Jenny, Any update on what you ended up doing? I installed a whole house softener for hard water issues, but I have odor issues (sulfur and chlorine mostly). I'm leaning toward adding a charcoal filter before the softener. We also have RO in the kitchen and wet bars. Also, you could always just have another hole drilled for the RO faucet without replacing the granite slab. If you have an undermounted sink, the new hole is all you need. What did you end up doing?

Here is the site of the system that you presently have. http://www.lifesourcewater.com/about-lifesource/ For a point of reference, you used the words 'purifier' and 'purfied'. Let's take a look at that: "PURE" used in water treatment is a marketing tool not a technical description. It is used to catch the eyes and ears of the consumer to incite purchase and a false sense of accomplishment. Pure H20 is practically impossible, even in laboratory conditions, to exist on this planet. If it is ever acheived, it will last that way but for the briefest moment only. Don't be misled by marketing tools. Secondly you made the statement:...it is not an RO but rather a water purifier." Well, an RO can far better 'purify' the water than the Lifesource ever can. Hands down, no comparison. The membrane technology removes dissolved solids to slightly larger than the molecule of H20. This is an incredible, albeit, common water treatment. Your statement that you are seeing stains, calcium build up and other evendence of water damage, is testimony that the Lifesource, is no way making your water 'pure'. Would adding a softener to the already installed Lifesource work? Well, that depends. Are you on city or well water? The Lifesource will act as a prefilter to the softener and can be recommended for city water applications but on most well water sources, it may be unnecessary. I would seriously considering learning more about ROs and other factors in water treatment. Just go ahead and ask and someone will get bak with you. Please excuse my wanting to make purifyingly clear a few terms as this is cause for many disappointed consumers. Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Milo, It's good to start your own thread instead of hijacking someone else's. I disagree quite a bit with Delray, I can't tell exactly what's going on with that particular unit but you don't want to mix media in your unit - in other words, you don't want carbon media in the same tank as the resin for the softener. You want those to be two different units. Different media have different backwashing requirements and lifespans. If you want a water softener, buy a decent water softener with an industry standard control valve (Clack or Fleck). If you want a carbon filter, decide if you need a simple cartridge type filter for drinking water (what I recommend) or a backwashing whole house filter. If you have a specific contaminate that can only be removed with reverse osmosis then get a separate unit to do that - usually only for drinking water. Whole house R/O is crazy expensive to buy, operate and maintain and is over-kill for virtually everything unless you need to remove a specific contaminate for drinking water. Most people don't need an R/O filter - even for drinking water. Keep in mind that R/O water is aggressive to metal plumbing unless minerals are added back in. I also disagree with: "whole house water filtering has to be fairly robust to last - that is why they are expensive. Kinteco (and others) make water filtering for restaurants, mfg plants etc and that is expensive since those businesses can't afford any breakdowns..." This is pretty bogus. We are talking about residential water treatment - not commercial treatment. A good quality residential water softener is about $600 online with an industry standard Fleck valve and no smoke and mirrors. That's the cost of the unit. Doesn't include installation and maintenance. A backwashing carbon unit with 1.5 cf of GAC is $500-600, again with a Fleck valve. A cartridge unit for drinking water will cost about $100 + $30 a year for the cartridge.

What needs to be treated in the water? Without seeing your water analysis, you won't get meaningful answers here. If you choose to list the problem aspects of the water do note if it's municipal or well water and where you live. A whole house system is generally installed to treat systemic issues like pH, hardness, high iron, etc. These would usually have media filled tanks that automatically regenerate and are serviced annually (maybe more often) to replace minerals and examine components. Under sink systems are usually for just drinking water. RO wastes a LOT of water for each gallon produced and is not done 'whole house'. If your incoming water is pretty bad and you don't have significant pre-filtration, your RO membrane will be really taxed. I have the iSpring PH100 RO system which claims the lowest waste water without using a permeate pump. It was a DIY. Filters are reasonably priced and it has a remineralization filter for taste. Also have a whole house neutralizer to address low pH.