What treating the mains actually gives you
The water enters your property at one point. Fit the filter there and everything downstream of it is filtered.
That means the shower. It means the washing machine and the dishwasher. It means the water going into the hot water system, which is the one people forget and the one that matters most for anything scale-related.
It is the right system when the complaint is not about drinking. Sediment turning up at more than one outlet, something affecting fittings or appliances, water you do not want on your skin — those are mains problems, and no amount of filtering at the kitchen sink will change them.
If all you actually want is better drinking water, say so, because a mains system is the more expensive way to get it and we will tell you that. Under-sink filters
Where the unit goes
This is the part that decides the quote, and it is different across Gosnells depending on which era of the suburb you are in.
On the old townsite blocks
— the 1960s and 70s streets off Albany Highway and around the stations — the mains entry is usually easy to find and there is usually room around it. Blocks from that era are generous. The complication is what the pipework is made of and how many times it has been altered since the house went up. Gosnells grew quickly after it became a Shire in 1961, and plenty of what went in then has been patched by somebody who is no longer contactable. So a mains install here starts with looking at what is actually there rather than what should be.
On the newer estate lots and infill
— including the newer streets running toward Southern River — the pipework is modern and predictable, but the side passage may be narrow and the meter position may be tight against a boundary. The pipe is easier and the space is harder.
On flats and apartments
— and the council's own figures show that is where a lot of the growth inside the suburb has come from — the question is not just plumbing. It is which part of the water supply is yours to modify, and that usually needs a conversation with the strata before anyone cuts anything.
Either way, the unit needs to be under cover, mounted properly, and sited where the cartridge can be changed without taking something apart. A filter that cannot be serviced quietly stops being a filter.
What the install involves
The water is isolated at the meter, the line is cut and the housing is plumbed in with isolation valves either side of it. Those valves are not optional in our view — they are what lets a cartridge be changed later without shutting down the whole property.
The housing is mounted to a wall or a bracket rather than left hanging on the pipe. A large filter full of water is heavy, and pipework was not designed to carry it.
Then it is flushed, brought back up to pressure, and checked at outlets around the house. Your water is off for a good part of the visit, which is worth planning around.
The honest disadvantages
Worth saying before you spend anything.
It costs more than an under-sink unit
, both to install and to maintain, because the cartridges are physically larger.
It needs a real location
Under cover, accessible, with clearance. On some properties that spot does not exist without building something.
It does not give you the same drinking water as a dedicated unit
A mains filter treats everything to a reasonable standard. An under-sink filter treats one tap thoroughly. They are different jobs, and plenty of Gosnells homes end up with both — the mains unit protecting the house, the under-sink unit handling the glass of water.
It does not remove dissolved minerals
Water Corporation puts elevated hardness at 200 mg/L under the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, and hardness is dissolved, not suspended. Anyone telling you a cartridge filter will fix hard water is overselling it. We would rather explain the difference than agree with you and take the money.
What is in the water here
Perth's Integrated Water Supply Scheme, which feeds Gosnells, is roughly 44.6% groundwater, 36% desalinated seawater and 18.7% surface water, with a small amount of groundwater replenishment. The proportions move through the year, which is why the water can be noticeably different between seasons without anything having gone wrong.
Mains filtration evens out a lot of that. It is genuinely good at sediment, chlorine and the taste and smell that travel with them. It is not a treatment for everything, and we will be specific about which of your complaints it will change.
If your water is coming from a bore rather than the scheme, that is a separate system entirely. Bore water filtration
How it runs
You ring or send the form. A licensed plumber comes out at no charge, finds the mains entry, looks at the pipework and the space, and gives you a written price before anything starts. Transparent pricing, no hidden costs — and if you decide against it, you owe nothing.
Plumbing Licence 8396 and Gas Licence 13098, held by Tim, who does the work. Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 4:00pm.
Cartridges on a mains unit are bigger and last differently to kitchen ones. We handle those too. Cartridge replacement · All filtration systems