Best Whole-House Water Filter and Softening Systems for Phoenix? (Superior: to buy, maintenance)

[Potential_Landlord]

I am sick and tired of having to change my fridge filter and I cannot for the life of me take ice or water unfiltered here in Phoenix. It tastes disgusting IMO. Specifically I want the chlorine taste out of the water. Additionally, I would prefer my water to be more soft for the dishwasher etc. What is the best solution in your opinion for a whole-house water filter and softener system? Is there a one solution for both issues or are these separate systems? -Thanks for your advise.

[Zippyman]

It's really best (and cheaper) to separate the systems. I have a 2 cu ft. backwashing carbon Filter and a regular softener in my home, along with an RO at the kitchen sink. The large carbon filter removes most of the chlorine from the water & even by itself does a lot for taste, the softener doesn't do much for taste, but it does keep the hard water stains from the fixtures- and the RO gives you great drinking water.

The problem with "filter/softeners" is that the carbon media doesn't last nearly as long as the softener media, and you don't get as much media to start with. If your primary concern is chlorine, the carbon media will be full in 4-6 years. If you have separate units, you can dump out the carbon and replace it yourself quickly and cheaply.

My back washing carbon filter was only $400 new & it's based on a design that's well proven & repairable (the fleck valve). You can buy parts & pieces online, but you're unlikely to need them, because they don't break very often.

My softener is a fancy-pants digital unit I got off Craigslist for $150 from someone who was giving their house back to the bank. That person paid well over $2k for a unit that can be had on the net for perhaps $1200. The meter housing recently cracked, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to toss the whole unit & replace it with the non-digital fleck unit.

For ro's - I really like the quality of the watts units. You can buy filters on eBay or amazon if you want to save a few bucks (they're standard sizes). I have the "zero-waste" unit with a permeate pump on it that's been chugging along for at least three years now without a problem.

TDS readings for water at my house are close to 500 from an outside spigot, and usually run about 30 after the RO. There's a lot of "junk" in our water.

If you want to get ballpark pricing for what the hardware should cost, you can check:
Water purification, replacement filter cartridge, iron removal system, Fleck control valve
You can also pm me for the number of the local guy I've been dealing with, he can usually beat online pricing & get you anything you want.

[AZ bound]

TDS readings for water at my house are close to 500 from an outside spigot, and usually run about 30 after the RO. There's a lot of "junk" in our water.

What does this mean?

There's some new inline system out there, that claims RO and softeners waste a lot of water in the process of what they do for you. Of course they just want you to buy their system, but does the RO waste 3 gallons for every gallon of good tasting water it gives you?

I'm having a house built, and pre-plumbed a loop for both, but now I'm concerned with water waste.

[imartin26]

I just bought a seperate RO and Water Softner from the same company and spent I believe 1200 on the Water Softner and 600 on the RO which included drilling through my granite countertop. I got the RO that has the easy remove filters because I can't stand trying to get the other type off. If you want the name of the company send me a message and I will give it to you. Also the company makes the RO and water softner locally, not sure how big of a deal that is to you though.

[cignalife]

I did a lot of research on this, called multiple companies, and tasted mutliple RO systems

The best deal would be with USA plumbing (DM if you want contact info of our rep) for a separate water softner system (they use AmeriFlo) and RO system, and the best tasting RO system is the one we got (which all of the "water stores" use) which I think is called B&R but don't quote me on that

Again, Jared at USA plumbing (I can DM you his cell if interested) can give you more info

Water softner was around $1200 (for a 48K system which is great price, and you may not need that large of a water softner) and the RO was only 2-300 since we got both but I got it for another house and was $450 separately.

I would also suggest getting fancy spicket for the RO from home depot, around $50, because most RO system spickets are very ugly!

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by AZ bound

What does this mean?

There's some new inline system out there, that claims RO and softeners waste a lot of water in the process of what they do for you. Of course they just want you to buy their system, but does the RO waste 3 gallons for every gallon of good tasting water it gives you?

I'm having a house built, and pre-plumbed a loop for both, but now I'm concerned with water waste.

Watts has a "zero waste" ro that pumps the water back into your hot water line if it won't make it through the membrane. You waste no water, it either passes through the membrane & ends up in your tank, or it's forced back into the hot-water line and you use it when you turn on the hot water.

Watts Zero-Waste Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System ZRO-4 at The Home Depot

As for "best tasting" ro water, I dunno - if it's taking out everything it's supposed to, the water should taste the same. you can buy a "TDS tester" on ebay or amazon for under $20 to see if the system is working properly - minerals sometimes taste really good, that's why they're added to alot of bottled water, but the ro should be removing everything.

The posters above don't have whole-house carbon filters, which means they're still getting the chlorinated water through the house (except from the ro). If you want to remove the chlorine, you need a carbon filter.

Personally, if I could only afford *one* part of a water-treatment system, it would likely be a whole-house carbon filter.

Softened water doesn't taste any better (to me) than water that hasn't been through a softener.

Water that's been through a carbon filter tastes great - that's why Brita sells so many filters.. They're carbon filters! The water that comes out can still have high TDS, and it can be softened or unsoftened, but the carbon is great at knocking out obnoxious tastes & odors.

[Potential_Landlord]

Thanks everyone so much for their input. This has been really helpful. I'll let you know what I get here soon.

[imartin26]

I actually have the Sanitech™ Pro-Line - On-Demand Whole Home Water Filtration which does remove Chlorine. I got no tax, no install fee and 200 dollars off with the RO system.

The Sanitech™ Pro-Line combines water softening and water filtration into one exceptional water treatment system that is designed specifically for Phoenix area water. Multiple media layered in the resin tank produces the ultimate in quality, filtered, soft water from every faucet in the home. The Sanitech™ Pro-Line Whole House Water Filtration System eliminates hard water, scaling, chlorine, VOC's, & odors, all in one highly advanced water treatment system. We also include our exclusive Ecoflow technology into this water treatment system and the state-of-the art features of our Olympus™ series water softeners. The Sanitech™ Pro-Line is tomorrow's technology today!


Features:e

• 1" Digital On-demand Valve
• 1-28 Day Calendar Override
• Fully Programmable with On-board Diagnostics
• High Cross-link Commercial Grade Resin
• Ecoflow technology
• Safety Shut-off Overflow Protection
• Soft Water Regeneration
• Dry Brining
• Non Volatile Memory Power Backup
• NSF 44/WQA Certified
• 10 Year Warranty
• Available in 3 Colors

Prices:

• $1195.00 - 32,000 grain
• $1295.00 - 48,000 grain
• $1395.00 - 64,000 grains

Installation:

• $200.00 to existing loop (Do I have a loop?)
• $350 - $500 Full Line
• $200 Off Any Sanitech Pro-Line/Reverse Osmosis Package!

Also:
Sanitech Hph Water Purification System


Innovation:

• Nutricel chelated trace mineral filter, provides the finest blend of quality organic trace minerals and electrolytes available.
• Convenient quick release filters, for easy, sanitary servicing every time.
• Exclusive Bio-Guard ionic advanced filtration technology. Ensures protection from micro-biological contamination.
• Smartlite designer faucet, reminds you when service is needed.

Performance:

• FloRite rapid fill feature, quickly dispenses water every time.
• Superior purification technology ensures removal of today's most troublesome contaminants.
• NSF/WQA certified components.

Efficiency:

• Automatic flow control shut off, for optimum water savings.
• High efficiency membrane, provides maximum output with minimum waste.
• Non-electric, works solely on water pressure.

595 Installed

[Matt568]

It's better to have two separate systems. A water softener to remove hardness and a under sink reverse osmosis system to filter drinking water and also supply water to your ice maker. I have a UXC-0948 softener and it works great for me. I don't see spots in my dishes or silverware anymore. A hatch water hardness test kit showed 11 grains of hardness reduced to just 0.5 grains after going through the softener.

Only maintenance is replenishing the brine tank with salt, every 2 months.

[wase4711]

softeners add sodium to your water, and can leave everything feeling slimy, and waste a ton of water as well during the back wash process..

RO systems usually use 3 gallons for every one gallon they output; I saw someone post a link to a RO system that "re-uses" the water that doesnt pass through the membrane, but I never saw or heard of that one before

I've done a ton of research on this over the years, and I have found a great whole house system out here that uses a new type of media to filter out alot of junk, and then passes through a large carbon canister to remove what ever is left before it comes into the main water line in your house..

this is the product, and if you want someone who installs them all the time, let me know and I will give you his info..

Aqua Doctor