Reverse Osmosis Water Filters - The Danger of Using Reverse Osmosis Filters For Pure Drinking Water

The reverse osmosis water filter was an amazing invention. The majority of the water on this planet is salt-water, undrinkable. The correct reverse osmosis filter can remove the salt and make it drinkable.

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That being said, reverse osmosis filters have been touted as the best purification system for home use and that is simply not true. If your source is dirty, salty or full of debris, then that may be the case, but, on its own, a reverse osmosis water filter does not make it safe to drink. Additional steps are needed to accomplish that task. Let's look at how the reverse osmosis filter works.

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A liquid under high pressure is forced through a porous membrane. Anything heavier or molecularly larger than the liquid is removed. Anything smaller or lighter passes through with the liquid.

Reverse osmosis filters are used in kidney dialysis machines to clean the blood. They are good at de-mineralizing for industrial applications that require it to prevent equipment corrosion and wear. And, as mentioned they can remove salt, which is heavier and molecularly denser or larger. Those things are great, but not enough to purify.

In order to purify, a reverse osmosis water filter must be followed by disinfection, carbon filtration and re-mineralization. You probably recognize that drinking bacteria filled water is unhealthy. It typically causes gastrointestinal illnesses, similar to the stomach flu. In most cases chlorine or some other chemical is used to kill bacteria.

Carbon filtration is necessary to remove the chlorine and other chemical contaminants. More than 2400 have been found in ground-water. All of them cause cancer. So, activated carbon granules are a step that cannot be skipped.

Re-mineralization is only necessary when a reverse osmosis filter or distillation is used. Drinking de-mineralized causes digestive disorders and is bad for your health. So, the "re" mineralization step is necessary to make the fluids healthy.

A reverse osmosis water filter for the home costs at least ,000. It takes a long time to clean even a gallon of water. For every gallon that it cleans, as many as five become waste-water. Some people use the wastewater for plants or irrigation purposes, but most people realize that it isn't even good for the garden.

A reverse osmosis filter is easily torn and requires a lot of maintenance. They are prone to manufacturing defects, so they may not even do the job that they are supposed to do.

Reverse osmosis filters require electricity to work properly. It is needed to pressurize and pump. Thus, it increases electricity bills and adds to the natural resources used.

All in all, you may see that while a reverse osmosis water filter is great for some purposes, it is not the best choice for most of us. Treatment facilities make sure that what comes out of our tap is clear and bacteria free. We have to worry about chemicals, drugs, hormones, weed killers, bug sprays and other chemicals that a reverse osmosis filter will not remove. Those are the facts. The choice is yours.

Reverse Osmosis Water Filters - The Danger of Using Reverse Osmosis Filters For Pure Drinking Water

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Six Disadvantages of Reverse Osmosis

Are there many disadvantages of reverse osmosis, also known as, RO? Does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink for everyone? The answer to the first is yes, to the second, the answer would be it makes it "safer", but without additional steps, not really safe. Greater detail follows. Some people say the disadvantages of reverse osmosis outweigh the advantages. In some cases, it is a good choice. It is really the attempt to make it acceptable for home use that has failed, unless your source is questionable or you have a salt-water well.

osmosis water filter

De-mineralization is one of the disadvantages of reverse osmosis, when you look at it from a health standpoint. It has industrial applications, but for drinking purposes it is not the best choice. Studies have shown that drinking distilled water, which also de-mineralizes, leads to nutritional deficiencies and stomach problems. So if you think about it, the answer to does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink, might be, maybe safer depending on your source, but not healthy for drinking. Waste is another of the disadvantages of reverse osmosis. This is shown by the fact that for every one gallon that is cleaned, anywhere from half a gallon to five gallons are wasted.

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This is one of the biggest disadvantages of reverse osmosis, when you think of it from an environmental or financial standpoint. It is also a waste of electricity, which runs up the financial cost. Installation, maintenance and operation costs are all higher than other more efficient systems. Let's get back to does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink, for a moment. What are the problems that exist in our world today? What toxins are we faced with? We have created an arsenal of synthetic chemical compounds that, after being put into use, were found to cause cancer. Everything in the environment eventually ends up in the groundwater. RO units do not have the ability to remove most chemical contaminants. If you have a problem with lead or other heavy metals, then it will block those.

If the mineral content in your area creates an alkaline pH or hard water problems, then RO may help. But, when it comes to chemicals, the answer to does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink, is no. Additional steps, such as carbon filtration, must be used to remove chemicals and improve safety. When it comes to hard-water or improper pH levels, RO removes all of the minerals, so yes, water is softer. However, additional steps must be taken to balance pH and typically to re-mineralize. There are better solutions for hardness. Ion exchange, for example, exchanges some of the harder minerals for softer ones and balances the pH level in a single step. It requires no electricity and there is little, if any, waste. Another of the disadvantages of reverse osmosis has to do with contamination with bacteria and cysts. The answer to does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink by removing bacteria and cysts is a simple "no".

The system does not disinfect, so either chemical or UV treatment must be used to kill bacteria. A cyst is a bacterium during the spore stage of development. It is very light and cannot be blocked by RO membranes. Only micron filtration will remove cysts. If ingested, they can grow inside the intestinal tract and become full blown parasites. Cryptosporidium is one such parasite that has caused illness and, in some cases, death, in this country. The treatment facilities can't get rid of them. Efforts have been made to protect reservoirs from farm run-off, which is prone to contain the parasites, but there is still no guarantee. So you see, the answer to does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink, is not for the most part. There are some particles that it can remove and it's good for desalinizing, but other than that, the disadvantages of reverse osmosis are too many to make it a good choice for your home.

Six Disadvantages of Reverse Osmosis

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Should You Purchase a GE Reverse Osmosis Water System?

What is the technology behind the GE reverse osmosis water system? Is it really the best drinking water filtration system money can buy? Maybe you won't think so after you have read this article.
A GE reverse osmosis water purification system uses a semi-permeable membrane for reverse osmosis. This membrane separates two water chambers, one with untreated water under pressure, and one with purified water.

osmosis membrane

Water molecules and other molecules that are smaller in size than water molecules move through the membrane to the purified side of the membrane. This blocks contaminants whose molecular size is greater than water, such as organic compounds and biological contaminants. Unfortunately it also removes minerals from the water. It turns out that those minerals are actually good for you! We humans are designed to drink water that naturally contains minerals. Our bodies rely on them for our continued good health. In fact, the world health organization warns against the health risks from implementing water desalination treatment systems that completely de-mineralize seawater water. De-mineralized water does not contain adequate levels of some essential nutrients.

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Another concern is that the GE reverse osmosis water membrane does not remove contaminants that have a smaller molecular size than water, such as chlorine and the related contaminants trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). Chlorine, THMs and HAAs are thought by the EPA to cause cancer and other adverse health effects. So to get around this drawback the GE reverse osmosis filters contains two additional carbon filters to remove these and other contaminants that aren't removed by reverse osmosis.

You can purchase a stand-alone carbon filtration system for a fraction of the cost of a GE reverse osmosis water filter system. Stand-alone carbon filtration systems leave essential mineral nutrients in the water where they belong. And it turns out that carbon filtration systems are very good at removing the contaminants that are removed by reverse osmosis, as well as contaminants that are not, such as chlorine, THMs and HAAs.

So you have to ask yourself, why bother with the reverse osmosis part of the process when it results in de-mineralized water? Why pay for the extra step of reverse osmosis when a carbon filtration system does the same thing? Those are very good questions. I guess the answer is, GE reverse osmosis filters are not worth the investment when you can get high quality filtered water using carbon-filtered water purification systems.

Should You Purchase a GE Reverse Osmosis Water System?

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Osmosis Truly Works in Education

Students are funny. Sometimes they grasp a concept but don't quite get it right. It happens that way all the time. Take for example the scientific term, osmosis. Sometime early in school, most students learn this word and take ownership of it, but the problem is that they learn it incorrectly. How many times have you joked yourself, or heard one of your children say something along the lines of, "I'm just going to put it under my pillow and learn by osmosis," when they have a test or quiz coming up? We laugh about it, and realize that of course we don't learn anything by sleeping on the material, but we've missed the point of osmosis, haven't we. In a true sense, osmosis does work in learning, but it's all about the movement!

osmosis filter

You see, when students use osmosis this way, they are implying a lack of activity. They are implying that it will "just happen" by having the information near to their brains. They suggest that they don't have to "do" anything. Of course they know that it won't really work, and they're just being silly, but they're focusing on inactivity, when in fact, osmosis is all about the activity. In its most pure form, osmosis means movement across a barrier. That is going to take some action. Movement is physical and active. It will require some effort or a change in position. In order for osmosis to take place, from a scientific perspective, something has to change and move from one side to another, across a barrier.

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So, too, we find that to be true in education. Whether you are a student or a teacher, learning in a homeschool, a private school, or a public school, you must change your relationship to the information you are learning by taking it in, processing it, and doing the work involved to master its content. So often our students fail to learn because they fail to "do." Learning will require some effort - more effort for some students in some subject areas than others, but nonetheless, effort.

Does your student know how to study? How to learn? How to manipulate material into learning systems that can be used for making the information meaningful, applicable, and practical? Education must be about giving our students tools to use that will work on any subject if we truly want to teach and educate our students. It is not always about the content. Take the meaning of "osmosis" for example. The actual content of the term has been lost for many, many students because they looked for a "practical" application to the term and misapplied it. While they joke about an application that isn't quite true, they did learn a shade of the word because it mattered to them. It had relevance.

Be sure that your student is getting help in true learning, finding relevance, and implementing methods that will help them achieve learning for any project or study that they take on. With the right learning tools and appropriate learning activities, any subject can be learned and information can be moved from the page, across the barrier of our brains, and into significance - through the correct application of osmosis!

Osmosis Truly Works in Education

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Reverse Osmosis and Deionized Water Filtration

Let's face it if you are in a business needing de-ionized water or reverse osmosis water you are always concerned about the quality of your water. I know as a mobile detailing business that when we have ultra clean water in our tanks we are a happy camper. We know it will make your job so much easier. We also like the idea and concept of spot free water. Have you ever considered how Reverse Osmosis really works? Let me describe the process from my industries perspective.

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In R.O. water pressure forces water through a fine membrane that filters out between 85-95% of the dissolved solids in the water. Water lacking these solids won't water spot a car. It's important to have soft water filter inline the R.O. system prior to R.O. Some systems have a water softener/carbon filter/R.O. system in that order. This saves life on the R.O. membranes. R.O. units are measured in gallons per day (GPD) because there flow is relatively slow. Usually they run twenty-four hours a day and the water is put into a storage tank to be used later. Small R.O. units that cost between ,500 and ,000 put out 4 gpm. To go to 10 gpm, the speed at which you'd want to fill your tank, the cost of those units starts at ,000.

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Car washes need units that make between 500 to 1000 gallons a day for the rinse cyles. A small unit will work because 4 GPM (gallons per minute) X 60 minutes is 240 gallons. So, in four hours at night when the car wash isn't being used, they will have one thousand plus gallons. The only problem for them is that a thousand gallon tank is five feet wide and eight feet tall.

An R.O. machine works best when it's running clean water through it. Otherwise, the membranes let nature take over. Then you have not reverse osmosis but osmosis. It's better to have a small machine running twenty-four hours a day than a big machine running two hours and then shutting off. R.O. membranes should have a constant positive flow through them. Some industry leaders believe twelve to thirteen hours is the maximum you should run an R.O. unit a day. They think the machine will last longer.

Silica, iron, aluminum and bacteria cause irreversible damage to membranes and that's why pre-filters are a must to keep membranes from fouling. Fouling results when particles suspended in the feed water are deposited within the R.O. unit. Fouling reduces permeate flow rate. Bacteria fouling usually doesn't cause the permeate conductivity to increase until your system is extremely plugged. Other particles may cause permeate conductivity to increase.

Most biological and particulate silica foulants can be removed with the proper chemicals. Bio-fouling is a problem. Pre-treatment may have little impact on R.O. unit fouling. Simply killing the bacteria won't work because the same number of fouling particles (living or dead) still enter the R.O. unit. The best way to handle bio-fouling is cleaning the equipment and the upstream pipes and filters. Chlorinated water will be bad and should be un-chlorinated before entering the R.O. unit. Fouling by non-living particles is handled by your pre-filters, or additional sediment filters or cartridge filters with a nominal filtration rating of five microns or less. This can be complicated stuff and you can call your franchsior for a telephone number of a fair and honest local or regional water purification consultant.

Chlorine is the most common agent to chemically attack and destroy the polyamide thin film membranes that are commonly used in car washes. Activated carbon blocks are used generally in filters upstream from R.O. units. Larger units use granulated carbon filters or other methods. Active chlorine consuming sites on the activated carbon material is depleted over time and eventually dechlorination will diminish and finally cease. This will allow chlorine to damage downstream chlorine sensitive membranes in your R.O. unit. Carbon filters must be replaced as frequently as their manufacturers specify.

Most commercial R.O. units are too small to justify installing instrumentation to determine when to clean them. Cleaning periodically can remove most scalants and foulants. If you wait too long permanent damage will be done and proper cures will not work. If you wait until you have low flow problems, the elements may be plugged significantly and chemical cleaning may be ineffective or may take many hours to get the elements back to near original performance.

If you want, you can have the R.O. dealer do periodic cleaning on a service contract. It may be worth your while. Expect to pay between to 0 per quarter. Watch for parts price gouging. Some companies are like sharks. If well taken care of, the membranes will last years. You may want to have a technician also check upstream filters. That way, if anything does go wrong, it's their responsibility and you can make them pay. Make sure your contract is tied to their lifetime warrantee. Regular Maintenance Of Reverse Osmosis Units is ultra important and you should change your prefilters often. Water softeners every month, carbon filters quarterly. Be sure to check the pressures weekly and membranes will need changing every so often too. Think on this.

Reverse Osmosis and Deionized Water Filtration

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The Pros and Cons of Reverse Osmosis Systems

Reverse osmosis systems is just one type of many water filtration systems that are available on the market today. Water filtration pushes water through a filter that traps contaminant molecules and releases pure water molecules. There are many health benefits that can be had from the use of water filtration systems including reverse osmosis systems.

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The first benefit is clean and safe water to drink, bathe, or cook in. Exposure to contaminants is greatly reduced or virtually eliminated. This results in fewer occurrences of diseases including cancer and skin irritations/disorders. With lead content being eliminated or reduced there will likely be many fewer occurrences of learning disabilities in children that currently occur at over 400,000 in the United States yearly. Skin and hair become softer and more properly hydrated.

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Osmosis is a process whereby a solution is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane with the lesser concentrated solution moving through the membrane to the greater concentration until the solutions become equalized. Reverse osmosis is where water is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane and pressure is applied to stop osmosis and then reverse it. It is a slow process and the result is pure water. The contaminants are trapped in the membrane which is an extremely fine membrane.

The pros of using reverse osmosis systems is that pure water will result. It is a popular seller. The same health benefits mentioned previously can result from using these systems. Although slow they are effective in removing contaminants.

The cons of using these systems lie in the fact that though they remove contaminants they also remove important minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, and many others. Depending on need and budget these systems will still be a good option for many consumers to consider for purchase.

The Pros and Cons of Reverse Osmosis Systems

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Reverse Osmosis Isn't the Only Way

Shopping for a reverse osmosis water dispenser? Reverse osmosis water filtering systems are sometimes recommended for the removal of cysts. If that's why you are shopping for one, I just wanted to let you know that there are better, more economical solutions.

osmosis water filter

RO has been around for many years. At one time, it was the only option for home purification, but the units were large, expensive, wasteful and required lots of maintenance. Companies have tried to correct the problems and today, there is even a reverse osmosis water dispenser that will fit under the kitchen counter.

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But, even though they have made the units smaller and somewhat more affordable, reverse osmosis water filtering systems are still problematic and cost more than the homeowner needs to spend. Everyone needs a purification step in the home, but at a cost of nearly 0 for an under the counter unit, RO is simply not the most economical solution.

You can get an under the counter purifier that is truly effective for less than 0. Now, that's what I call affordable.

Some people think that reverse osmosis water filtering systems are the only way to remove cysts, but that is simply not true. Any purifier that is certified to filter down to one micron or less will remove them, without removing any naturally occurring mineral content.

One of the disadvantages of a reverse osmosis water dispenser is that it de-mineralizes, like the old distillation devices. Researchers believe that drinking de-mineralized water is bad for the digestive system, which makes sense, if you think about it.

All of the surface and groundwater in the world have some naturally occurring mineral content. Researchers for the US-RDA have said that we get some of the minerals and electrolytes that we need from the water that we drink. So, basically, drinking water can help prevent nutritional deficiencies, as long as we do not have reverse osmosis water filtering systems in our home.

The best alternative to a reverse osmosis water dispenser is called "selective filtration". You want a multi-stage device that includes the following steps:

o Submicron particle filtration, to remove cysts and other microscopic particles.
o Granular activated carbon, to reduce chlorine content and trap some of the other traces of synthetic chemicals that are in publicly treated supplies.
o A block that is composed of carbon and other filtering media to trap chlorine by-products (THMs) and further reduce chlorine and other chemicals.
o Ion exchange to trap lead, balance mineral content and improve pH level.

Reverse osmosis water filtering systems were never meant to remove the chemical contaminants that plague our environment today. Many scientists believe that constant low-level exposure to these chemicals has contributed to the increasingly high number of cancer cases that we see in the US and around the world.

There is no doubt that you need home purification, but you do not need a reverse osmosis water dispenser. Make the right choice for your health and wellness.

Reverse Osmosis Isn't the Only Way

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