So What Is Reverse Osmosis?
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) defines “contaminant” as any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water. That being the case, you know that there will be contamination in all water, but the levels and contents will vary hugely. Some contaminants may be harmful if consumed at certain levels in drinking water. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health risk.
Reverse Osmosis is a water filtration technology that removes particles and contaminants by applying pressure onto the tap water, which forces it through the filtration membranes of the reverse osmosis unit, allowing you to get fresh pure drinking water.
But with what seems to be millions of choices when it comes to which RO filtration system to choose from, who do you go with?
What should I look for in a Reverse Osmosis unit?
Each reverse osmosis water filtration manufacturer has their own marketing studies on the effectiveness of their product, but in our opinion, what matters most are the results–real results from real customers. We have reviewed and hand picked the top reverse osmosis water filtration systems, based on independent reviews from actual customers who have used the RO units, for you to choose from.
Here are a few things to look for when making your selection:
How many gallons of water can the reservoir hold?
The RO systems we hand picked for review most have 3 gallon tanks, which is industry standard. There are RO units that have smaller reservoirs but we do not recommend them, because if your household uses up the water, it may take some time before you have purified water again.
How many Gallons Per Day of purified water is it capable of producing?
You will be surprised how easily several gallons of water can be used up through something as simple as cooking a meal–the last thing you want is resort to serving contaminated tap water for your guests.
We recommend the reverse osmosis systems that have a 50 Gallons Per Day or higher capability. This means is it will take roughly 30 minutes to produce 1 gallon of drinking water from an empty reservoir. We suggest looking at the APEC Top Tier 5-Stage Ultra Safe Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Filter System (ESSENCE ROES-50). Click here to read our review, 50 gallons per day and the iSpring 5-Stage RO System at 75 gallons per day, which we reviewed here.
Does it have an automatic shut-off valve?
Reverse osmosis pressurizes tap water through the filtration membranes but once the reservoir fills, the excess filtered water goes to waste. All of the units we hand picked for review have the automatic shut-off valves, but there are cheap ones on the market without this feature. Do not buy them because the cost of wasted water in the long run will exceed your savings from the initial purchase.
Final Thoughts On What is Reverse Osmosis?
All water is expected to have traces of contamination, but choosing a great RO system will reduce the amounts to safer levels. Just because you can’t physically see with your eyes something in the water, it doesn’t mean the water is the cleanest. Invest in a great whole house reverse osmosis system and get the best water you can.