i've been hearing that RO filters result in acidic water which is not healthy to drink. i'm on well water where i live and the landlord installed an RO system for the drinking water due to the smell from the well water. i'm wondering if there's some low cost way to make the filtered water more alkaline w/o buying some pricey gadget. any suggestions much appreciated. thanks susan
igor
12-13-2008, 08:06 AM
My wife and I did extensive research on water filtration when we lived in Phoenix. Our research confirmed that in fact RO filters do not serve you for optimum health. To our surprise the best water filters are available from Culligan. I recommend that you NOT get a water softener however. The solutions are different if you own or rent. If you rent, Culligan will deliver a full-house filter for $33/mo. There may be a modest installation fee. We owned our house in Phoenix and bought a sink filter for about $300 which required changing the filters (as I recall) approx. 1/per year or so. The full house filter was permanently installed (as vs. changed out monthly) and charged about $30/mo. Again, modest initial installation fee. Call you local Culligan man (I'm not the Culligan guy, have no connection whatsoever to the company, BTW). I was simply surprised to learn that Culligan full house filters are the best. They will try to sell you a water softening system with it, but don't get it.
MsTerry
12-13-2008, 08:22 AM
Can you give us the info, showing that RO filters are dangerous to our health?
My wife and I did extensive research on water filtration when we lived in Phoenix. Our research confirmed that in fact RO filters do not serve you for optimum health. To our surprise the best water filters are available from Culligan. I recommend that you NOT get a water softener however. The solutions are different if you own or rent. If you rent, Culligan will deliver a full-house filter for $33/mo. There may be a modest installation fee. We owned our house in Phoenix and bought a sink filter for about $300 which required changing the filters (as I recall) approx. 1/per year or so. The full house filter was permanently installed (as vs. changed out monthly) and charged about $30/mo. Again, modest initial installation fee. Call you local Culligan man (I'm not the Culligan guy, have no connection whatsoever to the company, BTW). I was simply surprised to learn that Culligan full house filters are the best. They will try to sell you a water softening system with it, but don't get it.
Bryan
12-13-2008, 10:35 AM
I have a well that has iron. 250 feet deep in south side of Sebastopol.
I added a 2 stage filter, first a calcite filter. That normalizes the PH. I recharge it every year or so. It backwashes, has a gravel bed, very simple.
The second is a normal salt based water softener. I use potassium salt to reduce our sodium load. It has the brine tank, injector, does backwash.
Take a look at the calcite to balance the PH. It works, isn't that expensive, and simpler than RO.
No problems with these filters per se.
I have had a well for past 20 years. If you have a well, it is worthwhile to learn about filters and take charge of maintaining them yourself. You can save a lot of money buying parts over the internet.
igor
12-14-2008, 03:30 PM
Can you give us the info, showing that RO filters are dangerous to our health?
I just did a quick search and located this site which contained the main issues that made sense to us. RO is a somewhat controversial topic as all of the RO mfgs and adherents of course are busy supporting RO.
The biggest point I saw is that RO does not take out pesticides, etc.
Here's the link: https://ezinearticles.com/?The-Good-and-Ugly-Facts-About-Reverse-Osmosis-Water-Filter-Treatment-Systems&id=1364815
C Tut
12-15-2008, 01:55 PM
I saw this thread and thought I'd take the opportunity to ask a question. I just moved into a rental house in the country where we are on well water. I do not know much about filters, but do know that our house has a culligan one. I have noticed that our watery is incredibly sippery soft, and it is difficult to wash all the soap off our dishes or shampoo out of our hair, etc. I have never experienced this before, as I all the wells I have known had very hard mineraly water. i am wondering how safe the water is to drink. Our landlord has expressed that the filter we have is a rteally good system, but I'd like to find out how to test the water myself. Anyone have any tips?
spam1
12-16-2008, 12:37 PM
Where I used to live we had a small community water system. Before the law changed, we had to test about 1 a year (later, we had to test once a month so we contracted out the testing), and I found that you could bring the water into the sonoma county water agency on Chanate, for about 18 dollars. They do a total coliform and ecoli, which is all you care about for contamination. For other stuff, there are water companies that will test hardness, or try buck stoves store on college and duttton, who test water for pools. Call first to see if you need to get a container from them.
I saw this thread and thought I'd take the opportunity to ask a question. I just moved into a rental house in the country where we are on well water. I do not know much about filters, but do know that our house has a culligan one. I have noticed that our watery is incredibly sippery soft, and it is difficult to wash all the soap off our dishes or shampoo out of our hair, etc. I have never experienced this before, as I all the wells I have known had very hard mineraly water. i am wondering how safe the water is to drink. Our landlord has expressed that the filter we have is a rteally good system, but I'd like to find out how to test the water myself. Anyone have any tips?
eyemusic
12-16-2008, 12:38 PM
another downside to RO is that the process uses a great deal of water relative to the amount of purified water it produces.
eyemusic
I saw this thread and thought I'd take the opportunity to ask a question. I just moved into a rental house in the country where we are on well water. I do not know much about filters, but do know that our house has a culligan one. I have noticed that our watery is incredibly sippery soft, and it is difficult to wash all the soap off our dishes or shampoo out of our hair, etc. I have never experienced this before, as I all the wells I have known had very hard mineraly water. i am wondering how safe the water is to drink. Our landlord has expressed that the filter we have is a rteally good system, but I'd like to find out how to test the water myself. Anyone have any tips?
igor
12-17-2008, 06:17 AM
I saw this thread and thought I'd take the opportunity to ask a question. I just moved into a rental house in the country where we are on well water. I do not know much about filters, but do know that our house has a culligan one. I have noticed that our watery is incredibly sippery soft, and it is difficult to wash all the soap off our dishes or shampoo out of our hair, etc. I have never experienced this before, as I all the wells I have known had very hard mineraly water. i am wondering how safe the water is to drink. Our landlord has expressed that the filter we have is a rteally good system, but I'd like to find out how to test the water myself. Anyone have any tips?
The reason that your dishes feel slippery is because Culligan has installed a water softener. When we installed our filters from Culligan, they usually sold them WITH the water softener. They were quite surprised that we chose to install ONLY the whole house filter (a unit that resembles a water softener) without the water softener. Our main interest was to be able to take a shower without the chlorinated water (sensitive skin and body). Our other objective was to remove as much other "stuff" from the water as possible including chemicals, pesticides, etc. We therefore also purchased their under-sink filter which provided even more capability than the whole house filter. This was most definitely NOT an RO unit.
I don't know the chemistry, but a water softener will definitely make you feel slippery in the shower, and all of the effects you've experienced. A water softener is not a filter and only takes what is perceived to be "hard minerals" out of the water, to the best of my knowledge.
Bryan
12-20-2008, 10:14 AM
The basic salt injection water softener is used for 'hard' water. You will need to use MUCH LESS soap and detergent than you are used to using with these systems. They do an ion replacement with sodium or potassium depending upon type of salt used. Potassium is more expensive , but used if you drink your tap water to reduce additional sodium input.
Most filters can be adjusted for amount of salt used based upon how much water the house uses. The transfer of salt is done to replace ions already in the water, and AFAIK, isn't done to excess. More salt may be used if the well water is turbid (cloudy). Other filters can reduce that issue.
There may be other filtration going on with the model installed. Culligan has combination filters for iron or sulfur that are basically 2 stage filters.
The filter you have probably does salt injection and may do other filtration depending on what issues there were in the plain sample from the well.
You can find information at their website:
https://culligan.com
(https://culligan.com)
For water testing, you should contact a laboratory - I have used Brjele and Race in Santa Rosa for 20 years for my house well.
Brelje & Race Lab., Inc
https://www.brce.com/
I recommend just going over for a visit and talking with them. They can offer advice on different tests available for water. Basic tests include sulfite, bacteriological, turbidity, iron, etc. Generally, with the filter, they would take the test at the well head before the filter , rather than after the filter.
I recommend American Water Treatment if you are unsure or want someone honest to sell you a system. Jerry is the owner and really does a great job of giving advice. As a renter, though, you may not be in the position to buy anything without your landlords' help or approval.
Its good to know from your landlord if he/she has done recent tests as you don't need generally to repeat them unless they showed higher than recommended levels. You may want to ask the landlord to pay for testing if there are clear issues with the water.
In wet weather, some wells change with more turbidity and therefore probably biological contamination. In Sebastopol , there are a lot of wells with iron, with sulfite (due to chicken farms), and with bacteriological contamination. So its hard to say what tests you should try. Also, if Culligan is doing a monthly maintenance, they may have a testing plan in place and you may be able to get that information from them without paying the laboratory.
Good luck! I believe its really important for well users to know as much as possible about the source of their water and how to keep it healthy.
The reason that your dishes feel slippery is because Culligan has installed a water softener. When we installed our filters from Culligan, they usually sold them WITH the water softener. They were quite surprised that we chose to install ONLY the whole house filter (a unit that resembles a water softener) without the water softener. Our main interest was to be able to take a shower without the chlorinated water (sensitive skin and body). Our other objective was to remove as much other "stuff" from the water as possible including chemicals, pesticides, etc. We therefore also purchased their under-sink filter which provided even more capability than the whole house filter. This was most definitely NOT an RO unit.
I don't know the chemistry, but a water softener will definitely make you feel slippery in the shower, and all of the effects you've experienced. A water softener is not a filter and only takes what is perceived to be "hard minerals" out of the water, to the best of my knowledge.