- Removes entamoeba cryptosporidium and giardia from the water
- Reduces simazine, atrazine, benzene, trihalomethanes (TTHM), lindane, xylenes and more
- Reduces chlorine taste and odor
- Filters up to 600 gallons
- NSF Certified
It is strange to leave one star feedback for an item that works fine for what it was made. Yes, it makes good clean water and price is right. Why one star then? If you read about other Watts Premier products listed here, you can see that many people complain that the included manual was made for a different product. This one is not an exception. 500313 unit as actually WP-2 LCV per Watts Premier web site. Their next expensive one is WP2-BVC with designer faucet which has an electronic indicator. WP2BVC Amazon sells doesn''t come with designer faucet and is much overpriced compared to WP2LCV (500313). The Watts'' statement that 0.5 micron $33 BVC carbon filter is much better than 1 micron $28 LVC and safely cleans bacteria has nothing to do with real life. Bacteria range in size from 0.2 microns (spherical) and up to 10 microns (nonsperical species). The largest ones are from 100 microns in size. If you have bacteria in your water (the majority of drinking water violations since 2004 have occurred at water systems serving fewer than 20,000 residents) you need to boil your water and not to rely on filters with 0.5 micron holes they will help, but not much better than ones with 1 micron holes. The worst thing you need is a false sense of security you don''t really have.
OK, back to manual. The included manual (9 sheets stapled together with a staple :) is for WP2-BVC with a designer faucet to begin with. The only faucet Amazon sells with Watts units is a regular air gap one, not designer, and manual doesn''t mention that one at all. For years people complain that Watts Premier filters are shipped with wrong manual, but they still didn''t update it. Even the latest PDF manual on their site is for WP2-BVC only.
Designer BVC and regular LCV faucets have very different installation procedures. For designer one you use a screwdriver, it has white backing on gaskets and it has 3/8 lines. Regular air gap faucet doesn''t have anything mentioned, so in the middle of installation you will find yourself with a bunch of rubber, plastic and metal parts you don''t know where to insert. I spend 2 hours researching Internet how to put the damn thing together.
Another bad thing in the manual: they don''t mention Teflon tape at all. Per Watts, it is not needed for installation, period. You will need it, believe me. The manual has a horrible picture of a brass fitting in the green tube which isn''t inserted all the way, so when I tried to repeat the picture, I flooded my cabinet. Even with Teflon tape, it will take a lot of patience to make required 4 connections watertight. As another person mentioned, you may go to HD or Lowes and get real fortified 1/4 tubes to replace the included plastic ones. They have thick walls, yes, but the included end parts are pathetic and can ruin your kitchen one day (see my update below, the hose has ruptured after a month of use)
On a good note, the filter makes very good water after all, but frustrating installation process and included tubes call for one star. Watts should really listen what users are saying here and spend a few dollars to fix obvious problems.
=====================
Update, 3/5/2010.
I just found that Watts 2-PK Bio Premier 6-Month Microbiological Replacement Filter for Watts WP2BVC (Amazon sells it for $109) actually fits this LVC model. Watts states that it does not. The filter is the only difference LCV model has wich BVC Amazon sells for much more. So, when it is time to replace filter you can convert it to BVC one for no free. I will add images. The housing of my LCV system actually states "WP-2 BVC". Looks like they are trying to cut costs and made the housing universal now. Don''t buy Watts Premier 560088 filter (VOC) which is the only replacement stated in the manual. Go with microbiological BVC one. It may be helpful to clean some types of smaller bacteria and viruses VOC filter can not. The table Watts provided that LCV filter removes Lead and Chemicals and BVC is not, is false. In the manual for BVC it is stated that it cleans those as well. BVC carbon block is a 0.5 micron filter, original one is only 1 micron. It is only $4 more.
==============================
Another update LOL, you should never underestimate amount of damage you can do to your house with a ruptured water hose connected to the main water line. The inlet green hose has ruptured the night of 3/7, about a month after installation. It was so expected that it is even funny. Our cat was screaming in the kitchen seating on the table surrounded with an ocean of cold water.
I posted an image where the junky green hose has failed. The water pressure simply pushed it away leaving the end connector still attached to the supply fitting sending about 100 gallons of water into the kitchen and garage). I went to Lowe''s and got an ice maker supply hose which fits perfectly. The blue line which comes out of filter is a low pressure and should hold in theory. But you may want to replace it as well just to get rid of original plastic one.
Buy Watts 500313 2-Stage Undercounter Lead, Cyst & VOC Reducing Drinking Water System Now
Ok, first off I have to say that giving products bad reviews because they come with the wrong manual is pretty stupid in my opinion. Yeah, mine came with the wrong manual too but the only difference with these things is faucet head and if you can''t figure that out then you should probably hire a plumber or handyman to install this.
This filter does what its supposed to do and does it well. I was pleasantly surprised at the flow of water that comes from the faucet. I was also pleasantly surprised at the quality of the faucet after reading some of the reviews. Its very solid except for the plastic lever but if you use it like a regular human being and not an oger it should do just fine. Install took me 10 minutes and that was taking my time. My filter came with the tubing already attached to the filter unit installed at the factory so if yours does too... DONT MESS WITH IT!! I am a contractor and know a lot about plumbing and any plastic fittings are sensitive to how much torque you put on them. NEVER OVER TIGHTEN PLASTIC FITTINGS!! If you tighten a plastic fitting too much it WILL leak or strip out. This system uses 1/4" poly pipe like that of an ice maker line for a fridge and comes with the compression sleeves and tip inserts. The tip inserts are those little plastic or brass flanged tubes and they go inside the tip of the pipe to keep the pipe from collapsing under the compression fitting. you also want to make sure the compression sleeves are facing the direction... plastic compression sleeves are often directional so the narrower side goes into the fitting or pipe and the bigger side is what the nut seats onto. Compression fittings do NOT require teflon tape or pipe dope and the tape can actually make your fitting worse if you use too much because you won''t be able to seat the compression fitting well enough to make a seal.
as far as the previous bad reviewer saying that the poly line blew out of the fitting.... its probably due to him putting too much teflon tape on it and not getting a proper compression fit.... either that or they have excessive water pressure which does happen on occasion and the only way to fix that is to have a whole house pressure reducer installed by a plumbing contactor. Excessive water pressure can also cause premature failure of hot water heaters too.
Bottom line is this is a good set up that gives you great tasting water and if you have some common sense like other reviewers you will install it just fine and won''t have any problems. one last tip... every two or three months or so for the first year you might want to check your fittings and re-tighten them if needed. I have found that after installing plastic plumbing, it tends to go through a settling process and fittings can loosen a bit over time. This may not happen since its on the cold water line but it does happen a lot with plastic p-traps since they get exposed to hot/warm water that causes the plastic to expand and contract.
Read Best Reviews of Watts 500313 2-Stage Undercounter Lead, Cyst & VOC Reducing Drinking Water System Here
I picked up this unit earlier this year due to notification of some chemical issues discovered in the water in the surrounding area. For the family I was specifically looking for a filter system that could take out chemicals from the water. After doing some research on water filters and looking at certified systems, I found this to be the best deal for our house.
The unit was pretty simple to install, in the end took about an hour to get in but I was taking my time with it. Everyone in the house now drinks only the water from the filter system. The filter takes out the chlorine as well as any chemicals that may be in the water (NSF Certified). The ability of the filter to remove lead and crypto is a side benefit.
Highly Recommended
Want Watts 500313 2-Stage Undercounter Lead, Cyst & VOC Reducing Drinking Water System Discount?
I installed this filter a week ago. It works well, and we are happy with it. The water tastes good, it flows reasonably fast, and the filter looks good. We got this to replace a PUR faucet filter. This solution seems more solid and out of the way.
It took some repeated assembly and disassembly until I got rid of all leaks. First, one of the hose connectors leaked. Then, after several hours, I realized the filter body itself was leaking. Teflon tape and patience helped getting the leaks fixed. However, the connectors that came with the unit were plastic. I replaced them with brass parts from Lowes.
Save 22% Off
So I needed to get as clean as water as possible without going to reverse osmosis route as I think that''s just wasteful. I looked around at my neighborhood big DIY home improvement stores and though they showed similar products as this one on display (a dual stage unit), none of them carry dual stage systems any more. Luckily I found this unit here on Amazon.
I had no need for the included faucet, and didn''t feel like drilling a hole in my sink, plus the tubing that it comes with is a joke. I wanted to connect it to my existing kitchen faucet. I went to my local Ace hardware (also tried the big home improvement stores but none of them had anything or anyone who could help me). I took out the plastic tubing elbows and replaced those with "3/8 to 1/4" connectors. Also picked up a "24inch 3/8-IN 3/8-OUT" faucet supply line (your size/needs might be different). With those items and a little bit of teflon tape, I connect the system to my existing cold-side kitchen faucet. Water pressure did drop some but for me it''s very acceptable. My kitchen sprayer still works but if just using cold water pressure is a little low, just by turning on the hot-side too pressure is back to normal.
So I highly recommend this unit. Filters are easy to find (accepts most standard 10-inch drop-in filters, found at local hardware stores). I see no reason why it shouldn''t give me years & years of reliable service now that the weak parts of the system have been upgraded to quality parts.
Just FYI, this is the same as the Watts WP2BVC Premier Two-Stage Microbiological Purifier Water Filtration System but with different filters include. The microbiological filters work just fine with this unit.
