Review on Filtrete Standard Filtration Sediment 3US AS01 by Justin Santiago

This under sink filtration system made attractive claims that motivated me to try it: easy to use. installed (reportedly takes less than 30 minutes) and does not require a separate faucet (works through an existing cold water faucet). In addition, it was claimed that one still had "full water flow". But is it really like that? Such claims often turn out to be marketing rather than reality. I added this filter to a kitchen sink with a wet bar so there wasn't much room under the cabinet and I really didn't need to have a separate faucet as there wasn't room for one. . Installation was easy (two screws to attach the bracket to the side of the case - this makes the bracket appear to slip out of the screw so isn't fixed, stable and straight enough) and the slip-in filter with a twist. The plumbing fixtures were basic - if your fixtures don't need replacing. In my case, the risers (from the hot and cold faucets to the bottom of the faucets) were old copper fittings and didn't reach the new locations, so I had to go to the hardware store to replace them with new ones. new, flexible risers. Once that was done, it was easy to insert the Filtrete fitting between the standpipe and the shut-off valve, and then back into the faucet. . I stopped there and when I turned on the water they drained. I checked the instructions which said to push the blue tubes hard until they stop. When I did it again, they passed the first "stop" and entered noticeably further. There was no leak this time. When I turned on the faucet and let the water run for 7 minutes as recommended, everything seemed fine. But when I later came back to use it, it was just a trickle. It is clear that this was not a "full flow of water". I noticed a few charcoal particles scattered around the outside of the filter which I believe was due to shipping. I contacted the manufacturer who after checking the model said it was probably the carbon from the filter and if so the filter could have been damaged in transit. For testing, she suggested I try the unit without the filter to see if the pressure would come back. That's not true, but I also noticed that my hot water (which wasn't filtered) flowed just as slowly as well. I suspected something was blocking the water at the faucet outlet and not in the cold water line as it acts both hot and cold. I removed and cleaned the outlet and found some pieces of charcoal stuck in the small filter at the end of it (I should note that a customer service rep told me there is a higher model that uses a one-piece filter that has this type of problem cannot occur). When assembling, I opened the faucet and found that the water pressure was very close to full. This is definitely not "full water flow" - as in 100% which was unfiltered. However, it's probably around 85%, which is more than enough for my use case. So the installation was really simple and quick, but taking into account the usual home plumbing issues. If there are bits of charcoal in the filter bag, you may need to remove them if they got into the faucet outlet filter, but the filter does the job and the water flow stays good. I'm happy with that.