Filter shower heads in the UK: the complete, honest guide

In the UK, a filter shower head is a shower head with a replaceable cartridge that water passes through on its way to the jets. Filter shower heads are designed to reduce free chlorine, the disinfectant that water companies keep in tap water. They do not soften hard water or remove limescale.

Whether one is worth it for you depends on your shower, your water and the running cost. This guide covers what a filter shower head is, why your water contains chlorine and what the cartridge holds. It then shows how to check the fit, how to fit one, what it costs to run and seven checks for comparing any model.

We sell a filter shower head, so every figure here links to its source.

What is a filter shower head?

A filter shower head is a shower head with a replaceable cartridge of filter media inside, placed in the path of the water. Sellers also call it a filtered shower head or a water filter shower head; the idea is the same.

The media are granules or crystals chosen to react with free chlorine, or to hold on to it, as the water flows past. They are used up as they work, which is why the cartridge comes out and the head stays.

Filter shower head or inline shower filter?

An inline shower filter, sometimes sold as a shower head filter, is a separate housing that screws in between the hose and your existing head. A filter shower head builds the cartridge into the head or handle, so there is one part to fit instead of two.

Both are usually sold for the same job. The practical differences are length, weight and whether your holder and hose can take them, so check both before you buy.

Where the cartridge sits

Designs differ: the cartridge can sit in the handle, behind the spray face or in a separate housing. Wherever it sits, it is in the water path. That is why your shower’s manual matters: some showers, electric ones in particular, are strict about what is fitted to the outlet.

Why is there chlorine in your shower water?

There is chlorine in your shower water because it is the same tap water, disinfected by your water company and kept protected on its way through the pipes. In England, regulation 26 of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 requires water companies to disinfect water before they supply it.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) says water companies in England and Wales typically keep the residual, as free or combined chlorine, at 0.5 mg/l or less. Levels can be higher for a while during pipe maintenance, and a little higher near a treatment works than several miles away. Most companies aim to stay below 1 mg/l, well under the World Health Organization’s guideline maximum of 5 mg/l, the DWI adds.

At these low levels, the DWI says, chlorine is perfectly safe to drink. If you notice a strong or TCP-like taste, or a new smell that doesn’t go away, it advises contacting your water company. Your water company will also send a free water quality report with the minimum and maximum chlorine levels where you live, on request.

So the chlorine in your shower is there by design and at low levels, and reducing it is a preference rather than a safety fix. For local figures, why chlorine is more noticeable in hot water and how chloramine differs, read our guide to chlorine in UK tap water.

What a filter shower head does and doesn’t do

A filter shower head does one job: it is designed to reduce free chlorine in the water that reaches you. A filter shower head doesn’t soften hard water or stop limescale, because hardness is a different problem with a different fix.

What it does

Filter shower heads are designed around free chlorine: the cartridge’s media react with it or hold on to it, as the next section shows with sources. How much a given model reduces depends on its design, the temperature and flow of your water, and the age of its cartridge.

What it doesn’t do

Hardness is dissolved calcium and magnesium, explains the DWI’s guide to hard water, and it causes scale in kettles, hot water systems and appliances. The DWI classes water as soft up to 100 mg/l and very hard above 300 mg/l, measured as calcium carbonate. Domestic water softeners deal with it by ion exchange, replacing calcium and magnesium with sodium.

So if you are looking for a shower filter for hard water in the UK, the plain answer is that a filter shower head won’t soften it. In a hard water area, clean any shower head, filtered or not, as its leaflet says. If limescale is the real problem, see whether a water softener suits your home better.

Waterhush makes one claim only: it reduces free chlorine.

If it’s the taste of drinking water that bothers you

A filter shower head does nothing for the water you drink. Tap water in England and Wales ranks among the highest quality in the world, says the DWI’s advice on domestic water filters and softeners. Published test results show it is safe to drink.

For chlorine taste in drinking water, the DWI suggests a jug of tap water in the fridge, poured away after 24 hours. A simple jug filter with an activated carbon cartridge is another option, used exactly as its maker says.

What does the cartridge contain?

A shower filter cartridge often combines two or more filter media, partly because some media work less well in hot, fast-flowing water. Four common ones are calcium sulfite, vitamin C, KDF and activated carbon, and each acts on free chlorine in its own way.

These sources differ in weight: a US government technical note, a maker describing its own product and an inventor’s patent. They describe how each medium reacts with chlorine; none of them measures a particular shower head in your bathroom.

Combining media is one answer to those limits. The patent says carbon works well at room temperature and low flow, but less well at shower temperatures and flows. The KDF maker says its media tolerate high temperatures and are used in shower head filters.

The media are also used up as they work: the USDA note says about 2.5 parts of ascorbic acid are needed to neutralise 1 part of chlorine. That is why cartridges have replacement schedules. Our plain-English guide to each filter medium goes into more detail.

Will a filter shower head fit your shower?

A handheld filter shower head fits most simply where you already have a handheld head on a flexible hose that unscrews from the shower outlet. A fixed head with no hose, or an electric shower whose manual restricts other heads, needs a closer look first.

A handheld head on a flexible hose

A handheld head on a hose is the usual direct swap. The old hose unscrews from the outlet by hand, and the new one screws on with a washer. Hose connections and holders vary, so check the connection and make sure your holder can take the new head. Keep the old parts in case you need them again.

A fixed head only

A handheld head is not a direct swap for a fixed head with no hose. You would need a hose outlet first, such as a riser rail kit, which is a bigger job. If you rent, ask your landlord before changing anything and keep the original parts; our guide to changing a shower head when you rent explains how.

An electric shower

An electric shower needs a check before any other head goes on, because some makers restrict what connects to the outlet. Two examples:

• One maker’s 2009 electric-shower guide says the outlet acts as a vent and must not be connected to anything other than the hose and shower head supplied.
• Another maker’s 2012 electric-shower guide says not to connect the outlet to any handset or shower head other than those specified for that shower.

Other models may differ, so read your own manual, and don’t fit another head if it rules them out. Our guide to filter shower heads and electric showers explains why flow at the outlet matters and how to check a manual in five minutes.

Not sure which shower you have?

An electric shower has its own unit on the wall that heats cold mains water as it flows, usually with a pull-cord or wall switch nearby. A mixer or power shower has a valve or bar and takes hot water from your boiler or tank.

Whatever you have, the cartridge sits in the water path, and we make no pressure or flow claims. If your flow is already weak, check your shower’s manual before choosing any filter shower head.

Is it right for your shower? Check in three questions.

How do you fit a filter shower head?

A handheld filter shower head usually goes on in five steps, all done by hand, once you know your shower allows it. The leaflet in the box always comes first; the steps below mirror our fitting guide.

1. Take off the old hose. Unscrew it from the shower outlet by hand.
2. Fit the washer. Place the supplied washer inside the new hose’s nut.
3. Wrap the thread. Add a few turns of PTFE tape to the outlet thread, in the direction you will screw.
4. Screw on the hose, then the head. Hand-tight is enough; don’t overtighten.
5. Run the water. Let it run for a minute and check the joints for drips.

Keep the head where it can’t drop into the bath, basin or toilet. Water Regs UK treats a hose handset that can reach into a toilet bowl or bidet as a fluid category 5 backflow risk, which needs extra protection unless the hose is restrained. In plain terms, used water must never be able to flow back into the supply, so use the holder and keep the head above the bath or tray.

If a joint drips, reseat the washer, check the nut isn’t cross-threaded and re-wrap the tape. Our step-by-step guide to fitting a shower head and hose covers PTFE tape and leaks in more detail.

What does a filter shower head cost to run?

A filter shower head costs its upfront price plus every replacement cartridge you buy, and cartridges need changing on the maker’s schedule because the media are used up. The schedule and the refill price matter as much as the price of the kit.

How often the cartridge changes

The DWI’s general advice on home water filters is to follow the manufacturer’s advice on how often to change cartridges, or the filter stops working. Waterhush suggests every 3 months, or every 2 months for households of two or more. That is a suggestion, not a promise of how long a cartridge lasts. Our guide to how often to change a shower filter explains what makes a cartridge run out sooner.

The yearly sum

Work it out the same way for any model: upfront price + (refill price × refills a year) + any delivery charge. Then read the subscription terms: minimum term, skipping, cancelling and reminders before each charge.

Here is that sum for Waterhush at the 3-monthly suggestion, with refills in months 3, 6 and 9. Prices include VAT and free tracked UK delivery.

On the plan, the first refill ships 3 months after your kit, or 2 months after it on the 2-month rhythm. The page on how the refill plan works covers skipping, changing the rhythm and cancelling.

Is a filter shower head worth it?

That depends on whether less free chlorine in your shower matters to you, and whether your shower suits one. A filter shower head won’t soften water, so if limescale is what bothers you, the money is better spent on a fix for hardness. Year two, the 2-monthly rhythm and the two-refill box are worked out line by line in our guide to what a shower filter costs per year.

How to choose a filter shower head in the UK: a 7-point checklist

Choosing a filter shower head comes down to seven checks, from the exact wording of the claim to the returns terms. The checklist works for any model, including ours.

Before you buy any water treatment product, the DWI suggests asking your water company for its free water quality report, which shows the levels in your tap water.

1. The exact claim. Read the verb and any number: ‘reduces’ and ‘removes’ are different promises, and a number means little without its conditions.
2. Which substance. Free chlorine, chloramine and hardness are three different things, so check which one the claim is about.
3. The evidence and its conditions. Ask which test or standard, which lab, and at what chlorine level, temperature and flow. The DWI also advises being wary of claims made when buying online.
4. Fit with your shower. You need a hose outlet, a holder that takes the head and, on an electric shower, a manual that allows other heads.
5. The replacement schedule. Check how often the cartridge should change, and whether that is a tested capacity or a suggestion.
6. The yearly cost. Add the refills to the upfront price and read the subscription terms: minimum term, skipping, cancelling and reminders.
7. Returns. Check how your legal 14-day right to cancel works in practice, including what happens to a cartridge once it has been unsealed or used.

Treat reviews as experiences rather than proof of a claim. How shower filter claims are tested, and what the chemistry shows, is covered in what the evidence says about shower filters.

Where Waterhush fits

Waterhush fits a shower with a hose outlet, for anyone who wants a handheld filter shower head that reduces free chlorine. It is not confirmed for electric showers, and it is not a water softener.

The Waterhush Shower Kit is a round handheld head in chrome-plated ABS plastic, about 400 g, with 10 jets numbered 01 to 10. The box holds the head with the cartridge already fitted in the handle, a 1.5 m flexible hose, a washer, PTFE tape and an instruction leaflet.

The cartridge includes four filter media: calcium sulfite, vitamin C, KDF (copper-zinc granules) and carbon. The one performance claim we make is that it reduces free chlorine, and we quote no percentages.

We can’t give a thread size, a minimum pressure or a flow figure for the head, so check your shower’s connection and manual before you buy. The full specifications list what we can confirm.

Refills are the same cartridge, each in its own airtight sachet. How the head, cartridge and handle work together is shown on one page.

Delivery is free and tracked with Royal Mail: orders are dispatched the next working day, then usually take 6–10 working days to arrive.

The kit is probably not for you if:

• your shower has a fixed head and no hose outlet;
• your electric shower’s manual rules out other heads;
• you want softer water or less limescale;
• you would rather not change a cartridge every few months.

More guides for your shower

Each guide answers one question in full, with its sources.

Fitting and care

• How to fit a shower head and hose
• Shower head thread sizes in the UK
• Choosing a replacement shower hose
• How to clean a shower head
• How to fix a dripping shower head
• How to remove a stuck shower head

Your shower

• Types of shower in the UK
• Electric shower vs mixer shower
• Handheld vs fixed shower head
• How to choose a shower head
• Filter shower heads and electric showers
• Changing a shower head when renting

Water and costs

• Chlorine in UK tap water
• Why does my shower water smell?
• How much water a shower uses
• How much a shower costs to run
• What a shower filter costs a year
• How often to change a shower filter

The bottom line

A filter shower head is designed to reduce free chlorine in your shower, and on a shower with a hose outlet it is a simple swap. It is not a water softener, it will not stop limescale, and it is a preference rather than a safety measure. Before buying any model, check the fit, the manual if your shower is electric, and the yearly cost under the plan’s terms.