The other day, I was listening to a comedian (sorry, I don't remember who it was) talk about the progress we've made in this country: "In the 1950's, blacks and whites couldn't drink out of the same water fountain. Now, NOBODY drinks from a water fountain" All funny business aside, bottled water is huge in this country - according to Statistic Brain, an estimated 30 BILLION bottles of water are sold every year in this country, at a total cost of $11.8 billion dollars. That's a lot of money, and a lot of plastic sent to the landfill every year.
I've never been a big bottled water drinker, using it mainly to grab a sip when I'm out and about. Since I never think about it when I leave home, I often pay $2 or more to purchase it from a vending machine. Our move to Arizona changed all that. The first thing we discovered was that tap water is room temperature only if your room is quite warm - no matter how long you let it run, it's more like bath water (especially in the summer). In addition, our water had an unpleasant taste, and while I'm sure we could deal with it if we had to, it changed the taste of soft drinks (due to the ice cubes made with tap water), lemonade, and, if my wife is to be believed, coffee. This last problem was the important one, in my house - I was informed that I would be dragging home gallons of water to keep the Keurig stocked. It was also clear we'd have to buy bottled water for drinking, and it was obvious that we'd drink a lot more water out here than back home in Nebraska - the hot, dry weather can cause you to be dehydrated much more quickly.
If you buy water by the gallon, it's relatively cheap - less than $1.00 per gallon. Even the 16 ounce bottles are fairly reasonable at Costco - a case of 24 Nestle brand bottles sells for $8.29 ($2.60 per gallon). If you watch for specials, you can get it a bit cheaper than that, even at your local supermarket. If we each drink the equivalent of 4 bottles per day - a ridiculously low estimate, since we average over twice that amount - drinking water would cost us in the neighborhood of $900 per year. Since our real usage is at least double that, even purchasing exclusively bulk water wouldn't bring the cost down to an acceptable level. I needed to look at a better option.
I toyed with the idea of a water distiller. For around $200, you can buy a countertop distiller that requires virtually no set up. These small units can produce about 4 gallons per day, so it could, in theory, supply our two-person household with enough drinking water. One issue - at 4 gallons per day, it takes 6 hours to produce a single gallon, or 90 minutes for a quart. To make this work, we'd have to be constantly filling and storing distilled water. If we ran out, I'd be running to the store.
A better solution is an automatic distiller. For a little over $600, you can get a unit that's hooked up to your water line, and has an integrated, 4 gallon storage tank. It could produce water at any time (without human intervention), so it was a much more practical solution - I wouldn't have to run to the market three times a week because I forgot to add water. The downside? Well, there's the initial price tag. There's also the 750 watts of power it requires when running - assuming the distiller ran for 10 hours per day (a low estimate, since it only produces a maximum of 5 gallons in 24 hour period), the electric cost to distill water each year would be around $150. That's not outrageous, but remember the actual cost would almost certainly be higher. Add in the cost of maintenance - not insignificant, I suspect - and, although acceptable, it's not free. All that power causes another, bigger problem, however. 750 watts is a big power load, and just plugging this thing in to an existing circuit is not a great idea. If I put it in the kitchen - the obvious location - what happens virtually every day? Let's see - 750 watts for the distiller, 1200 watt for the microwave, maybe 150 for the coffee pot, and another 100 or so for lights or something else - we've got maybe 2200 watts on one 15 amp circuit (all I've got in our tiny kitchen). By my figuring, that's around 19 amps - causing me to run out and reset the circuit breaker. Of course, I could add another circuit. This place is small, but to run cable from the breaker box to the kitchen isn't an easy task - figure $300, plus my wife would have to listen to me swear after crawling around under the house for a whole afternoon. I decided to rule this option out.
What's left? The drinking water solution chosen by most homeowners is the Reverse Osmosis System. I talked to a water treatment company - they offered to install and maintain a system in my home for only $70 per month - I decided to just buy a system from Home Depot and give it a try.
I chose an inexpensive, 3-stage system marketed under the GE label. It's a simple system that comes complete with a pre-filter, an identical post-filter, the reverse osmosis membrane filter, a 5 gallon storage tank, necessary water tubing, and a faucet. The system will filter up to 11 gallons per day, with the pressurized tank holding about 2 1/2 gallons - plenty for our needs. About the only things I had to add were Teflon tape and a needle valve to hook into my existing water supply pipe under the sink. The system was $149, so I ended up with about $165 total in the project.
To install the system, first make sure you've got room under the sink for all the components. That shouldn't be a problem, unless you've got a very tiny space. Make sure your space allows good access to the filter assemblies, since you'll be changing filters a couple of times per year. I left extra tubing, allowing me to pull the filters out from under the sink for maintenance - no bumping my head on pipes!
You'll need a water supply. The easiest way to get water is to put a "T" fitting from the water shutoff leading to your COLD water faucet. Just remove the water supply tube, install the fitting, then hook up the supply tube to the top of the fitting. Put a small shut off valve in the extra spot for the RO system - consult your directions to see what size output you need - mine used 1/4" tubing. Your instructions will tell you which tube gets hooked up to the water supply. Mine are color coded, but yours may be different.
Next, you'll want to install the faucet. My system came with a faucet that looked OK next to my other fixtures. If you don't like the included fixture, a plumbing supply store should have one that will work, but it's much easier to use the included faucet. I changed my sink at the same time I did the installation, so I made sure I had an extra hole for the faucet. If you don't, you'll have to make some decisions. If you have a sprayer or soap dispenser, the easiest solution is to remove that and use it for this installation. If you don't, you'll have to cut a new hole in the sink for this faucet. This may be impossible with certain types of sinks, so don't try this unless you're sure! Remember, getting a professional to help or even do the whole project will be cheaper than causing a bunch of damage to your house!
The faucet will typically have two or more tubing connections coming from it - one of which must be connected to the drain line. My kit had a connector that was easily attached to my existing plumbing - be sure to follow the directions for the drain, so you don't have drain water drawn into the fresh water system!
After installing the faucet and drain, you've just got to finish hooking up all the tubing (again, most of mine was already routed and color coded, so there wasn't much to do), and mount the tank and filter assembly under the sink. Now is a good time to turn the water on and check for leaks - fix any leaks before you finish the installation.
Before you install the filters, follow the sanitation instructions recommended by your manufacturer. Mine required me to run a small amount of bleach through the system. Make sure to remove the reverse osmosis membrane before you add bleach - failure to do so will ruin the membrane! After sanitation, install the filters and membrane, and turn the water back on.
After reading the reviews, my only concern was with leaks under the sink. Fortunately, I was familiar with the plastic push-on connectors supplied - they work fine if you use them correctly, but poor technique will cause a leak virtually every time. I took special care to cut the tubing square, and insert every connection fully, and I had no leaks in the system. If you don't like these connections, you can buy conventional connectors that may be less troublesome - as I said, I didn't have problems, but I understand some people did.
Some components are stored in a substance to reduce or eliminate mold or bacterial growth. This goop isn't harmful, but it may affect the taste of your water. After installation is complete, you'll want to run some water through the system to flush out any remaining contaminants. Other than that, you're done!
So, what do we think of our system? We've been very happy with it - our water tastes just like bottled water (most of which is produced from a reverse osmosis system), and we have plenty of water for our needs - we even use it to fill the dogs' water bowl! You should be aware that most RO systems flush excess water down the drain - if you use 5 gallons of RO water per day, you may very well use 50 gallons or more producing that water. I believe there are a few systems out there that claim not to waste water, but I don't know much about them. About the only thing I'd do differently is I would spend a bit more upfront and get a system with "snap in" filters. All that does is make your filter changing a bit easier and eliminates the danger of leaks from removing and reinstalling filter caps or other fittings. Not a huge deal, but it's probably worth the money to make life easier in the future.
Maintenance is minimal - you just have to change the filters about twice per year. At some point, I'll need to change the RO membrane, but that will probably be after at least two years of service. As I said, my system is set up so I just pull the whole assembly out from under the sink and do my work on it before I put it back. I've only done it once, but the whole thing only took me about 1/2 hour.
If your tap water tastes good and you're comfortable that it is safe and free of contaminants, you don't need a reverse osmosis system. If you're not sure - or if you just like the taste of bottled water but don't like the cost or environmental concerns - install an RO system under your sink.
