Easy DIY Faucet Mount for Water Purifier
WHY DO WE NEED A WATER PURIFIER
I have always been and always will be an advocate for purified water. There are proven health benefits, financial benefits, cooking benefits, and even tastes better.
Heavy metals, bacteria, and chemicals in tap water and even in bottled water can be very harmful. Chlorine is commonly found in our water because it is used to treat our water supplies as a means to eliminate bacteria and harmful organisms. The easiest (but not 100% effective) way to filter out the chlorine is by using carbon since it binds well with the chlorine, but what about lead, another common and toxic contaminate found in tap water.
There are different types of filtration systems, but I haven’t found one as complete as our eSpring UV Water Purifier. “It reduces more than 140 potential health-effect impurities like pesticides, VOCs, mercury, and lead. It uses UV technology to eliminate up to 99.99% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses, and 99.95% of cysts.” In addition from these health benefits, one filter cartridge replaces approximately 10,000 bottles (16.9 fL.oz) of water and over $3 per gallon in savings! How much do you spend on your drinking water?
If you want more information about this water purifier, you can visit the link, email me, or comment below.
DESIGN
We installed our eSpring UV Water Purifier to connect to our refrigerator, which had a water dispenser in the door. When we downsized from a house to an apartment we took our water purifier to our new home, but our new refrigerator did not have a water dispenser. Usually that’s not so much of a problem because some sinks have an extra hole where you can attach a soap dispenser, a sprayer, or a water faucet. However, our apartment didn’t have that either. Where were we going to connect our water purifier? I didn’t want to attach it directly to kitchen faucet because I felt like it would be in the way when doing the dishes. Also, I wanted the ice maker in our freezer to be from filtered water, so I decided to design an over the counter water faucet mount.
The mount is basically a box with a water faucet connected to our purifier. The purifier is also connected to the water line going to the ice maker. I could choose to put the water filter either on our counter or above the fridge. I choose above the fridge because I wanted it out of the way, but still accessible. The purifier has a sleek design, so it doesn’t look bad if left on the counter. My parents were remodeling their house at the time, so they had a lot of spare material for me to use. I choose to use a wood frame and tile to surround it. This design is a little larger than what I wanted and I think that the next time I could definitely make it slightly smaller, but I am very happy with my over the counter faucet mount.
MATERIALS
1 water faucet. I bought mine from amazon, but they also sell them at Home Depot or Lowes.
1/4″ flexible tubing, 0.169″ I.D.
Wood Frame (I used spare materials so the sizes may be odd. If you modify the size of the box, make sure to remeasure all mating parts.)
A: QTY 1: 1-1/4″ x 4-3/4″ x 5-1/4″
B: QTY 2: 1-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ x 5-1/4″
C: QTY 1: 3/4″ x 2-1/4″ x 5-1/4″
5 tiles or your choice.
Front, Back, Left, Right, Top
4 aluminum trim pieces (optional)
Glue, nails, and grout.
INSTRUCTIONS
Start by making the wood frame. Use wood glue and nails to secure all 4 sides. This frame won’t be visible so it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect, just make sure that it is level. Things to keep in mind if you do modify the dimensions of the box:
Leave sufficient room for your hand to fit inside so you can connect the hoses and faucet.
Take a look at the faucet dimensions that you purchased, if it is very tall or hard to open/close the valve, you need to make it sturdy/heavy/or large enough to not tip over.
Cut the tiles to size using a wet saw. In my kitchen, I planned to place it on the left side of the refrigerator, so I only needed one pretty corner, which is shown below. You can cut all the edges like this or only the visible ones, but make sure to adjust the measurements if you do change the corner. You can drill the holes after the box is put together. I used 3/4″ tiles for all sides. Roughly 5 1/2″ x 5 1/4″ for the front, 7 1/2″ x 5 1/4″ for both sides, and 4 3/4″ x 5 1/4″ for the back. I recommend that you re-measure your final wood frame and mark the tile with a marker before cutting, that way you make sure the tiles all fit together nicely. Use cement to assemble the tiles to the frame. Leave the top tile for last if you are going to add a metal trim piece, see below.
I am not an experienced tile cutter, so I added a metal trim around the top border because the edges weren’t looking so great. The trim can be found at Home Depot or Lowes. Once they are glued on you can place the top tile. I used pieces of wood and a harness to keep everything tight while the glue dried.
Wait for everything to dry completely before drilling the holes. Once dry, drill about a 3/4″ hole in the back tile about 1-1/4″ from the floor. On the top tile, drill a 1/2″ hole (depending on your faucet requirements) on the top about 2-1/2″ from the front. Check your faucet dimensions so that you make sure to clear the wood.
Now you can connect your faucet the same way you would on a kitchen sink. This is what it should look inside the box. You will use a combination of the flexible piping and an elbow adapter. The tubing leaving the box will connect to your filter.
FINAL PRODUCT
LESSONS LEARNED
The box could be slightly smaller. I had already purchased a water faucet so the size of my box is perfect for my faucet size, but there are options for smaller faucets which would work with a smaller box.
Make sure to measure the clearance from your counter to your cabinets, you don’t want the cabinets to hit your faucet.
Add some stick-on rubber feet so that if there is any water spill, it won’t wet your wood frame from underneath. They also help in preventing your box from sliding easily.
You can use accent tiles or Barcelona tiles to add some fun.
Overall, I am so happy with my over the counter water dispenser. I needed something quick, cheap, and most of all functional. This was such a fun DIY project and now my family and I get to drink purified water everyday. I hope you liked the idea and if you end up making one too, be sure to let me know how it turned out!
