Under sink water filtration

[Benny Profane]

I have awful water, use bottled water to drink and for coffee. I am told that I can install a water filter under my kitchen sink, and there is a hole already made for a dish detergent dispenser that I never use in the stone countertop that I can use for the filtered water spout. Anybody ever do this? Brands? Cost?

[NBABUCKS1]

Poor mans consumer reports on this:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-under-sink-water-filter/

I have this dispenser from amazon and it's elegant for the price. Works too.

[tgapp]

yes.

depending on how hard your water is a basic under sink filtration system will do little to nothing for you. you can verify this by getting an aquarium supply tds (total dissolved solids) meter. most 3-stage or 4-stage filters might improve the quality of your water by 10-50tds points (depending on what's in your water) but few will do more than that.

if you want real water improvement, look at getting a reverse osmosis system. this system took our water from 250tds ppm (hard water) down to 10ppm, and it also removes chlorine too. our water tastes great.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brondell...s&locale=en-US

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[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Apec under sink RO system. Get the high output.

[climberevan]

You really need to test the water. If it's pretty nasty with chemicals etc (bad taste) an RO system will fix it, but if the primary problem is hardness (residue on your faucets, poor soap performance, complaints from the GF about poor hair texture) you'll need a water softener.

An RO system can handle some hardness, but it's rough on the elements so you'll need to replace them more often. You really should soften first, and do the whole house. Then you can just filter the drinking water. Depending on its contaminants you might be fine with just an simple under sink charcoal filter.

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[schindlerpiste]

I have microline filters with a flex on industries storage tank. Cumbersome but it works

[m2711c]

What you’re going to have to spend to get that tastey water you want to come out of your tap would pay for fancy ass bottled water for the rest of your life....

[plugboots]

You really need to test the water. If it's pretty nasty with chemicals etc (bad taste) an RO system will fix it, but if the primary problem is hardness (residue on your faucets, poor soap performance, complaints from the GF about poor hair texture) you'll need a water softener.

An RO system can handle some hardness, but it's rough on the elements so you'll need to replace them more often. You really should soften first, and do the whole house. Then you can just filter the drinking water. Depending on its contaminants you might be fine with just an simple under sink charcoal filter.

This.

[::: :::]

+1 to climberevan

[Core Shot]

+2.

But it depends on your problems. If it’s hard water. That is solved with a softener for the whole house.

If it’s chlorine or other organic flavor then a carbon under sink filter will work.

If it’s nasty ass funk then reverse osmosis will work. But that’s useless if you have hard water. It will scale up the filter right quick.

Ps. RO is wasteful. If you don’t need it don’t it. Plus. It strips all the good minerals from the water. Like drinking distilled water. Which some do. But I say don’t.

[tgapp]

+2.

But it depends on your problems. If it’s hard water. That is solved with a softener for the whole house.

If it’s chlorine or other organic flavor then a carbon under sink filter will work.

If it’s nasty ass funk then reverse osmosis will work. But that’s useless if you have hard water. It will scale up the filter right quick.

Ps. RO is wasteful. If you don’t need it don’t it. Plus. It strips all the good minerals from the water. Like drinking distilled water. Which some do. But I say don’t.

ehh i don't know about hard water and an RO system. we've had our Brondell for 18 months now and haven't changed the filters on it, it still tests at 8-15ppm (down from ~250). i don't think it's as hard on filters as everyone says, and honestly, i'm just jaded with the efficiency of under-sink cartridge systems. i spent years using them thinking that it made a difference when in reality it did fairly little. someone told me i should go straight to RO, i didn't listen, and here i am years later with an RO system that i am super jazzed on.

if you have chlorine under-sink filters will work, but if you have chloramine they don't do as good of a job. depends on what your municipality uses to treat the water.

with regard to efficiency of RO systems, you're right - general RO systems operate at about 10:1 waste to drinkable water. our brondell is closer to 3:1 or 2:1, being one of the most high efficiency RO systems. i don't lose any sleep over lost water - anyone who complains about residential consumer water usage but still eats almonds is full of shit IMO.

and yes, +3 on the home softener system. that's what we use.

[zion zig zag]

tgapp, not to derail the thread, but isn’t coffee best around 100ppm hardness?

Our house with a well has a whole house filter and then a NuvoH2o water softener which is some type of citric acid softener. Seems to work because when the filter cartridges get older you can see the scale start to build on the shower door.

[tgapp]

tgapp, not to derail the thread, but isn’t coffee best around 100ppm hardness?


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ha, yep, you need minerals in your coffee otherwise you'll just make mud water. coffee solids need something to grab on to, so I "rebuild" my water (remineralization) after RO. target is ~100ppm for pour over, ~150ppm for espresso. the trick is, for espresso anyway, you need to build water with non-scaling minerals - in my case, I use potassium bicarbonate.



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[Snow Dog]

I'm on a well with a little arsenic and other minerals. I installed a [reverse osmosis] GE SmartWater system. I used the sprayer hole for the faucet, put the filter under the sink and the pressure tank in the crawl space. Works great. There's only two of us so I have a three gallon tank.

[Benny Profane]

Where does one have water tested?

I live in a condo, so, softening "whole house" may be out of the question. I know I'm very integrated into downstairs condo, at least.

I can live with the hard water in the bathroom, it's in the kitchen I'd like something better.

[Benny Profane]

yes.

depending on how hard your water is a basic under sink filtration system will do little to nothing for you. you can verify this by getting an aquarium supply tds (total dissolved solids) meter. most 3-stage or 4-stage filters might improve the quality of your water by 10-50tds points (depending on what's in your water) but few will do more than that.

if you want real water improvement, look at getting a reverse osmosis system. this system took our water from 250tds ppm (hard water) down to 10ppm, and it also removes chlorine too. our water tastes great.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brondell...s&locale=en-US

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Love that installation video. How often does this thing need filters?

[tgapp]

Love that installation video. How often does this thing need filters?

depends on your water hardness, but so far, we haven't had to change filters. we're at ~18 months or so? maybe 16?

water still tests low, so it's a no brainer. filters are kinda expensive ($60/set or so)

[Benny Profane]

60 bucks is tolerable every 18 months or two years.

Again, where do I test water?

[Snow Dog]

60 bucks is tolerable every 18 months or two years.

Again, where do I test water?

Use the Google for your location. There are testing labs everywhere.

[tgapp]

or just get one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Drinking-Aqua...7386973&sr=8-5

[Benny Profane]

Thanks

[frorider]

Our tap water tastes great but has high hardness & I’m constantly having to descale our espresso machine. Given the low amt of gallons per month, I was thinking of a cheap 5 stage like https://www.amazon.com/Express-Water...7392872&sr=8-8 and figured I’d just blend with our tap water to get the right hardness for the espresso machine.

[plugboots]

^^^ This was kinda tricky for us. Our water was 5 times the recommended maximum hardness. It actually tasted OK, but I figured that the scaling on the espresso machine was also happening in the piping throughout the house, so we got a “sand” filter for the entry line into the house, then added a softener. Clothes are softer, cleaner, bathrooms easier to clean etc. Tastes like crap, so we RO, etc. Depending on what’s coming into your condo Benny, you may be able to get away with some cartridges.

[Hopeless Sinner]

Benny, not sure exactly where you're at but DPC out of Milford CT is technically qualified, honest, and provides top notch PROFESSIONAL service. I would highly recommend for testing, purchasing equipment and supplies, installation and service.


https://www.dpcqualitypumps.com/

[SoVT Joey]

Benny we use this one. We are on town water and it works great. But our town water isn’t terrible. Super easy install and the filters are cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/KOHLER-77685-...53987917&psc=1

And drinking RO water isn’t that great for you. It’s better then not drinking at all. But it’s also bad for the environment, in Vermont a lot of sugar makers have to be careful about RO water run off due to it be inert and changing natural water. But like Tgapp says you can re mineralize the water.