A-1 has been selling the Whirlpool 8171414 and 8171413 water filter cartridges for quite a few years and in the past, customers never had a choice- there was only 1 filter distributed by 1 company (Whirlpool). Of course, you could always get the “Sears” version of this filter, part # 9002 or 9002P, but those also came through Whirlpool. This lack of competition allowed Whirlpool to completely dictate the price… until now.
Sealed Unit Parts Co. (Supco) finally finished production on a high quality aftermarket replacement filter designed to give the Whirlpool models a run for your money! Now, Whirlpool and Sears don’t want you to know about this alternative replacement and when it does start to eat into their profits they’ll quickly claim the oem filter is better. Here’s the thing though, this Supco filter (part # WF286) actually filters better than the 8171413 and the 9002 filters it replaces. It is comparable to the higher priced 8171414 & 9002P filters- the Supco WF286 catches 99.99% of water-borne cysts.
We’ve been selling the WF286 replacement filter for about a month now with no complaints at all. And we’re able to sell them at a much lower price than the Whirlpool version (1 for $25.75 and 4 for $84.00). In fact, the only difference I can see between these filters is the sticker and the box!
You can get more technical information or order the WF286 water filter here.