There are four factors when considering how often your under-sink water system should be maintained: 

1. Time: Generally, the Water Quality Association recommends that an under-sink water system be maintained at least once a year. 
2. Inactivity: Any time your system is inactive for 30 days or more, the water in the system becomes stagnant. So you should have the filters removed and the system sanitized. 
3. Excessive use: Our under-sink water systems assume the use of a family of 4-5. If you’re using more water than that, filters will naturally start to clog faster 
4. Construction: Any road work, construction, or neighbourhood water-main repairs can cause dirt to get into your system, resulting in your filters clogging more quickly.

When installing your under-sink water system we use surgical gloves and sanitize the whole system with food-grade peroxide. But nothing in life can be disinfected 100%. There are no pathogens, but some tiny, nonharmful microbes may be left behind. Given that the system is at room temperature, it’s natural that tthese microbes will grow over time. 

Simply call and book an appointment. It takes about an hour to clean your system – so we don’t take up too much of your time. During the cleaning, we take your system apart, dispose of the used filters, wash all parts in soap and water, re-assemble everything and flush thoroughly with food-grade peroxide. Then we open up the system again, lubricate all seals with food-grade lubricant, install the highest quality filters and then do a pressure test to ensure there are no leaks.  If you have a reverse osmosis system, we adjust your tank pressure. 

Because of the detailed cleaning and troubleshooting level involved, most customers leave the maintenance to our team. However, others watch us do it once and feel they can do it themselves.

You can – but be careful. We know that no other water company goes to the level of detail we do. Often they’ll simply change the filters, and that’s it. 

It is not ideal that a system sit for more than 30 days unused. Therefore, if you can get a neighbour to come in periodically and run the water for a few minutes to water the plants, perfect. However, if this is not possible, in order to preserve your filters such that they can be used when you get back, you will need to have your system disassembled and dried out. The filters must be removed doing your best not to handle them—use surgical gloves or a paper towel. The filters must be placed in a clean, dry and shaded area and the system itself must be left open to the air such that you don’t risk any mold growth This means leaving all housings open, leaving the faucet open and leaving the tank open. 

When you get back, an oxidant (such as peroxide or chlorine) must be flushed through the system. This is done by putting a tablespoon of chlorine into the first housing, sealing all housings without the filters inside, opening the feed line and waiting until water comes out of the drinking water faucet. Once it does, shut it off and keep it off for 3 hours. Then let the water run for 15 minutes. Then, using surgical gloves, reinstall the filters.

Our whole-home water filtration systems are self-cleaning, dramatically reducing maintenance compared to other systems. However, eventually, you will exhaust the adsorptive carbon media. So if you have a standard system, we recommend a maintenance schedule every three years. And for a catalytic system, we recommend a maintenance check every five years. 

The average family of four goes through a bag per month. Your unit will fit four bags at a time, so you should replace your salt roughly every four months.

There is some backwash – roughly 100 to 150 gallons per week, depending on your chosen system. However, the average person uses 85 gallons of water per day. So the amount of backwash is like having one visitor using water once or twice a week.