kaismom - not to tell you what you should like or how it should be made but, in tea circles it generally acknowledged that only black teas get steeped with "boiling water" with the exception of "bagged" black tea. Most of the others get bathed in much cooler water, especially green teas which generally get steeped in 175 degree water or thereabout. Well below boiling. SO, these hot shots could even be fine for tea snobs not making a pot from loose black teas. Some of the heaters even get real close to boiling, too so they'd be fine for non purists wanting a fast cup, which is pretty much the point of an "instant hot water heater" ! A much bigger variable in a good cup is the water quality and the steeping time. Besides, people use these for instant cider , hot chocolate, filling the pasta pot for a quicker boil, gassing up the hot water bottle, and a few other things. I'll agree with you that these things are not really for the ritualistic tea connoisseur. (S)he is probably not going to to even consider this anyway as a cup is just as much about the "process" and the vessels as it is the nectar.

Does this filter supply an additional faucet or does it supply the cold faucet at the sink? Since you mention COPPER tubing it most likely uses a compression fitting and you may have kinked or cracked the tubing. If you don't know what you're doing then the easiest solution is to get someone in there to correct the problem or shut off the water and remove the filter along with the tubing and take it to someone who knows what they are doing and can advise you. Any help we can provide is based SOLELY on your ability to accurately describe the components and the problem. You will have to either accurately describe the problem and components or post a picture or move it closer to the screen so we can see it. If you are intent on replacing the filters yourself the installation might be improved to make that easier for you.

Should be minimal, but if you only need the filtered water for cooking and drinking a dedicated faucet may be the way to go. You don't want to filter water that you don't have to. Lots of luck. .................................... "If all else fail, read the directions"

We just wanted a basic water filter too, I use it for my coffee maker, drinking water and dogs water as well as for my plants, since it removes chlorine. We had another brand, which was about the same, but when we remodeled, my husband insisted on a different system, I guess the old type was much harder to replace the filter and you had to unscrew something to replace the filter, he says this is much easier, so you might want to factor that in, if you will be installing this on back cabinet wall. We have a separate faucet for it, but on this particular one you don't have to use a separate faucet, but I wonder if that means you are filtering all water? I don't know the answer to that, but it seems like you'd need to change filters much more often and you don't always need to use filtered water for everything.