This article is underdeveloped, and needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues.
Learn more ▼
Issues may include:
This article needs to be expanded to provide meaningful information
This article requires additional verifiable evidence to demonstrate systemic impact
More documentation is needed to establish how this reflects broader consumer protection concerns
The connection between individual incidents and company-wide practices needs to be better established
The article is simply too short, and lacks sufficient content
How you can help:
Add documented examples with verifiable sources
Provide evidence of similar incidents affecting other consumers
Include relevant company policies or communications that demonstrate systemic practices
Link to credible reporting that covers these issues
Flesh out the article with relevant information
This notice will be removed once the article is sufficiently developed. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel, or mention its status on the article's talk page.
🧽🫧Article Status Notice: This Article needs to be cleaned up
This article contains sources and content, but is lacking proper format and needs more development to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and provide a high quality and consistent experience for readers.
Learn more ▼
Issues may include:
The article is not following the correct outline for its subject (i.e. incident, company, product)
This article contains references that do not utilize the <ref></ref> tags or Cite web template.
The article has "WIP" mentioned next to content
A quote longer than two sentences does not use the Quote template.
How you can help:
Copy and paste the layout from the aforementioned preload templates (depending on the article's topic)
Take URLs, convert them for the Cite web template, and insert them into the correct sentence where the source can verify a claim.
Remove personal notes left by editors either with <!-- [text here] --> in source editor or when the article is close to being fully cleaned up.
Flesh out the article with relevant information
This notice will be removed once the article is sufficiently developed. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel, or mention its status on the article's talk page.
Culligan and Waterdrop are using a plastic key (physical DRM) to lock their water filters out of each others systems
I (Jonathan) purchased a CulliganAquasential 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
Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.
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.
Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.
