Does whole house reverse osmosis make sense?
The short answer is "YES" but that doesn't mean that it is for everyone. We will consider the pros and cons of a whole-house RO system and you can decide if it is for you or not. First of all, water quality varies greatly from well water to surface water to municipal water. Well water may have things like iron, sulfur, manganese and tannin which almost always have to be removed, especially in the case of a whole-house RO system. Those contaminants must always be removed before the reverse osmosis process. Let's not forget that reverse osmosis removes the largest spectrum of contaminants at the most economical cost of any water treatment process. Essentially, a whole house reverse osmosis system will remove 98 to 99% of most contaminants including Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), sodium, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, arsenic and a plethora of other chemical and organic contaminants. One of the key ingredients to a whole house reverse osmosis system is proper per-treatment, which includes removing the iron, sulfur, manganese, tannin and other nuisance elements. So, ahead of an RO system, it is essential that filtration or oxidation of these contaminants are accomplished. If the water is hard, then it needs to be softened or (what I prefer) use an anti-scalant to prevent hard water build-up on the membranes. Anti-scalant systems are gaining popularity because no water is wasted and no salt is needed. A whole house RO system consists of the aforementioned pre-treatment, the reverse osmosis system itself, an atmospheric storage tank, a re-pressurization pump, ultraviolet light or Quantum Disinfection and sometimes a calcite filter to raise the pH or add some TDS back to the water. Here is what a city water whole-house RO system might look like:
Who might need a whole house reverse osmosis system? Lots of people. It could be health related in that they may want to remove as many chemicals as possible from their water. Many people have a sensitivity to such chemicals and therefore need a whole house RO system. In other cases, it may be that there are contaminants in the water that create ascetic issues such as high chlorides, sodium, sulfates and others. Sometimes we see water that has TDS levels in excess of 2,000 PPM (the USEPA recommends drinking water that is below 500 PPM). I'll grant you that the water you use to flush your toilet doesn't have to be super clean, but the amount of water used for flushing toilets in very insignificant compared to most other uses for water in your home. Washing dishes or clothes, bathing, shampooing, shaving and cleaning in clean reverse osmosis water is a pure joy. Back in the day, people used to bathe in rainwater, which is generally absolutely soft. When I was in Haiti a few years ago, we would wait for a heavy rainstorm and stand underneath a downspout plume just to enjoy a good shower. With shorts on and a bar of soap, we enjoyed every second of that shower. If taking a shower in the cleanest water on the planet, without chemicals, pesticides and hardness appeals to you, then maybe you are a candidate for a whole house reverse osmosis system. If you want to be able to drink from any faucet in the home, then maybe a whole house RO system is for you. Maybe you just want the best water possible. If so, a home whole house reverse osmosis system may just be what the doctor ordered! Cheers!
141 Comments
Not to be rude, but it seems to me like Mark Timmons is a salesmen with no experience in water treatment. I know it may be to late for you guys but hopefully this will answer some others questions.
Maureen- your smell is most likely caused by iron or iron bacteria in the well water. Adding bleach or Hydrogen peroxide as you have been will help. If you dont want to do a water softener, some form of aeration would take care of the problem without chemicals.
John Sagert- I figured Mark would be of some help on this and corrected you. The white you see is hardness scaling out in the form of calcium carbonate, not calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide (lime). Lime is actually used to soften water believe it or not. All you need for that is a water softener, that will also allow your 1 micron filter to operate more efficiently. An RO system is not needed in your case, but if you wanted extra pure water go for it.
Bern, I havent done any research on this, but I dont think so. My wife and Mother in law have been on hard well water their whole life and have great heads of hair. The brown residue you see is iron buildup.
Kathy Feyk- the article touches on this issue, but doesnt tell you what the effects are. The blue staining is most likely due to low pH water. That is hell on copper. The calcite filter will help with that. I know because I have one! If you click on the calcite filter link you will get some useful info on this.
Nick-
Water Treatment Operator
hi we are on Phoenix city water. Its very hard (14) with a TDS between 400-700 and chlorine and chloramides present. Wed like out TDS under 100 and no chlorine. Based on the test results, we are not worried about anything else.
unfortunately, there is no easy way to separate the house from the landscape watering. Also no easy way to get an under the sink solution to serve anything but the sink.
So salt solutions or significant loss of water is not OK. We have 3 people here, 5.5 bathrooms plus the irrigation (about 1/8 acre of lawn at any one time). THe magnet we have installed have resolved about 70% of the hard water issue.
Thoughts? Thanks
Haha, just clicked on the water test link buy this test for $60, BUT WAIT, theres more, if you buy the overpriced, overkill for your situation water system we recommend, THEN well apply that $60 bucks toward your purchase.
Haha, come on guys
Hi Mark,
I have 2 questions
Is a water softener still needed with this RO System?
What is the water pressure like? We already have low water pressure where we live. Wondering what a whole house RO system would do. Thanks for your time.
I have tried three dierent well water whole house systems. Non, have been satisfactor. Have a lot of tannins, fe, mg, a of course Ca co4 or some like that. My wife and I bothe un happy with present one. I read about the Ron type, but the you have to pre this and pre that before even to can occur. Can you suggest what I would have to purchase and install to make such a system to put in my house
We need a complete system for our well the water is full of minerals very salty and close to the ocean can you give me a price on a good system large enough to look after the whole house thank you
what is the best way to discharge the waste water? our tds is 1500 so would we produce more waste water. were on septic and probably cant handle the extra load. would draining into a sump work?
Thanks for all the info, I have been considering a whole house RO system for several years. We are on a well system right by the mouth of the Kennebec river in Maine. I installed a complete AquaSana Rhino system (well specific) including an iron filter but NOTHING gets the salt/sodium out. We are rebuilding and and I want to install a whole house RO system. I plan on using the AquaSana system (or at least major components) as a pre-filter. I too would like to be able to do something with the waste water and was wondering about ways to recycle it. What Whole House RO system would you recommend for a well system if any?
Thanks, we recently discussed this and plan to fix it soon.
Hi Mark
I had a question for you. We are in the process of buying a house with a well and septic system. We are getting a VA Loan which requires a well water quality test. The preliminary test result came back showing the lead was high, 33.3 ppm and the EPA action level is 15 ppm. The selling realtor said they would put a whole house reverse osmosis system in place to remedy the problem. We are afraid they are going to stick some cheap POS in there just to get the test to pass and then 2 months down the road we will be stuck with a crappy failing RO system, and high lead levels in our water.
Do you recommend a whole house RO system for high lead levels, and if so what else should be in place to filter out contaminants?
Steve
We have a well which produces soft sulfur smelling water. Have heard that an injection pump for hydrogen peroxide. We think we want a reverse osmosis system. How do we go about knowing which system to get? Do you test water samples? Thanks for you assistance.
We have a well and need to filter out bacteria. We have an under the sink reverse osmosis system for drinking. What would you suggest and cost. Thank you
2 people. 2 bathrooms
Mark,
I live in a rural area and have a well. I am concerned about the large amount of waste water associated with a whole house RO unit. Can you install the RO unit at the well head? I already have storage tanks and house pressure pump. Can you plumb the waste water back into the well head in order to eliminate the waste? I assume the water in my well flows into and out of it and the extra TDS would flow out of the well thus avoiding concentrating the TDS in the well.
I would suggest a full water analysis before doing anything, but likely you will want to use ultraviolet disinfection, like this:
https://www.uswatersystems.com/us-water-whole-house-professional-grade-ultraviolet-system-10-gpm.html
Here is the water test I would recommend:
https://www.uswatersystems.com/us-water-lab-water-test.html