Hi
Good ones get rather expensive not only to buy but to service. For that small of an amount I'd just get it at the grocery store.At 30 cents a gallon will take a long time to pay for even a cheap unit. Or if just for plants how about a rain collection system?? I have an 800 gallon systen that I rigged up myself for less than 150 bucks. Still run out of water though lol
gary

I'd have to agree... it sounds like the perfect way to go when in fact it's like anything "perfect" in life... worth making sure it's really worth it before you buy it. At 5-10 gallons a week I can see the validity of getting one, but if the purpose is to make sure you'll never have to buy water again... well, trade that cost for maintenance items and the stuff that has to be replaced, and that should about cover it. From what I know, RO systems run the spectrum for pricing and for quality. To get a good quality one, you're probably looking at some fairly hefty prices for water. The place I'm vollentering (sp) has been trying to get one for over a year and can't find the budjet for it. Sorry I wasn't more help. If I get a chance to ask my boss about what brand and whatnot they're looking at, I'll let you know.

Yep...grocery store for that little of an amount of water. I use 5-10 gallons between my aquariums and plants in the summer and it still doesn't make sense. My water is so hard that I would likely be making membrane replacements at relatively short intervals. That makes the whole setup prohibitively expensive for me.

I tried an under counter system...well, I should say i spent a weekend trying to install one. It was a nightmare and I never even TRIED to drill a hole in the metal/wood/tile around the sink to install the silly little faucet. After putting the plumbing back after having to modify it...I ended up getting a countertop model. It just screws onto the end of the faucet and you fill your bucket from a small hose. It is brilliant and one of the best investments I've made. The savings is not in the water...its probably not that economical....but in the time. Going to walmart to fill 5 gallon buckets every few weeks became an absolute nightmare. I mainly use rainwater for actual watering. I use most of the r/o water for my humidifier. I'm pretty sure I paid less than $200 for the unit.
-MB

So it sounds like the "under the sink" systems are pretty much too expensive for my needs & too annoying to deal with.

I am on a well- But I haven't a clue what kind of particulates might be in the water.

It rains quite a bit here- At least that I've seen so far. So perhaps my best option is to build some sort of collection system & just use that. Easier that way than dragging distilled H2O home from the store.. And hopefully less expensive than the filter.

I guess I just feel weird buying water as well- I keep thinking "what's next? Air in a can?"
Can you imagine being that first guy trying to sell bottled water? I need that guy to promote *my* stuff-

Anyway, thanks for the input. I'll try & keep you guys updated with whatever I pick.

Hi Krstofer,

I purchased a RO System off of eBay from seller aquasafesystems over two years ago. It came with enough filters for 5 years of use and it has worked flawlessly. Cost was $200 for everything. I highly recommend a RO System. It's a great investment.

Think of cost like this. Say you buy 10 gallons per week at 30 cents per year. Over a 2 year period, that is $312 (10 gallons x $0.30 x 10 per week x 52 weeks x 2 years). Since $200 is less then $312, the system pays for itself in under two years And no more lugging 10 gallons of water home from the grocer.

In my experience, my well water was 290 PPM (parts per million) of TDS (total dissolved solids). TDS is a good measurement of water hardness (calcium, magnesium, iron, etc). Water produced out of the RO unit was 18 PPM TDS. Big difference.

After one year of operation, TDS increased to 22 PPM. After I changed the filters, TDS was down at 9 PPM. It's time for another change, but TDS is only at 14 PPM, so I will wait a bit longer.

I recommend not installing the unit under the sink. It would be a pain to get to. Instead, I would recommend placing the unit in your basement (assuming you have one). I put mine directly over the basement wash basin. That way, if I spill water during service or installation the the water drips into the wash basin.

Note: All RO units have very slow drips for the first 24 - 48 hours. Then the unit seals and is drip free.

I also suggest that you massively oversize the unit. Buy a unit that is rated at 100 GPD (gallons per day). 100 GPD is the theoretical yield and is a big fat lie. My 100 GPD actually produces 45 GPD (because of my water pressure and starting water hardness).

The other part of the lie is that you will never get the 45 gallons out of the system in any one day. Not unless you keep emptying the unit every 30 minutes all day/night long. What normally happens is that the water fills a 3 gallon pressure tank. You tap the water from this tank and wait for it to refill. My 3 gallon tank never produces more then 2.5 gallons at a time (the tank never goes completely empty).

Moral of the story: If you buy a 100 GPD system, you can tap 2.5 gallons out of it at any time. That will fit your needs and it will cost no more then a smaller unit.

Bonus: Not only will your plants appreciate the RO water, but YOU can drink the water too! No more icky well water taste. Make ice cubes that are cristal clear. Cook with RO and discover the true flavor of the food you thought that you've been eating these many years.

I love my RO System.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Hi
If you're still interested there is a great writeup on choosing RO systens on reefcentral .com. Much comparison
on different models and servicing.. It's on the left of the first page. gary

Very cool, thanks for the comparison info-

I had a RO system installed from Culligan two months ago. I got their best model (gets out bacteria also) and it cast me $900.00 installed. It sits under the sink. As Tom stated, my tank holds 3 gallons at a time. So if you use 3 gallons, you have to wait for it to refill. It doesn't seem to take too long for a glass of water, but for another 3 gallons, it probably takes an hour to refill.
We have well water also, and we hated the taste and we were suspicious of bacteria in the water. Although it tested negative, one test came back showing some coliform.
Culligan sent a plumber who installed it in less than an hour. No drilling. They removed my sink sprayer to install their faucet. So now our sink has two faucets. One for regular tap and one for RO.
I use it for cooking, drinking and plants.
It was expensive and we put it off for years, but after testing the water, we decided to do it.
As Tom said, you can install it in the basement so if you have an ice machine, you get RO ice. My basement is finished and they would have had to cut the ceiling. That would have been way too expensive.
I think it's worthwhile if you have bad water.

Jane