Water softener *and* filter?

[Christopher Nelson]

We have really awful municipal water and a water softener that results in OK wash water but terrible tasting drinking water. Even using a Brita pitcher doesn't make the water any where near as good tasting as buying bottled water. But I'm sick of the expense and trouble of hauling a case of bottled water home from the grocery store every week and I'm considering a water filter, a reverse osmosis system, I imagine and I'm left wondering, if the RO filter takes all the stuff out of the water, do I still need a softener?

[Oren]

An excellent link:

-- Oren

"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"

[Unrevealed Source]

A typical consumer-grade RO will result in very pure water. If you're buying Aquafina or similar brand of bottled water, that's what you're drinking.

HOWEVER, they are typically installed under the kitchen sink and only used for drinking/cooking water, not the whole house. You're only going to get about 3 gallons per day out of it. That doesn't sound like much, but is actually plenty for most families. Of course you can "bank" it as needed and store it in the fridge. They will install a separate little tap just for the RO water - you won't be getting it out of your regular kitchen faucet.

They are somewhat expensive, but worth it in the long run. The caveat is that if you have hard or dirty water, you may want to install the water softener and particulate filter also. Otherwise the filters in the RO system will need much more frequent replacement, which of course increases your cost.

[news]

absolutely not... a good filter from Culligan will only waste a gallon of water for a gallon made

[Gary Slusser]

It's the things in water that give water a good or bad taste. A distiller or an RO gives you the highest quality of water but... if you do not have a proven need for an RO, then I say go with an undercounter 2 stage drinking water filter. They use an RO faucet and give you all but full line pressure while taking up less space than an RO. A proven need is like arsenic, nitrates etc. in the water that are health related problems. All ROs use the same cartridges as the 2 stage so you'll spend a lot less money anf there's no waste or expensive membrane to replace. The membrane reduces many things found in water but doesn't remove all of anything. An RO will usually require a softener to remove hardness, iron and any manganese and the RO water usually is described as flat or tasteless. A filter doesn't do that. I use a 5 mic prefilter and a high quality carbon block with a swivel long reach RO faucet.

As to RO wasting water... all kinds if things use water to be made. We don't look at that water as wasted anymore than our shower water or eering the lawn oe washing the vehicle. Why do we see it as wasted water when we use water to make water into very high quality water then? I think we waste A LOT of water watrering lawns and plants, showers more frequently than once a day, washing vehicles, bathing pets each week on'n on but.. we keep doing it and the day is coming fairly soon we will be paying much more for water than we have been because there ain't any new water being made anywhere. What we got is what we get. Anyway... enjoy it while it lasts and conserve what you can, it will last longer.

Gary Quality Water Associates