Filtered water not hitting the spot?

veloci

We moved to a house that has a filtered water tap with a reverse osmosis kit under the sink. We generally drink regular tap water in reusable bottles. Trying out this system while we decide if we want to keep it maintained.

The strange thing is the filtered water doesn't seem to quench our thirst like tap water. Get full but still somewhat thirsty, if that makes sense?

Has anyone else experienced this? Are we just missing some of the water treatment chemicals from the tap water?

mickdw

I think those systems in the majority of cases are mis-sold.

I think they overly soften water and take the bite out of it in terms of drinkability.

I certainly never liked water from rose filters.

And it's not that you are addicted to chemicals..... Try some fresh spring water from a well. It's perfect.

Atlantic Dawn

We were going to get this system in, the salesman did the test in front of us with our tap water v's water he had with him, nice flashy magic trick show with the differences, sign me up. I then took a bottle of unopened Volvic out of the fridge and got him to do the same test, result was identical to my tap water, was a case of thanks but no thanks. I have a Brita water filter jug in the fridge, this does me fine. There may be areas of Ireland where loads of chemicals are added to help with incredibly poor water where it has a place but I think generally in this country it doesn't.

veloci

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119678478#Comment_119678478

"overly soften water and take the bite out of it" - this sounds like what we're tasting, or not tasting.

We wouldn't have ever paid the upfront cost for this system, but it's here now and would only need maintaining. There's also the electricity usage and from what I read it discards a lot of water during the processing too.

HorseSea

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119678508#Comment_119678508

Don't think RO filter use any power, other than the water pressure itself. There is a lot of waste though, up to 80% does not make it through the membranes.

mickdw

Even in areas where you might need some form of system to protect your appliances from limescale etc, the last thing I'd be doing is running the drinking supply through it but these sales guys appear to sell this as an extra.

Snake oil.

veloci

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119678583#Comment_119678583

This unit (from Gulp) is plugged in and seems to kick in when a small tank goes below a certain threshold, then you can hear it working away for a while.

veloci

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119678479#Comment_119678479

You sound unconvinced by a need to filter, so why the Brita filter? OS system was overkill?

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119678895#Comment_119678895

I'd spot the very odd bit of visible debris in the water, for circa €60 a year the filtered water in the jug and it being constantly cold in the fridge is a good deal.

The Continental Op

I don't think you should only drink water that has been through an osmotic filter.

The problem is you are drinking water that is little different to distilled water, which funnily enough I love the "taste" of.

https://tappwater.co/en/reverse-osmosis-ro-water-filters/

.... According to the World Health Organization, low mineral (TDS) drinking water produced by reverse osmosis or distillation is not suitable for long term human consumption and in fact, can create negative health effects to those consuming it. This lack of minerals may also impact the taste negatively for many people. 

We have genuinely bad IW tap water and we use a big gravity filter for tap water

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LXFEZOJ/

It was expensive and takes a lot of kitchen space but does improve the taste quality of the water, I change the filters every 6 months so it costs us about €100 a year. Now prior to this my son was spending at least a fiver a week on bottled water. He soon went over to the filtered water so just that saves €150 a year plus a lot of plastic.