Repeated buys. Water tastes good

On time delivery

The filter head does not come with the Push-In Fittings at both end (inlet and outlet) and therefore you have to purchase the 2 fittings from https://www.amazon.com/John-Guest-Speedfit-PP011223W-Connector/dp/B003YKF17U.

Easy to install, but not so easy to understand what you need if you are a plumbing dummy like myself. Following the advice on other reviews, I ignored the included instructions on how to install it using plastic tubing. This is what I needed to have / to buy from a home renovation store to connect the filter to my kitchen faucet:* Wrench* Power drill or screwdriver* Pen or permanent marker* PTFE tape* Compression adapter 3/8" OD x 3/8" MIP, two of them* Braided stainless steel connector, 3/8"First step is to close the valve from the cold water supply and open the faucet to relieve the pressure (to make sure the pipes are empty). You may then use the wrench to disconnect the flex connector from the faucet to the water supply.Next step is to prepare the filter head assembly. Take the compression adapters, wrap the threads on the Male Iron Pipe (i.e. MIP) end with the PTFE tape to prevent leaks, and then screw the adapters on both ends of the filter head. The result is in the first picture.Tips: The compression adapter must always be "3/8 MIP" at one end, as this is the dimension that screws properly into the filter head. The other end would be whatever fits your pipes/connectors, but for a faucet installation it is normally a 3/8" Outside Diameter (i.e OD). Therefore, in this scenario you need 3/8" OD x 3/8" MIP compression adapters such as the Sioux Chief LFA-123 909-40101601 you see in the picture. You may also notice that we don't need all the small parts included in the bag, just leave the remaining ones aside. You also want to ensure that your adapters are marked "lead-free"; you are installing a filter that removes lead from the water, so obviously you don't want your installation to reinsert lead into your drinking water!Third step is to connect the cold water supply to your filter using the braided stainless steel connector you bought. It goes into the lower connector in the filter head - the one with a small arrow pointing inwards. You may now also connect the existing faucet flex connector to the other end of the filter head (the one with the arrow pointing outwards), or at least check its length to choose a suitable position for the filter under your counter.Tips: These braided stainless steel connectors are normally used to install dishwashers, faucets and ice makers. Make sure that the length is sufficient to reach the position you will put the filter (you might need anything between 20" and 60" or more) and that connections are 3/8" on both ends (the ones for dishwashers often have 1/2" at one end, while the ones for ice makers usually are 1/4" at both ends).Fourth step is to attach the filter head support to the cabinet. Take the head and use a permanent marker to indicate the position for the screws, they come with the filter in a small plastic bag. The two included tiny internal tooth lock washers go between your vertical cabinet surface and the screw head. Don't drive your screws until the head touches the surface, you should leave a gap so you can easily fit them through the keyhole mounting slots in the filter head. If you want a more stable installation, you can finally secure the head using the third screw through the middle lower round mounting hole.Tip: the keyhole mount require some vertical space to work, so don't put the head too high so it doesn't fit under the sink, nor make it too low so the filter cartridge will be hard to remove or replace. Do some tests before tightening the screws to make sure the chosen position works well.Last step, just review all connections to make sure they are tight and secured, and then install the filter cartridge. The second picture shows how the finalized install looks like. Now open the faucet (cold water only), letting it run for at least 2 minutes. I would recommend waiting a bit and then letting the water run again for some extra couple of minutes, as I could still feel some mineral aftertaste in the water after just the 2 minutes recommended by the manufacturer.There you go, abundant, well-filtered cold water right from your kitchen faucet! You will notice that the cold water flow may be slightly slower than the hot water, but the cold water flow is still very reasonable so I'd say that the manufacturer's claim to be a "full flow filtration system" is fairly accurate.

Excellent water filter. The filtered water tastes just like bottled water. I can say this because after installation we did a blind taste-test. My wife only drinks bottled water because she hates the taste of tap water, and she thought the water from the filter was the bottled water. Now we don't need to buy bottled water anymore. The filter is NSF certified so performance and specifications can be trusted. As expected, water flow from the sink faucet was reduced a bit since water is now going thru a filter, but it was not reduced significantly from 1.7 to 1.4 gal/min. The water flow is fine. The replacement filter cartridge uses a 1/4-turn quick-connect mechanism so it will be easy to replace in 1 yr (or 6,000 Gal).IMPORTANT INSTALLATION GUIDANCE: The filter is very easy to install. However, DO NOT install it as shown in the Installation Instructions that come with the filter or the 3M video that is found online. They both show Polyethylene Tube (i.e. Plastic Tube) being used to make the water connections, and we initially installed it that way but learned that there are several reasons not to use the tubing:1) The main reason not to use the plastic tubing is the risk of a major water flood situation. This is because the coupling of the tubes into the compression fittings can be flaky since the tube is just pushed in and compressed. In our installation, one of the tubes popped out after 48 hours. Fortunately we were near the kitchen so we heard the water flow, and were able to quickly shut-off the water. In just a short amount of time, we had water all over the floors. If we hadn't been home, it would have been a major and expensive flooding disaster.2) Other reasons are that there is a safer, cheaper, and easier way to install the filter. This installation uses standard braided water supply lines connected directly to the filter (see pictures). This is safer because all water connections are screwed-in so they cannot pop out. The installation is cheaper and easier because there are less parts and less connection points. A description of two filter installations with the list of parts required follows.1st Installation to Faucet (Pictures 1 thru 3):---------------------------------------------------The first filter was installed to feed a kitchen faucet. Parts required were purchased at HomeDepot:• Qty 2 of Everbilt Lead-Free Compression Adapter 3/8" OD x 3/8" MIP (Model #800669) $4.43/ea(Note: These fittings are used to connect the water supply lines to the filter. The MIP side of the fitting screws into filter head; one for the input and one for the output. You will unscrew and not use the pieces in the 3/8" OD side of the fitting because the supply lines will connect directly to the male end left after unscrewing the pieces).• Qty 1 of Oatey Fast Tape 1/2 in. x 260 in. PTFE Thread Seal Tape (Model #306212) $2.97(Note: This is the teflon PTFE tape to wrap the 3/8" MIP end of the fitting that screws into filter head to make it leak proof. We wrapped it using 5 loops around. If the MIP connection develops a slow leak, the thing to do is to unscrew it and rewrap it with new PTFE tape and perhaps add one or more loops of tape. Trying to over tighten the fitting connection doesn't fix the leak. If you use the white PTFE tape that is very thin instead of this Oatey tape, you may not be able to stop the leak. We experienced this with one side of the filter, and wasted lots of time redoing it over and over. Online we read about people fixing leaks with higher-quality, thicker PTFE tape. We got the Oatey tape and wrapped it 5 times around the fitting, and it immediately fixed the leak. This tape is color grey).• Qty 1 of BrassCraft 3/8" Comp x 3/8" Comp x 20" Braided Polymer Dishwasher Connector (Model #B1-20DW F) $4.58(Note: This is the water supply line to connect the filter to the incoming water valve at the wall. Only one water line is needed if you already had a line going from wall to faucet. That existing line will now go from the output of the filter to the faucet).2nd Installation to Faucet & Ice Maker (Picture 4 with brass Tee-connector):--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We liked the filter so much that we got a second one. This one was installed to feed a faucet and an ice machine so the water needed to be diverted with a tee-connection. The ice machine was far from the sink so had to route a long water line on the back of the cabinets behind the drawers. In addition to the parts and installation done in the first two bullets of the 1st installation above, the following parts were ordered from Amazon:• Qty 1 of BrassCraft GIDDS-131737 Female Compression Tee, 3/8" Od x 3/8" Od x 1/4" Od, Lead Free $5.98(Note: The 3/8" OD female side of this fitting was connected directly to the Everbilt compression adapter that is screwed to the filter head as described in the first bullet of the 1st installation above (see pic 4). The 3/8" OD male is connected to the water line going to the faucet. The 1/4" OD male is connected to the water line going to the ice maker. Since the two fittings attached together extend a pretty good amount from the filter head, the existing water line going to the faucet was creating strain. We got a longer and more flexible line to eliminate the unwanted strain; see below Fluidmaster B1F30)• Qty 1 of Certified Appliance IM180SS Braided Stainless Steel Ice Maker Connector (15-foot) $13.43(Note: The ice maker line has 1/4" female compression fittings on both ends. One end hooks to the 1/4" OD in the compression tee, and the other end connects to the ice machine. There are other lengths in the Amazon listing).• Qty 1 of Fluidmaster B6F16 Faucet Connector, Braided Stainless Steel - 3/8" Female Compression Thread x 3/8" Female Compression Thread, 16" Length $4.29(Note: This is the water supply line to connect the filter to the incoming water valve at the wall. There are other lengths in the Amazon listing. Only one water line is needed if you already had a line going from wall to faucet. That existing line will now go from the output of the filter to the faucet).• Qty 1 of Fluidmaster B1F30 Faucet Connector, Braided Stainless Steel - 3/8" Female Compression Thread x 1/2" I.P. Female Straight Thread, 30" Length $7.51(Note: New longer line going to faucet to replace existing line).