Undersink water filter broke and house flooded

shootist16

shootist16

knife law moderator
Moderator
Joined
Dec 25, 1998
Messages
7,394
Wondering if this is a common problem. My house had an Omnifilter Under sink water filter similar to this one:

ob3.gif


My wife was downstairs yesterday when she heard water dripping and saw water dripping through the ceiling. She quickly ran upstairs to find our kitchen flooded. The bottom of the filter housing had broken and water was going everywhere. The filter housing is one piece. I can't imagine how bad the damage would have been if we were at work or out of town when this happened. Is this a common problem? Any advice on how to prevent this from happening again?
 
I am assuming your water filter is designed to remove chlorine from your drinking water. If this is the case, there are filters that attach directly to the tap over your kitchen sink.

If those leak, the water will (hopefully) drip over the sink and drain away.
 
m_calingo said:
I am assuming your water filter is designed to remove chlorine from your drinking water. If this is the case, there are filters that attach directly to the tap over your kitchen sink.

If those leak, the water will (hopefully) drip over the sink and drain away.
Click to expand...

looks larger than the above sink type. looks more like a mixed media filter, similar to those on fish tanks.

perhaps one with a metal housing? pvc can get brittle.
 
shootist16 said:
Wondering if this is a common problem.
... Is this a common problem? Any advice on how to prevent this from happening again?
Click to expand...

I'm a claims adjuster for an insurance company, so this kind of thing is my work, day in, day out.

Funny thing is, the answer is no, in my experience it's not a common problem.

Offhand, culprits for flooding your house, starting with the worst, tend to be:

the sump pump
the toilet
the water heater
the icemaker.

Water filters come way at the bottom of the list. Again, this isn't nationwide statistics, just what I see in mid-Michigan.

If you're wondering whether to scrap the thing, I would say you shouldn't be too scared. Your odds are much worse with the other running-water equipment in your house!
:thumbup:
Mike
 
That sucks, Dennis. Sorry to hear about it. Those types of undersink filtration units seem to be a pain in the ass in about every way imaginable. It 's damn near impossible to even change the filter on many of the brands sold out here. And don't get me started on those infernal snap in supply line connectors. I'd rather have a Sparklets cooler in my kitchen.
 
Having the Sparklets cooler in the house would have the benefits of having some water stored, not having an effectively infinite supply that can spill, and not having the capital investment of filtering equipment.

Having the filter under my sink means I am not dependant on an outside vender to guarantee my water quality, I can use the filter with minor modifications on a wide variety of sources, and I am not limited to the vendors schedule.

Any plumbing can break. I had a dishwasher hose blow out right after I moved in here. The more plumbing you have, and the wider variety of materials it uses, gives more chances of failure for more reasons. But I have an under sink filter mainly for cost reasons. I want to upgrade to a reverse osmosis system when I can budget it in. I know, it is only $175 or so, but things have been tight for a while.

An under sink water alarm would be a good idea for preventing damage from lots of things.
 
I would add that any of the flexible connections like ice makers, toilet lines, washer hookups, Dishwasher, dishwasher to disposal lines are susceptable to aging. I saw a home last year with 340K of damage from an upstairs laundry room where a hose let go after they left for vacation. All the wooden floors, all the furniture, all the drywall on that side of the house. All damaged from they figured 20,000 gallons or more, the floor drain in the basement sucked in plastic bag and there was nearly 2 feet of water in basement, killing the furnace, the water heater, and all the other junk they had down there.

we used to actually plumb the water filters in the basement, near a floor drain or over a laudry tub to catch any leaks.
 
My water heater went today so I feel your pain. Well, we caught it early-ish, only a 6 foot puddle diameter puddle and no real damage. So maybe not all of your pain.
 
I too am sorry to hear about that.

As far as the hoses to washers go, there is a reason that a shut off is placed with in easy reach . You turn the water on to do the wash and off when done.

Thats the way I learned from my folks, and as a firefighter who has pumped many a basement after an old rubber hose let go I can see why.

Change them every few years too.
 
Lone Hunter said:
I too am sorry to hear about that.

As far as the hoses to washers go, there is a reason that a shut off is placed right next to the connection . You turn the water on to do the wash and off when done.

Thats the way I learned from my folks, and as a firefighter who has pumped many a basement after an old rubber hose let go I can see why.

Change them every few years too.
Click to expand...

I've heard that the automatic shut off valves work pretty good, but I don't have personal experience with them. The way they work is that they detect if the water is running and the washer is not pulling any current - if that's the case, they shut down the water.
 
There are also supply lines that have auto shut-offs on them. I don't know if they are any good, but I have seen them at Home Depot and Lowes.

Sorry about your flooding!
 
I'm a service plumber in Southern California, I think water filters are a hassle, and a source for minor drips because of the fussy connectors, but like the insurance guy, I have not heard of the catastrophic failure like you had.
 
Had to look the filter up your picture wasn't showing. I have been working as a plumber for 32 years I have seen one filter canister fail in that time that wasn't freeze related.
I can not tell you how many times I have opened them up to find a black slimy blob were they weren't changed in who knows how long
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top