Waaay back in the first half of the last decade, we were having problems with our water quality. The County was doing work on the water piping in our neighborhood, which had an immediate effect on our water. Everything was orange and there was visible sediment at the bottom of our glasses. We tried a sink-mounted filter I found at BJ’s but that was a plastic piece of crap. Finally we broke down and had some plumbers add a cartridge filter to our water supply line.

Over the years the sediment in our water dissipated and things cleared up, but a few weeks ago we noticed orange in our water again. On Sunday I changed the cartridge in the filter and when I opened the valve to turn the water back on, it started leaking–badly. The mechanism is mainly plastic, so I’ve been babying it over the years. Unfortunately, when it was put in, there was no bypass put in to the piping, so the only way to shut the water off to the house was to use the valve built into the housing–made of plastic.

I stuck a bucket under it and called our plumber, who came out and quoted us a pretty fair price. After thinking it over that evening, I decided I could do it myself for half the price. I did some research, ordered a heavy-duty filter from Amazon, and stocked up on supplies from Lowe’s. It’s been a long time since I’ve sweated pipes, but it’s a skill you don’t forget. By midnight last night I had about half of the piping cut and roughed out, and by the time the unit itself appeared this afternoon the rest was ready to go. Unfortunately someone had dropped the box at some point and broken the release tab off, so it’s got to be replaced with a new one on Friday.

The drip on the filter has dwindled, so the threat of the basement flooding while we wait for the new unit has subsided. The piping is ready; we just need the new unit.