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How to select and install a new water treatment system. |
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Our old whole house water treatment system was broken and I could not drink the tap water as it would give me a severe headache so we purchased bottled water. The cost for bottled water was about $10.00 per week for 10 gallons of water, that is over $500.00 per year. We investigated the literature and found that 3 home water treatment systems that would provide us with drinking water for about 9.7 cents per gallon.
by BruceContryman
Our old whole house water treatment system was broken and I could not drink the tap water as it would give me a severe headache so we purchased bottled water. The cost for bottled water was about $10.00 per week for 10 gallons of water, that is over $500.00 per year. We investigated the literature and found that 3 home water treatment systems that would provide us with drinking water for about 9.7 cents per gallon.
After investigating each of these home water treatment systems we settled on an Aquasana system. I could do a diy installation of the hard water treatment system in the garage where the old hard water treatment system used to be. This would give us a water treatment process for baths, showers, dish washing and clothes washing.
This hard water treatment system uses no salt to condition the water. It can filter 300,000 gallons of water before it should be changed out. I added a water meter in line to the system that displayed gallons of water used up to 9,999,999 gallons to determine how much water we were using.
We added an Aquasana Premium Under-counter Water Filter for a drinking water treatment system under the kitchen sink to get drinkable water. This filter extracts the impurities down to 0.995%. This is the equivalent or superior to the bottled water and I don't acquire a headache from drinking this water.
I mounted a small faucet on the porcelain sink in our kitchen for this filtered water. To mount this faucet I needed to drill a hole in the porcelain sink. This is a delicate job and must be done very carefully. You can do it yourself or have a plumber do it for you.
I studied the advise and recommended tools on how to drill porcelain. You can purchase a special drill set that is quite expensive just for drilling two holes in porcelain. I decided to make my own jig to drill a 5/8" hole for this new faucet. I purchased 2 brass washers, the largest had 3/4" inside diameter which I glued to the sink with a rubber based glue at the place for the new faucet.
I let the glue dry for about 10 minutes and then took a Dremel tool with a diamond bit to route through the porcelain inside the 3/4" washer down to bare metal. This is the most critical process so that you do not crack or chip the porcelain under the brass washer. Put water inside the brass washer while you are drilling to keep the temperature of the drill bit and brass washer down.
The second step I put a 3/4" outside (OD) and a 1/4" inside (ID) diameter brass washer in the center of the other brass washer and a 1/4" OD and a 1/16" ID spacer inside the smaller brass washer. This gave the correct center for this faucet. Then use the Dremel tool with the diamond bit to drill a guide hole in the center of the spacer, through the porcelain down to the metal.
The third step you need to remove the spacer and small brass washer but leave the large brass washer glued to the sink. It is a heat sink for the porcelain below it. Now drill a 1/4" starter hole through the porcelain and metal sink at the place marked above.
The fourth step you can take a 5/8" carbide hole saw drill bit and carefully drill out the 5/8" hole in the sink. The hole saw drill should fit easily into the center of the large brass washer with good clearance all around. Use a low speed drill and remember keep water on this hole drill to keep every thing cool at least below the boiling point of water.
After completing the hole, take a small hammer and screw driver and gently knock the large brass washer off. Be very careful not to chip the porcelain sink. Porcelain is unforgiving and is very difficult to repair. Clean the excess glue off the sink now you should have a clean hole through the sink and no chips in the porcelain. If you do just hope that the shroud of the faucet covers it up when you mount your new faucet on the sink.
Connect the hoses to your new faucet final stage filter per the manufactures directions. Turn the water on and check for leaks. Tighten any junction that is leaking. Let water run through the new filter per the manufacturers directions. Now taste of the water from your own Aquasana Premium Under-counter Water Filter and home water treatment system.
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