Hey everyone! I've been researching RO systems for a while, and I'm hoping to get some advice before making a final decision. There seem to be strong opinions on both tank and tankless systems, so I'd appreciate recommendations based on my specific setup.

My setup:

Installation: Basement, directly below the kitchen.

Kitchen faucet: Dedicated RO faucet on the first floor.

Refrigerator: Ice maker and cold-water dispenser on the first floor. It's a 42" Sub-Zero French-door refrigerator.

Upstairs minibar: A dedicated RO faucet on the second floor, not directly above the system.

Water supply: Municipal water, softened before reaching the RO system. I live near the local water treatment plant.

Usage: Just my wife and me most days, but we frequently host events where multiple guests use the upstairs minibar and drink a lot of water.

Budget: Not a limiting factor.

My biggest concern is maintaining adequate water pressure and flow at all three outlets, especially when multiple people are using them around the same time. I'd also prefer a single system to keep filter maintenance simple rather than maintaining separate systems for the kitchen and minibar.

I'm trying to decide between a conventional tank-based system and a tankless system. Since I have plenty of room in the basement, saving under-sink space isn't a consideration.

A few questions:

Would a conventional tank system with a sufficiently large storage tank handle this setup, including occasional high-demand periods?

Would a tankless system with a booster pump be a better choice for maintaining pressure and supplying multiple outlets over these distances?

Are there specific systems you'd recommend for this application? Would a permeate pump, larger storage tank, or pressurized delivery system make a meaningful difference?

Is there any reason to use separate RO systems for the kitchen and upstairs minibar, or can one properly sized system handle everything?

I'm primarily interested in reliability, good water quality, adequate flow, and reasonable long-term maintenance. I'd appreciate recommendations based on real-world experience, particularly for multi-outlet installations rather than typical under-sink setups.

To preface this, I’m a total noob when it comes to water filters and softeners. I recently bought a house, and the existing water softener and iron removal filter are old as hell. I knew they would eventually need to be replaced, but the iron removal filter recently started leaking pretty badly, so I think it’s time to bite the bullet and replace the whole setup.

The problem is that I don’t know much about these systems or what I should be looking for. I’m pretty confident in my ability to handle the installation myself, but I want to make sure I’m buying the right equipment before I spend the money.

I’m not sure whether it makes more sense to buy an all-in-one combo system or purchase a separate iron filter and water softener. I just submitted a water sample for testing, so I’m waiting on those results, but since the current filter is leaking a decent amount, I’d like to get ahead of this and start figuring out my options.

I’ve attached pictures of the existing setup in my basement, along with a link to the system I’m considering buying https://www.homedepot.com/p/PRO-AQUA-5-stage-Whole-House-Well-Water-Filtration-and-Softener-Bundle-Filters-and-Reduces-Iron-Odor-Sediment-and-Hard-Water-BNDL-WEL/318835882

Would you recommend going with this combo system, or would I be better off buying separate units? Is there anything specific I should look for when choosing a replacement for a well water system?

I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations. Thanks in advance!

Hey guys, not sure if this is the best place to ask about this. I got this countertop filter (seems like the brand is VAJIAZA RO-2303 75g) for cheap of Facebook marketplace and am liking it a lot so far. It's getting about time to replace the composite filter, but I've been searching around for days for a replacement to no avail.

I sent a message through walmart to the seller and am waiting to hear back, but I feel like it should be easy to find replacements for these, no? Are there not universal filter replacements that would work here? Added pics of the filter and the slot where it fits in

I installed a Fleck 5600sxt but I haven’t programmed it yet. The programming asks for numbers but all I have is this color coded test.

What water test do I need to do in order to get accurate number based details for programming the water softener?

I have about 22 cubic yards of anthracite filter media to dispose of or reuse. It was used in a drinking water treatment facility which closed 30 years ago. It was filtering water from a creek that flows through rural-ish and suburban areas in the northeast US. 

Main question: I understand from other conversations it likely does not have pollutants, but I want to get it tested to be sure. We have a contact at a testing agency. What should I test the anthracite for? 

- heavy metals? 

- Petroleum - Pesticides?

 - VOC's?

Second questions: What would you do with this much anthracite filter media?  Any creative ideas? How does a municipality dispose of it? A sand vac company (?) wanted $11k to take it off my hands so that doesn't work.

Sorry I don’t know anything about water filtration systems, but the last system was installed by someone else. I am trying to replace the two carbon filters, the prefilter, but don’t know which products is comparable with my system as it doesn’t list the specifications for my system. Will any filter work or does it have to be a specific size compatible to my system?

I'll start this post by acknowledging that I'm doing this because I need Karma to engage in my local community subreddits.

That being said, I wanted to offer myself to answer questions about water treatment processes. I'm an engineer that works on larger scale systems (whole towns type thing).

I can't help a ton with product selection for residential systems but I can review water quality and discuss the underlying technologies.

Cheers

I have struggled to address the nasty smelling and tasting water coming out of my well for the past year. I have whole house carbon and UV along with a water softener and RO drinking taps. But the TDS is anywhere from 500+ to 800+ and it's staining all my toilets. So I got a TAP report. Highlights:

Lead 0.0295 ppm
Arsenic 0.00648 ppm
Cadmium 0.00021 ppm
Copper 0.558 ppm
Lithium 0.0166 ppm
Fluoride 1.06 ppm

Manganese 0.0272 ppm
Iron 0.0472 ppm

I'm guessing I need a whole house RO to address this with an iron and manganese pre-filter. The water is already soft at 3.6 ppm Ca/Mg straight out of the well. Just coming up to speed on this currently so apologies upfront if I said anything dumb.

#Edit: 3/8 not 3/4

I'll be hooking this up to my fridge water dispenser (which also feeds my ice maker). Should I be concerned about the pressure from this unit? my main issue right now is that my old one actually doesn't have good pressure as its in the basement and 20ft line to the fridge and its over 15yo.

Hey all!

I live in Utah and i'm looking to potentially become a water treatment operator with a focus on overnight and weekend availability to differentiate myself from other candidates. I have a sizable beard , I would really like to keep it instead of cutting it off for a certification. It's over twelve inches long and I have been growing it out since covid.

How viable would it be to keep my beard and progress in this field? Is offering overnight and weekend availability enough to differentiate myself from other applicants?

I unfortunately (which I now know) have an Ecowater ERR 3500R20 that has started acting up. Water pressure drops after a few minutes but is fine when I put it into bypass mode. The unit is 10 years old so my hunch is that it needs rebedding.

I have the following questions floating around in my mind:

Do I even need a water softener?

Judging from my city's water quality report, the water here is typically in the 3.5-6 gpg range. This may go up in the summer when they blend in well water which is 17 gpg. Chloramine is used to treat the water.

Given that that water is moderately hard most of the time, is a water softener even worth it?

Is a catalytic carbon tank alone worth it?

Given the chloramine, does it make sense just to get the catalytic carbon tank?

If I need a softener, repair or replace?

My Ecowater system seems like it may be a PITA to fix. I'm banking on old resin being the culprit, but I'm not a professional. I'd rather try to DIY than pay someone to open it up and tell me I should probably just get a new system.

If I do want to give this a go, I'd need help sourcing materials. The machine is a refiner and has activated carbon in it. Given the chloramine in my water, I'd want catalytic carbon. Could I just buy that and throw it in there instead of activated carbon? How much?

If I say screw it, let's get a new system, what should I go with? Two tanks (1 with the resin, 1 with catalytic carbon) and the brine thing that looks like a trash can? How big etc.

More info

• 2 adults, 1 kid, 3.5 bath. We only ever use a single shower at a time, so not a ton of use.

• Current system is 20,900 grains

• For a new system I would hire someone to do this

• Budget: <$3k but of course lower is better. I also don't want to spend that unless it's going to make a meaningful difference

Hi everyone,

Quick note first: this is my own site. I build free directory websites, and I launched listedwater.com last week.

I spent about 50 hours building it. Why did I do that when filter reviews and the EPA site already exist? A few reasons:

• EPA data is hard to find by ZIP code, and many ZIP codes have more than one water system
• Words like “tested to NSF standards” sound good, but they don’t mean a filter is certified to remove something
• Today’s PFAS filter certifications test at 70 ng/L (PFOA and PFOS together) and 20 ng/L (total PFAS). EPA’s new limit is 4 ng/L, so it’s much lower. Most filter pages don’t say this
• A lot of “best filter” lists are shaped by who pays the commission

Here’s how it works. You type in your ZIP code. The site shows the water system that serves you and what EPA found in it. Then it shows filters that are certified for those things.

Some numbers: it matches 28,222 ZIP areas to water systems, and it covers 10,313 systems that EPA tested for 29 PFAS. It lists 325 certified claims, and I checked each one against the certifier’s own listing. A filter shows up only if a certifier lists it for that contaminant. Products are in alphabetical order, so nothing is ranked.

It’s free, with no sign-up and no email. If you know this field, I’d love your help. Tell me if I misread a certification or missed a filter.

Thanks for reading! If this post breaks the rules, please feel free to remove it.

Recently replaced the tank and media on a system that was about 9 years old after the old tank cracked. The whole regen process ran smoothly and as far as I could tell everything was working until wife noticed hard water stains in the dishwasher. I tested with my pool test kit and water seems to be the same hardness as regular tap water, even though I see the Softening message flashing.

Any idea where I might have screwed up on this? (Yes I’ve made sure the bypass is not engaged)

I am opting to rebed the carbon media in my water softening system myself and wanted to make sure I do it correctly.

According to the product manual, the media granule size is 8x16 and calls for 14 lbs of media, so I purchased this.

I've seen some videos on how to do a media swap, so I was planning to replace the media, lubricate the o-rings, and rinse out the soaked media for 30 minutes with a garden hose. I also saw some videos that also put the house in the outlet to expel through the intake (the 1030 is a upflow backwash-less tank that does not require gravel), so I'm not sure if this is something I want to be doing as well.

Any tips or advice is appreciated

I bought a home with well water and I’ve never had any experience with it before. I let the softener run out to see what it looked like and this is what I got. Does this look normal? Any tips? Or resources to educate me would be greatly appreciated.

I've gone down the rabbit hole recently regarding water softeners as the water I have is moderately hard at 110 mg/L or 6.4-5.3 GPG and only just realizing that hard water is likely contributing to my Dry Skin/Eczema issues. I was looking at just getting one of the shower (Shower Stick or the Softwarecare "RV softener" style), but I'm moderately handy and don't mind trying to DIY a full system especially if it has secondary benefits to washing machine clothes/dishwasher etc etc. I already have a waterdrop tankless RO filter so I'm not terribly worried about water quality itself.

Random Stats:

2 bedroom/2 bathroom, 4 person household

I do see a lot of the recommendations to get the Clack WS1 or Clack WS1EE but also see that its not generally sold to consumers, though thanks to another comment, I see that ebay has them for $260-350 for just the WS1/WS1EE valve head.

I'm also interested in a upflow setup as I've read that its more efficient (not hugely, but apparently measurable) and I would be interested in that for water savings for environmental reasons.

My general research has led me to believe a combo of the Clack WS1 and an upflow style setup would be ideal, but gathering the parts all separately seems daunting. I was looking at the affordable water system upflow series based on the Fleck which people seem to indicate is "fine" but not as good as the Clack.

https://affordablewater.us/collections/fleck-5800-pro-series/products/fleck-5800-upflow-pro-series-metered-40000-grain-water-softener

Is there anything inherently different about DIY'ing a upflow style tank? Or is it all the same parts and just matter of programming the directions and inputs. Do most tanks work with the WS1 Clack?

My general plan is to get a Spin down filter (any particular recs) to put in front of the softener and use copper 3/4" and propress fittings (luckily I can borrow the propress from a friend). I'm debating if I need to put a carbon filter in front for chlorine to extend the life of the resin.

Am I overthinking this and should I just start with the Fleck 5800 pro upflow from affordablewater and if I really care about clack ws1 and just swap that out at a later date? Or is it really worth to DIY Clack WS1 and get the tanks/resin all separately.

I was planning to get most of the upgrades (10% crosslink, stainless steel bypass, brine tank grid, Res up feeder)

If there is a good supplier in the bay area, CA (North Bay preferred), I'd also like to know.

Hi everyone,

Water scarcity is a serious problem in many parts of India, especially during the summer season. Many households depend on wells, groundwater, and water supplied by tankers. Poor water management, leakage in pipelines etc make the situation worse.

I would like to explore innovative affordable technological solutions to reduce water scarcity and ensure the efficient use of available water resources.

Here are some specific questions I have:

Rainwater Harvesting: How can rainwater harvesting systems be implemented in homes and public buildings to collect and store rainwater for future use?

Smart Water Management: How can sensors and loT technology be used to monitor and detect water leakage in pipelines?

Water Recycling: How can wastewater from kitchens and household be reused for gardening, cleaning, and other non-drinking purposes?

Groundwater Conservation: What methods can help recharge groundwater and prevent wells from drying up during summer?

Community Involvement: How can local communities, schools, and government authorities work together to reduce water wastage and promote water conservation?

#WaterScarcity #SmartWaterManagement #RainwaterHarvesting #loT #WaterConservation

Built a new house in North Alabama on our farm way off the road and drilled a private well. 160ft deep, 6” bore, making 75+ GPM.

Had 3 water pros test and make recommendations.
PH is 6.3, Iron is 1.0, and hardness is 5 GPG. Currently only using a 5 micron carbon filter and I’m having cloudy water and staining in toilets, tubs, and dingy white clothes.

Estimates ranged for $4-8000 for softeners, conditioners, air injection filters, etc.
Seems a little extreme considering my numbers.
I plan to do the install myself.

I live in Central Florida on city water. We want to get a softener system installed and are interested in a carbon filter as well. We did the water test with Home Depot and had a laughable presentation/sales pitch hostage situation from the RainSoft people a few months back. We are going to start calling local providers to get quotes. What questions, in your experience, should I ask to help get the best quote and get the right system for my home? I want to ensure we have a quality installation and a quality system that will last while not being taken for a ride. Thanks!

Hello, we’re looking for recommendations for a whole-house water filter. My mother lives in a South American country that will be severely affected by El Niño. The water there is technically drinkable, but no one drinks it straight from the tap as peopel have concerns about contamination. Her water comes from the municipality, is pumped into a cistern, and is then routed into the house from there. She has two filters under the sink and two filters in her Alkaviva machine. Pretty sure her alkaline water doesn’t do anything but hopefully the filters do work. (See photos.) She has two concerns: First, that the street where she lives will flood and contaminate the water in the cistern, since it’s at street level. Second, that flooding in the city and nonstop rain will disrupt the water supply, cause pipes to break, and mix the water with sewage or rainwater. (This has already happened during previous El Niño events.) Which system would be the best option for her? Her budget is $3,500, and her main concerns are microorganisms and chemicals. If there is a specific brand from the U.S., we would also be willing to try importing it.

She has received a quote for such a system for $2,900, including installation, but we don’t know if the system really works as promised. https://www.carico.com/water-purification/