Culligan EZ Change Premium Under Sink Water Filtration System

I looked at a ton of water filters on Amazon and found it difficult to find a clear winner. There’s a huge swing in price and complexity on these things and the reviews are all over the place on all but the most expensive. I decided on this one because of price and simplicity.My short review is that it works great, my water tastes good, and it meets my needs.The longer answer...As usual when you have a product that requires you to install it yourself, you have a bunch of people giving it 1 star and claiming defects.The majority of the complaints about this product are about leaking and most people seem to blame that on low quality hardware that comes with it. All the hardware is made of plastic and while I wouldn’t call it “heavy duty”, it is plenty adequate for handling a thin line of low pressure water. Also, lets not forget the low price. If you feel you need all metal parts and a high end faucet, there are plenty of more expensive options out there. The unit also only comes with a connector for 1/2" lines, which they should have stated in the description. If you happen to have another size you will have to make a trip to the hardware store.I’d say the majority of the problems people have come from:- Over tightening.- Not properly cutting the hose that comes with the unit.- Bad Gaskets in your existing hose.Over tightening the connectors can put too much pressure on the seals and cause them to leak. You only need to get them good and finger tight then turn a little more with a wrench.The unit comes with a hose which you have to cut. You need to cut this with a utility knife or other sharp blade. Scissors or similar cutters that involve squeezing can mash the hose while cutting it. This hose has to stay round and the end needs to be cut flat to make a good seal.Odds are your existing cold water hose has been on there for several years.. The rubber gasket in the connector could be falling apart, hardened, or just become moulded to the shape of the pipe its been connected to for so long and won’t make a good connection to anything else. That’s what happened with mine. I had a major leak after first putting this thing together. Do yourself a favor and just go ahead and replace the hose when you install this. They're 5-10 bucks and you could probably use a new one anyway. After doing this, mine sealed great.Bottom line: Take your time, read the instructions, do it right and you'll have a good leak free filter.***Update: It's been a year since I installed this and not a single problem. Looks and works just like the day I bought it.

So far this has been working very well. I have been using it about 1 month now. It's a nice change from pitcher filters, which we have used for years. Filters in those pitchers get clogged quickly. I hope this won't be the case with this Culligan.A thing to be aware off is that it takes some effort to install it if you don't have the kitchen sink with water filter outlet already. I needed to purchase the right bits to drill a hole of the right size. I order them from Amazon. I also found a tutorial at Youtube how to do it. The person used water to cool down bits while drilling and it worked for me. I did a pilot whole with the small drill first. The drills I used: BOSTITCH BSA18TM 1/8-Inch Titanium Speed Tip Drill Bit and DEWALT DW1622 5/8-Inch Black Oxide 3/8-Inch Shank Reduced Shank Twist Drill Bit.Overall connecting everything to a standard sink wasn't too complicated, though the parts are plasticy - a bit cheap, but they work. I installed additional valve before the filter following a youtube tutorial (JG Speedfit PPSV040808WP 1/4-Inch by 1/4-Inch OD Valve Start). And it was helpful to troubleshoot some leaks I had while instilling other components. The biggest problem was to connect the tube from the filter to the filter faucet. Somehow the instruction doesn't exactly explain how do it in details. The little plastic part broke while I was twisting the screw on. I needed to get one from a hardware store to replace it. I would recommend to first connect everything without attaching to faucet to the sink and check if it works. Then, if there are no leaks, disassemble the connection, install faucet on the sink and screw the connection again. I used white sealant tape (Dixon Valve TTC50 PTFE Industrial Sealant Tape from Amazon) with every screw connection.Finally, the quality of filtration appears to be good. I did't do any real tests. Definitely it taste better, though maybe not as good as some pitcher filters we have had before. But it's just some much more comfortable to not to deal with pitchers. So far this has been a great value for the money.