Household RO Systems For Drinking Water

rookiemoosehunter · #1 05-19-2011, 09:01 AM

Has anyone installed a household RO system for there drinking water lately? I am refering to the one that can be mounted in the basemount or under the sink and usually comes with a small seperate tap at your kitchen sink. Some have a small holding tank and some are direct to the tap.

What did yours cost to install?

How often do you need to change your filters on it?

How much do the replacement filters Cost?

Any recomendations?

Thanks for any info.

Got Juice? · #2 05-19-2011, 10:04 AM

1. yes.

I would not go back to drinking 'tap water' again.

I went with the new Culligan RO system and it cost me 1200.00 installed for the 4 filter setup and polishing filter and booster pump.

I also went with an added aux tank

Membranes and filters cost me about 150.00 per year.

Beware the cheaper RO systems. Getting filters for the cheap ones after 5 years is a b!tch. and sometimes not even possible.

Pay more now and be happy, or pay less now and a lot more later.

I don't have any affiliation with Culligan, but a lot of experience using their products. And there is no substitute IMHO.

CaberTosser · #3 05-19-2011, 01:06 PM

RO is overkill, get a good activated carbon instead. I took a few day course from the local sales reps of a filter manufacturer (American Filters) and they note that anyone drinking the RO water should be taking vitamin supplements to replace the minerals that the RO water will leech from your body. Water is a solvent, and is always seeking something to absorb. If I have to pipe in water lines for RO distribution, I cannot have copper or brass pipe or fittings in the system, it must be 100% plastic or he water will be too corrosive to the system.

I consider RO to be another version of "the emperors new clothes". Water system salespeople and their scare tactics are contemptible.

burblecut · #4 05-19-2011, 01:22 PM

I installed a 5 stage RO system last year, mainly for my salt water fish tank, but I ended up hooking it to my fridge and sink also.

Personally I love it, the only thing I don't like about it is the amount of waste water it produces.

I spent 250 for the unit
75 for the storage tank
30 bucks in fittings

I change out my filters once a year, usually cost me 60bucks

The install is easy, but drilling through the sink is a pain in the butt.

I get my stuff from BWIPlumbing.com, they usually have some good deals.

rookiemoosehunter · #5 05-19-2011, 02:15 PM

Thanks for all the good info.

Question for you guys that have them: Do you just change out your filters yearly or is there any indicator to change them out?

CT,
I do agree that charcoal is a good filter medium but it is not the greatest choice for well water as you normally dont have alot of chlorine in your water to kill off the bacteria that will start to grow on the charcoal. These are fine in town were the plants add chlorine and regulate it. In alot of set ups on well water, a charcoal filter could actually make your water worse (bacteria).

By the way, the reason I want to install a RO system is my well has high sodium, which a charcoal filter will have no effect on as charcoal will not filter dilssoved solids.

Grizzly Adams · #6 05-19-2011, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

RO is overkill, get a good activated carbon instead. I took a few day course from the local sales reps of a filter manufacturer (American Filters) and they note that anyone drinking the RO water should be taking vitamin supplements to replace the minerals that the RO water will leech from your body. Water is a solvent, and is always seeking something to absorb. If I have to pipe in water lines for RO distribution, I cannot have copper or brass pipe or fittings in the system, it must be 100% plastic or he water will be too corrosive to the system.

I consider RO to be another version of "the emperors new clothes". Water system salespeople and their scare tactics are contemptible.

I was doing a job in Olds a couple of weeks ago, when one of these agents showed up. Very scary and hard sell, preying on gullible people. They were smart enough to give her the boot, but there was an item in the local paper, warning people about this outfit. Over 7 grand for the system.

Grizz

CaberTosser · #7 05-19-2011, 04:52 PM

RookieMooseHunter, I agree with the use of RO for rural well water, they get the difficult stuff out for those instances. Being a city boy I was referring to their use in town where the water supply is already pretty decent.

I ran central filtered water lines in our new place, and will be serving both fridges, an instant-hot water dispenser and a drinking water faucet from a central filter bak in my mechanical room. It's a unit like one would find serving A Tim Hortons or a fast food restaurant, cartridges will be easy to come by and cheaper than the specific one for certain model fridges for instance.

209x50 · #8 05-19-2011, 04:58 PM

Our well water is high in sodium and total dissolved solids. I installed an RO system from gtawater. I change the filers once a year, works great.

dodger · #9 05-19-2011, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rookiemoosehunter

Thanks for all the good info.

Question for you guys that have them: Do you just change out your filters yearly or is there any indicator to change them out?

CT,
I do agree that charcoal is a good filter medium but it is not the greatest choice for well water as you normally dont have alot of chlorine in your water to kill off the bacteria that will start to grow on the charcoal. These are fine in town were the plants add chlorine and regulate it. In alot of set ups on well water, a charcoal filter could actually make your water worse (bacteria).

By the way, the reason I want to install a RO system is my well has high sodium, which a charcoal filter will have no effect on as charcoal will not filter dilssoved solids.

We have had a R/O system we purchased at Trail Appliance 7 years ago. The filters are lasting a year for 3 of us. When the filters are done the water shuts down to a trickle. Replacement filters cost $175.00 and when changing them it's a 1.5 hour job due to flushing and sterilizing. The system is made by Kinetico. The family is happy with our water quality and Trail has several options from Kinetico for installation.

My $0.02 worth.

Dodger.

srp71 · #10 05-20-2011, 02:43 PM

Get an outfit like BigIron Drilling to come out and do a water test.Don`t commit to anything.Do some research after they leave.I bought my acreage just becuase of how good the water tasted,nice and soft to,but it has lots of iron in it.We installed a iron eater system and a RO system.I`m sure we payed to much but the war dept. said do it so...Besides the cost of the systems,it costs me about $250 a year for filters,clorine pills and the brine solution.

Grizzly Adams · #11 05-20-2011, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srp71

Get an outfit like BigIron Drilling to come out and do a water test.Don`t commit to anything.Do some research after they leave.I bought my acreage just becuase of how good the water tasted,nice and soft to,but it has lots of iron in it.We installed a iron eater system and a RO system.I`m sure we payed to much but the war dept. said do it so...Besides the cost of the systems,it costs me about $250 a year for filters,clorine pills and the brine solution.

Your local Public Health system will test it as well, free last time I checked, and they aren't motivated to sell you something you may not need.

Grizz