Reverse Osmosis Units

[Marcos]

I am interested in getting a unit for the home. I am currently using a Pur filter but I feel that I can do better. There are a variety of home RO systems available and they all appear very similar. Does anyone have any info on the subject? Is NSF certification inportant? Which manufacturers are offering quality products? Thanks

 

[grateful1]

undersink or whole house?

 

[bmd34202]

I installed a GE under sink RO system I bought at Home Depot three weeks ago and have been very happy with it's performance. The (self) install was a breeze too.

 

[Marcos]

undersink or whole house?

Undersink. I see 4 stage and 5 stage units. Some have NSF certified parts and some don't. Others have UV light treatment as well. The prices are not too bad. All less than $400. I am just having a hard time determining which companies are reputable.

 

[grateful1]

undersink or whole house?

Undersink. I see 4 stage and 5 stage units. Some have NSF certified parts and some don't. Others have UV light treatment as well. The prices are not too bad. All less than $400. I am just having a hard time determining which companies are reputable.

GE received the best review from CR....I'll double check the under sink models.

edit - it's discontinued.


I'll ask the 'water' guy here at work - we have a carbon filter main tank <whole building> and 3 stage 4 setups.
He should know who is reputible in NJ. If your installing it yourself...it seem that most of the components are of the same grade...so, buy what you want and put it in!

 

[Burnt Tongue]

FYI

They recover only 5 to 15 percent of the water entering the system. The remainder is discharged as waste water.

 

[LSUSEEGAR]

In the industry they call it "reject" water.

I wouldn't want an RO for my whole house, it makes the water very corrosive and will destroy a hot water heater in short order. I have heard good things about the ones at Home Depot and Lowes. I wouldn't worry to much about the NSF rating.

 

[Marcos]

In the industry they call it "reject" water.

I wouldn't want an RO for my whole house, it makes the water very corrosive and will destroy a hot water heater in short order. I have heard good things about the ones at Home Depot and Lowes. I wouldn't worry to much about the NSF rating.

Corrosive? Can you explain?

 

[LSUSEEGAR]

Sure. RO membranes remove damn near everything from the water. This includes, calcium hardness, chlorides, alkalinity (carbonate etc.) All of these contribute to the overall "appetite" of the water. When there is nothing in the water, like after an RO, it will be extremely aggressive on metal plumbing materials. If I had an older house that potentially has leaded plumbing connections, I don't think I would use it at all.

As long as it is just going to be used for ice and drinking water, it should be fine.

What about your tap water made you want to get an RO? Just curious.

 

[Newfie]

I have a friend who works at a place that does commercial / industrial RO Units (and homes so bug they need a commercial sized one) and he has one in his house, but ONLY because it's free. he said if he had to pay for it, never.

BTW, he seconds the CORROSIVE thing. That ain't a theory according to him.

$0.02, FWIW.

 

[Marcos]

I drink a ton of water each day. I currently use a PUR filter at the home and considered getting a water cooloer as well. I want the cleanest water as possible and want to lower my costs. Some of the RO units have filters that cost the same as the box of PUR filters yet last all year supposedly. I would like the convience of a home system with no big bottles to lug in and out of the house and additional monthly rental charges.

I have a friend who works at a place that does commercial / industrial RO Units (and homes so bug they need a commercial sized one) and he has one in his house, but ONLY because it's free. he said if he had to pay for it, never.

BTW, he seconds the CORROSIVE thing. That ain't a theory according to him.

$0.02, FWIW.

What does he hate about it? What are the other alternatives to a home unit besides buying bottles water which from what I understand is basically RO filtered water anyway?

 

[jabba]

problem with just a RO under-sink system is that you are still putting clorine in your body when you shower. I've heard stats that say a 20 minute shower is equivalent to drinking a liter of water. This is probably why many people are switching over to salt water swimming pools.

 

[Newfie]

I drink a ton of water each day. I currently use a PUR filter at the home and considered getting a water cooloer as well. I want the cleanest water as possible and want to lower my costs. Some of the RO units have filters that cost the same as the box of PUR filters yet last all year supposedly. I would like the convience of a home system with no big bottles to lug in and out of the house and additional monthly rental charges.

I have a friend who works at a place that does commercial / industrial RO Units (and homes so bug they need a commercial sized one) and he has one in his house, but ONLY because it's free. he said if he had to pay for it, never.

BTW, he seconds the CORROSIVE thing. That ain't a theory according to him.

$0.02, FWIW.

What does he hate about it? What are the other alternatives to a home unit besides buying bottles water which from what I understand is basically RO filtered water anyway?

I've bolded the important part, that's all it is.

His words are they just aren't worth it, for the cost. Basically, he says it's the same as anything else, "You gets what ya pays for". If you go cheap, you get cheap. I can't speak for New jersey, but I'd assume you can get home delivery of bottled water, same as here. It costs $5.95 / 20L (5 gal) bottle. We bought a cooler at a hardware store with a 2 year warranty for $170, and it has 3 taps, hot, cold and room temp. The hot one is great for tea, and coffee in my French Press and it works great.

snip...This is probably why many people are switching over to salt water swimming pools.

Jabba, I can't say for sure, but I kow some people who are considering switching to salt water for pools and they say it's because salt water is less susceptable (SIC?) to algae.

 

[jabba]

Jabba, I can't say for sure, but I kow some people who are considering switching to salt water for pools and they say it's because salt water is less susceptable (SIC?) to algae.

Could also be the case... I haven't fully investigated but there is a lot of research lately on negatives of clorine in the human body.

 

[Marcos]

problem with just a RO under-sink system is that you are still putting clorine in your body when you shower. I've heard stats that say a 20 minute shower is equivalent to drinking a liter of water. This is probably why many people are switching over to salt water swimming pools.

From what I have seen, almost every company that is selling a RO unit also has a shower filter. On average they last around 6 months.

 

[moki]

I am interested in getting a unit for the home. I am currently using a Pur filter but I feel that I can do better. There are a variety of home RO systems available and they all appear very similar. Does anyone have any info on the subject? Is NSF certification inportant? Which manufacturers are offering quality products? Thanks

We noticed some hard water stains in our new house, so I called a friend of mine who does water treatment systems for a living.

We tested the water coming out of the kitchen sink (which is a hard water line), as well as every where else in the house, and despite the fact that there's a water softener in place that is properly filled with sodium, the hardness was exactly the same: 24 points. For reference, 15 points hard is considered very hard water.

As it turns out, if you have iron bacteria in the water (which you can easily detect by rubbing your hand on the water reservoir in a toilet in the house to see if it is slimy to the touch), it will ruin a water softener within a year or so, clogging it up so that it's ineffective. He said that the water softener probably did a pretty good job for the first year, and then declined in usefulness to the point of simply being a pass-through within a year or so after that.

He also mentioned that the water softening wouldn't really help get rid of other minerals and contaminants that might be in the water, nor eliminate bacteria and other undesirable biological agents in the water. This is important not just because you don't necessarily want to be drinking said things, but also because the same hard water stains you see in the sink basin will also be building up inside the pipes.

This is obviously bad for a house that depends so much on the plumbing (via the radiant heating system). What we're having installed is a chlorinator/de-chlorinator that will kill the various biological agents (including the iron bacteria), then take the chlorine out of the water (it's a carcinogen that you don't want to be drinking). Then it goes through a house-wide hybrid carbon filter to remove sulfur, and other various smells, then to a water conditioner, and then and only then into the water softener.

Doing the set up that way ensures that the water softener will not get clogged to the point of simply being a pass-through that does nothing, because the water has been purified of biological and mineral agents. Then we're having a reverse-osmosis system installed for the drinking water from the kitchen and for the fridge.

Basically the water comes in from the well, goes into a pressure bladder tank, then from there into a big 120 gallon distiller that a second tank mixes water/chlorine (5:1) into, so the actual amount of chlorine is orders of magnitude less than 5:1. It's just regular old chlorine bleach.

Then the chlorinated water sits in a big 120 gallon distiller tank. From there, it goes through a hybrid dechlorinator/carbon filter, then into a water softener, then to the rest of the house.

For the kitchen, it goes to a reverse osmosis filter for drinking water and water for the fridge.

 

[Charley]

I read this book by John Stossel about myths, don't remember the name of the book but I found this article by him which is also in the book. Check it out.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=728070&page=1

-Charley

 

[moki]

I read this book by John Stossel about myths, don't remember the name of the book but I found this article by him which is also in the book. Check it out.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=728070&page=1

This is true, but if you have well water, in many areas, softening and purification systems are really a must. Hard water got its name because it is hard to do things with, like wash clothes, wash your hair, etc., not to mention the mineral deposits on fixtures and in your plumbing.

All depends on what problem you're trying to solve.

 

[LSUSEEGAR]

John Stossel nailed it. Marketing BS. The bottled water craze is misplaced at best. I work with municipal drinking water everyday, and believe me the things you can see and smell in water won't hurt you, it's the stuff you can't see that does.

Chlorine is an essential and proven disenfectant, and by itself is not cancer causing. It is presumed by the EPA that waters high in organic matter that has been chlorinated is cancer causing, but at such a low rate than is logical to stop using chlorine. The benefits far, far outweigh the drawbacks. Believe me the EPA errs on the side of extreme caution in these cases. It doesn't even have to be proved in real life, if they see a theoretical possibility that something is possible they make the municipialities spend the money to fix it. I'll take lottery winning odds for getting cancer over cholera, thyphoid and all other nasties that live in un-chlorinated water.

Cosmetic issues such as, iron and hardness are of much less concern than proper disinfection. It does suck though, and I feel your and my customers pain when I have to deal with it. Drinking ultra pure water probably strips nutirents out of your body, even notice why Dasani says on the back that it is "enhanced with minerals" There is a good reason for that.


I'll spend my bottled water money on cigars and scotch, thank you very much. :laugh:

If I was to do anything I would install a carbon filter. It will adsorb some of the taste and odors and remove Cl2. Make damn sure you change it though, otherwise you will have an online bacteria incubator that is connected to your water supply.



Rant off.

 

[Marcos]

I have to be honest when I say that microbes scare me the least. I am fairly confident that bacteria etc will not be in my glass of tap water. What scares me is all the other chemicals that might be in there. Maybe I should re-phrase my question and ask, "How do I obtain the safest water for consumption while in my home?"