Picking the right R/O
- Thread starter jt41484
- Start date
scsinet
Active Member
Here's the thing with RO units...
The company that makes the unit almost certainly does not manufacture the resins, media, or membrane. These things are generally made by only a handful of manufacturers, and when they do, they sell to lots of RO makers, and RO makers buy from numbers of manufacturers.
In other words, if you buy a Kent or an Air/Water/Ice, or a Spectrapure, they may all contain DI resin from the same company. Conversely, if you pick any one manufacturer and buy a replacement DI cartridge for it, you may likely get resin from a different maker than resin that came with it.
So long story short, IMO, they all work pretty much the same. What I'd look for are characteristics.
- Clear canisters are very handy to get a visual look at the state of the media.
- 4 Stages (Prefilter, Carbon, RO, DI)
- Built in TDS is a nice-to-have, though a handheld meter works just as good.
Beyond that, I'd say any brand that meets those requirements will work as good as another.
The company that makes the unit almost certainly does not manufacture the resins, media, or membrane. These things are generally made by only a handful of manufacturers, and when they do, they sell to lots of RO makers, and RO makers buy from numbers of manufacturers.
In other words, if you buy a Kent or an Air/Water/Ice, or a Spectrapure, they may all contain DI resin from the same company. Conversely, if you pick any one manufacturer and buy a replacement DI cartridge for it, you may likely get resin from a different maker than resin that came with it.
So long story short, IMO, they all work pretty much the same. What I'd look for are characteristics.
- Clear canisters are very handy to get a visual look at the state of the media.
- 4 Stages (Prefilter, Carbon, RO, DI)
- Built in TDS is a nice-to-have, though a handheld meter works just as good.
Beyond that, I'd say any brand that meets those requirements will work as good as another.
wangotango
Active Member
How much water would you need weekly?
The Filter Guys, and the Air-Water-Ice units are very good and have great prices. I'm using a 75 GPD five stage Filter Guys, and I think the unit with filters, TDS meter, auto shut-off, float valve, and other miscl stuff came to around $200. Very happy with it.
What SCSI said is good; it's what's on the inside that matters, as the housings are pretty much universal.
-Justin
The Filter Guys, and the Air-Water-Ice units are very good and have great prices. I'm using a 75 GPD five stage Filter Guys, and I think the unit with filters, TDS meter, auto shut-off, float valve, and other miscl stuff came to around $200. Very happy with it.
What SCSI said is good; it's what's on the inside that matters, as the housings are pretty much universal.
-Justin
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by monkerz
http:///forum/post/2515764
I just got a RO/DI last week. I see you mention TDS. I searched ---- and see allot of differnt handheld TDS testers. Is there a difference or something I should look for in a tester?
No, even the cheap TDS testers work just fine. There is very little electronics in them... so they are difficult for manufacturers to build "wrong."
http:///forum/post/2515764
I just got a RO/DI last week. I see you mention TDS. I searched ---- and see allot of differnt handheld TDS testers. Is there a difference or something I should look for in a tester?
No, even the cheap TDS testers work just fine. There is very little electronics in them... so they are difficult for manufacturers to build "wrong."
