Table-Top Reverse Osmosis Water Filters

[Ron Resnick]

About 10 years ago I had installed an under-sink Culligan reverse osmosis ("RO") water filter system in my kitchen of the house that is being repaired. It was quite nice to have pure water readily accessible from a simple tap on the kitchen sink counter.

One day I came home to find my entire kitchen and part of the adjacent living room and part of the adjacent listening room flooded with water. Some part on the Culligan water filter broke and flooded the whole place.

I later learned that Culligan manufactured new reverse osmosis water systems with an additional five dollar part -- that would have prevented the flood I experienced. Unfortunately Culligan didn't bother to retrofit with this part systems already in the field.

After that pretty horrible experience I switched to bottled RO water.

It turns out that in the ensuing 10 years several companies have come up with completely self-contained, table-top, AC-powered reverse osmosis water filter machines.

We just received our SimPure Y6 RO/UV water filter machine. Although made in China, it looks like a pretty nice and well-made machine. And it seems to work quite well!

Several other table-top RO machines look more sophisticated and achieve better spec'ed RO filtration, but Tinka wanted a water filter which has a UV filter to kill any viruses in the water. This device claims to have that function.

Does anyone have any experience with table-top RO water filter machines?

 

[rugyboogie]

Bummer about the flood.
No experience with counter top reverse osmosis.

In the homes that I build we use "water bugs" that we install at all locations where we have a water supply. The water bug is connected to the alarm system and is place on the floor with it's metal contacts on the floor. If water is present on the floor the circuit is closed and house alarm is then activated. On more expensive homes it triggers a selonoid valve that shuts down the water main and also drains down the residual pressure so the the house water lines aren't under pressure.
As the value of the homes insurance company are happy to see this installed.

We only install full house water filtration so that all the water in the home is filtered.
Takes up some real estate in the mechanical room but having water anywhere in the house that is clean and showers with no chlorine smell is a bonus.
We typically have the water tested at the home's location and build the filter according to the test results. Main filter is on a timer so that the filter gets back washed every three days. Water always finds a path of least resistance and the filter is resettled to provide some resistance for the water flow to get filtered.
When we have heavy rain fall for many days we may have turbidity leading to a boil water warning advisory. UV filter on the system looks after this issue.
Take care and be safe.
Mike

 

[Alrainbow]

I have used reverse osmosis for many years. I got into it when I got my first large marine tank 600 gallons.
In my homes I use a two stage pre filter and reverse osmosis in kitchen only. I have never had a leak. But I do get your pain. to me a tank means I need to fill it this is like my espresso machine. It’s just annoying. Next if it does not have a filtered water tank it is just so slow I can’t deal with it. If a water filter is fast but small it’s not doing what’s needed.
you could install the filter system in your garage and have a pan and leak sensor in it. a 5 or 7 cart setup is better as it’s much faster in recovery. a tank is a must if you ask me to have a fast fill. Mine is a 5 gallon I made Cust. Most are 1 gallon.

 

[Alrainbow]

Bummer about the flood.
No experience with counter top reverse osmosis.

In the homes that I build we use "water bugs" that we install at all locations where we have a water supply. The water bug is connected to the alarm system and is place on the floor with it's metal contacts on the floor. If water is present on the floor the circuit is closed and house alarm is then activated. On more expensive homes it triggers a selonoid valve that shuts down the water main and also drains down the residual pressure so the the house water lines aren't under pressure.
As the value of the homes insurance company are happy to see this installed.

We only install full house water filtration so that all the water in the home is filtered.
Takes up some real estate in the mechanical room but having water anywhere in the house that is clean and showers with no chlorine smell is a bonus.
We typically have the water tested at the home's location and build the filter according to the test results. Main filter is on a timer so that the filter gets back washed every three days. Water always finds a path of least resistance and the filter is resettled to provide some resistance for the water flow to get filtered.
When we have heavy rain fall for many days we may have turbidity leading to a boil water warning advisory. UV filter on the system looks after this issue.
Take care and be safe.
Mike

UV is not a cure all and in fact there is no way would use it to clean contaminated pottible water. yes under certain conditions it stops reproduction of certain given bac and viral and parasites. But each needs it’s own exposure and intensity.
We are told to boil water to kill only and it does not remove chemicals if water supply is contaminated.

 

[Bobvin]

Ron, please ring me or PM me, I have been in the water purification business for several decades, making my own systems for two decades, including countertop reverse osmosis + deionization systems.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron, please ring me or PM me, I have been in the water purification business for several decades, making my own systems for two decades, including countertop reverse osmosis + deionization systems.

Thank you, Bob.

Which counter-top, self-contained reverse osmosis product do you like?

 

[Bobvin]

UV is a sterilization technique, not purification. It interrupts RnA + DNA so cells are unable to reproduce, you still get to drink the little bug bodies. The RNA + DNA are often what causes the bodies inflammatory immune response (pyrotoxins). Better to remove any bacteria, cyst, or virus. Reverse osmosis alone in not considered a failsafe and why all such systems come with EPA mandated disclaimer “must be used on microbiologically safe water or with adequate pre- or -post disinfection.” (e.g. UV light)

Our systems all include .2 micron absolute filtration to ensure 99.999% bacteria, cyst, and virus removal, nad why we are exempt from above mandated disclaimer.

 

[Bobvin]

Thank you, Bob.

Which counter-top, self-contained reverse osmosis product do you like?

https://www.purewatersystems.com/bev100.php

(Forgive my websites’ current un-secure warnings, our digital cert expired and is being renewed. ISP issues!)

 

[Bobvin]

We do use UV on our commercial lab systems, but only because those applications require redundancy. We use .2 micron absolute filters as well. (Absolute vs nominal filters is important, nominal typically says we get rid of >85 - 90%, where absolute ensure >99% removal.)