Help with Grohe tap

I would venture a guess that @Tester101's suspicion about your floaties coming from your glass (unrinsed soap, dust, etc.) may be heading down the right path. I would try rinsing a glass, scrubbing it with a new sponge or clean washcloth, wiping it dry with a clean towel (not paper towel, as this may leave pieces of paper behind), and then refilling it. @NiallC's comment about asking for a water report from your municipal water supply is a pretty good alternative, but doesn't factor in anything that may come from the pipes between them and you. Most health departments will do water testing, so you could always fill a bottle and take it in.

Beyond that, if you really have to know what's in the water, your only real solution to absolutely know with 100% certainty (technically, unless you watch the health department do the tests, and can verify their results, you can't KNOW that they're right...but I'd probably just accept it) is to get testing kits for this, that, and the other thing (that was just the first page offering a wide range of kits that I found), that operate similar to what you might use for pool water. Depending on the sensitivity levels, you may pick up on things like trace amounts of chlorine...but of course this is going to get back into the more expensive end of things, as those kits aren't cheap (Grainger's seem to run around $40-$50 and up...it's about $20 for their cheapest, which is testing for copper, on that first page of results).

You could pick up a pool test kit, which will cover a couple of parameters (chlorine, calcium, hardness, etc.), but it's not going to cover everything and may not operate in the range you need to identify your floaties...it's designed primarily to help you maintain clear-looking pool water that you're not drinking, not crystal clear tap water.

So really:

• Ask for report from municipal water supply

• Take in sample to health department

• If you're still paranoid and want to know what it is, buy test kits

• If you just want to get rid of the floaties, filter, filter, filter, and make sure your dishes aren't the source

Oil's no good, water will wash it away, use silicone grease. You may be able to grease it up without taking it apart. Turn the water off, then lift the handle all the way up. Put a bit of grease on housing exposed when the handle is lifted, use a cotton swab to get into the gaps. Exercise the handle up and down and see if that gets rid of the squeak. If that doesn't work you are going to have to take it apart (look for an explosion diagram of your faucet online), take lots of photos and keep the parts in plastic containers to make sure you don't lose anything. Check the condition of the washers as worn washers may cause binding, hence a squeak. When putting it back together grease the parts that rub against one another as you go. Don't go overboard on the grease, a little goes a long way.

One word of caution: before taking anything apart it's important to realize that you may not be able to get it together again, and may require that you replace the faucet entirely. Some units are not meant to be maintained, may have plastic pieces that break and you can't get them back together, or may have proprietary washers or other parts that you can't buy replacements for. If it's broken already then you lose nothing by trying of course.