If your tap water smells like a swimming pool, tastes slightly chemical, or simply does not taste as fresh as you would like, you may be wondering:
How can I remove chlorine from tap water?
The answer depends on what type of disinfectant is present in your water and what kind of filtration technology you use.
For free chlorine, activated carbon is one of the most common household filtration technologies. However, not every water filter removes chlorine, and a small micron rating by itself does not mean that a filter can remove dissolved chlorine.
In this guide, we will explain how to remove chlorine from tap water, the difference between chlorine and chloramine, how activated carbon works, whether boiling or leaving water out works, whether reverse osmosis is necessary, and how to choose a water filter for chlorine removal.
We will also explain how our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter removes residual chlorine while retaining naturally occurring minerals.
What Is Chlorine in Tap Water?
Chlorine is commonly used by municipal water utilities to disinfect drinking water.
Water needs to remain microbiologically controlled not only at the treatment plant but also while traveling through distribution pipes to homes. Maintaining a disinfectant residual helps control microbial growth within the distribution system.
The CDC explains that U.S. water utilities commonly use either chlorine or chloramine for drinking-water disinfection, and that these disinfectants are used at regulated levels to help make drinking water safe.
So, if you detect a chlorine smell in tap water, that does not automatically mean the water is unsafe.
In many cases, people want to remove or reduce chlorine for different reasons:
- Chlorine taste
- Chlorine odor
- Better-tasting drinking water
- Better-tasting coffee and tea
- Cooking water preferences
- Reducing certain unwanted compounds associated with disinfection
This leads to an important distinction:
Removing chlorine is not the same thing as making contaminated water safe.
If your water has lead, PFAS, arsenic, nitrate, microorganisms, or another specific contaminant, you need a treatment technology designed and tested for that contaminant.
Why Does My Tap Water Smell Like Chlorine?
The smell of chlorine in tap water can be noticeable even when the concentration is within the range used for drinking-water disinfection.
Some people are simply more sensitive to chlorine taste and odor than others.
You may notice the smell particularly when:
- Filling a glass of water
- Taking a shower
- Running hot water
- Making coffee or tea
- Drinking water directly from the faucet
The important question is not simply:
“Does my water contain chlorine?”
Most treated municipal water does.
The more useful question is:
“What type of disinfectant does my water utility use, and what filtration technology can reduce it?”
Your local water utility’s annual water-quality report is a good place to start.
Chlorine vs. Chloramine: Why the Difference Matters
Before choosing a water filter, find out whether your water contains free chlorine or chloramine.
They are not the same.
Free Chlorine
Free chlorine is widely used as a drinking-water disinfectant.
It is relatively reactive and can be reduced effectively by appropriate filtration media, particularly activated carbon.
Chloramine
Chloramine is formed when chlorine reacts with ammonia.
Some water utilities use chloramine because it is more stable and can maintain a disinfectant residual for longer as water travels through distribution systems.
The EPA notes that more than one in five Americans receives drinking water treated with chloramines.
Chloramine can be more difficult to reduce than free chlorine.
Therefore, if your local utility uses chloramine, do not assume that every filter marketed as a “chlorine filter” will provide the same performance.
Always check the specific product’s performance claims.
How to Remove Chlorine from Tap Water
There are several ways people try to remove chlorine from tap water.
The most common approaches include:
- Activated carbon filtration
- Under-sink water filtration
- Whole-house filtration
- Allowing water to stand
- Boiling
- Specialized treatment systems
However, these methods are not equally effective, and they do not address the same contaminants.
Let’s look at each one.
1. Activated Carbon Can Remove Chlorine from Tap Water
Activated carbon is one of the most widely used technologies for reducing chlorine taste and odor.
The carbon provides a large surface area where chlorine and other compounds can interact with the filter media.
The CDC specifically identifies activated carbon as a filtration method used to improve water taste and smell and points consumers toward NSF/ANSI 42 for filters certified for aesthetic contaminants such as chlorine taste and odor.
This makes activated carbon particularly useful when your main problem is:
- Chlorine taste
- Chlorine odor
- Unpleasant drinking-water flavor
- Water used for coffee
- Water used for tea
- Cooking water
But there is an important limitation:
Not every activated-carbon filter performs the same way.
Performance depends on the carbon material, filter design, contact time, flow rate, water chemistry, and the specific product.
That is why you should look for specific chlorine-reduction claims or applicable certification rather than assuming that any carbon filter will remove chlorine equally well.
2. An Under-Sink Water Filter Can Remove Chlorine Where You Drink and Cook
If your main concern is drinking and cooking water, an under-sink water filter is a practical point-of-use solution.
Instead of filtering every gallon entering your house, an under-sink system concentrates filtration on the water you actually consume.
A well-designed under-sink system can combine multiple filtration technologies.
For example:
Sediment filtration → Activated carbon → Fine filtration → Final membrane filtration
This approach allows different filtration stages to perform different jobs.
The sediment stage can capture larger particles.
The activated-carbon stage can reduce chlorine and improve taste and odor.
The final membrane can provide an additional physical and chemical filtration barrier, depending on its technology.
3. Can a Whole-House Water Filter Remove Chlorine?
Yes, a properly designed Whole House Water Filtration System can be used to reduce chlorine throughout a home.
Instead of treating only the kitchen drinking-water line, a whole-house system treats water at or near the main water inlet.
This means filtered water can reach:
- Kitchen faucets
- Bathroom faucets
- Showers
- Washing machines
- Dishwashers
- Other water outlets
However, whole-house chlorine removal requires careful system design.
Chlorine is intentionally maintained in municipal distribution systems to help control microbial growth. Removing that disinfectant throughout the home’s plumbing can change the microbial environment inside household plumbing.
Therefore, homeowners should select whole-house treatment based on their actual water quality and maintain the system properly.
4. Does Leaving Tap Water Out Remove Chlorine?
It can reduce free chlorine over time, but it is not a universal solution.
Free chlorine can dissipate from water when it is left standing.
However, this approach is much less useful if your water supply uses chloramine.
The CDC specifically notes that chlorine can be removed by allowing water to sit for several days, while chloramine does not simply disappear in the same way.
There are also practical problems.
If you need drinking water every day, keeping containers of water sitting around for extended periods is inconvenient.
A filtration system provides a more consistent approach.
5. Does Boiling Remove Chlorine?
Boiling can reduce certain volatile substances, including some free chlorine, but boiling should not be treated as a complete water-filtration system.
Boiling and filtration solve different problems.
Boiling is primarily associated with controlling microorganisms.
A water filter can be specifically designed to reduce contaminants such as chlorine, sediment, lead, PFAS, or other substances depending on the technology.
Therefore, if your specific problem is chlorine taste and odor, a properly selected chlorine-reduction filter is generally more directly suited to that purpose.
6. Can a Refrigerator or Pitcher Filter Remove Chlorine?
Many refrigerator filters and water-filter pitchers use activated carbon.
Their main purpose is often improving taste and odor.
They may reduce chlorine, but the actual performance depends on the specific product.
The CDC recommends checking a filter’s label and certification to determine which substances the product is actually designed to remove.
A filter that reduces chlorine does not automatically remove:
- Lead
- Arsenic
- PFAS
- Nitrate
- Fluoride
- Bacteria
- Viruses
Different contaminants require different treatment technologies.
Do You Need Reverse Osmosis to Remove Chlorine?
No.
You do not need reverse osmosis simply because you want to reduce chlorine.
This is an important point because many consumers assume that a more complicated filtration technology must automatically be better.
Reverse osmosis is designed to remove a broad range of dissolved substances.
It can therefore be useful when your water requires that type of treatment.
But if your primary objective is:
Reduce chlorine while keeping naturally occurring minerals in the water
then a non-RO filtration system may be more appropriate, depending on your water quality and treatment goals.
This is one of the reasons we developed our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter around a different filtration philosophy.
Can You Remove Chlorine Without Removing Natural Minerals?
Yes.
Removing chlorine does not automatically require removing all dissolved minerals.
Activated carbon filtration can reduce chlorine while leaving many naturally occurring minerals in the water.
Reverse osmosis works differently and removes a much broader range of dissolved substances.
Therefore, consumers who want:
chlorine reduction + mineral retention
may want to consider a filtration system specifically designed around that objective.
How Our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter Removes Chlorine
At ChengrongTimes, we developed our Under Sink Water Filter specifically for consumers who want cleaner, better-tasting drinking water without RO demineralization and without wastewater.
Our filtration system uses a 4-in-1 composite cartridge:
10 μm Pleated Filter → Activated Carbon Fiber → 5 μm PP Filter → 0.01 μm Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane
Each stage has a specific function.
Stage 1: 10 μm Pleated Sediment Filter
The first stage removes larger particles such as:
- Sediment
- Sand
- Rust
- Dirt
- Other larger suspended particles
This protects the downstream filtration media.
Stage 2: Activated Carbon Fiber
Our activated carbon fiber reduces residual chlorine and helps improve taste and odor.
It also adsorbs certain odor- and color-causing compounds and other unwanted substances.
This is the first major chlorine-removal stage in our system.
Stage 3: 5 μm PP Filter
The third stage captures finer particles and carbon fines from the preceding stage.
This helps protect the final ultrafiltration membrane.
Stage 4: Our 0.01 μm Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane
This is where our technology is different.
Our 0.01 μm UF membrane is not an ordinary ultrafiltration membrane that relies only on pore-size filtration.
We developed a proprietary chlorine-removal technology for this membrane.
Our technology incorporates a functional component into the membrane structure during membrane formation. According to our technical explanation, the functional component reacts with residual chlorine through a redox process, providing chlorine removal in addition to physical membrane filtration.
That means our final membrane is designed to perform two functions:
Fine physical filtration + residual chlorine removal
Our product specification specifically identifies it as a:
0.01 μm Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane
and our product page states that it removes residual chlorine remaining after the activated-carbon stage.
Why We Put Activated Carbon Before Our Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane
This is another important part of our design.
Many filtration systems place activated carbon at the final stage.
We take a different approach.
Our filtration sequence is:
Activated Carbon Fiber → 5 μm PP → 0.01 μm Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane → Drinking Water
The activated carbon performs the initial chlorine reduction and improves taste and odor.
Then the final chlorine-removing UF membrane provides another filtration barrier before the water reaches the drinking-water outlet.
This design also helps us address a practical concern associated with placing carbon immediately before the drinking-water outlet: carbon fines and potential biological growth associated with a carbon stage can be intercepted by the downstream final membrane.
We designed the system this way because the final filtration stage should not be an afterthought.
Our Under-Sink Water Filter Removes Chlorine Without RO Demineralization
Our approach is different from a conventional RO system.
We do not use reverse osmosis to achieve chlorine reduction.
Instead, we combine:
Activated Carbon Fiber + Our Proprietary Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane
This allows us to target chlorine while retaining naturally occurring minerals in the water.
Our product page specifies that the system is designed to retain naturally occurring minerals and does not use the RO demineralization process.
For consumers who want filtered drinking water but do not want an RO system’s typical demineralization and reject-water process, this is an important difference.
Does Our Under-Sink Water Filter Produce Wastewater?
No.
Our Under Sink Water Filter does not use the conventional RO reject-water process.
Our dual-outlet design provides filtered water for different kitchen applications without requiring a wastewater drain connection.
One outlet provides four-stage filtration for drinking and cooking.
The second outlet provides three-stage filtration for applications such as washing food and dishes.
As a result, we do not need an RO wastewater drain connection.
What Makes Our Chlorine-Removing Technology Different?
The important point is not simply that our product has a “0.01 μm membrane.”
Many consumers see a smaller micron number and assume that it automatically means better chlorine removal.
It does not.
Chlorine is dissolved in water.
A conventional UF membrane that relies purely on physical pore-size separation cannot be assumed to remove dissolved chlorine simply because the membrane has a 0.01 μm pore rating.
This is exactly why we developed our Chlorine-Removing UF Membrane technology.
Our membrane combines:
- 0.01 μm fine filtration
- Residual chlorine removal
- Final-stage filtration
- Mineral retention
- High-flow filtration
Our technology article explains the difference between conventional UF membranes and our chlorine-removing membrane in more detail.
How Effective Is Our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter?
Our published product information states that our system is designed to reduce:
- Residual chlorine
- Sediment
- Rust
- Colloids
- Bacteria
- Viruses
- Other microscopic impurities
while retaining naturally occurring minerals.
Our product page also states that the drinking-water quality has been tested by SMQ according to the CJ/T 94-2005 Drinking Purified Water Quality Standard, while the cartridge material safety has been SGS tested according to NSF/ANSI 58 requirements.
When evaluating any water filter, however, we recommend looking at the actual test scope and the specific contaminants covered rather than treating one standard or test as proof that a system removes every possible contaminant.
How Long Does Our Under-Sink Filter Cartridge Last?
Our cartridge is designed for up to one year of service, depending on actual water consumption and water conditions.
Instead of relying only on a simple calendar countdown, our system monitors water usage and flow conditions.
Our built-in flow meter tracks:
Total water usage → Activated carbon saturation
and
Real-time flow rate → UF membrane condition
The system indicates when the cartridge should be replaced, with our product page specifying a 100,000-liter usage threshold for the activated carbon fiber under the stated conditions.
This means filter replacement is based more closely on actual usage rather than simply assuming that every household uses the same amount of water.
Who Should Consider Our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter?
Our system may be particularly interesting to homeowners who want:
- To reduce chlorine from tap water
- Better-tasting drinking water
- Mineral-retaining filtration
- High water flow
- No RO wastewater
- No wastewater drain connection
- Multi-stage filtration
- A stainless-steel housing
- Long filter service life
- A final-stage chlorine-removing membrane
Our system is designed for municipal water and tested potable well water, within its specified operating conditions.
However, no single water filter is suitable for every water source or every contaminant.
If you have a specific water-quality concern, we recommend first checking your local water-quality report and identifying the contaminants you actually need to reduce.
How to Choose the Right Filter for Chlorine Removal
Before buying a water filter, ask five questions.
1. Does my water contain chlorine or chloramine?
Check your local water utility report.
2. Am I trying to improve taste and odor or remove a specific contaminant?
These are different filtration objectives.
3. Does the filter specifically claim chlorine reduction?
Do not assume that every UF, carbon, or RO system performs identically.
4. Is the filter tested or certified for the contaminant I care about?
The CDC recommends checking product labels and applicable certifications rather than relying solely on general marketing claims.
5. Do I need drinking-water filtration or whole-house filtration?
For drinking and cooking, an under-sink system can concentrate treatment at the point of use.
For water throughout the house, consider whole-house treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a water filter remove chlorine?
Yes, appropriately designed water filters can reduce chlorine. Activated carbon is one of the most common technologies used for chlorine taste and odor reduction.
Our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter goes further by combining activated carbon fiber with our proprietary 0.01 μm chlorine-removing UF membrane.
Does activated carbon remove chlorine?
Yes. Activated carbon is commonly used to reduce chlorine and improve taste and odor.
Does UF remove chlorine?
A conventional UF membrane should not automatically be assumed to remove dissolved chlorine simply because it has a small pore size.
Our ChengrongTimes UF membrane is different because we developed a specific chlorine-removal technology for the membrane.
Does reverse osmosis remove chlorine?
RO systems can provide broad contaminant reduction, but chlorine removal is not the reason you necessarily need RO.
If your primary goal is chlorine reduction while retaining natural minerals, a non-RO system specifically designed for chlorine removal may be a better fit for your treatment objective.
Can I remove chlorine by boiling water?
Boiling can reduce some free chlorine, but it is not a substitute for a properly designed water-filtration system.
Can I remove chlorine by leaving water overnight?
Free chlorine can dissipate over time, but this method is not reliable for chloramine.
Does removing chlorine remove minerals?
Not necessarily.
Activated-carbon filtration can reduce chlorine while retaining many naturally occurring minerals.
Our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter is specifically designed to reduce chlorine while retaining naturally occurring minerals.
Is chlorine in tap water unsafe?
Chlorine and chloramine are intentionally used to disinfect public drinking water.
The CDC explains that these disinfectants are used within regulated limits to help control microorganisms in drinking-water systems.
If you have concerns about your local water, check your utility’s current water-quality report rather than assuming that all tap water has the same composition.
Final Answer: What Is the Best Way to Remove Chlorine from Tap Water?
If you only remember a few things from this guide, remember these:
First, find out whether your water contains free chlorine or chloramine.
Second, activated carbon is one of the most common technologies for reducing chlorine taste and odor.
Third, do not assume that a small micron rating automatically means chlorine removal.
Fourth, you do not need reverse osmosis simply to remove chlorine.
Fifth, choose a filtration system based on the contaminants you actually want to reduce.
And if your goal is:
Chlorine removal + fine filtration + natural mineral retention + high flow + zero RO wastewater
we designed the ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter specifically around this combination.
Our system combines:
10 μm sediment filtration → activated carbon fiber → 5 μm PP filtration → our proprietary 0.01 μm chlorine-removing UF membrane
to provide a multi-stage approach to chlorine reduction and fine filtration while retaining naturally occurring minerals.
Explore Our ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter
If you are looking for an under-sink water filter that can remove residual chlorine without using RO demineralization, learn more about our product and its filtration technology:
ChengrongTimes Under Sink Water Filter with Natural Minerals Retained
Our goal is simple:
Cleaner drinking water, less chlorine, natural minerals retained, high flow, and no RO wastewater.
