You wanna start a fight? Get the conversation pointed towards bottled vs. filtered vs. tap. Go ahead, I triple-dog dare you.
I buy bottled water from time to time for the convenience only. Good for hiking, driving or whatever. The tap water we receive from EBMUD flat out rules. I’ve never even remotely considered blowing my hard earned cash on any filtration system. Okay, well I did buy one years ago. You know the ones? Those bulbous things that hangs off your faucet? Yeah, it made me shake and scream. TOSS.
Aquasana wasn’t going to have it easy.

Aquasana actually has all kinds of water filtration systems, I went and looked. I was sent the package that has the 1 tap water filter rig and the one for the shower. Plus it came with this really cool, exceptionally tall and thin decanter. The packaging was very well engineered and designed. Pretty colors and custom made cardboard holders, all tucked nicely. I spread everything out and figured since I was supposed to actually write about my adventure here, I read the instructions.
It comes with a nice baggy of threaded adapters, just in case it don’t fit. I decided to do the tap water thing first and of course, read the instructions. They lead me along just fine, in spite of me and my abilities or lack therein. Of course my faucet didn’t match up, so I played with the adapter things and got it hooked up. The plastic, metal, fittings are all solid and a high quality production. Where the plastic hoses meet the metal looks like it’s going to stay put.
There was a knock at the door. I answered the knock at the door. It was a neighbor and I invited her in. We stood and talked there in the dining area for a bit. She looked down and saw the pretty Aquasana box and exclaimed, “OH !!! You got an Aquasana! Oh, I just love mine. I’ve had it for 10 years or so, just love it.” Hmmm, okay. She soon left and I went back to installing the filter.
I think I had everything taken care of in less than 20 minutes, no big deal. You have to flush the system of air and that takes a few minutes until everything runs smooth. I held my breath.

Here we see the actual filter holder, perched up on my ledge above the kitchen sink. Kinda non-confrontational, not my style. Off come your clothes you filter holder thingy you!

Ah, much better. Yes, this I can live with. Naked Filters, it’s the only way.
Turn on cold water, pull little handle and it diverts to the filter. You get about a gallon a minute, I tried a glass. Hmmm, tastes like water.
Off to the shower install I go. This takes a little more effort, needed a wrench. But it all came together just fine. Gee, the shower head is better than my old one. Bonus!
Fast foward over 5 months later.
While I’m not convinced I’d spend the 200 bux for this system myself, I do like it and here’s why. You know how you have your garden? And when you water it to keep it alive, it stays alive? But when it rains it explodes in to colors in less than 24 hours? What’s the difference between our tap water and rain water? I don’t exactly know, but I can tell you I’ve been using the Aquasana for my indoor plants and my plants like it, a lot. I also make coffee from time to time, I know what I’m doing. Even know to use the cold water side because the warm water side has residue from the hot water heater, right? I can taste that faster than lousy bacon. It’s tough to pinpoint, but the Aquasana side I like better. There’s less residue stuck on the sides of the sauce pan I use to heat the water in. Pretty cool, eh?
Remember where I just mentioned that the wam water tap has residue from the hot water heater? What do you think you use in the shower? That’s riiiight, the water out of your hot water heater. This sucker filters that out and does what it says it does, a cleaner shower with a noticeable difference in your hair. Much better. I’d gush more about it, but I use the shower to wake up and get clean. I’m not as picky about my shower technology as I am about kitchen knives.
To sum it all up, the people at Aquasana have some top notch products using solid technology. If you’re even remotely considering something like this, give them a call. And most certainly a great gift for the holidays. They’ve got some great deals this time of year and can get you what you need in time.
Biggles
ps – Check out that whole house filter system, man oh man.