Reverse Osmosis

[Dr.Faustus]

I am thinking about installing a reverse osmosis system for our drinking water on our well. Our water straight from the well is absolutely horrific. we have it go through a chlorinator, then through a backwashing carbon filter to remove the chlorine and then through a softener and finally through a whole house filter.

that setup removes the nasty sulfur smells, the iron, etc but our wonderful water also has high levels of sodium which is very undesirable for us.
im sure it must have some other things RO would remove too... its disaster water but it didnt have any harmful bacteria in it - the chlorinator is there to help with the crazy high iron content.

any thoughts on a 5 stage RO system?
if you own one, how does the water taste? like bottled?
how often for filter replacements? particularly the membrane.
are you generally happy with it or regret the purchase?


i'm ok with the wastewater, i can pipe it to my sump pump and i know these things require a lot of pressure, but i have good pressure (40/70psi)

 

[Shari]

Our water is not nearly what yours is but when we moved here we had to install a water softener. I mandated that the kitchen cold water faucet NOT be hooked up to the softener. Softening adds sodium. Can you separate out at least your kitchen cold water away from the softener?

 

[Dr.Faustus]

i can but the softener helps with the iron that the chlorine and carbon filter couldnt oxidize out. so i'd be back to looking at filters again.

i have the option too of hooking up to town water, which i hear is no better than mine besides then i'd have to pay for my use. i wouldnt think twice about it if the town provided decent water. its so bad that when i moved in, my house had a hydronic water boiler (needed replacing anyway) that was so plugged up i switched it and ran duct to use forced hot air and eliminate the water component. the entire pipe system was plugged and so was the boiler. now i use pellets so thats not even an issue.

i think i'm gonna go with the reverse osmosis. its either that or get it delivered monthly from poland spring or something. i have to weigh the cost vs convienance of each. its prob cheaper with the RO filter. The house i moved out of had water that was *so* good i kicked my mt. dew habit. lol.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

oh and about the sodium... yes the softener adds some on top of an already high sodium level making it worse but even without it, its still unacceptable.

I live in a general area of NY called Salt Point. Many years ago this was a stopping point for livestock peddlers. they would stop a night, let their livestock lick the abundance of natural salt in the ground, bring them to the hudson river to drink and get bloated then continue on their way to the city to sell them.

the bloated animals would fetch much more money because they were paid by weight.


hows *that* for town history

 

[LLigetfa]

To get away from salt, we switched to potassium chloride. It does leave an odd taste and affects cooking though so we also have an RO filter for drinking and cooking. Make sure you get an RO with a booster pump if you have less than 60 PSI water pressure.

 

[soupy1957]

We have (fortunately, I suppose) really good water quality in our town. We drink right from the tap.

Many years ago, we tried a Reverse Osmosis system and found the price of the filters to be a bit much. Not to mention that these filtering systems strip out all the GOOD stuff, as well as the bad.

Obviously you have things to achieve, to optimize the quality of your water, so have at it.

-Soupy1957

 

[LLigetfa]

Good stuff? Water is a solvent and shouldn't be loaded with "stuff".

 

[wetwood]

We have a Premier brand 5 stage RO system for several years now. Taste is better than bottled water. I get the Whirlpool brand RO 3 filter cartridge replacement pack (1 Sediment filter and 2 Carbon Block filters) at Lowes for around $31. They are supposed to be replaced every 6 months but we have gone up to a year before replacing them. Then there is the RO membrane that should be replaced every 5 years. They can also be purchased at Lowes. The last one I bought was around $50. It produces 25 gallons of purified water a day. Our pressure is not that great, 30-40 psi and we have never had any problems with the system.

 

[billb3]

drill deeper and into a better aquifer ?

 

[homebrewz]

How deep is your well? Just curious.

The town's annual water report should be free and available to the public. It should contain information such as the different amounts of dissolved ions. It might give you an idea of how it compares to your well.

 

[gfreek]

Yup, I have a system also, chlorinator, holding tank, carbon filter, softener. Water still tastes skunky, along with constant maintenance. Been looking into RO systems, the thing I don't like is the amount of waste water to make pure water, 3 to 5 gal for 1 gal of drinking water.. Any recommendations??

 

[Wood Duck]

RO systems are pretty energy intensive, so they'd be expensive to run in addition to the capital cost to install. I find it hard to believe the town water is as bad as the well water you are describing. Have you seen analysis of the town water? The advantage of town water is that I think it will be cheaper and more reliable than a private RO system. You will be paying for the water whether you run your own RO or pay the city to treat the water.

 

[atvdave]

I have a RO/DI system in my house, however I don't use it for drinking water. I use it for clean water for my saltwater reef aquarium.

Here's a link to 3 very good RO company's that can talk to you and let you know what type of system that will work best for you and the type of water you have.

http://www.thefilterguys.biz/

http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/

http://www.spectrapure.com/

I'd stay away from the cheep ebay systems, you will be changing filters 3x as often

Good Luck
Dave

edit: added spectrapure.com

 

[harttj]

Installed a spectrapure.com system a few months ago. Very happy. I went with a 4 gallon reservoir and membrane pump also. I also have a chlorinator carbon filter then softener.

Should have installed it years ago.

Tim

 

[gfreek]

Thanks, all for the info

 

[Dr.Faustus]

hey thanks for all the great posts.

the town water is yes better than mine but it is expensive to hook up to, expensive to use and still needs to be filtered. so it is of no use to me when i can filter my own free water.

i went with a 5 stage RO filter from www.filterdirect.com it has a 4 gal tank etc. i do not need an assist pump as my well makes really great pressure. i usually keep it on 50/70 but i tried it and pump has no problem hitting 70/90.

the wastewater, well that would be a pain except i can discharge it out of my sump pump, which is where the softener and backwashing carbon filter also disharge.

the RO system hasnt arrived yet but when it does i'll post on how it operates. i wish i had a TDS meter to check the water. maybe in the future.

drilling for a better aquifer is not an option. i'm not willing to spend any more money on this house for the time being except for its upkeep, and i dont even know how deep the current well is or do i know where the damn thing is. which is another thing i want to work on in the spring. i want to find the buried well, extend the pipe so its above ground and then shock it which might help the water quality. for all i know its buried down there with no cap on in a town with a crazy high water table.

its prob like 5 feet deep. i have an idea of where to start from the pipe exit from the basement. is there a common distance from the house i should try?

 

[LLigetfa]

Make sure you put your softener on bypass for a while after you shock it. Assuming you intend to shock with clorine, it damages the softener beads.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

thanks for the tip. i do intend to shock it with chlorine, then i intend to extend the pipe to above ground (like modern code dictates) and then cap it.

the biggest chore i see here is all that digging. especially since i dont know where it is.

there is a fake well on my lawn made out of wood. there is a possibility it is under there and that is a marker for the well. i have no way to confirm this. it does line up with where the line runs out of the house, and i read some people use these fake wells to mark the real well or cover up where the well sticks out. i moved this wooden well and theres nothing sticking out but i'm gonna try digging there and see if i get lucky.

the previous owners were known for crazy lawn doodads so this might be completely insignificant.

 

[LLigetfa]

If you are going to dig, don't forget to call before you dig. Maybe they will locate the line for you while they are out locating their own line.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

that did cross my mind,

but we dont have anything underground in this area at all. no sewers, our cooking gas is delivered in bottles and utilities are overhead lines.

there is now town water but i know where that is because we got the road torn up to add it this august and i watched them do it. kinda interesting. while they were doing it a pipe was either broken or defective and the water came down over my lawn and watered the whole thing for free during the hottest dryest week of the year. i had the only green lawn.
lol.

 

[LLigetfa]

Oh well... it was a thought. You could always rent a locator and try your own hand at it.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

Update:

RO system came yesterday. 40 minutes after ups dropped it off, it was up and running. piped its drain out to the sump pump, not the septic tank. i even already had a hole in the sink for the new faucet. when we moved in i put a soap dispenser in the sink and it broke after about 6 months so i took it out and used the hole for the faucet.

well the unit is a 5 stage by Water General. the water it generates is completely awsome and it has a 4 gal storage tank but im sure it stores maybe 3 gals tops since air takes up some space in it. still it provides enough water for myself, wife, dog and our cooking.

i'd eventually like to get our icemaker to run off it but i'm in no hurry for that.

my only regret is that i did not get this sooner. i cant speak for the eventual maintenance this will need as its only 2 days old but it seems easy enough. 4 filters and a membrane. there is also a flow restrictor that may eventually need to be replaced per the manual.