If you want to choose the best whole house water filter, buying a home water test kit is a good idea. These water tests will perform lab testing and can tell you the amount of chlorine, hard minerals, bacteria, PH, and other chemicals. The four most common designs of whole house water filtration are for removing things like sediment, iron, chlorine, and hard minerals. If you know exactly what you want to remove, you can purchase a whole house water filter designed for that contaminant.