbon Block, Lead Removal Media |
| Filter Life: | 600 gal or 6 Months |
| Water Flow Rate: | 0.5 gpm |
| Annually: | ~$60 |
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Overall Rating: 4.0/5.0 ⓘRating based on filtration performance, filter life, price and yearly cost, NSF testing/certification, customer support, product warranty, our testing/experience, user feedback, and other factors.
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The AquaTru is among our favorite water filtration systems out there right now. It’s a countertop system with a 4-stage filtration process, which includes a reverse osmosis filter – and that means it’s capable of removing a large number of different contaminants. It also comes with 5 NSF/ANSI certificates – 42, 53, 58, 401, and P473, which is quite impressive. The filter can address many contaminants, including:
- Chlorine: 96.6%
- VOCs: 95-99%
- Chromium-6: 97.2%
- TDS: 87.1%
- Cyst: 99.99%
- Fluoride: 93.5%
- Lead: 99.1%
- Radium 226/228: 96.4%
- BPA: 99%
- Various trace pharmaceuticals and pesticides: 86.7-96.6%
- PFOA, PFOS: 97.5%
As you can see, it’s much better than the Doulton in terms of contaminant reduction rates. It also comes with a space-saving design that requires no installation, and is ready to work in just a few minutes. It works fast, too – and only wastes around 20% of the input water, which is very good for a reverse osmosis system. This is due to the internal pump. Many other RO systems waste as much as 3-5 gallons of water for each gallon purified. The system is made of BPA- and BPS-free Tritan plastic.
Some users have reported minor leaking problems, as well as units breaking down prematurely, but we haven’t experienced any of that.
Then, we have the ProOne PMC-3000, which uses several layers of filter media structured as foam. The layers consist of granulated activated carbon and other, more specialized filter media, which can target different types of contaminants. According to ProOne, their system has been tested against NSF/ANSI standards 42 and 53, and is capable of addressing more than 200 contaminants in total, including:
- Dozens of VOCs: 99.9%
- Aluminum: 99.7%
- Lead: 99.4%
- Arsenic 3+5: 98.0%
- Nickel: 99%
- Cadmium: 96.7%
- Mercury: 91.5%
- Chromium 3+6: 98.3%
- Copper: 99.8%
- Iron: 98.8%
- Dozens of pesticides and herbicides: 95.2-99.9%
- Dozens of semivolatile contaminants: 99.8%
- Chlorine: 95.5%
- Chloramine: 96.7%
- Nitrates: 72.4%
- Perchlorate: 90%
- Cyanide: 99.9%
- Sulfate: 62.5%
- Sodium fluoride: 90%
- TDS: 86.7%
- Turbidity: 92.5%
- PFOA/PFOS: 99%
- Trace pharmaceuticals and other chemicals: 99.5%
Even though there are no official NSF certifications, the testing behind this model is quite impressive. Still, the Doulton does have official certificates for some of its claims, which is always a nice factor to have – though they don’t cover the most important contaminants overall.
The installation process is similar to that of the Doulton, and you get all faucet adaptors included in the package. A diverter valve allows you to switch between filtered and unfiltered water with ease. The model is made of BPA and BPS-free plastic. Each filter can last for 900 – 2,600 gallons of water, or around 1 year – which equals around $85 in annual maintenance costs. On that note, filters are easy to replace.
The model is backed by a 2-year warranty. It’s a bit expensive upfront, like the Doulton, and only has a 0.2 – 1.0 gpm flow rate. While 1.0 is relatively okay, 0.2 is very low. There’s also some contradicting information about the filter on the official website.
More Reviews:
This completes our review of the Doulton HCP & Ultracarb Countertop Water Filter. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
About the Author Gene Fitzgerald
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