Pls help to choose the best Reverse Osmosis System !

yelenatulip

15 years ago

Pls help to choose the best Reverse Osmosis System to use under the sink

thanks!!! need to buy "yesterday"

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Comments (9)

debs3
15 years ago
After doing some internet research and calling the NSF we chose Multi-Pure RO. After talking with a couple of people from Multi-Pure we decided that the standard Multi-Pure filter model FM750SB was all we needed right now. We installed it under the sink and also ran a line to the refrigerator's ice maker. The water tastes much better and we are happy with our choice. We can always add the RO portion to the filter we have now if we choose to. www.multipureco.com
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ilovedobies
15 years ago
Last year we researched two other companies and decided to go with Kinetico R/O system. We also ran a line to our sub zero fridge for water and ice. I'm very happy with our water and the softener.
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A carbon block filter will make your water taste and smell better, but it will not help your TDS problem. My water has a similar TDS, and my RO system gets it down to 12-15. I bought a system from Airwaterice.com for $200 several years ago. It has 3 filters (10,5, and 1 micron) in front of the RO membrane. The line coming out from the membrane is split. One line goes to a 35 gallon rubbermaid garbage can which I use to store water for the orchids. The other line goes to a carbon block filter and then to a 2 gallon pressurize tank which we use for drinking water. The garbage can has a float valve (also available from above web site) which cuts off the water when it is full. The RO system has an automatic shut off valve as well. Ongoing costs are approx $20 each year to replace all the filters. The RO membrane should be good for several years as long as you replace the filters regularly. Mine is almost 3 years old and still delivering good performance (as measured by TDS). Replacement RO membranes cost $39. RO water is not really acidic, it is very near pH 7, but since it has no salts there is no buffering capacity and adding fertilizer drops the pH precipitously. I use MSU formula for RO water and add Pro-Tekt to raise the pH to near 7. The question is, how much water do you need each week? I use approx 70 gallons per week so it is well worth it.
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As someone well steeped in a medical and science background, I can't really recommend an ionized water system over RO. No offense. Of course all unstudied things remain a mystery, but sometimes there are reasons we don't study things, because they don't make a lot of sense. Water is an extraordinarily weak buffer. You can sway its pH by electrolysis, but upon contact with any small amount of acid or base, it will quickly lose whatever pH it has. Read, stomach acid vs ionized water... stomach acid wins. If your goal is better tasting water, then carbon may be fine. If you want to remove tasteless chemicals and toxins, maybe RO is for you. The claim that there are 80,000 chemicals and toxins in the water supply at one time or another is sort of like claiming that every once in a while somebody gets hit by a bus, or struck by lighting. Yes, they are very real things, like chemicals in water, that may cause harm. But living your life in fear of such things can make people do extreme things, and waste a lot of money. You are not going to stay in your house, and avoid all roads to avoid lighting and buses, nor should every house install an RO system "to be safe." If your city has a bad track record for maintaining its water, you live near a clearly unregulated pesticide production facility, or you live on a farm with a well that has fluctuating water quality, it may be that an RO system is for you for "safety reasons." I still maintain an RO system is for us water snobs that not only want better tasting water, but clear ice, clear tea, and better water for our plants and high maintenance fish....
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nms21...while you're at it you should get the 50 gal water heater. At 3000 SF, I assume you have 4 Bedrooms..some day if you sell the 50 gal might be attractive. I sure do prefer having the extra in my house on those days we all want showers around the same time. I doubt it could be much extra $. My quotes were from Hutchinson, P R Sanders,Bovio and Monday is Black HOrse Pike Plumbing and Heating. I sent BHP plumbing and heating one of the quotes from one of the first two, but I took out all the prices and names. I would like to see what a smaller outfit prices for the same equip. They all have A+ bbb ratings. I got them off the njcleanenergy website and all have done a good amount of jobs under the program. One of them quoted me 13244 after all rebates for the Carrier Infinity 98 gas furnace and infinity 17 2-stage air eligible for the 1100 rebate. That was with a 50 gal direct vent hot water heater and attic sealing. I just don't think I need that hvac. Sounds like a "cadillac" system..I hope he emails me back with something more reasonable. When he was here I thought his would be one of the lower prices....but his quote is for different stuff!
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Comments (2)
Agree with justalurker....adding a few things from my own experience.......... Most RO systems use air-pressure holding tank. When empty, those tanks are typically pre-pressurized at about 8psi. When full (about 2.5 gallons) they are pressurized at about 30psi. Your output volume at the dedicated tap will be governed by that pressure. My flow-rate with my previously-owned air-tank system was about .6gpm when full dropping to about 1/2 of that as the tank pressure dropped off. I've seen similar flow rates with neighbors' systems. This flow-rate is partially governed by line-size and valve-size being used. Refilling from empty against increasing pressure takes more time and wastes more water also. That's not bad, it's just the way things are. Some are better than others but they all do the same thing the same way. There are more systems becoming available that are designed to refill without back-pressure. They refill faster and waste less. Worth paying attention to in terms of day-to-day convenience, IMHO. FWIW.....I currently have Kinetico K5W which is pretty much at the highest-end of the home systems. The advantages of this system are 1) flow rate at the spigot is at household line pressure. At my 60-65psi line pressure, I get about 1.2gpm flow rate that stays level from full to empty. 2) Tank refills from empty (2.7 gallons) in about 50 minutes which is about 3x faster than previous air-tank model. 3) Tank refills with no back-pressure resulting in minimal waste as well as faster refill. These advantages are very worthwhile, IMHO, but they also come at a premium price. And, as justalurker said, I'm married to Kinetico. On the other hand, between softeners and RO's, I've now been with them for 19 years and their product and service performance has been exemplary. That performance and reliability I consider to have been worth the premium I paid. (I have no relationship with Kinetico other than as a retail customer.)
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yelenatulip
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks debs3 and ilovedobies!!!!!!can you pls advise model# & price for your system. Where did you buy -locally or online? Does unit go with faucet? does it need electricity? do you have another unit to soften water before treating ?

thanks for your help!
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slc2053
15 years ago
We too, if we go with an RO (may just drink bottled water in our "vacation" cabin) we will go with Kinetico. We're going with their water softening system, but just haven't decided whether or not to go with an RO. Don't know a model number, just know we prefer their systems. Good Luck.
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Buehl
15 years ago
Do you have high nitrates or nitrites? Is that why you're looking at RO systems? I've read that they waste a lot of water and that the water is acidic enough to cause problems w/plumbing. From my research, though, if you have high nitrates or nitrites an RO system is the only one that will take them out; regular water filters will not touch them.

We're also considering a system as our water is on the high end of normal for both nitrates & nitrites. We were told that children under 12 months and pregnant or nursing mothers should not drink the water....scary huh?!

I have to be honest though...I haven't had much luck with recommendations here or on the Appliances Forum...I think it's b/c most people don't know enough about them to comment/recommend.

Here's hoping you get a better response!

Here is a link that might be useful: Appliances Forum
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alku05
15 years ago
You can get a zero waste RO system to avoid the wasted water issue.
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astridh
15 years ago
I don't have any advice about the best RO system, but I wanted to share something that I learned when we put ours in (Culligan). RO filters require a special faucet with AIR GAP if you want to put in an instant hot using the filtered water. Some faucets (Everpure and others) sell a separate little air gap piece that installs between the base of the faucet and the counter top.
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ilovedobies
15 years ago
Hi Yelenatulip

I live in Ontaio and we purchased our system from Kinetico. This lady came to our home and explained everything to us. The R/O system is under my sink and they gave us a faucet. Our water softener is in the basement their twin tanks. Its powered by the kinetic energy of moving water instead of using electricity. We have a sprinkler system and we didnt want soft water going to the lines. Their people knew what to do to solve this problem. The other two companies were useless. Our system was quite expensive but I just love it especially the soft water. Go to their website all the information is there for you.
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kaseki
15 years ago
There are several ways that an RO system can be configured, so some of the generalizations above are not truly general.

One can simply feed water to an RO membrane (after prefiltering out junk and chlorine with a carbon filter) and send the RO output to a faucet and the waste (brine) to a drain. This is the minimal configuration.

The next level of complexity would add a pressure tank to the RO side. This will store RO water, improving flow when needed, but the RO efficiency will drop as the back pressure on the membrane increases.

An elaboration that I use, primarily with parts I've purchased from SpectraPure, makes use of a peristaltic pump driven by the waste water. This pump re-establishes the RO water pressure to the tank while effectively lowering it to near zero on the membrane side for efficient filter operation. The pump doesn't use electricity directly, but low-voltage is used by the pressure sensor control of the valve that allows water to the membrane.

My house water at this writing is 96 psi and my RO water is at 64 psi. The RO water is plumbed to various places in the house. The RO membranes don't really like 96 psi, so a mechanical pressure limiter is used to set the input at the filters to around 60 psi.

Even more elaborate systems can be engineered recirculating the brine and thereby maximizing extraction efficiency.

kas

Here is a link that might be useful: Spectrapure
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Pls help to choose the best Reverse Osmosis System !

Comments (9)

debs3

ilovedobies

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yelenatulip
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slc2053

Buehl

alku05

astridh

ilovedobies

kaseki

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Pls help to choose the best Reverse Osmosis System !

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yelenatulipOriginal Author

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yelenatulip
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