OT: Filter vs R/O

Anyone have views about which is best for drinking water... multi-stage filters or R/O? ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Jim Thompson
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You're in solar country, where a solar distillery is both cost effective and practical. In your area, my guess(tm) is 2-3 gallons per day from a small backyard still, which should be enough for cooking, drinking, and chemistry experiments.

I have a small multi-stage, stainless can, drinking water filter thing somewhere. I ripped it out after I discovered that the filters cost about $85/ea and only last about 250 gallons. The flow rate was also really slow. Filling a tea kettle took much longer than my patience would allow. I eventually resorted to pre-filling a gallon plastic container, and dispensing the water from it.

I'm now looking at multi-stage filters with separate cartridges for removing the rocks, and another for taste (activated charcoal). The local water is clean enough that I don't worry about bugs. Hopefully, that design will also be cheaper.

I also had an odd problem with the filter. I washed the stainless parts with acetic acid (vinegar). No problem except that everything taste like vinegar for the first 100 or so gallons. Also, when installing a new filter, I'm expected to flush about 50 gallons through the filter before it's happy. No thanks.

When you settle on a filter or filter type, you'll find various online charts for different types of filter cartridges, including multi-stage. Some simple filters (i.e. Pur) simply remove the rocks (euphemistically called sediment). Others a sub-micron filters and will remove bacteria.

The problem with reverse osmosis is that it draws 500 watts when running and therefore can cost too much in electricity. The main benefit to RO systems is the high capacity, which you probably don't need. There are also a few consumables (chemicals) that add to the cost. When you blow out a membrane, say goodbye to about $150. RO is nice, but methinks overkill for just drinking water.

Run your own numbers for reverse osmosis and see where you land: Also, cleaning out the tanks with vinegar every 90 days is not my idea of fun.

Comparison of various water filters:

If you can't decide, there are filters that will filter almost anything. Here's a 7 stage system that includes reverse osmosis:

If bugs in the water are a problem, you might also look into UV water purifiers, which are sometimes built into the filtering system, but more often a separate cartridge or assembly. Except for camping, I have no experience with UV:

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

R/O Unless you like to add minerals for taste, then the multistage filters will do that for you.

R/O will also filter out most of the bacteria. If the filter isnt perfect, then some bateria will get thru. I guess it's practical for the smaller sink top drinking taps.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

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