OK so, I did some math and calculated that we could save money long term by switching from Culligan bottled water to filtering our own water at home. The water filter would pay for itself after approximately 8 months, assuming a new cartridge was bought after 6 months.

Culligan costs:
===============
$35/mo with only me here
$55/mo with both of us here


Water Filter Initial Outlay:
============================
147.69  (1) Undersink water filter w/first set of cartridges
 53.51    (4) 5-gallon water storage jugs with re-usable silicone lids
 35.95  (1) Water dispenser crock for use with 5-gallon jug
 0.00   Plumbing (done ourselves)
------
237.15


Estimated time to pay for itself:
=================================
Worst case 8 months, assuming no refund for Culligan bottles, I'm alone the entire and a $50 replacement cartridge is bought after 6 months.


The dispenser and re-usable jugs are so that we will still have some emergency water storage, which the Culligan bottles conveniently provided. With the dispenser in the basement I can use the filtered water for plant water, thus rotating through the jugs on a regular basis keeping that water new enough to drink.

I did a bunch of research on water filter types/costs/capabilities, compared the capabilities with the water contamination report for our city water, and bought this water filter:



I felt quite proud of myself until I realized that this part:

0.00   Plumbing (done ourselves)

Would have to be done by me, since my spouse is not back for another 2 months yet. D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I suppose the most charitable thing to say would be that after my adventure with the water heater valve snapping off I no longer fear the great unknown of plumbing but another explanation might be that I didn't think things out clearly ;-)

At any rate, today I set about installing the !@#$%^%$^ and here is how it went.



First I scouted out the area under the sink and picked a good place for the unit to live. Although the manual doesn't mention this at all, my Spouse had cleverly pointed out that it's important to be able to get the filters in and out easily once the unit is installed. I chose a spot in the center, more or less behind the centerpost.



That still leaves plenty of room for the trash can to go back in next to it afterward.



The next step was to hook up the incoming water (yellow hose). I had to turn off the valve and in the course of this I discovered both the cold and hot water valves (I screwed in the hot one first by mistake) drip at the handle. Greeaaat. After removing the beige tube running up to the faucet, and its connector, and the small-to-large pipe adapter, I discovered that the beige tube's o-ring was too scuffed up to re-use. So I had to go buy that.

Unfortunately it was time for my first ever eye appointment so I had to go do that, and when I got out of there I was way too screwed up on goofy eye-doctor eyedrops to be able to see inside parts bins. Wow, am I glad my eyes are not that bad in real life yet! I had to get the poor guy at the hardware store to shop for the part for me.



Here's how it looks with the yellow tube and its junction added in. Alas the connection for the beige tube leaks despite the new O-ring. I guess I probably needed to buy the entire assembly, not just the ring. It is not a bad leak but coming back 20 minutes later there is a ring of water welled up at the joint. So that will have to be fixed, as well as those 2 faucets. Sigh. I know I am way too new to plumbing to be hating it yet. So I am trying to keep a good attitude.    :-P

The next step was to mount the faucet. Instead of drilling a new hole somewhere I opted to re-use the hole of this really dumb soap dispenser that I always forget is there anyway:



The trickiest part of removing this was that the nut for it was tucked up behind the wash basin and against a cabinet, where no ordinary wrench could reach. I assume it was on the sink before the sink was installed in the counter. I ultimately managed to get around this by removing the pump handle, then grabbing one rim of the cylinder with a pair of vise grips and rotating. Once it was loose I reached up with my hand and removed the nut manually. Luckily they had not used thread lock!



There's the hole left over. I installed it in the hole as-was but afterward I decided I should have put some wood blocking underneath for the toggle bolts to clamp against. I think that has much less potential for future slippage than just pressing up against the underside of the steel sink.

By the way, the extension cord running past in the background is for the microwave. The right hand side of the kitchen has no 3-prong outlets, only 2-prong ones. Yet another project on the to-do list... hopefully to be done by my Spouse, not me! (evil grin)



Here's the faucet, mounted. Hooray! That little window on the base contains a battery and an LED that will blink in 6 months when it's time to change the filter. They also mention in the manual that it is time to change the filter if the water starts to taste like it's contaminated. Ya think?

OK, so, punch list on this water filter project:


Oh yeah, did I mention the water only dribbles out, after an initial gush?



I am not sure why this is, but I think it has something to do with air being trapped somewhere. I guess I will have to figure out why that is. It's definitely inconveniently low-flow right now.

Er... mission semi-accomplished?  (weak grin)