Cali Kid Corals

Under sink drinking water filter recommendations

melly mel

melly mel

Guest
BARcard
Kitchen remodel at the MIL's house is almost complete and we are looking for a good under sink water filter to hook up. Looked at what HD carries and AWI but still not sure which one would be best. We dont plan (or atleast that i know of) to hook it up to the fridge but straight to the sink. Any recommendations on what to look for? are you running one? Thanks very much.
 
If you want super filtered water, for many years we used the Spectrapure kit with the reservoir and sink faucet. Was real happy with it although the water waste was a bit of an issue and the family didn't use it too much (the fish were happy though). With our recent remodel we took it out and didn't put in another one since the family tends to use the fridge dispenser rather than the one at the sink.
 
When I picked up my AWI Typhoon, I grabbed the external tank and sink faucet as well... Figure if I'm getting the kit, I might as well get one the whole family can benefit from, esp. since I was putting it under the sink anyway...

I don't have a water dispenser in my fridge (by choice, wife refuses to have one), so its cut down significantly on our bottled water purchases... so much so that I haven't bought a gallon of water in a couple months now... We use to go through 20+ gallons a month...
 
First question, how horrible is the water there? If it's well water? I'd go full RO unit, if it's treated city water, carbon/sediment only (RO is a bit of a waste if all you're doing is drinking it). My MIL live on a farm, with some cows and other heavy poop animals near by, I refuse to brush my teeth when I go over there the water is so bad... needless to say I got her an RO unit (and seriously think there were health issues that have been averted as a result). My parents however, treated water from a city municipality, even if it's not terribly good.. I'd do just carbon & sediment.

So if it's city water, I'd go with whatever is cheapest as far as a 2 stage sediment/carbon unit, they're all made out of the same crap when it comes down to it. Hell order a couple canisters from BRS and be done with it. You could even tee off the output to the refrigerator for very little additional time/money, they typically have a built in filter (if they're newer), but you make those VERY expensive filters go a lot longer if there's cleaner water going into them from the start.
 
fingerwrinkles said:
If you want super filtered water, for many years we used the Spectrapure kit with the reservoir and sink faucet. Was real happy with it although the water waste was a bit of an issue and the family didn't use it too much (the fish were happy though). With our recent remodel we took it out and didn't put in another one since the family tends to use the fridge dispenser rather than the one at the sink.
Click to expand...

Robin, the water will be mainly for drinking so no need for it to be super filtered. I Have a seperate RO/DI system that I currently use for my tank and drinking water at my place but when I set up my new tank at her house, MY RO/Di will be set up in the garage along with my tank. She doesnt like the taste of the water that comes out my filter. lol. She doesnt have a fridge dispenser so it will be strictly for the sink faucet.

Crosis said:
When I picked up my AWI Typhoon, I grabbed the external tank and sink faucet as well... Figure if I'm getting the kit, I might as well get one the whole family can benefit from, esp. since I was putting it under the sink anyway...

I don't have a water dispenser in my fridge (by choice, wife refuses to have one), so its cut down significantly on our bottled water purchases... so much so that I haven't bought a gallon of water in a couple months now... We use to go through 20+ gallons a month...
Click to expand...

Need to do more searching on AWI, I didnt know they had ones with the resevoir. They also sell the faucets along with the kits?

sfsuphysics said:
First question, how horrible is the water there? If it's well water? I'd go full RO unit, if it's treated city water, carbon/sediment only (RO is a bit of a waste if all you're doing is drinking it). My MIL live on a farm, with some cows and other heavy poop animals near by, I refuse to brush my teeth when I go over there the water is so bad... needless to say I got her an RO unit (and seriously think there were health issues that have been averted as a result). My parents however, treated water from a city municipality, even if it's not terribly good.. I'd do just carbon & sediment.

So if it's city water, I'd go with whatever is cheapest as far as a 2 stage sediment/carbon unit, they're all made out of the same crap when it comes down to it. Hell order a couple canisters from BRS and be done with it. You could even tee off the output to the refrigerator for very little additional time/money, they typically have a built in filter (if they're newer), but you make those VERY expensive filters go a lot longer if there's cleaner water going into them from the start.
Click to expand...

Mike, its city water here in San Jose. as far as water quality, im not too sure on that but im guessing its not that bad? SOunds like Ill be ok with a 2 stage sediment/carbon unit and its ok to go with the cheapest one then? Any concerns on quality of certain products as far as build quality? dont want to be the blame of a leak due to a poor quality housing unit.

Also, I have never installed a sink water dispenser, does the filter require certain fitting to attach to the sink faucet? Are they pretty compatable with any faucets? Sorry for all the questions.
 
So I picked up a relative cheapy from Sears when one was on clearance (just happened by it). It came with a 3g reservoir and some 'nifty' twist-lock cannisters for easy changing etc. RO unit. Worked out OK until it just stopped working one day. I'm guessing something might've clogged but it wasn't worth the $$ to me to replace the filters so I just removed the unit and it's sitting in my garage right now.

For sink use, I like having the reservoir for filling large quantities at once. No trickling water for filling up big water bottles. Installing it under the sink wasn't a big issue. Just added an adapter between the water shut-off valve on the wall and the sink hose so I could hook up the 1/4" plastic tubing. Drilled a small hole in the drain tube for the waste water and ran the good stuff up to a mini faucet that was included in the bundle. Note- it worked out fine for me since I had a spare hole already drilled in my sink. If you don't already have a space there (main faucet is 2 hole, 3rd was for a soap dispenser that we never use), then I'm not sure how you'll go about doing that.

As for 2stage sediment/carbon I would think that would be fine. Heck, I know some ppl that drink out of the tap, no biggie. Only thing that comes to mind is that Cr scare for SJ water a while back, and a possible long long long term issue with Hg from percolated ground water. Dunno what, if anything, could deal with that stuff though.
 
phishphood said:
So I picked up a relative cheapy from Sears when one was on clearance (just happened by it). It came with a 3g reservoir and some 'nifty' twist-lock cannisters for easy changing etc. RO unit. Worked out OK until it just stopped working one day. I'm guessing something might've clogged but it wasn't worth the $$ to me to replace the filters so I just removed the unit and it's sitting in my garage right now.

For sink use, I like having the reservoir for filling large quantities at once. No trickling water for filling up big water bottles. Installing it under the sink wasn't a big issue. Just added an adapter between the water shut-off valve on the wall and the sink hose so I could hook up the 1/4" plastic tubing. Drilled a small hole in the drain tube for the waste water and ran the good stuff up to a mini faucet that was included in the bundle. Note- it worked out fine for me since I had a spare hole already drilled in my sink. If you don't already have a space there (main faucet is 2 hole, 3rd was for a soap dispenser that we never use), then I'm not sure how you'll go about doing that.

As for 2stage sediment/carbon I would think that would be fine. Heck, I know some ppl that drink out of the tap, no biggie. Only thing that comes to mind is that Cr scare for SJ water a while back, and a possible long long long term issue with Hg from percolated ground water. Dunno what, if anything, could deal with that stuff though.
Click to expand...

I agree with having the resevoir. We like to bring bottled water with us whenever we go spend the day out somewhere so would like to reduce buying bottled water. And I drink Tons of water! I also forgot to consider the amount of waste water produced. the less the better.
 
The "waste water" is cleaner then water coming in (prefilteted and passed yhrough carbon)
 
Yeah, waste water is cleaned of many toxins, chlorine, chloramine, rust, sediment, etc. Which is a shame to waste that every time you make water with an RO unit... however I wouldn't suggest trying to store that water for drinking purposes, you could very easily get a massive bacteria outbreak because the chlor* was removed.

Mike, its city water here in San Jose. as far as water quality, im not too sure on that but im guessing its not that bad? SOunds like Ill be ok with a 2 stage sediment/carbon unit and its ok to go with the cheapest one then? Any concerns on quality of certain products as far as build quality? dont want to be the blame of a leak due to a poor quality housing unit.

Also, I have never installed a sink water dispenser, does the filter require certain fitting to attach to the sink faucet? Are they pretty compatable with any faucets? Sorry for all the questions.
Click to expand...
Well every city is different as far as how they process (and their source) of water, but for the most part yeah city water is fine. Its when you get water directly from well sources, especially when those sources are near farm land (animal feces, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, peoplecides) that you really should use RO water, hell the waste water can go back into the well even :D

Quality, some can argue one is better than the other as far as quality, but shouldn't be an issue as far as leaking, if it leaks, it'll leak as soon as you run water through it, so you can always tell if something is wrong quickly.

As to the water dispenser, the tube coming out of your filter hooks to the sink faucet and it should be fairly standard.
 
More cities then not have very aged muni water systems. Some pipes are 50+ years old. While water going in may meet standards, coming out the other end is another ball-0-wax. Then there is your own piping in your house. Not too long ago sweating lead was the way to do things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top