The GE Merlin Water Filtration Project is Complete!

No project goes exactly as I plan and this one was no exception. IN parts ONE, TWO, and THREE, things went very well – maybe too well, so I was due for complications.I got them. But, the project is complete and it was well worth the trouble!

Since we added a new sink and a whole house sediment filter to the project, the install time doubled. Unfortunately, those were the easy parts of the installation and the leaks waited until the final stage to become a problem!

I purchased a lot of the fittings and the PVC line from Orchard Hardware. I got excellent prices (50% off) because they’re closing the stores. On the flip side of that coin, however, is that all sales are final. Several fittings, one of the compression tees, and a reducer all leaked. One roll of 3.8″ OD line was actually a tiny bit undersized and the carbon post filters that “polish” the water after filtration both leaked (see below).

Eventually, there were three trips back to the hardware store (not Orchard, this time), and on a hunch, I got an extra valve tee fitting – which was good because the old one developed a leak after monkeying with it a few times.

After getting all of that done, we needed to connect to the drain, which was a custom fitting.  Finished (almost).

We put in a nipple and put silicone around it, then allowed it to cure for 24 hours before flushing the filters. After said flushing, I filled 4 tumblers with water from different stages of the filtration system:

City Water – 212 TDS
Post Sediment Filter – 162 TDS
RO filter – 6 TDS
DI filter – 0 TDS

(TDS means Total Dissolved Solids, measured with the digital meter pictured below)

The RO filter doesn’t remove all of the beneficial minerals you get from water, so that’s what we (and our cat) will drink. For cooking, ice maker, and such, we’ll use DI. All told, we now have the cleanest water for drinking and cooking, as well as dramatically reducing the sediment that goes into the dish washer, washing machine, water heater, shower heads, faucets, and toilets. This is a win!

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