We're using carbon filters, but good to know about RO, so definitely keeping the carbon.

Good point re: connecting the hot water. Yeah, why ever not?

Thanks Jake.

I was worrying how the filtered water will flow from a regularly sized faucet, as currently the waterflow out of our cheapo small diameter filter faucet is really, really weak...

Then you are using the wrong filter.

I have my carbon filtered water going to my cold faucet in the kitchen sink until I redo everything... it's indistinguishable from the hot water in terms of flow rate.

You could do this a couple of ways:

I have my filter in the basement and it provides filtered water to the kitchen sink, Fridge and cold bathroom sink faucets.

I use the 20" Big Blue Housing and a carbon filter like this one which will give you 4 gpm and last a year (although it has 25,000 gal rating for chlorine, you don't want to keep any carbon filter installed much more than a year because bacteria can grow).

Or you could also just have a smaller unit under the sink.

You could use a smaller version (the 10" version of the housing and filter)
to get 2 gpm and 12,000 gal (again replace it after a year) if you are just running the sink off of it.

A standard kitchen faucet will normally run about 2.5 gpm - so the smaller filter will be pretty close.

We're using under-sink GE filters. In the past, we used to filter only to get rid of the nasty, slight chlorine taste.

Now that we've been remodeling, the plumber and the town, while turning off the valve by the street, caused damage to the old lead pipe that leads to the house (at least that's what the town says) so now we're filtering all water used for cooking, not just the drinking water. We checked with GE online. The filters (2 per set) remove almost 100% of lead. But their connection hose is pretty thin... Not sure if that can be changed. I will have to check with DH.

The Blu filters seem to just remove bad taste/odor, so that's not an option for us now.

I would think that one of those filters is indeed carbon, the other filter removes the lead and maybe other toxins. I assume the 2 filters slow down the waterflow more than one alone.

I'm sorry, I think I wasn't clear.

I am proposing you use only one filter.

They are both carbon GAC filters - they are just different sizes and different flow rates. You could use either size. They also offer carbon block filters (not much difference in price).

I use the larger size because I'm using it for multiple faucets in my house.

The larger point here is to use standard filter housings ( either in a 10" or 20")
and then inexpensive standard filters - where you can choose the type of filter to use. These standard filters will pass 2gpm (10" filter) or 4gpm (20" filter).

Jake, I'll have to show this thread to DH in the evening, as I'm not knowledgable enough to assess various filters and their ability to filter out lead and their gpm.

Thanks for the help.

Understood.

However, nobody said anything about lead filtering.

These filters do not claim to remove lead. They remove chlorine, taste, odor and many VOC's. That's what all what carbon filters do.

Again, for reference, a standard kitchen faucet is rated at about 2 gallons per minute (gpm). The 10" filter will provide that level of flow. A replacement filter - once a year -- would run about $25.

Let me know if you have any questions.

You could also look at a bar faucet. It would be smaller.

If all you need is a carbon filter, just place a filter on the cold water line to your regular faucet and skip the additional faucet.

Hey, my apologies. For some reason I didn't get the post about the lead pipe until just now.

I'm going to backtrack a bit... you want to do lead testing on the water (both with and without the filter). I don't trust any filter that says it removes lead... you have to prove it to me.

So I don't mean to insult anyone, but I question priorities when people are talking about $700 faucets instead of talking about replacing lead water lines. Not only is it lead, but it's 100 years old or older and past its lifespan.

Jake, we bought our Grohe faucet for less than $200.-

Around here, having a new pipe installed will run easily $5000.- or more. Also the water line runs under a huge 60 yr old sugar maple that's shading our house. We're not about to risk losing this tree by digging disturbing around its roots, if left alone, it can expect to thrive another 300 years.

FYI, we had no idea our water reaches our home through a leadpipe. Why should we? It's a 60s house for heavens sake. Why is it that lead pipes weren't banned in the 1920s when it became a known fact that lead is a health hazard. Lead in paint wasn't banned since the 70s and leaded gasoline was sold here well into the this century. I'ts crazy. Yet, again people vote for politicians who want to get rid of " bad, unnecessary" regulations for business...go figure.

By the way, I think, the older the lead pipe the better. The mineral deposits that coat the pipe is what prevents the lead from leaching out into the water. The town isn't about to change their water treatment which could negatively affect these coatings. Just about all houses in this affluent Chicago Northshore town have lead pipes. Our kids went to Ivy league schools, I highly doubt that their IQ was negatively affected by the water pipe.

Currently we're having the water tested that's been sitting in the lead pipe, as well as the water that flowed through the GE filters. Still awaiting results.

I know what I said was harsh... I'm not being dismissive of $5k, especially when it's just going into a hole in the ground but I'm seeing expensive new kitchens going in where there are lead pipes still and that seems crazy to me.

I don't get the lead pipe to a 1960's house either. And right up until the whole Flint water fiasco I'd say your reasoning was sound.

Do test for lead.

BTW: You might look into horizontal drilling / boring to replace the line with minimal disturbance to the tree.

Jake: Our kitchen itself isn't expensive at all, it's Ikea. We did spend $$ on structural work.