A Flood!

Around a year ago I installed a Reverse Osmosis filter system under my kitchen sink. Recently, the drinking water faucet sprung a leak. Well, actually, it had been leaking from the valve stem occasionally for a while now, but that always ran safely into the sink. This time it started leaking beneath the sink… enough that it ran out and I stepped in it. (which is, of course, how I noticed.)

So, after turning off the valve that supplies the filter and the valve on the pressure tank, I cleared out all the cleaning supplies and other crap stored under there and crawled in to see what was going on.

Well, that could probably be fixed fairly easily, but because the faucet was already leaking elsewhere I figured I should just replace it. I picked up a replacement (different brand, though) at the local hardware store.

It had a completely different fitting, but accepted the 1/4″ poly tube just fine. (the instructions were good)

I installed it into the sink.

And hooked it up below. (No, that particle board is not wet. It must be damage from a leak years ago.)

Well, since I already had the cabinet cleared out, I figured it was time to do the 1-year filter changes even though it was a week early.

Sediment, CTO and GAC get replaced every 6 months. The post-filter gets replaced annually. (The post-filter is between the pressure tank and the faucet.) (The actual RO filter only gets replaced every three years.)

Other than the unavoidable mess of water everywhere, it’s a pretty simple process. Use the supplied wrench to spin off the filter housings. Replace the filters. Spin the housings back on.

The post filter is a bit tougher, as the 1/4″ tube goes directly into the filter, but it’s still no big deal.

I turned it back on and checked for leaks. (It had one… I reconnected that 1/4″ tube fitting.)

I forgot I should flush the pre-filters first… so I might have taken some life off the RO membrane. (I’ll try to remember next time.)

At first, the filtered water came out at 55ppm. (Our tap water is over 200ppm.) But, I let it run for quite a while and the ppm kept decreasing. I shut it off at 12ppm. That’s entirely acceptable. Eventually it returned to 3ppm which is what it was producing prior to the filter change. (No pic at 3ppm.)