Complexities & choices of kitchen sink plumbing...

13 years ago

I struggled about which forum to post this to - Kitchens? Plumbing? Appliances?

Anyway, for our kitchen renovation in progress, IÂm looking for your opinions as I try to find the right combination of the following items:

- whole-house water filter

- drinking water filter (perhaps the whole-house filter is adequate, but I doubt it)

- point-of-use hot water heater (for the kitchen sink and dishwasher)

- instant hot water dispenser (for tea, etc)

IÂve pretty much decided to go with the Aquasana Rhino EQ-300 whole-house filter. ItÂs reasonably-priced, there are lots of positive reviews, and a neighbor on the same municipal H2O supply has one and is really pleased. The neighbor doesnÂt use any additional filter for drinking water, but weÂre currently spoiled with an under-sink reverse-osmosis system (which IÂll possibly continue using Â see below).

Our household water heater is a distance from the kitchen sink, and the manual for the new KitchenAid dishwasher (KUDE70) that weÂve bought suggests running a nearby faucet until the water is hot before starting it (our previous dishwasher had the same requirement for good results). I always felt guilty doing this (several gallons wasted every time we want hot water at the sink/dishwasher), so IÂm looking at the Bosch/Ariston 4-gallon point-of-use electric mini-tank water heater to rig up at the kitchen sink (and dishwasher). This model gives me the option of using a cold water source, or hooking it up in-line with the existing hot water feed. IÂm leaning toward the latter choice Â any opinions on this?

For the drinking water filter, IÂll probably use my existing hydrotech RO filter, but the unit takes a lot of space and I didnÂt realize until recently that it uses about 6 gallons of "rinse water" to generate each gallon of filtered water! Perhaps the little cartridge filters that plug into the freezerÂs ice maker or the instant-hot water dispensers are enough to augment the aforementioned whole-house filter? Aquasana (Sun Water Systems) states that the Rhino surpasses bottled water specs, but the sediments in my 20+ household plumbing probably merit an additional point-of-use drinking water filter.

Now, the most difficult choice for me is which instant-hot-water-dispenser for near-boiling water (primarily for tea)? I see mixed reviews on the InSinkErator units that push me toward KitchenAid, but I want to get a combined hot / cold fixture which KitchenAid doesnÂt appear to offer... The Franke unit may work feature-wise, but we donÂt much care for the fixture styling and I canÂt find many reviews on the unit... Can I mix & match hot/cold fixtures with a separate filtered input for cold water? Ideas? Product endorsements?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

maks_2000
13 years ago
Find out whose product Kitchen Aid is selling -- it may be InSinkErator . . . (I'm sure they are re-marketing someone else's product.)

Good luck with all your decisions.
weissman
13 years ago
You can skip the water heater near the dishwasher. The KA will heat the water itself if necessary. They suggest running the water until it's hot to avoid using electricity in the DW to heat it but it's a tradeoff between wasting water vs. more electricity. It may also be the way they get their energy star ratings. If you put in another electric water heater you really having saved any electricity and you've wasted the money for the heater and installation.
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laranita2
13 years ago
I'm also looking for a whole house water filter...

What are you trying to filter out? And have you had the water analyzed to see just what contaminants are in there? No sense getting a filter that filters out stuff you don't have, you know? Are you trying to eliminate flouride on purpose? That's really the only reason I could see for using an RO filter, and really there are other ways of getting rid of flouride that don't waste all that water... plus with RO water you're losing all the good minerals, etc. I have seen plenty of whole-house systems that have a specific component for filtering out sediment, if needed, so it may be worth having your water analyzed, and then seeing how much sediment you have and how much the aquasana is supposed to filter out.... you may not need more, but if you do, then you can decide which point makes more sense to add on to - the whole house, or just the drinking water.

I'm also looking for a hot water dispenser for tea primarily, but I haven't really researched it much. In the few brief minutes I devoted to it, I seem to recall noticing it really was the same 1 or 2 brands over and over.
brianmeek
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone.

I haven't commissioned my own water test but i've read the reports from my water district on quality and I gather there's nothing particularly nasty. But more importantly, i've seen the condition of the pre-filters on my RO system after a short time and i've smelled the chlorine in the shower, so i'm convinced that a filter is needed (I've ordered the Rhino EQ-300).

weissman, I checked the owner's manual of my KA KUDE70 dishwasher... Nowhere does it claim to heat its own water, although it repeatedly mentions the need for 120-degree (F) incoming water (stating the lack of which could be the cause for most all potential performance issues :-). Besides, I'll be happy to have immediate hot running water from the faucet without having to let it run for nearly a minute (so I've also bought the pou water heater :-).

Still hoping for recommendations on instant hot water dispensers (near-boiling for coffee / tea ). On this, perhaps I could consider a hot-only dispenser (like the KitchenAid) if I could find a good main faucet with an integrated cold filtered water output - it seems I've seen such a thing somewhere (I'm also shopping for the kitchen faucet fixtures).

Regarding the post-whole-house-filter drinking water filter, I'm still undecided... I like the purity & taste of the RO-filtered water, and although I probably miss the benefit of fluoridated water, I'm not otherwise worried about mineral deficiencies or other claims of health risks from drinking RO-filtered or distilled water (but I really don't like the wasted water aspect of the RO filter). Aquasana has offered a deal on their better under-sink drinking water filter (based upon my purchase of their Rhino unit), but I can't put it in front of the instant-hot tank or an ice maker...

just over-thinking stuff,
brian
texaskitchentoo
13 years ago
I looked at getting an in-sink-erator hot water dispenser but the multitude of bad review after bad (the tanks seem to rust out some causeing water damage) I decided we'd just heat water on the cooktop.

Complexities & choices of kitchen sink plumbing...

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maks_2000

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Complexities & choices of kitchen sink plumbing...

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maks_2000

weissman

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