What is Reverse Osmosis & Do You Need It at Home?

This post is sponsored by Waterdrop. All content and opinions are my own.

Are you sick of buying tons of water bottles for drinking water because you just don’t trust your well or public water? Trust me, I get it! We have been there, done that! For years, we dreamed of a better way. We thought something as intricate as an RO water system was out of reach due to difficult installations or price, but it doesn’t have to be! Thanks to the Waterdop G3 RO System.

The truth is, tap water is the cheapest and most accessible drinking water we have available to us today. However, due to poor quality water sources and treatment techniques, tap water might not be your first choice for drinking. The reasons might range from bad taste to the fear of chemicals like chlorine, fluoride, or contaminants like lead.

Whatever the case, a Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System can be your answer to clean, pure drinking water without a huge price sacrifice! This article will fill you in on what exactly Reverse Osmosis is, and how it could benefit your life—plus, learn about our new favorite kitchen gadget! 

What is Reverse Osmosis (RO)?

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a form of water purification that passes water through a semipermeable membrane. The process removes and/or reduces many unwanted dissolved solids from the water. This includes 1000’s of contaminants like fluoride, chloride, salts, lead, microorganisms, and bacterial endotoxin.

A reverse osmosis filter simply won’t work by itself, however. The membrane filter would clog very quickly if the water wasn’t pre-filtered first. That’s why any reverse osmosis filter must be part of a proper system.

Types Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems

Water purification systems, like reverse osmosis, vary greatly in design. Much of this is determined by the quality of the water to be purified and to what degree purification is required.

Medical water systems like the ones I used to work on as a Manufacturing Engineer will have several stages of filtration prior to activated carbon and multiple RO membranes for high volume water production. These systems usually include a UV light and a deionization (DI) stage after RO to purify the water even further. This type of water is not suitable for drinking because it’s so void of minerals that it could absorb them from your own body!

A typical home reverse osmosis system consists of an activated carbon filter, sediment filter, and RO membrane filter. Home reverse osmosis systems can be sized to supply water to your whole house, or to fit under your sink for drinking water only.

Unless you have very contaminated water, I can’t think of a reason why you would need a whole house reverse osmosis system. Due to the nature of the filtration process, a lot of water is rejected down the drain. A typical RO system will reject water at a 4:1 ratio. In other words, for every 1 gallon of RO water, you will have sent 4 gallons down the drain. You wouldn’t want to wash your clothes with such valuable water, would you?

An under sink system is perfect in that the water produced is used for the most important use of water – drinking.

The Best Under Sink RO System

The best under sink RO system (in our opinion) is the Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System by Waterdrop G3 model. “Why” you ask? I’d be glad to answer!

One of our favorite features of the Waterdrop G3 RO system is its tankless design. You see, traditional RO systems (even systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars) use a tank to collect the purified water. They then send the water to the faucet (or for additional processing) from there.

Most traditional RO systems use a tank is because it takes a long time to produce the purified water. Remember the 4:1 ratio I mentioned in the last section? These systems produce water while not in use throughout the day just to fill the tank. This is because they would be too slow to fill a glass of water on demand.

The Waterdrop G3 RO system only works when you open the faucet to fill a glass, tea kettle, coffee pot, or whatever you want.

The advantages of a tankless reverse osmosis system include:

• Less space is taken under your sink;
• Faster water flow; and
• No risk of the tank becoming contaminated with mold or bacteria.

Waterdrop Reverse Osmosis is Fast

The flow rate of the Waterdrop G3 RO system is 400 GPD (gallons per day). This equals 1 cup of water in about 12 seconds. Compared to other RO systems, this is about twice as fast!

Realtime TDS Readings

Another great feature of the Waterdrop G3 RO system is the realtime TDS measurement it displays on the system housing while it’s working. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. It’s a simple measurement of the level of contamination in water. TDS won’t tell you what’s exactly in your water, but it’s a simple way of telling how much general stuff is in it.

Do You Need Reverse Osmosis?

Now that you know a lot more about what a reverse osmosis system is and how it works, the biggest question is do you need one at home? The answer is – you probably don’t need one, but you probably should want one…

If you live in a city or town that supplies water to its residents, it’s almost definitely treated at the local water treatment facility by reverse osmosis. This doesn’t mean that the water coming out of your tap is pure, however! Water treatment also includes the addition of chemicals, plus the water is distributed to homes via many miles of often old pipes containing various heavy metal and bacterial contamination.

A home reverse osmosis system will go a long way in significantly reducing the chemical and microorganism burden on your tap water. For these reasons, we believe RO water provides a great advantage.

One of the disadvantages of reverse osmosis is that it’s so good at removing contaminants from ordinary water, it also removes beneficial micro-minerals. These same minerals are usually missing from municipal water and bottled water as well, so you’re better off getting them from elsewhere anyway. Taking a supplement or using sea salt on your food may be a good way to get micro-minerals you might be missing from your water.

How Much Water Contaminants Can Reverse Osmosis Remove?

The reduction of water contaminants is usually measured in something called log-reduction. For example, a 3 log reduction of a sample of water with 1,000 CFU (colony forming units) of bacteria will result in 1 CFU. A reverse osmosis system should be capable of a 2 – 4 log reduction depending on the type and condition of the system.

In other words, having an RO system in your home can greatly reduce your consumption of harmful contaminants in your drinking water. Therefore, we think it’s a good thing to own one!

How to Install The Waterdrop RO System

Installing an under sink RO system is not difficult in most cases. If you already have a extra hole in your sink or countertop for something like a soap-dispenser, your installation will be really simple. However, if you don’t have an extra 1-3/8 inch diameter hole, you’ll have to make one.

You can see the full installation of the Waterdrop Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System in our video below. This includes cutting the hole into our granite counter-top.

General Installation Steps

If you want see the details, watch the video. If you’re just interested in the general steps, here they are:

1. If there’s no available 1-3/8″ hole, mark out a suitable location on the counter-top and cut the hole using a 1-3/8″ hole saw. If your counter-top is a hard stone like granite, quartz, or concrete, you’ll need a diamond tip hole saw.
2. Assemble and install the faucet into the 1-3/8″ hole.
3. Connect white 1/4″ tubing to under-faucet.
4. Connect the feed water adapter to your cold water line.
5. Drill 1/4″ hole through 1-wall of a vertical section of your PVC drain pipe.
6. Install the included drain saddle with the red 1/4″ tubing inserted .6″ into the drain pipe.
7. Place the system housing under the sink.
8. Attach the tubing and power cord to the back of the system housing.
9. Insert the filters into their respective locations.
10. Open the valve on the feed water adapter to allow water into the system.
11. Plug the system into an AC outlet (yes you need AC power under the sink).
12. Follow directions to flush the system.

The install is easy to do yourself. Alternatively, you could hire a handyman to perform the install if you don’t feel comfortable drilling holes or of you don’t already have a power receptacle under your sink.

Conclusion

We love our Waterdrop Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System. It fits perfectly under the sink without sacrificing much space at all. It is quiet and produces water really fast.

If you want an affordable reverse osmosis system for your home and don’t want to fuss with a tank, we recommend Waterdrop. You can purchase or learn more about their reverse osmosis water filtration system by visiting this link.

Check out the Waterdrop Filter Water Pitcher