Reverse Osmosis System

[flycy]

Gotcha. Certainly more fun than calling it practical.

Back on topic, what is the remineralizing? Is there an additive, or does it simply reintroduce a small portion of the filtrate?

Reverse Osmosis water is sometimes referred to as dead water. Your body obviously needs and uses minerals, when you put pure water in your body it leaches minerals from your body. You just need to add a trace amount of minerals. Those I know do it with drops they add to their drinking water. I'm sure someone has a system if you want to pay for it.

 

[clones_jer]

Gotcha. Certainly more fun than calling it practical.

Back on topic, what is the remineralizing? Is there an additive, or does it simply reintroduce a small portion of the filtrate?

The Cloud system has a separate cartridge for remineralizing, so I assume it's an additive, though the engineer in me is intrigued by the reintroduction of filtrate idea. Like others have said, RO uses as much or more "waste water" than finished product. I believe Cloud is 1:1 and they're claiming that's a fantastic ratio ... doesn't seem that impressive.

 

[danvillecyclone]

Some of your responses in this thread have been some of the most bizarre I have ever seen. You very much seem oddly worked up here. Kudos!

As for RO, we are exploring options for our fridge only, as our sole focus would be drinking water/ice. We won't be considering whole home. We are absolutely fine with whatever exposure to chlorine is happening from showers.

Good luck with that!

 

[DJSteve]

We are on well water, which is an old (shallow) well with a concrete top that isn't sealed watertight. No one has ever gotten sick drinking the water unfiltered, but my understanding is that shallow wells basically always have some level of bacteria, in addition nitrates, neonics, etc since we're in Iowa. When we started living at farm full time a couple years ago I put in an iSpring RO system ordered from Amazon, and added a UV stage (to try to make sure no bacteria set up shop on the RO membrane). Filter rack is attached to the wall in the basement below our kitchen sink on 1st floor, tank on the basement floor. We just have one secondary faucet at the kitchen sink currently but figured on running a line to fridge whenever we upgrade. We use it for most drinking/cooking and it's worked out fine, though it is noticeably slower than a regular faucet (may be less of an issue on city water with higher pressure). Partly I bought the setup I did because it uses standard size filter housings (so relatively inexpensive consumables), and larger filter elements than a lot of other options. Seemed like a lot of the small RO setups sold at Menards and such used proprietary filters that would contribute to higher ongoing operation costs.

I bought a cheap TDS meter (total dissolved solids) to verify performance and it seems like it filters pretty well. First stage filter has a translucent housing so you can see if it's getting dirty; I think they recommend you change some stuff every 6 months but I went about 1.5 years before the first change. Sort of aiming for annual henceforth.

I probably should look into adding a remineralization stage on the output side... so far mostly just keep some gatorade/propel powder around and make sure to mix some in when doing physical activity / sweating a lot.

 

[ajspatio19]

Gotcha. Certainly more fun than calling it practical.

Back on topic, what is the remineralizing? Is there an additive, or does it simply reintroduce a small portion of the filtrate?

From my understanding, some systems have a remineralizing filter as the last stage in the treatment process that introduces important minerals back into the filtered water. It isn't reusing the filtrate.

 

[HOTDON]

The Cloud system has a separate cartridge for reminderalizing, so I assume it's an additive, though the engineer in me is intrigued by the reintroduction of filtrate idea. Like others have said, RO uses as much or more "waste water" than finished product. I believe Cloud is 1:1 and they're claiming that's a fantastic ratio ... doesn't seem that impressive.

The industrial RO system we quoted at work was 3:1 or 4:1, although it was very high volume and not for drinking.

At home we get by on well water with an iron filter and a softener. We've considered an RO for the refrigerator line.

 

[BigTurk]

Thanks for the thread. I am considering something for my house. Honestly, I am really worried about nitrates in the water (never thought about chlorine exposure) and Iowa's rising cancer rates and the fact that cancer runs in my family. I am thinking putting in a system has gotta help some, right? I don't know what system to use in this case. The salesman from Golden Rule will try and sell me much more than I need so suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[KCCLONE712]

Don’t shower and can’t read.

You’re a keeper!

Comments and people like this are why I come to CF less and less.

 

[VeloClone]

If you are getting one of these systems, remember that they generally remove ~90% of flouride from your water as well. Some people like that, but as I have a dentist in the family I am regaled on the difference in the average person's teeth in the flourinated vs. non-flourinated water systems in his area. The short story is that despite whatever side effects we may hear about (both true and not true), flouride is quite effective in passively reducing tooth decay.

 

[ElephantPie]

If you are getting one of these systems, remember that they generally remove ~90% of flouride from your water as well. Some people like that, but as I have a dentist in the family I am regaled on the difference in the average person's teeth in the flourinated vs. non-flourinated water systems in his area. The short story is that despite whatever side effects we may hear about (both true and not true), flouride is quite effective in passively reducing tooth decay.

Can you ask your family member if I use toothpaste with fluoride in it twice a day, would there be a significant impact by drinking RO water at my house?

 

[VeloClone]

Can you ask your family member if I use toothpaste with fluoride in it twice a day, would there be a significant impact by drinking RO water at my house?

Not trying to start a fight, just want to make sure people reading this thread are considering the flouride implications as well.

The benefits of flouridated water have lessened with the wide spread use of flouride toothpaste, but they are not generally considered eliminated, especially for young children.

 

[larry]

We've got a kdf filter under the sink with its own faucet. Change the filter every 3 years, 2 people in the house. Been using the same system for 30 years.

 

[JEFF420]

anyone dealing with sulfur smell?

 

[RedBlooded]

I have an alkaline filter inline after my ro system. It gives my water a spring water taste.

 

[WoodCy]

I sell ultrapure water systems for a living. I do industrial scale size systems for hospitals, pharma, food and beverage, manufacturing, etc. Some of you have good information. Some of you are completely wrong.

Water softeners take hardness, Calcium and Magnesium plus a little iron, out of the water. This not by a chemical process. It is by ion exchange. Your softener resin tank has a bunch of really small resin beads in it. Those beads will attract the Calcium and Magnesium to them. Base on the hardness of your water and your usage, you set the unit to regenerate every so often. During regeneration your resin is flushed with salt brine. Salt is NaCl, Sodium Chloride. The bond between the Chloride and the hardness is stronger than the bond with the Sodium. The hardness goes down the drain during the regeneration and the Sodium sticks to the resin. Once the unit goes back into service, the hard water passes over the resin. The hardness trades places with the Sodium ions and the sodium goes into the water stream. That is why soft water tastes funny.

A carbon filter removes Chlorine through the process of adsorption. You need to have a large enough carbon filter based on your rate of flow (gallons per minute) to allow enough time for the carbon to adsorb the Chlorine.

A water softener and carbon are required for an RO (Reverse Osmosis). The hardness in water will plug your membranes. Again, the carbon removes Chlorine, an oxidizer. Failing to do so will cause your RO membranes to degrade at a rapid pace.

RO machines take out 96% - 99% of all ions in the water. They are what is used to remove Nitrates. If you have Copper pipes, a whole house RO is not a good idea. The water is so clean it will begin to scavenge ions from any source possible, primarily your pipes, ruining them over time. PEX or poly tubing with plastic fittings is preferred.

Remember, RO water does not have any Chlorine in it so you can start to get bio-growth in stagnant water.

 

[Papajets]

I sell ultrapure water systems for a living. I do industrial scale size systems for hospitals, pharma, food and beverage, manufacturing, etc. Some of you have good information. Some of you are completely wrong.

Water softeners take hardness, Calcium and Magnesium plus a little iron, out of the water. This not by a chemical process. It is by ion exchange. Your softener resin tank has a bunch of really small resin beads in it. Those beads will attract the Calcium and Magnesium to them. Base on the hardness of your water and your usage, you set the unit to regenerate every so often. During regeneration your resin is flushed with salt brine. Salt is NaCl, Sodium Chloride. The bond between the Chloride and the hardness is stronger than the bond with the Sodium. The hardness goes down the drain during the regeneration and the Sodium sticks to the resin. Once the unit goes back into service, the hard water passes over the resin. The hardness trades places with the Sodium ions and the sodium goes into the water stream. That is why soft water tastes funny.

A carbon filter removes Chlorine through the process of adsorption. You need to have a large enough carbon filter based on your rate of flow (gallons per minute) to allow enough time for the carbon to adsorb the Chlorine.

A water softener and carbon are required for an RO (Reverse Osmosis). The hardness in water will plug your membranes. Again, the carbon removes Chlorine, an oxidizer. Failing to do so will cause your RO membranes to degrade at a rapid pace.

RO machines take out 96% - 99% of all ions in the water. They are what is used to remove Nitrates. If you have Copper pipes, a whole house RO is not a good idea. The water is so clean it will begin to scavenge ions from any source possible, primarily your pipes, ruining them over time. PEX or poly tubing with plastic fittings is preferred.

Remember, RO water does not have any Chlorine in it so you can start to get bio-growth in stagnant water.

That is a good post, very informative.

 

[herbicide]

A 10 minute shower is the equivalent of drinking 8 glasses of unfiltered water as far as chlorine bodily absorption.

So doing one without the other is only part of the solution.

I have not (could not) find anything definitive about chlorine absorbtion rates thru skin, nor could I find anything definitive on how harmful it is. Most of what I found indicated that the small amounts of chlorine that get absorbed isn't much beyond an irritant (not much info/evidence for long term effects besides dry skin)

I didn't look long so apologies if I missed something.

Google Scholar

scholar.google.com

 

[Cloned4Life]

Good luck with that!

Thank you, Dannie. Appreciate that.

 

[ElephantPie]

Not trying to start a fight, just want to make sure people reading this thread are considering the flouride implications as well.

The benefits of flouridated water have lessened with the wide spread use of flouride toothpaste, but they are not generally considered eliminated, especially for young children.

I was attempting a genuine question. I should have communicated it more clearly. Sorry!

 

[Tailg8er]

I have not (could not) find anything definitive about chlorine absorbtion rates thru skin, nor could I find anything definitive on how harmful it is. Most of what I found indicated that the small amounts of chlorine that get absorbed isn't much beyond an irritant (not much info/evidence for long term effects besides dry skin)

I didn't look long so apologies if I missed something.

Google Scholar

scholar.google.com

Hey, his RO system salesman guy told him it's deadly!

FTR, I did see the 'shower is equivalent to drinking 8 glasses' or whatever stat via AI when googling it, but I didn't really care to read anymore into it. I imagine that's at about 74,296th on my list of health concerns, personally.