9 Best Home Water Test Kit

A reliable home water test kit is essential for assessing the quality of your water and identifying potential contaminants that could affect your health and household appliances. These kits allow you to easily test for various impurities and ensure your water meets safety standards.

This article reviews the best home water test kits, focusing on their accuracy, ease of use, and range of parameters tested to help you choose the best option for monitoring your water quality.

DISCLOSURE: We may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you.

Our Top Pick

4.5/5

Tap Score Advanced

A water test kit ideal for well and city water, the Tap Score Advanced test results not only tell you the critters and pollutants present but also how to fix them. In short, it’s a comprehensive water treatment solution.

Best Water Test Kits Review

  1. Tap Score – Best Home Water Test Kit
  2. Test Assured – Best Budget Water Test Kit
  3. SafeHome Ultimate – Best Well Water Test Kit
  4. The Perfect Water – Best Laboratory Water Test Kit
  5. Bang For The Buck – Best Instant City Water Test Kit​
  6. Health Metric – Best Instant Well Water Test Kit
  7. KoolaMo pH Tester – Best pH Water Tester
  8. HM Digital TDS – Best TDS Water Tester
  9. Hach 2745250 – Best Water Hardness Test Strips

Tap Score – Best Home Water Test Kit

review of Tap Score

With the Simple Water’s Tap Score home water test kits, all you need to do is collect water samples from your well water as detailed in the package and send it to the Lab for water testing.

The test results come back, not only with a list of contaminants lurking in the water but also with advice on how to fix them.

Variants: The well water test kit is available in three different variants,

  • Essential Well Water Test Kit
  • Advanced Well Water Test Kit
  • Extended Well Water Test Kit

Contaminants Covered:  The home water testing kit is comprehensive in the sense that, it tests for a large number of water contaminants.

Even the most basic of these test kits, tests for 51 analytes. The number of contaminants tested increases across the higher variants and includes VOCs as well.

Additionally, you can decide to commission some of the optional water testing kits in your package at an added cost.

US Water Systems Council Endorsed & EPA Standards of Testing: The Tap Score water testing kit is endorsed by the US Water Council. This puts to rest some of the fears on the minds of first-time buyers.

The lab follows EPA Lab water testing methods and quantified results for 100+ chemicals.

Turnaround Time: Using the kit, water samples can be collected and prepared at home and dispatched to SimpleLab for water testing.

The Lab takes 5 days, after receiving the samples, to send you a report by email. This is one of the fastest turnaround times in this segment.

Other Features: Apart from the test report detailing the contaminants, it also shares advice on how best to handle these. Also, if you have a commercial setup that needs to comply with the regulations, SimpleLabs helps you with achieving the targeted contaminant levels too which is why it is the best water test kit on our list.

PROS
+ Fast turaround.
+ 51 contaminants teststed even in he basic kit.
+ Offers advise on how to fix contaminant problems.
+ Responsive customer care

CONS
Nothing that we could find.

Test Assured – Best Budget Water Test Kit

review of Test Assured

Some of the water testing kits that look for numerous contaminants tend to be quite expensive. They may not be the most sensible purchases if you have a tight budget already.

Affordable Price: What’s great about Test Assured’s Drinking Water Test Kit is that it enables you to inspect for some of the most common contaminants at a more reasonable price.

Test on most common contaminants: It checks for bacteria, pesticides, nitrates, nitrites, and also tells you how much chlorine is in your water. You can even find out the results within minutes of water testing.

For those homeowners looking for a budget option, this is a good option to consider. Therefore we include it in our best water test kit list.

Be careful during the sample collecting process though as it’s easy to come up with false positives if you don’t follow the instructions exactly.

PROS
+ 10 tests includes bacteria, pesticides, and other common contaminants.
+ Provides results within minutes.
+ Affordable price.e
CONS
Not comprehensive test.
Might not cover all the contaminants in your house.

SafeHome Ultimate – Best Well Water Test Kit

review of SafeHome Ultimate

Over 200 Contaminants: Similar to the kit detailed above, Safe Home’s Ultimate Drinking Water Testing Kit tests for a wide variety of potential contaminants, over 200 contaminants that could be floating around in your home’s water supply.

Checked on Well Water Contaminants: It also targets different forms of bacteria including e-coli, but that’s not its only focus. You can also expect this water testing kit to tell you if there are substances such as lead, chlorine, and aluminum in the water. The kit will also show you if there are heavy metals and VOCs present.

Tested in EPA Certified Laboratories: After you’re done collecting the samples, you can send them to the manufacturer so that they can be checked at their EPA-certified laboratories.

Wait Time: The only downside is that you will probably have to wait a while for the results to be provided. It will take around seven to 10 business days to process the samples and that does not even include the time that they will be in transit.

PROS
+ Over 200 contaminants .
+ Tests performed at EPA-certified laboratories.
+ Compatible for well water source.
CONS
Long turnaround time for the results.
Expensive but comprehensive test.

The Perfect Water – Best Laboratory Water Test Kit

review of The Perfect Water Test Kit

The Perfect Water Analysis Kit is an exhaustive drinking water test kit that tests for microbial, chemical, mineral, and every possible contaminant that can affect your and your family’s health and finds its way through water.

Contaminants Covered: The kit covers an enormous number of tests for 104 harmful contaminants.

These include, bacteria (coliform, E.coli and Iron Bacteria), 17 heavy metals, 10 inorganic chemicals (such as fluoride, arsenic, and lead), five organic chemicals (such as chloroform), 44 volatile organic chemicals (such as benzene and MTBE), and 20 pesticides, herbicides and PCB.

Testing as per USEPA Standards: The analysis is performed as per USEPA and industry standards to meet state compliance requirements. Further, the water testing lab is accredited by the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP).

Turnaround Time: The lab returns the results within 7-10 days of having received the sample. The results are shared via an email and no phone communication is entertained over the results.

The lab strictly instructs that no samples should have a transit time of more than 24 hours and must not be dispatched on a day that is followed by a holiday. This is to keep the sample standing at the lowest.

PROS
+ Includes tests for an exhaustive list of pollutants
+ One of the kis with clear and precise instructions
+ Testing is as per USEPA standards

CONS
The turnaround time is one of the longest
Allows for only a day’s sample standing time

Bang For The Buck – Best Instant City Water Test Kit​

review of Bang For The Buck

Being comprehensive is a good thing when it comes to water test kits. You want to have one of the best water test kits that will check for as many contaminants as possible.

Covers 170 contaminants: The “Bang-for-the-Buck” Essential Indicators Water Test from Drinking Water Specialists test over 170 potential contaminants in the water supply. Chief among those contaminants sought out by this kit are eight types of pathogenic bacteria, including e-coli and total coliforms.

85 VOC Test : In addition to the bacteria, this kit will also look at 85 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and heavy metals.

EPA Approach: The manufacturers of this drinking water test kit make use of the EPA’s methodology to accurately determine if there are substances of concern floating around in your water supply.

Results in Six Business Days: After providing your samples, they should get back to you with your results in six business days.

PROS
+ Covers 170 contaminants including disease-causing bacteria such e-coli .
+ Checks for 85 VOCs and heavy metals.
+ EPA Methodology on water testing.
CONS
Not able to get the immediate results.
Slightly expensive test.

Health Metric – Best Instant Well Water Test Kit

review of Health Metric

In areas where wells are used as primary sources of water, this kit from Health Metric should prove to be a great purchase.

Manganese in Well Water: One of the most notable features of this testing kit is that it looks for manganese. Manganese in the water supply is not a concern from a health standpoint, but it is problematic in the sense that it can stain clothes. This testing kit can alert you to the possible problem of manganese in your water.

8 Test in Total:Furthermore, it also conducts 7 different tests which include the checks on bacteria, nitrates, nitrites, hydrogen sulfide and etc.

Since this a test kit that you’ll be using to inspect well water, it would be nice if it also identified heavy metals in the supply. That’s a glaring omission from an otherwise solid testing kit.

PROS
+ Checks for manganese, a substance that can stain clothes.
+ Affordable DIY test.
+ Compatible for well water source.
CONS
Not comprehensive test.
Only covers 8 tests.

KoolaMo pH Tester – Best pH Water Tester

review of KoolaMo pH Tester

Temperature Doesn’t Matter: It can be calibrated easily by just pressing a single button and you don’t even have to get the water’s temperature to a certain level before you start using this meter. The meter has a temperature compensation feature that will help you receive accurate results regardless of whether the water is hot or cold.

High Accuracy: It comes with a high sensitive electrode sensor which reads accurate pH level. It provides accurate and stable reading across multiple tests.

Wide Usage: The pH tester can be used in various places such as pool, aquarium, drinking water spa and etc.

To be clear, this item is only for checking the pH level. If you need something that will detect contaminants, you will have to get a different kind of tester.

PROS
+ Easy to use.
+ Has an automatic temperature compensation feature.
+ Can be reused multiple times.
CONS
Limited to only checking the pH level of your water.

HM Digital TDS – Best TDS Water Tester

review of HM Digital TDS

Next up is the TDS-EZ Water Quality Tester from HM Digital. While this water tester doesn’t check for as many contaminants as the items listed previously, it can still play an important role in your home.

Dissolved Solid Tester: This water tester specializes in finding impurities in water which is also known as dissolved solids. TDS is usually used to measure impurities on some of the best reverse osmosis water filters as those systems claim to reduce dissolved solid.

Huge Measurement Range: The measurement range of 0-9990 ppm with an increment of 1ppm, ensures that you will get a good read on your water quality. The item itself is easy enough to use and the auto-off feature keeps you from wasting batteries.

You may have a tough time seeing what’s on the display though as it is on the smaller side.

PROS
+ Easy and conveninent TDS Tester.
+ High accuracy up to 1ppm.
+ Auto turn off features.
+ Afforable price.
CONS
Display is a bit hard to read because of its size.
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Hach 2745250 – Best Water Hardness Test Strips

review of Hach 2745250

Hard water is a problem that can really sneak up on you. As the hardness level of your water increases, the amount of soap you need to use will similarly go up. You’ll essentially have to spend more on cleaning items such as soap because of hard water and that’s money that could be spent in other ways.

Easy To Use: With the Total Water Hardness Test Strip from Hach, you will be able to accurately tell if you have hard water in your home. The strips are remarkably easy to use and they will let you know immediately if there’s a problem that you have to address.

Multiple Tests: There are also 50 strips available for you to use, so you should feel free to perform inspections every now and then.

Instant Test Results: Compare the test strips to the results on the container, you can know how hard is your water source and start looking for water softeners systems.

Be sure to store the strips properly. Otherwise, they may expire sooner than expected.

PROS
+ Easily affordable water hardness testing strips.
+ Instant results.
+ 50 strips included for multiple tests.
CONS
Must be stored properly or else strips may expire too early.

Wrap Up

Selecting the right home water test kit can provide you with crucial information about your water’s safety and quality. The kits featured in this article are chosen for their accuracy, comprehensive testing capabilities, and user-friendly design.

Opt for the best option to effectively monitor and manage your water quality, ensuring a safe and healthy water supply for your home.

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