One of the biggest obstacles many people face when considering a water filter deals with their fear of the installation process. Most people simply do not see themselves lying under the sink getting soaking wet and messing around with foreign or strange tools as they fumble their way through installing a water filter.

Thankfully, Leena, times have changed since times like those and installing a water filter does not have to take all day or require a master plumber with years of experience.

Most relatively new homes have straightforward, easy to follow plumbing lines under the sink with shutoff valves on incoming cold water and hot water lines so hooking up basic undercounter water filters usually does not require the assistance of a professional.

So… Have you installed one yourself?

As a matter of fact, yes, we have. We installed one of the Austin Springs Undercounter Water Filters (Brushed Nickel Finish) under our kitchen sink… and the difference in water quality between water from the regular faucet and the filtered faucet blew us away.

Why did you install a water filter?

We knew that we had fluctuating levels of chlorine in our regular tap water (chlorine testing told us that) and found our water tolerable all the time, but not necessarily likable all the time.

Regular testing of our tap water’s pH and Alkalinity also revealed substantial fluctuations (which we corrected in our showers by installing Austin Springs Shower Filters) so we figured it wise to normalize those for our drinking water, as well.

As we said before, and will say over and over again, testing your water prior to selecting a water filter will keep you from possibly choosing the wrong filter for the job… and THEN imagine the aggravation you’d feel after installing a water filter — REGARDLESS of how easily the filter installed!

So… Was installation of the Austin Springs unit easy?

We live in a relatively new home so we encountered no problems whatsoever. The Austin Springs Countertop Water Filter came with easy-to-follow instructions and all the parts required (except for a pair of regular pliers) to get the job done.

Any problems installing the Austin Springs unit?

The filter and accompanying faucet gave us no troubles… but getting around the garbage disposal during the installation process did prove a bit tricky. We can’t blame that on Austin Springs, though!

COMPLETE Water Quality Test Kit

This article comes from our own personal experience and involves shower water that caused dry, flaky and sometimes itchy skin.

Each time we visited a family member’s home our children’s skin got really dry… and so did ours. We knew immediately that the water which the family member said had no issues that would cause the conditions we experienced — did actually have an issue.

We suspected chlorine as the skin irritant (due to our having to remove it from the shower water at our own home) and performed water testing using the COMPLETE Water Quality Test Kit to try and confirm our suspicions.

To our surprise, we did not find anything terribly out of line regarding the water’s chlorine content but we DID find that the water had unusually high pH and total alkalinity levels.

Had we not tested, we would have installed a filter geared more towards chlorine removal and possibly wasted our money!

So what did we end up doing?

At home we previously installed shower filters using the Austin Springs Premium Shower Filter (after doing water testing, of course!) to correct higher than desirable chlorine levels in our shower water. We noticed a positive change in the water almost immediately. The chlorine smell went away, soaps lathered up better, and the water seemed to take on a sweeter taste.

In that case we knew we would need a shower filter designed more for chlorine removal (hence the reason we opted to install shower heads that utilized Austin Springs Premium Shower Filters) but at our relative’s house we believed the issue dealt more with the pH and alkalinity of the water — despite neither parameter’s test value having strayed too far away from the norm.

The next time we visited our family we installed the Basic Austin Springs Shower Filter and immediately noticed a change in shower water quality. The water felt less ‘abrasive’ and we none of us needed to slather up with several layers of moisturizing lotion after a shower.

Moral of the story?

Testing your water (or a family member’s water) before selecting a water treatment option empowers you with the ability to correctly pick the water quality improvement device best suited for your unique water quality situation.

NOT testing the water before picking a water filtration device may result in a person installing a water filter that will not directly address the water quality issue at-hand… and that means money wasted on a solution that solves nothing.

Simply taking a few minutes and performing simple at-home water testing may save you hundreds of dollars and hours of aggravation!