[Player99]

I am going to get an under the sink reverse osmosis system. There seems to be a number of brands, features and claims. The cost and availability of replacement filters and the membrane seems to be a big factor.

Has anyone here bought one or have any recommendations?

Thanks

 

[jb welder]

3 stage pre-filter, high quality membrane, polishing filter. Skip the de-ionizer and remineralizer stages. The DI resin can smell fishy when new and is messy to re-fill. Then you end up needing to replace the minerals you just took out. Dow Filmtec membranes are good quality.
You need good water pressure, at least 50psi constant. Otherwise it takes way too long to fill your tank.
You are supposed to set it up so you keep only 1/3 of the water you filter, the other 2/3 goes down the drain, so that can be a factor where water is not cheap.
Cheap filter housings will crack and leak.

 

[Chitmo]

Ummm, why? Is your tap water coming out of the Atlantic ocean?

 

[vadsy]

Ummm, why? Is your tap water coming out of the Atlantic ocean?

 

[GuitarT]

If you're on a municipal system then a good carbon filter is likely all you need.

 

[Player99]

3 stage pre-filter, high quality membrane, polishing filter. Skip the de-ionizer and remineralizer stages. The DI resin can smell fishy when new and is messy to re-fill. Then you end up needing to replace the minerals you just took out. Dow Filmtec membranes are good quality.
You need good water pressure, at least 50psi constant. Otherwise it takes way too long to fill your tank.
You are supposed to set it up so you keep only 1/3 of the water you filter, the other 2/3 goes down the drain, so that can be a factor where water is not cheap.
Cheap filter housings will crack and leak.

Thanks. I am on a well with high minerals and maybe some tannin. I was told calcium, salt and iron. I was going to remove the remineralizing filter and maybe put an extra filter in there instead if they fit.

Do you have a brand name I could research? Do the different units take some of the same filter brands? Are the filters standardized?

 

[jb welder]

Filters are fairly standardized. Most of the upper stuff too as they use the same plastic pipes, just sometimes different size threads for the elbows but those are very cheap.
Do you have a softener? If not, I would try to get the iron out before the RO system.
There's lots of companies out there that come and go so I prefer local and long-standing if possible. Here we have Waterite, in Ont. you probably have several, Envirogard (Rainfresh) is one.

 

[Player99]

Filters are fairly standardized. Most of the upper stuff too as they use the same plastic pipes, just sometimes different size threads for the elbows but those are very cheap.
Do you have a softener? If not, I would try to get the iron out before the RO system.
There's lots of companies out there that come and go so I prefer local and long-standing if possible. Here we have Waterite, in Ont. you probably have several, Envirogard (Rainfresh) is one.

There is Culligan, but they charge the hell out of everything.

There is another water guy, but he wants $525 for a unit that sells on Amazon for $329. Both prices I am installing.

I also question the quality of the filters being sold. Home Hardware sells filters for $6 each, some others are selling filters for $100 each...

As far as iron goes, I cannot put in a whole house unit, so I will have to go with the best RO unit feasible.

 

[Judas68fr]

Why would you want a reverse osmosis purification system? Tap water is heavily monitored, and of pretty good quality. Bottled water (Nestlé Purelife etc...) is basically bottled tap water.

 

[vadsy]

Why would you want a reverse osmosis purification system? Tap water is heavily monitored, and of pretty good quality. Bottled water (Nestlé Purelife etc...) is basically bottled tap water.

I am on a well with high minerals and maybe some tannin

 

[LanceT]

You need room under your sink for the tank and filters. Plus you need a spot for the RO faucet at your sink.
Filters are cheap, it’s the membrane that can be expensive and a yearly replacement generally.
We only have a localized system at our kitchen sink and use the RO water for cooking and making coffee, etc.

 

[knight_yyz]

Are you wanting RO because you think it is healthier? Drinking RO water all day is actually bad for you. It leaches the chemicals and minerals from your body because that is what water does. If it has nothing in it and it comes into contact with stuff it can absorb, it will absorb it until it becomes saturated. Mineral deficiency is common if you drink nothing but. I bought a countertop purifier with hot and cold taps on it. It came with an R/o unit and a filter unit. I dsconnected the RO portion and just run the 4 filters. My unit is a Global Water model G4CT

 

[Player99]

Are you wanting RO because you think it is healthier? Drinking RO water all day is actually bad for you. It leaches the chemicals and minerals from your body because that is what water does. If it has nothing in it and it comes into contact with stuff it can absorb, it will absorb it until it becomes saturated. Mineral deficiency is common if you drink nothing but. I bought a countertop purifier with hot and cold taps on it. It came with an R/o unit and a filter unit. I dsconnected the RO portion and just run the 4 filters. My unit is a Global Water model G4CT

Not so much drinking water for me as for my 2 dogs. Plus I need to run a couple of humidifiers. I need to strip out the minerals for the humidifiers.

 

[Player99]

Are you wanting RO because you think it is healthier? Drinking RO water all day is actually bad for you. It leaches the chemicals and minerals from your body because that is what water does. If it has nothing in it and it comes into contact with stuff it can absorb, it will absorb it until it becomes saturated. Mineral deficiency is common if you drink nothing but. I bought a countertop purifier with hot and cold taps on it. It came with an R/o unit and a filter unit. I dsconnected the RO portion and just run the 4 filters. My unit is a Global Water model G4CT

That looks like a nice unit.

I have narrowed it down to this unit from iSpring. It has 2 things that are not usually supplied. A UV sterilizer to kill any bugs, and a pump to get the water pressure up. The pump will cut waste water in half, really speed up the fill time plus boost the tap pressure. They have many versions, this one having all the filter options. They are priced at $515 CAD as the best price I could find. The company seems to work at good customer service and they answer the phone etc. It has 7 stages, plus the UV and pump. The stage under the chrome UV sterilizer is a remineralizing filter that puts trace minerals back in for tastier and supposedly healthier water. I will add a couple of Y adapters with flow routing to include or bypass this stage.

 

[jb welder]

The pump will help a lot. Without a pump, the membrane on the one unit I maintained could only deliver about 10gal/day, even though it was rated for 100gpd. It took a long time to fill the 3 gal. tank and a long time to fill a jug of water too. I don't really understand how it cuts waste water though. Maybe less membrane rinse water required, which goes down the drain.
Looks like a good system, and they have omitted the troublesome DI stage that is usually not required anyway (unless you are the fish in the aquarium ).

 

[Player99]

The pump will help a lot. Without a pump, the membrane on the one unit I maintained could only deliver about 10gal/day, even though it was rated for 100gpd. It took a long time to fill the 3 gal. tank and a long time to fill a jug of water too. I don't really understand how it cuts waste water though. Maybe less membrane rinse water required, which goes down the drain.
Looks like a good system, and they have omitted the troublesome DI stage that is usually not required anyway (unless you are the fish in the aquarium ).

What is the DI stage?

The reason there is less waste water is:

 

[jb welder]

Thanks, that makes sense. Lower drain to pure ratio, which is probably because of less membrane rinsing needed at higher pressure.
DI is deionization. It's supposed to get rid of TDS (total dissolved solids), but that is what your membrane is doing anyway. Supposedly more critical for aquarium usage, but some RO systems for drinking water do have a DI stage. It can make the water smell, that's why I think you're better off without it.

 

[Player99]

I installed the unit yesterday. It seems to work fine. A larger tank would be nice, but for now this is great to have.