Under sink water filter

Frank11

What are peoples thoughts on the under sink water filters? There seems to be two systems, lets say a standard water filter and a reverse osmosis system.

The reverse osmosis system needs electric wired to the unit and I believe for every glass of water produced, 2 glasses are wasted. Does the reverse osmosis system remove some of the good stuff in the water supply? Both systems needs filters replaced every year or so.

If I go with the standard water filter system do I need to get the water checked first to see what filters I need? Has anybody got any experience with companies selling these systems?

We are living in the Dublin 11 area and the gf does not like the water from the tap and wants a filter system fitted but I am finding it difficult to get some information.

Mickery

Hi,

these guys are wholesalers based in Dundalk.

I installed this at home a month ago. Two stage filtration:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/CERAMIC-UNDERSINK-WATER-FILTER-TAP-SYSTEM-NW12-DIY-/180680366633?pt=UK_HGKitchen_SmallApp_RL&hash=item2a11639a29

Very happy with it. Price is the best value I've seen. They're also very helpful if you give them a ring.

Frank11

Thanks for the info. Did you do a test before and after to see that the filters are actually doing what they should? Can you taste/smell the difference?

A neighbour has the reverse osmosis system and they got a particle tester with it. Normal tap water reads 200 (parts per million I think), bottled water comes to about 80 and the water from the reverse osmosis is about 8. They paid a few grand for their system.

Mickery wrote: »

Hi,

these guys are wholesalers based in Dundalk.

I installed this at home a month ago. Two stage filtration:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/CERAMIC-UNDERSINK-WATER-FILTER-TAP-SYSTEM-NW12-DIY-/180680366633?pt=UK_HGKitchen_SmallApp_RL&hash=item2a11639a29

Very happy with it. Price is the best value I've seen. They're also very helpful if you give them a ring.

Mellor

Frank11 wrote: »

The reverse osmosis system needs electric wired to the unit and I believe for every glass of water produced, 2 glasses are wasted. Does the reverse osmosis system remove some of the good stuff in the water supply? Both systems needs filters replaced every year or so.

How are two glasses wasted? Where do they go? Sounds like nonsense to be.
and what good stuff to your refer to? With RO, you are drinking as close to pure water as you can easily get. It tastes better imo

Frank11 wrote: »

A neighbour has the reverse osmosis system and they got a particle tester with it. Normal tap water reads 200 (parts per million I think), bottled water comes to about 80 and the water from the reverse osmosis is about 8. They paid a few grand for their system.

We ahd one to, similar particle test results, was as low as 1 when installed. Wasn't a few grand, a couple hundred euro if I remember correct

rubadub

Mellor wrote: »

How are two glasses wasted? Where do they go? Sounds like nonsense to be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Disadvantages

Disadvantages

Household reverse osmosis units use a lot of water because they have low back pressure. As a result, they recover only 5 to 15 percent of the water entering the system. The remainder is discharged as waste water. Because waste water carries with it the rejected contaminants, methods to recover this water are not practical for household systems. Wastewater is typically connected to the house drains and will add to the load on the household septic system. An RO unit delivering 5 gallons of treated water per day may discharge 40 to 90 gallons of wastewater per day.[10]

Large-scale industrial/municipal systems have a production efficiency closer to 48%, because they can generate the high pressure needed for more efficient RO filtration.

Not sure how much is wasted here, sounds like it depends on your pressure which varies.

Mellor wrote: »

what good stuff to your refer to? With RO, you are drinking as close to pure water as you can easily get. It tastes better imo

Some mineral salts are taken out (note the quoted PPM numbers above which are mainly salts), distilled water does not taste great since all the salts are removed. You can even get units to put salts back into your water.

I have tasted from RO and standard type filters and would go for a standard one here, depends on taste I suppose. RO is overkill for most Irish tap water IMO, unless you are in some area with particularly bad water. With water charges coming in it could prove very expensive for RO.

Mickery

Frank11 wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Did you do a test before and after to see that the filters are actually doing what they should? Can you taste/smell the difference?

I bought the system because my tap water has a strong "chemical" smell from time to time. The smell has been eliminated. The water is softer and tastes better in my opinion.

I did not do a particle test.

I asked about adding a remineralisation filter. Their advice was not to waste my money on one (even though they sold them). They said "reverse osmosis removes down to 0.0005 microns whereas the ceramic filter removes down to 0.5, which is enough to remove bacteriums but allow alot of minerals like calcium etc."

Mellor

rubadub wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Disadvantages
Not sure how much is wasted here, sounds like it depends on your pressure which varies.

I suppose it would depend on your area, but I know around dublin the pressure is a lot better than other parts of the world.