Culligan US-EZ-4 EZ-Change Level-4 Under-Sink Drinking Water System
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Culligan US-EZ-4 EZ-Change Level-4 Under-Sink Drinking Water System
Customer Review: Great Product!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this water filter about two months ago and am very pleased. I chose it because of the poor reviews I had seen of the Aquasana water filter. I was tired of paying $50 a month for bottled water and I wanted a high quality and dependable filter that fit under the sink. Being all thumbs, I was concerned that the installation would take a while or I would puncture a hose and flood the kitchen. The installation was very easy and took about 1/2 hour. The directions are very clear and detailed. The filter is not light (a couple of pounds) and is made of metal. I highly recommend this water filter.Customer Review: Great Replacement for PUR
Summary: 5 Stars
We had an undersink PUR filter that was discontinued. This filter installed easily and seems to be a good replacement. We are still using the faucet that came with the PUR filter which made the installation of the Culligan filter even easier. The PUR filter is plumbed a little differently, but the Culligan filter seems to work well in this arrangement.Customer Review: Great Water
Summary: 5 Stars
Filter arrived as advertised. It was very easy to install. I did need to drill an extra hole in the sink because we have a soap dispenser. Plumbing was easy and all the needed fittings were supplied. The filter had a battery taped to it and no explanation in the instructions what to do with it. After some investigation I found a holder for it in the base of the faucet. I guess this is a reminder light for filter changes. The water taste great and so far no leaks or problems.Customer Review: Great filter with caveat on included faucet
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this unit because it used the old style dual-stage filters that you can get anywhere (Pentek 250A's are one example). It filters out just about everything except fluoride.
This is an under-sink unit so make sure you have enough room and your dishpan holder doesn't hit it. It includes the dual stage unit, a monitor, a drinking water faucet and of course, the 2 filters.
I had it installed by a professional plumber and it worked great for about 6 months. Around the time of the first filter check/replacement, someone must have clipped the above-sink filtered water faucet moving some pans on the counter.
This faucet looks chrome but has a cheap nylon shaft internally that is bonded to the 3/8" blue hose that runs from the filter unit to the drinking water faucet. This threaded, nylon shaft allows you to attach it securely from underneath the sink to one of the standard, extra holes most sinks have.
This filtered water faucet and the nylon shaft became the single-point of failure for us. This might only happen in 1/10000 cases but the faucet shaft broke off under the sink and ended up (overnight) flooding our basement. Now, the flow rate is only about .25-.75 gals per minute or less - but the damage it did to our finished basement cost us $3000 to repair.
So, my review of the SY-2650 unit is still high. This is still a good unit. It's no longer made by Culligan. Pentek picked up the design and calls theirs the US-1500 (model without the water beeper monitor that the SY-2650 has though).
Basically, I think Culligan stopped making these and opted for single, spin-on cartridge solutions (more $$$ with replacement filters since they are BRAND-specific).
These Culligan SY-2650's - if you can find one - use STANDARD P250, P250A filters (no $$$ for Culligan - about $30 in bulk - only replaced every 6 months or so).
Reiterating, the only issue is with the cheap faucet. Make sure you don't torque down on that nylon bolt too hard putting the faucet in since it might pre-load the shaft for later failure.
WaterFilters.net (the vendor of record for this product on Amazon) DID replace my broken faucet for free and were very nice (recommended highly).
Unfortunately, in his haste while servicing the leak, the plumber cut some of the unit's blue hose while removing it and this destroyed the integrity of the ENTIRE filtering unit so I now have to buy another unit. Neither Culligan nor WaterFilters.net want to reimburse me or replace the unit. In their defense, the part that the plumber damaged (cutting the blue hose), is probably not handled by warranty.
It would be better if you have a plumber install the unit with a shutoff BETWEEN the main (60psi) water supply line and the dual-stage filter unit so you can ensure that 1/10000 doesn't happen to you. Turn it on (undersink) to fill the filter when needed, shut it off when you don't.
Otherwise, this is a great unit.
I'm switching to a counter-top MultiPure unit with a diverter right on your existing faucet (can install yourself)
http://www.multipureco.com/mpct.htm
I looked at some other faucet-mounted units and none of them have the longevity of units separated from the faucet and they don't filter nearly enough. The Multipure uses a carbon block filter. There are other, cheaper counter-top solutions, but this is the one I chose because of it's capacity (750 gals) and it's stainless. Unfortunately, all counter top solutions use BRAND-specific filters so if you opt for this style, you limit your ability to get cheaper filters.
For me, the Multipure (or any other diverter/counter top solution) solves the one weakness of the SY-2650 - the fact that the Culligan is always under water pressure and any failure will cause a leak.
Since, the Multipure counter-top filter is only "filled" and working when you have your REGULAR faucet running with the diverter "ON", there is never a chance of it leaking by accident.
Customer Review: Great filter, but...
Summary: 4 Stars
I owned this filter for about 2 months now and I really like it. Water tastes great. It's probably the best filter for value vs. price. Filter cartridge is very easy to install, and very easy to replace. I'm probably going to change faucet in the future, the original one works well so far.
It's an off topic but I hope it helps some people. Be careful when you filling something with water. Water runs under low pressure, so it runs really slow. I've already forgot couple of times that I was filling something, so my kitchen got flooded with water.
It was relatively easy to install the filter. Forget about included screws to hang it inside your cabinet/vanity. My drill destroyed the screw's head at the third turn. Find two decent <=1.5 inch screws for handing. Be very very careful with the plastic splitter. Extra turn might kill the thread. That's the only reason I'm giving this product 4 stars, only because of some unreliable parts.