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Steve February 10th 04 06:45 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
I've been using this Omnifilter Water filter that has 3 compartments and
takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.

I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?

4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.

Do you find this to be a problem?

Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
you steer me away from this kind of filter?

Any brands substantially better than another?


Thanks,

Steve

Tom February 10th 04 07:16 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
If you've got the room under the sink, I've coupled reservoirs to double my
on-hand water. Only need it when there's company. Don't forget to harvest
your effluent! Damn things waste about 3-4 times what they filter for use. I
use mine to flush toilets, and laundry. I wonder if I'm the only one..... Tom

Steve wrote:I've been using this Omnifilter Water
filter that has 3 compartments and
takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.

I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?

4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.

Do you find this to be a problem?

Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
you steer me away from this kind of filter?

Any brands substantially better than another?


Thanks,

Steve


Someday, it'll all be over....

Rex B February 10th 04 08:11 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
Can someone recommend a good brand and source for an under-sink RO unit?
My mom discovered her water softener has been malfunctioning, adding salt to the
water and increasing her blood pressure. At least that's the theory. So I'd like
to get her an RO to solve the problem.
I'm in Fort Worth if anyone has specific local recommendations.

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 13:45:07 -0500, Steve wrote:

|I've been using this Omnifilter Water filter that has 3 compartments and
|takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
|block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
|quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.
|
|I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
|The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
|only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?
|
|4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
|situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
|a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.
|
|Do you find this to be a problem?
|
|Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
|you steer me away from this kind of filter?
|
|Any brands substantially better than another?
|
|
|Thanks,
|
|Steve

Rex in Fort Worth

John Hines February 10th 04 09:07 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
(Rex B) wrote:

Can someone recommend a good brand and source for an under-sink RO unit?
My mom discovered her water softener has been malfunctioning, adding salt to the
water and increasing her blood pressure. At least that's the theory. So I'd like
to get her an RO to solve the problem.


Water softeners by default take salt and substitute it for the mineral
ions in the water.

Changing from sodium cloride (table salt) to potassium cloride (potash)
as your water softener salt, will add potassium and not sodium to your
drinking water.

Check and see if you can get muriate of potash for use in the softener.

stuart8181 February 10th 04 09:52 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
Doesn't RO take out all the good minerals water provides too?
"John Hines" wrote in message
...
(Rex B) wrote:

Can someone recommend a good brand and source for an under-sink RO unit?
My mom discovered her water softener has been malfunctioning, adding salt

to the
water and increasing her blood pressure. At least that's the theory. So

I'd like
to get her an RO to solve the problem.


Water softeners by default take salt and substitute it for the mineral
ions in the water.

Changing from sodium cloride (table salt) to potassium cloride (potash)
as your water softener salt, will add potassium and not sodium to your
drinking water.

Check and see if you can get muriate of potash for use in the softener.




Rex B February 10th 04 09:59 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 15:07:07 -0600, John Hines wrote:

(Rex B) wrote:
|
|Can someone recommend a good brand and source for an under-sink RO unit?
|My mom discovered her water softener has been malfunctioning, adding salt to
the
|water and increasing her blood pressure. At least that's the theory. So I'd
like
|to get her an RO to solve the problem.
|
|Water softeners by default take salt and substitute it for the mineral
|ions in the water.
|
|Changing from sodium cloride (table salt) to potassium cloride (potash)
|as your water softener salt, will add potassium and not sodium to your
|drinking water.
|
|Check and see if you can get muriate of potash for use in the softener.

Good suggestion, we'll check into that.
The other issue is they have had several people come "fix" the water softener,
but they don't think it's working correctly. So how do you tell??
Rex in Fort Worth

John Hines February 10th 04 10:03 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
"stuart8181" wrote:

Doesn't RO take out all the good minerals water provides too?


Yes. Virtually tasteless, similar to distilled water.


jhill February 10th 04 10:18 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
There are only two of us in the house now, but together we use an average of
about one gallon of filtered water a day for cooking and drinking. We don't
use it for anything else.

I had a RO filter in our previous house, but when I moved I discoved I
could go to the store and get RO water for 25 cent per gallon and this was
cheaper for us than the maintenence costs and purchase price of a new
filter.
"Steve" wrote in message
...
I've been using this Omnifilter Water filter that has 3 compartments and
takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.

I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?

4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.

Do you find this to be a problem?

Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
you steer me away from this kind of filter?

Any brands substantially better than another?


Thanks,

Steve




Tony Hwang February 10th 04 10:45 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
jhill wrote:

There are only two of us in the house now, but together we use an average of
about one gallon of filtered water a day for cooking and drinking. We don't
use it for anything else.

I had a RO filter in our previous house, but when I moved I discoved I
could go to the store and get RO water for 25 cent per gallon and this was
cheaper for us than the maintenence costs and purchase price of a new
filter.
"Steve" wrote in message
...

I've been using this Omnifilter Water filter that has 3 compartments and
takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.

I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?

4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.

Do you find this to be a problem?

Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
you steer me away from this kind of filter?

Any brands substantially better than another?


Thanks,

Steve




Hi,
You need ~2 liter of water daily per person to stay healthy.
A Gallon for two persons to drink and cook?
I have hard time understanding your water consumption.
IMHO, it is too little.
Tony


jhill February 10th 04 11:23 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
you get water from other places besides just drinking
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
news:T9dWb.464996$X%5.56711@pd7tw2no...
jhill wrote:

There are only two of us in the house now, but together we use an

average of
about one gallon of filtered water a day for cooking and drinking. We

don't
use it for anything else.

I had a RO filter in our previous house, but when I moved I

discoved I
could go to the store and get RO water for 25 cent per gallon and this

was
cheaper for us than the maintenence costs and purchase price of a new
filter.
"Steve" wrote in message
...

I've been using this Omnifilter Water filter that has 3 compartments and
takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.

I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?

4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.

Do you find this to be a problem?

Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
you steer me away from this kind of filter?

Any brands substantially better than another?


Thanks,

Steve




Hi,
You need ~2 liter of water daily per person to stay healthy.
A Gallon for two persons to drink and cook?
I have hard time understanding your water consumption.
IMHO, it is too little.
Tony




Gary Slusser February 11th 04 12:13 AM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
"Rex B" wrote
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 15:07:07 -0600, John Hines

wrote:

(Rex B) wrote:
|
|Can someone recommend a good brand and source for an under-sink RO unit?
|My mom discovered her water softener has been malfunctioning, adding

salt to
the
|water and increasing her blood pressure. At least that's the theory. So

I'd
like
|to get her an RO to solve the problem.
|
|Water softeners by default take salt and substitute it for the mineral
|ions in the water.
|
|Changing from sodium cloride (table salt) to potassium cloride (potash)
|as your water softener salt, will add potassium and not sodium to your
|drinking water.
|
|Check and see if you can get muriate of potash for use in the softener.

Good suggestion, we'll check into that.
The other issue is they have had several people come "fix" the water

softener,
but they don't think it's working correctly. So how do you tell??
Rex in Fort Worth


You may want to check this out too.

http://www.macrobiotic.org/SaltSubDanger.htm

And then how much sodium is added to water by a water softener. The amount
is 7.85 mg/l per grain per gallon of exchange.

Gary
Quality Water Associates
www.qualitywaterassociates.com
Gary Slusser's Bulletin Board www.qualitywaterassociates.com/phpBB2/



KLM February 11th 04 01:44 AM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 16:18:16 -0600, "jhill"
wrote:

I had a RO filter in our previous house, but when I moved I discoved I
could go to the store and get RO water for 25 cent per gallon and this was
cheaper for us than the maintenence costs and purchase price of a new
filter.



Is this the water cooler type bottled water? If not what kind of
package are they bottled in?

I don't have complaints about the taste but my tap water is very hard
as evidenced by the furnace humidifier encrustations (disabled that),
scale on the kettle element, scale on the bathtub enclosures and water
traps, and grainy water stains. I don't feel comfortable passing all
that mineral stuff through my body.

Some ramblings.

I did think or getting a resin ion exchange demineralizer but the use
of salt to recharge it didn't jive with using that water to maintain
an aquarium.

I am interested in RO machines to produce water for an aquarium. I
didn't have much luck keeping the fish healthy for long. The aquarium
plants just withered.

I like Tom's tip: "Don't forget to harvest your effluent! Damn things
waste about 3-4 times what they filter for use. I use mine to flush
toilets, and laundry. "

I had a motorcycle lead acid battery that needed a top up once. I
added the mineral water from one of the soft drink type bottles. The
battery became dead immediately and there was no way I could restore
it to life by recharging. I had added ordinary boiled water before
without destroying the battery. What's in the mineral water that
could kill the battery this effectively?

Paul Franklin February 11th 04 03:41 AM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 13:45:07 -0500, Steve wrote:

I've been using this Omnifilter Water filter that has 3 compartments and
takes 3 filters, and I've had it for 16 years, using high quality carbon
block filters. I also replace the filters every 6 months. Water
quality is not that good in my area, so it's a necessity.

I've been thinking of replacing the whole thing with a new RO filter.
The thing that concerns me, is the size of the tank, and since it is
only about 4 gallons, do you RO filter users run out of water?

4 gallons seems like a lot of water to use in a kitchen cooking
situation at any one time, but I guess it is possible I could empty out
a tank and then have to wait hours for more filtered water.

Do you find this to be a problem?

Any other things or problems that I'm not considering, that would make
you steer me away from this kind of filter?

Any brands substantially better than another?


Thanks,

Steve


I have an undercounter unit with a 4 gallon tank. The only time we've
ever run out is when we have a large crowd and are making pitcher
after pitcher of iced tea.

Stay away from the sears units. They work fine, but twice now, I've
gone to replace the RO cartridge after a couple of years only to find
it's been discontinued and is no longer available. Expensive lesson.
Shame on me for giving them a second chance.

HTH,

Paul


Don Wiss February 11th 04 07:24 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 22:45:07 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:

You need ~2 liter of water daily per person to stay healthy.


An old wives tale. How about some hard evidence, like controlled studies,
that show that so much water is necessary to stay healthy.

Don donwiss at panix.com.

Don Wiss February 11th 04 07:26 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 01:44:03 GMT, KLM wrote:

I don't have complaints about the taste but my tap water is very hard
as evidenced by the furnace humidifier encrustations (disabled that),
scale on the kettle element, scale on the bathtub enclosures and water
traps, and grainy water stains. I don't feel comfortable passing all
that mineral stuff through my body.


Gee, and I thought that getting minerals, like magnesium, from the water
was healthy.

Don donwiss at panix.com.

Rex B February 11th 04 08:08 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 

|I have an undercounter unit with a 4 gallon tank. The only time we've
|ever run out is when we have a large crowd and are making pitcher
|after pitcher of iced tea.
|
|Stay away from the sears units. They work fine, but twice now, I've
|gone to replace the RO cartridge after a couple of years only to find
|it's been discontinued and is no longer available. Expensive lesson.
|Shame on me for giving them a second chance.

So what's a good brand?

Rex in Fort Worth

jhill February 11th 04 09:04 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
It is an RO filtered water dispenser at the local HEB grocery store where I
take my own jugs in and fill them myself. It also aireates the water as it
comes out, so it tastes ok.
"KLM" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 16:18:16 -0600, "jhill"
wrote:

I had a RO filter in our previous house, but when I moved I discoved

I
could go to the store and get RO water for 25 cent per gallon and this

was
cheaper for us than the maintenence costs and purchase price of a new
filter.



Is this the water cooler type bottled water? If not what kind of
package are they bottled in?

I don't have complaints about the taste but my tap water is very hard
as evidenced by the furnace humidifier encrustations (disabled that),
scale on the kettle element, scale on the bathtub enclosures and water
traps, and grainy water stains. I don't feel comfortable passing all
that mineral stuff through my body.

Some ramblings.

I did think or getting a resin ion exchange demineralizer but the use
of salt to recharge it didn't jive with using that water to maintain
an aquarium.

I am interested in RO machines to produce water for an aquarium. I
didn't have much luck keeping the fish healthy for long. The aquarium
plants just withered.

I like Tom's tip: "Don't forget to harvest your effluent! Damn things
waste about 3-4 times what they filter for use. I use mine to flush
toilets, and laundry. "

I had a motorcycle lead acid battery that needed a top up once. I
added the mineral water from one of the soft drink type bottles. The
battery became dead immediately and there was no way I could restore
it to life by recharging. I had added ordinary boiled water before
without destroying the battery. What's in the mineral water that
could kill the battery this effectively?




Gary Slusser February 12th 04 06:32 PM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 

"Don Wiss" wrote
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 22:45:07 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:

You need ~2 liter of water daily per person to stay healthy.


An old wives tale. How about some hard evidence, like controlled studies,
that show that so much water is necessary to stay healthy.

Don donwiss at panix.com.


"Gee, and I thought that getting minerals, like magnesium, from the water
was healthy.

Don donwiss at panix.com.

Don, may I ask you for the same concerning your concern for use of a RO and
their removal of magnesium from drinking water?

Gary
Quality Water Associates
www.qualitywaterassociates.com
Gary Slusser's Bulletin Board www.qualitywaterassociates.com/phpBB2/



[email protected] February 16th 04 06:08 AM

Reverse Osmosis Water filters
 
(Rex B) wrote in message ...
|I have an undercounter unit with a 4 gallon tank. The only time we've
|ever run out is when we have a large crowd and are making pitcher
|after pitcher of iced tea.
|
|Stay away from the sears units. They work fine, but twice now, I've
|gone to replace the RO cartridge after a couple of years only to find
|it's been discontinued and is no longer available. Expensive lesson.
|Shame on me for giving them a second chance.

So what's a good brand?

Rex in Fort Worth


I've been using a RO under sink system for 3 years now with a 4 gallon
tank. The only time it empties is when I bring the 5 gallon water
cooler jug home from my shop at work to be filled. My RO uses a post
filter to give the water some kind of "flavor", if you can call it
that. Yea, I could go to the store and get bottles refilled for 30
cents, but it is so much more convenient to have ot right there. I got
my system from hbwatersystems.com check em out, great customer service
and good products for drinking or aquariums.
You can also mount the whole system in the basement and put a line up
to the sink, and have a larger tank.


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