RO countertop system

[Dutchie]

Hey all,

Currently I have a water distiller, but I'm thinking about switching over to a RO countertop system (Aquatru) I've seen.

Reasons:.
- due to rental appartement I can't install under sink system.
- During this warm humid weather I can't use the distiller, bc it makes my appartement even hotter than it already is.
- It takes a little over 4 hours to have a tank of distilled water, which with rising energy prices isn't very costeffective.

Cons:
- It still needs electricity, albeit only 15 minutes (but if there's ever going to be a powerouttage, I can't use the machine either).
- Dependant on (buying) switching out filters.

Does anyone here have experience with an RO countertop system, preferrably the Aquatru?
Are microplastics,pfas,hormones and all kinds of toxic substances indeed filtered out?

Obviously gravity filters tackle the problem of electricity-dependance/powerouttage, but I've read they're not so good at filtering out toxins like pfas.

 

[Herbie]

@Dutchie I used to have a counter top one. The hose coming out was so small so it took ages to get much water.

Peat said that making coffee filters out everything and turns out is the only water I need from the tap so I gave up on the RO and was often having to replace the filters. Peat is against drinking water because it has nothing in it and too much water causes health problems. I prefer to Sanpelegrino water or Fiji or Evian which contain the most dissolved solides on the market. I like to make coffee with these waters and cheaper and easier than messing with RO. RO is an issue because it removes minerals and was always told to add salt into it to re mineralise it.

My question is what would you use the water for?

 

[Dutchie]

@Dutchie I used to have a counter top one. The hose coming out was so small so it took ages to get much water.

Peat said that making coffee filters out everything and turns out is the only water I need from the tap so I gave up on the RO and was often having to replace the filters. Peat is against drinking water because it has nothing in it and too much water causes health problems. I prefer to Sanpelegrino water or Fiji or Evian which contain the most dissolved solides on the market. I like to make coffee with these waters and cheaper and easier than messing with RO. RO is an issue because it removes minerals and was always told to add salt into it to re mineralise it.

My question is what would you use the water for?

Thanks for your reply.
I know this is a Peat forum with all the pro-juice/milk/coffee drinkers, but I use the water for drinking and cooking.
Currently, I buy mineral water in cartons (it's low in minerals though ,compared to some other brands) , bur I don't thinks it's the cleanest water and the inside of the Tetrapaks possibly adding toxins.

According to Aquatru it takes about 15 minutes to get 2 liters of purified water.
1 of the 3filter cartridges last about 600gallons/half a year approximately. The other one about a year and the RO cartridge 2 years.

 

[macmcroberts]

I purchased a "Clearly Filtered" water pitcher for my daughter off at college. Appears to be working well all things considered. The replaceable filters are not cheap, however, the supporting data regarding filtering efficiency is quite good compared to Brita etc. I have not had the water tested to verify the filtering data.

 

[wtf]

Im a little bit of an RO fanatic, and have installed multiple under sink systems for drinking and worked on a few commercial sized units at work for lab grade water. And i currently work in PFAS research. I even recently installed a unit in my girlfriends rental, drilled right through the SS sink with plans on putting a simple soap dispenser in when she leaves ~$10.

What I know about the way contaminants are found and eventually regulated concerns me and therefore an RO is a great tool to generally clean up drinking water pretty much non selectively. In other words you will be removing 95%+ of chemical contamination regardless of whether its been demonized yet. For those of you who say I have well water and dont need an RO my parents house had 4 ppm Fluoride from a deep well, test or you wont know.

Most undersink affordable systems work by processing water and filling a bladder encased in a steel tank, this itself and the usuall plastic lines are a leaching concern yet small, most good units provide a post tank carbon filter to remove these but still its not perfect system. What are the RO membranes made from? Exactly we can become paralyzed with over reasoning. For those drinking bottled water leaching PETE to taste-able levels... it should be a no brainer.

In response to those looking for faster flow with a reasonable priced system that I have personally tested to remove 99% of Fluoride Apec makes a system called RO-HI. This unit has 3/8" lines an upgrade from the usual 1/4"

For me an RO system is one of the first requirements for a toxinless life.

 

[macmcroberts]

@wtf I could not agree more regarding RO in the home. Have heard many times from several scientists that osmosis through a membrane is the best method for removing toxins from our water supply, including narcotics that are making their way into our water.

 

[Dutchie]

I purchased a "Clearly Filtered" water pitcher for my daughter off at college. Appears to be working well all things considered. The replaceable filters are not cheap, however, the supporting data regarding filtering efficiency is quite good compared to Brita etc. I have not had the water tested to verify the filtering data.

Thanks for your reply.
Clearly Filtered isn't sold here :) only Brita
(I had Brita's on-tap system for years. It was an easy system,but turned out not to filter that much.)

 

[Dutchie]

Im a little bit of an RO fanatic, and have installed multiple under sink systems for drinking and worked on a few commercial sized units at work for lab grade water. And i currently work in PFAS research. I even recently installed a unit in my girlfriends rental, drilled right through the SS sink with plans on putting a simple soap dispenser in when she leaves ~$10.

What I know about the way contaminants are found and eventually regulated concerns me and therefore an RO is a great tool to generally clean up drinking water pretty much non selectively. In other words you will be removing 95%+ of chemical contamination regardless of whether its been demonized yet. For those of you who say I have well water and dont need an RO my parents house had 4 ppm Fluoride from a deep well, test or you wont know.

Most undersink affordable systems work by processing water and filling a bladder encased in a steel tank, this itself and the usuall plastic lines are a leaching concern yet small, most good units provide a post tank carbon filter to remove these but still its not perfect system. What are the RO membranes made from? Exactly we can become paralyzed with over reasoning. For those drinking bottled water leaching PETE to taste-able levels... it should be a no brainer.

In response to those looking for faster flow with a reasonable priced system that I have personally tested to remove 99% of Fluoride Apec makes a system called RO-HI. This unit has 3/8" lines an upgrade from the usual 1/4"

For me an RO system is one of the first requirements for a toxinless life.

Thanks for your reply. :)
So, a countertop RO system definitely would beat a gravity waterfilter in regards to purity,right?....so close to distilled water purity.

 

[wtf]

Thanks for your reply. :)
So, a countertop RO system definitely would beat a gravity waterfilter in regards to purity,right?....so close to distilled water purity.

Hands down. I assume the gravity filter would be some sort of GAC/sediment filter. Especially for contaminants like fluoride and pfas which are notoriously hard to remove. The GAC would do basically nothing for you at the size and flow rates that you have. GAC does nothing for fluoride and is not the right tool to remove PFAS from drinking water with a gravity set up. Keep in mind that most RO systems contain a full gambit of processing filters, usually Cold Feed Water-->Sediment-->GAC1-->GAC2-->RO Membrane-->storage tank-->Finishing GAC filter-->remineralize (optional and I prefer without for Pure water source)-->UV Sterilzation (optional)-->Drink/Cook
The pre-membrane filters are to prevent premature fouling of the membrane and should be changed every year or so. Chlorine is especially damaging to RO membranes so those with city water should definitely keep up with their carbon filters. I have found that good RO membranes can last quite a few years, my dad had an ro system that was never kept up with for ~25 years running on well water and the RO membrane was still removing 85% of fluoride. (0.6ppm from ~4ppm feed) replaced with APEC RO-HI which uses a Dow USA membrane and that removed ~99% fluoride. (<0.09ppm from ~4ppm)

 

[macmcroberts]

Here's the link to the aforementioned GAC pitcher filter I mentioned. It is quite impressive if data is accurate, however, WTF is correct regarding RO superiority. Water Filter Performance and Testing Data | Clearly Filtered

 

[Dapose]

Hey all,

Currently I have a water distiller, but I'm thinking about switching over to a RO countertop system (Aquatru) I've seen.

Reasons:.
- due to rental appartement I can't install under sink system.
- During this warm humid weather I can't use the distiller, bc it makes my appartement even hotter than it already is.
- It takes a little over 4 hours to have a tank of distilled water, which with rising energy prices isn't very costeffective.

Cons:
- It still needs electricity, albeit only 15 minutes (but if there's ever going to be a powerouttage, I can't use the machine either).
- Dependant on (buying) switching out filters.

Does anyone here have experience with an RO countertop system, preferrably the Aquatru?
Are microplastics,pfas,hormones and all kinds of toxic substances indeed filtered out?

Obviously gravity filters tackle the problem of electricity-dependance/powerouttage, but I've read they're not so good at filtering out toxins like pfas.

I’ve been using the Aguatru counter top RO unit for almost two years. I love it. I love making my water. More gratifying to me to have some physical connection to “making” my water. It is several times more efficient then traditional RO filters. Only wastes like 1/3 of the water to backwash water. I think regular RO wastes like 150%. Meaning 1.5 gallons down the drain for every one gallon of drinking water. I think it might actually be worse then that but you get my point.

I pour my RO water into a big glass pitcher. Stir (vortex) in some sea salt and baking soda. Then I use an analemma crystal water wand to structure and make coherent water. It’s a fun beautiful process that I love to do.

 

[Dutchie]

Hands down. I assume the gravity filter would be some sort of GAC/sediment filter. Especially for contaminants like fluoride and pfas which are notoriously hard to remove. The GAC would do basically nothing for you at the size and flow rates that you have. GAC does nothing for fluoride and is not the right tool to remove PFAS from drinking water with a gravity set up. Keep in mind that most RO systems contain a full gambit of processing filters, usually Cold Feed Water-->Sediment-->GAC1-->GAC2-->RO Membrane-->storage tank-->Finishing GAC filter-->remineralize (optional and I prefer without for Pure water source)-->UV Sterilzation (optional)-->Drink/Cook
The pre-membrane filters are to prevent premature fouling of the membrane and should be changed every year or so. Chlorine is especially damaging to RO membranes so those with city water should definitely keep up with their carbon filters. I have found that good RO membranes can last quite a few years, my dad had an ro system that was never kept up with for ~25 years running on well water and the RO membrane was still removing 85% of fluoride. (0.6ppm from ~4ppm feed) replaced with APEC RO-HI which uses a Dow USA membrane and that removed ~99% fluoride. (<0.09ppm from ~4ppm)

The Aquatru machine has lights for every filter which switch on when you need to change your filter.
Thankfully, they don't use chlorine here in our water, but that's not to say some might end up in the water anyway.

 

[Dutchie]

I’ve been using the Aguatru counter top RO unit for almost two years. I love it. I love making my water. More gratifying to me to have some physical connection to “making” my water. It is several times more efficient then traditional RO filters. Only wastes like 1/3 of the water to backwash water. I think regular RO wastes like 150%. Meaning 1.5 gallons down the drain for every one gallon of drinking water. I think it might actually be worse then that but you get my point.

I pour my RO water into a big glass pitcher. Stir (vortex) in some sea salt and baking soda. Then I use an analemma crystal water wand to structure and make coherent water. It’s a fun beautiful process that I love to do.

Thank you, that's very helpful. :)
I need to save up some more and then I think I'm going to switch over to that system.

Yes, I have a glass water pitcher too where I store my distilled water in. (I add some liquid flavourless electrolytes to it).

 

[Liam311]

I use osmio zero countertop system. For some reason I do better when the carbon filter is before the reverse osmosis membrane - which this has. I think the carbon filter releases carbon into the water eventually. This system less so.

I pour the filtered water through a clay structuring tube (through quartz and stone to energize) into a ceramic egg shaped cradle to store/drink from.

 

[Dutchie]

@Dapose When you get the system it's recommended to pour out the first 4 cans of filtered water.
I was wondering, do you also need to do this everytime you change a filter?

(I once had a Brita on-tap system and it said you needed to run the faucet for about 2 minutes everytime you'd exchanged the filter, before you could start drinking the water.)

 

[Dapose]

@Dapose When you get the system it's recommended to pour out the first 4 cans of filtered water.
I was wondering, do you also need to do this everytime you change a filter?

(I once had a Brita on-tap system and it said you needed to run the faucet for about 2 minutes everytime you'd exchanged the filter, before you could start drinking the water.)

Yes 4 times for first instal. Then when replacing a filter which is super easy by the way, then you are supposed to run 3 batches of water through it discarding all water. Then you use a pen and push the little mini reset button on the back of the machine so the display resets or you’ll never know when to replace the filter again.
Pro tip… I buy the filters when the company puts on a big holiday sale!

 

[Dutchie]

Yes 4 times for first instal. Then when replacing a filter which is super easy by the way, then you are supposed to run 3 batches of water through it discarding all water. Then you use a pen and push the little mini reset button on the back of the machine so the display resets or you’ll never know when to replace the filter again.
Pro tip… I buy the filters when the company puts on a big holiday sale!

Thanks, that's very helpful. :)

Funny thing, this morning I saw on the American site that the system 's on sale for 249USD (about €223).
Meanwhile in Europe the same system's being sold for €449! .... talking about a rip off.
I mailed them about this huge difference in price, but haven't gotten a reply yet.

 

[Cow]

Here's the link to the aforementioned GAC pitcher filter I mentioned. It is quite impressive if data is accurate, however, WTF is correct regarding RO superiority. Water Filter Performance and Testing Data | Clearly Filtered

Just want to say thanks for this. I am limited to a pitcher system and have been having a hard finding one that removes fluoride and everything else I want!

 

[Dutchie]

@Dapose I was very enthusiastic about this system, however I read that it needs to stay switched on and plugged in at all times.
This is a big con to me, bc even inbstandby it'll leach electricity.
Do you constantly keep it switched on an plugged in, when you're done with filtering?

With my distiller I turn it off,plug it out and clean it until the next time (day) I need to use it.