Building/installing a Home Tap water filtration system in Houston? (house, water heater)

[p0opstlnksal0t]

First off, can anyone recommend a licensed plumber with RO experience?

I Just wanted to know what the seasoned water purifiers here use for their personal setups? I recently bought a home in a suburban part of Houston and would like to filter out all of the pesticides, fluoride, arsenic, etc... from the tap water for drinking and cooking purposes. we will not be filtering the whole house. this will be for spigot mounted at the sink and Ill run a new line to the fridge for clean ice.

I am leaning towards running a Watts 150gpd "commercial" reverse osmosis system with a Zero waste kit plumbed back into the main home water line. The purified water post RO unit will pass through 2-3 stages of crushed sea coral re-mineralization filters I plan on setting up.

I am not sure if I should setup the RO unit in the garage, tee into the main water line and plumb the waste discharge back into the main water line. After which I will run a new potable water line from the clean side discharge of the RO unit back to the kitchen for the water dispenser spigot mounted in the sink and the water line to the fridge.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

But... why crushed sea coral? I would think that would be a bed for bacteria to grow on. You would get calcium back in the water, but you could probably drink a glass of milk, or vitamin supplements to save the hassle? I also do not think the PH of the city water is low enough to dissolve the crushed coral, you would probably have to supplement with CO2. At that rate, you might as well just add a marine CO2 reactor to your system. CO2 reactors work great for my corals.

I did my own filtration system. I use a US Filter dual tank softener so when one recharges, the system automatically switches to the other tank so the soft water is continuous. I then have a four stage R/O system in the kitchen. We take vitamins to compensate for the loss of minerals, our toothpaste provides the fluoride, and we also only give the kids bottled water with fluoride to drink instead of R/O water. I also do not put the waste back into the drains, I plumbed it outside where it waters the trees.

R/O units have very little pressure, so I'd locate it as close to where you will be using it. Most people put it under the sink, but it does take up room. If you are getting a zero waste unit, then technically you won't have that issue since you won't require a reservoir but some people put them in anyway to fill up pots, and such faster.

Finally, if you are only installing a zero waste R/O unit, then be prepare for severe CA deposits on your dishes, showers, etc. because the minerals that are stripped out of a zero waste R/O system gets recycled back into your hot water heater. Typical R/O units that do waste water send it to the drains.

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

But... why crushed sea coral? I would think that would be a bed for bacteria to grow on. You would get calcium back in the water, but you could probably drink a glass of milk, or vitamin supplements to save the hassle? I also do not think the PH of the city water is low enough to dissolve the crushed coral, you would probably have to supplement with CO2. At that rate, you might as well just add a marine CO2 reactor to your system. CO2 reactors work great for my corals.

I did my own filtration system. I use a US Filter dual tank softener so when one recharges, the system automatically switches to the other tank so the soft water is continuous. I then have a four stage R/O system in the kitchen. We take vitamins to compensate for the loss of minerals, our toothpaste provides the fluoride, and we also only give the kids bottled water with fluoride to drink instead of R/O water. I also do not put the waste back into the drains, I plumbed it outside where it waters the trees.

R/O units have very little pressure, so I'd locate it as close to where you will be using it. Most people put it under the sink, but it does take up room. If you are getting a zero waste unit, then technically you won't have that issue since you won't require a reservoir but some people put them in anyway to fill up pots, and such faster.

Finally, if you are only installing a zero waste R/O unit, then be prepare for severe CA deposits on your dishes, showers, etc. because the minerals that are stripped out of a zero waste R/O system gets recycled back into your hot water heater. Typical R/O units that do waste water send it to the drains.

From what ive researched...

One of the primary reasons R.O. water is unhealthy is because removing the minerals makes the water acidic (often well below 7.0 pH). Drinking acidic water will not help maintain a healthy pH balance in the blood, which should be slightly alkaline. [LEFT] [/LEFT] In the natural health and medical communities, acidosis in the body is considered an underlying cause of most degenerative diseases. In fact, in 1931, Dr. Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for discovering the cause of cancer. In essence, he said it was caused by a lack of cellular oxygenation due to acidosis in the body.
Medical research has also determined that drinking acidic water (as well as other acidic beverages) will often cause a leaching of essential minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, from the body, especially from the bones and teeth, in order to neutralize the acidity.

it should have no problems pulling in the calcium and 73 other trace elements available in crushed sea coral once it has gone through the RO system. it will alkalize, ionize and buffer the water if I can get enough surface area. They make crushed sea coral remineralizing filters for the big blue filter housings. RO wont get rid of volatile organic chemical (VOCs), chlorine and chloramines, pharmaceuticals, and a host of other synthetic chemicals found in municipal water. I will have to tack on some separate stages for this. We are currently trucking in our drinking water from our artesian water well we have on our property in the ozarks but making monthly trips to truck down 50 gallons of drinking water is becoming a PITA! lol.

I want to eliminate all sources of sodium fluoride our kids may possibly ingest. this water filtration setup will be a huge investment into our kids and our own health.

Im hoping to modify the zero waste kit in such a way that will allow me to plumb the zero waste kit back into the main water line coming into the house not the hot water directly at the sink...

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Ok the more I look the more I realize Im over complicating it. I just need a Watts 50gpd setup and upgrade the tank to a 14-20 gallon holding tank for higher volume use. with this smaller setup im not too worried about he waste discharge, Ill just route it into the drain lol. With the bigger tank Ill see enough volume to fill pots for cooking and large water containers for taking to work. will also route a small line under or inside the cabinets to the fridge connection.

[DSL_PWR]

watts or ispring will do the trick.

Heck a zerowater filter will work.

[p0opstlnksal0t]

It looks like the APEC system is about as best quality as I can find. 100% american made with american made filters. 90gpd setup, 14 gallon tank, diaphragm pump that runs off of drain suction for added water pressure at the RO clean water discharge, 3/8" fittings not 1/4" with the fridge water hookup kit for 600 bucks shipped. I will add a 4.5x20 Big Blue filter housing filled with crushed coral for remineralization post RO unit. Im also thinking using a few of these filter housings in the garage at the main water coming into the house, maybe a carbon block or some form of carbon filter for VOC and Chlorine removal of the whole house. This will not get rid of the sodium fluoride and pharmaceuticals, etc but it will lower the VOC's and chlorine for bathing and plant watering.