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....

My god, there's so much nonsense in this thread I don't know where to begin. (qualification: major in biology, minor in chemistry at top 50 ranked US university) There is: HARDNESS as used in the WATER TREATMENT FIELD, which means presence of (non-precipitable) alkaline earth metal cations (Ca, Mg, mainly) - these cause soap scum and can make skin seem dry to some people There is Total Dissolved Solids: which is the sum of all dissolved ions and organic molecules, whether ionized or stable colloids suspended in the water (like milk) Of course there are degrees of softness and hardness! Arguably there are 2 types of softness: water that has gone through a softener has the same overall TDS, but the water "feels" softer and doesn't cause limescale in a washing machine because the Calcium & Magnesium were replaced by Na or K (sodium or potassium) which do not form scale so easily and do not form soap scum at all. Then there's water that has gone through an RO unit and literally had most of the TDS of any type removed. This water is also soft and handles very similarly to resin-softened water. "Any RO, regardless of brand, will become unhappy if it is fed water with any hardness because hardness can not be filtered out by the pre filters of the RO and will foul the membrane." this isn't true at all - modern RO membranes do just fine with moderately hard (i.e., containing reasonable amounts of Calcium and Magnesium) water. I ran one for years on a municipal water supply that definitely left soap scum in the shower and measured over 200ppm of TDS, much of which was Ca according to their quality reports. Yes, if you want the membrane to last longer, it would be better to feed it softened water...i.e., Ca/Mg replaced with Na/K. But the membranes aren't very expensive compared to the cost of buying the amount of pure water they can produce...a $40 membrane will easily produce at least 800 gallons of water, which at the going rate of distilled water would be almost $800. I think I've gotten at least 2000 out of mine before I replaced them - that has taken me 3-5 years, and then only under a presumption they would fail soon. "What baffles me is why the filters would get clogged with such a soft input water." Yes, even if they were really junky filters, it doesn't make sense. But the softness is only part of the picture, if you had large (relatively) particles of some kinds of dirt in the water, they might not contribute to TDS depending on the way it was measured. Is it possible you had a leak in the supply line to your house or the muni. water had a leak at some point that let a lot of particulates in? I had a leak a few years ago in my line from the street and it clogged up my pre-filter, but not quite that quickly. The funny thing is many people insist softened water leaves their skin "smoother" because there's no "soap scum" on it, but this is usually just because the detergent, bodywash, or soap they used is not completely removed. In contrast, the combinations of cations AND anions in hard water both push more of the organic molecules off, and convert some of the remaining to a harder precipitate. Frankly, I can't stand the feeling of being in a place with really soft water like the Gulf Coast, that leaves my skin all slimy after a shower. Just a question of what you grew up with, I suppose. This can be seen quite easily by further rinsing the skin with a weak acid dissolved in deionized water. This will truly push the detergent molecules off and give you an impression of what your skin really feels like with nothing on it but pure H20. Glass has a similar way of holding charged organic ions which is why all scientific laboratories give their glassware a final acid rinse. I know, I used to work in one. "Also, if you used a saddle valve for the water supply to the RO that should be eliminated as they are MASSIVE water leaks waiting to happen." I do agree with this. I believe all of these start leaking sooner or later. I've been happy with John Guest part ASVPP2, which, in the ultimate irony of ridiculous stupid regulatory obstruction, is not permitted on drinking water systems because it isn't certified lead free, even though the absolutely minute amount of lead it might release over 20 year would be filtered out by...you guessed it...the reverse osmosis membrane. There's surely more lead in 75% of US municipal water supplies on a per unit faucet basis than will ever be released by such a miniscule piece of brass. BTW all this "alkalinize for health" stuff cracks me up. If you drink any municipal water, you're drinking water with a ph of 8 or above. They make it that way so that it won't dissolve pipes. Then look at all the supplemental calcium added to various foods. I really don't think there's a need to add even more to your water. In that case, why not just drink your municipal water which already has some calcium after passing it through a much cheaper carbon or KDF filter to get the chlorine flavor banished? Part of the whole reason SOME coffee & tea purists, for example, use RO water is because they believe the calcium ions interfere with the brewing process. It's like, what the %#^@ is the point of an RO unit that then turns around and makes the water non-RO? Is the Calcium they add FCC/USP grade? There's a lot of cheap raw ingredients coming from China that are contaminated with heavy metals! This post was edited by davidrt28 on Thu, Jan 16, 14 at 16:09

Sorry about not giving more info. I've only changed the filter 3 times since I've had it... I never got an owners manual with it and knew nothing about RO systems. I was under the impression they basically self cleaned, and I just changed the filters when I felt they were needed, even before the light changed. My system has a button on the faucet that lights green ... I was told by the builder, as long as the light was green, I was good.. Still I just changed the filter every few years... I bought the filters by visiting the plumber that did the install on all the homes in my neighborhood.. And the the cost was always around $175... Because of the cost of the filters, in the past and what I saw on Amazon, I was figuring maybe I should just replace the whole thing for $200.. with ones that use cheaper filters.... With that said, I just looked under the sink and the system I have is a Puro-35T. Based on the sticker, it seems I've been replacing the membrane when I did the filter changes.... Do anyone think I should keep it and just make sure my tank's bladder is at the proper PSI or should I get a new RO system? BTW, if I keep this unit, I'd like a new faucet.. so anyone got a recommendation? Thanks!

I've got the full depth KA Architect II FD refrigerator. Lovely unit with beautiful interior. I recessed the space behind the wall to create a faux integrated look without losing the storage capacity. It has a triple drawer feature in the freezer that makes the freezer really useful. Take a look at the Bosch DW. I've had many through the years at various homes. Never a moments trouble. I've had them at all price points. I can recommend them. Your ventilation will be a little more problematic. You absolutely install proper ventilation to the outside. You should get rid of that microwave above the stove. You should not vent into the porch. That's a code issue. It must vent above the porch. You should talk to someone about it before you make any decisions. This way you can plan for ventilation. It's better to install your warming drawer close to the surface where you plate the food. This may not be the stove top. I suggest you consider nearby cabinets, too. The kitchen forum can help you with placement.