Thread: what do i want in an r/o water machine?

Growone makes a good point. If youre not in a position to buy one and have it installed you can get RO water from the grocery or "pure water store" for 35 cents per gallon. Not a bad option except it can be a pain in the ass to haul back and forth. Especially if you've got a 20 gallon reservoir to change each week. Not to mention having a unit at you house you can connect to the icemaker /fridge. And if you do the fill thing, be sure to sanitize ur bottles between fills.

All RO units will produce water of similiar quality. When you see RO units that are called "5 stage" or "6 stage" they are simply adding extra carbon filters, which does nothing to make the water any cleaner, just causes you to have an extra expense come filter change time. If you have a known contaminent such as arsenic or floride, make sure your RO unit is certified by NSF for that peticular contaminent.

What you may want to consider is an extra storage tank for it. The stock unit comes with a 3 gallon tank, except that it has air it so it holds only 2 gallons. The problem with that is that it will take probably 2 hours for the unit to refill the tank, leavin you out of RO water, which is a problem if you need more than 2 gallons at a time, so long story short get an extra tank. Also, depending on how bad your supply water is, you may want to get a UV light add on. RO doesnt kill bacteria, but UV does. So this combo of RO + UV is really the best.

A few other tips:

1. Have a plumber install it. If you are really good at plumbing thats one thing, but you've got to tap the water line, the drain, drill the sink, and it has the possibility of a leak. Better use a licensed insured plumber that will be liable for water damage in case of leak.

2. Connect it to fridge/icemaker for super clear ice cubes.

3. If you want a really good unit get a Kinetico. They are expensive tho...$1200