We had an old whole house water treatment system that had broken and I could not drink the tap water as it gave me a severe headache so we bought bottled water. We were buying about 10 gallons a week, which cost about $10.00 per week, that is over $500.00 per year. We researched the available literature and found that 3 different systems would provide us with drinkable water for about 9.7 cents per gallon.

After investigating each of these home water treatment systems we settled on an Aquasana system. I could do a diy installation of the hard water treatment system in the garage where the old hard water treatment system used to be. This would give us a water treatment process for baths, showers, dish washing and clothes washing.

The Aquasana system requires no salt to condition the water as it can filter up to 300,000 gallons of water before it needs to be replaced. I wanted to know how much water we were using so I added a water meter in line to the system that shows the amount of water used up to 9,999,999 gallons.

I added an Aquasana Premium Under-counter Water Filter for a drinking water treatment system under our kitchen sink. This filter removes impurities down to a 0.995%. This is the comparable or surpassing than the bottled water and I don’t get headaches after drinking this water.

I installed a special faucet on our porcelain sink in the kitchen for this filtered water. I drilled a hole in the porcelain sink to mount this faucet. This is a tricky job and must be done very exactly. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself then have a plumber do it.

I studied the advise and recommended tools on how to drill porcelain. You can purchase a special drill set that is quite expensive just for drilling two holes in porcelain. I decided to make my own jig to drill a 5/8″ hole for this new faucet. I purchased 2 brass washers, the largest had 3/4″ inside diameter which I glued to the sink with a rubber based glue at the place for the new faucet.

Let the glue dry for 10 minutes or more and then take a Dremel tool with a diamond bit to route through the porcelain inside the 3/4″ washer down to bare metal. This is a very tricky process as you do not want to crack or chip the porcelain under the brass washer. Keep the working area cool by putting water inside the brass washer while you are drilling to keep the temperature of the drill bit and brass washer down.

The second step I put a 3/4″ outside (OD) and a 1/4″ inside (ID) diameter brass washer in the center of the other brass washer and a 1/4″ OD and a 1/16″ ID spacer inside the smaller brass washer. This gave the correct center for this faucet. Then use the Dremel tool with the diamond bit to drill a guide hole in the center of the spacer, through the porcelain down to the metal.

The third step, remove the spacer and small brass washer, leave the large brass washer fixed to the sink. It works as a heat-sink for the porcelain. You can drill a 1/4″ starter hole through the porcelain and metal sink.

The fourth step you can take a 5/8″ carbide hole saw drill bit and carefully drill out the 5/8″ hole in the sink. The hole saw drill should fit easily into the center of the large brass washer with good clearance all around. Use a low speed drill and remember keep water on this hole drill to keep every thing cool at least below the boiling point of water.

After completing the hole, take a small hammer and screw driver and gently knock the large brass washer off. Be very careful not to chip the porcelain sink. Porcelain is unforgiving and is very difficult to repair. Clean the excess glue off the sink now you should have a clean hole through the sink and no chips in the porcelain. If you do just hope that the shroud of the faucet covers it up when you mount your new faucet on the sink.

Fasten the hoses of the new faucet and end stage filter per the manufactures guidance. Turn on the water and examine for leaks. Tighten any connection that leaks. Run water through the filter per the manufacturers guidance. Now do a taste test of the water from your own Aquasana Premium Water Filter and whole house water treatment system.