The Top 10 Reverse Osmosis Water Filter Brands

With the sheer number of synthetic chemicals and heavy metals invading our water supply today, not least the pesticides sprayed on fields worldwide, getting a water filter is a very smart move.

You stand to gain a lot: your mood, your cognition, your energy, your liver health and even your skin could improve. Reverse osmosis water filters are particularly effective technology. The machines typically come in 5 stages, and the 4th stage contains a semi permeable membrane so tiny that only water molecules and a few other dissolved solids can pass through. The pollutant-rich waste water is diverted down the drain where it belongs.

It’s all well and good to avoid individual sources of contaminants in our civilisation. You can avoid BPA from plastic, you can always buy organic apple juice and rice to minimise arsenic exposure. But if you’re not filtering what is easily the biggest hidden source of these pollutants, tap water, you’re missing a big opportunity.

That’s why today, we will discuss the 10 best reverse osmosis water filter machines available. 

The machines are always an investment, but we have both affordable and higher end products in this article. For a well-rounded mid price machine, I recommend the Home Master TMAFC Atesian. The Home Master HydroPerfection is the greatest high priced reverse osmosis water filter, while the iSpring RCC7 is perfect for a more affordable option.

For more detailed information about the requirements of these machines, scroll down to the second half of the article.

Let’s get started:

 

One – Home Master TMAFC Artesian

One of the most popular reverse osmosis filters, and for good reason. The TMAFC Artesian can filter almost all of the deadliest water impurities, including chloramines, chlorine, chemicals, heavy metals, dissolved solids, and unwanted pharmaceuticals.

For example, this product comes with a seven stage water filtration system: the water passes through a sediment filter, carbon filter, reverse osmosis membrane, and finally, a remineralization filter. The final stage adds beneficial minerals like magnesium and calcium back into the water, restoring some taste, nutrition, and balancing the PH back to a neutral level.

In fact, the Home Master TMAFC features patented full contact technology, which remineralizes the water twice. This will produce a particularly fresh and pure water. Another special innovation is Home Master TMAFC’s catalytic carbon filter for reducing chlorine, a task which normal carbon filters tend to fail at.

The TMAFC Artesian also features its own inbuilt faucet, for separating your normal water supply with your new pure water supply, reserving Home Master for important tasks like cooking and drinking. There’s also an inbuilt 4 gallon pressurised water tank. The gallons per day (GPD) rate is 50, strong for this moderate price range. The TMFAC Artesian purposefully contains larger than average tubes and piping to increase the flow rate.

The total filtering of impurities is up to 99%. Meanwhile, the Home Master TMAFC Artesian has a particular advantage of a 5 year breakdown warranty, the longest of any prominent reverse osmosis water filter brand.

The water waste rate is 4 gallons per 1 gallon of freshly purified water, much lower than the 10 gallons of cheaper brands. For a higher price, you can also purchase the Home Master TMAFC with a permeate pump, which increases the efficiency further.

Home Master is a reputable brand, made in the USA, and a master of the wider water filter market. It’s very simple to install too, with no expertise required; the TMAFC is designed for DIY installation within 1 hour. Additionally, the filters need to be replaced just once per year.

The Home Master TMAFC is among the most well-rounded reverse osmosis filters available. 

Amazon link: Home Master TMAFC Artesian.

 

Two – iSpring RCC7AK Under Sink Filtration System

ISpring is a prominent water filter brand, and their RCC7AK is a superior version of their popular RCC7 model, upgraded to feature a built-in remineralization filter.

As with the Home Master TMAFC, the filter adds healthy minerals back into the water, minerals which are stripped out along with impurities, but are actually beneficial for health. They’re also beneficial for the water’s freshness and taste, and raise the pH to its natural neutral level.

The RCC7AK is above average in its specifications, featuring a 75 gallon per day pump rate. The waste rate is also strong, wasting 3 gallons of water per 1 gallon of fresh and pure water produced.

It’s another convenient reverse osmosis water filter, with its built in faucet allowing you to separate the pure and regular water supplies. Another feature is a 4 gallon, built-in pressurised water tank.

Once more, the iSpring is straightforward to install, designed for 1 hour installation by a customer with basic DIY knowledge. Since the RCC7AK comes with a built-in water faucet, you’ll need to drill a whole in your sinktop to install it, unless your sink has such a hole already.

Meanwhile, the filters are cartridge style, more complicated than the Home Master TMAFC filters which you can instantly slot in and out when replacing. Maintaining the RCC7AK is still easy though; you just need to use the plastic wrench supplied with the reverse osmosis machine.

The good news? ISpring even has a step by step installation video on their YouTube channel, also featuring instructions on how to maintain the filters. This reverse osmosis water filter is manufactured in the USA, and features a 3 year manufacturer’s limited warranty.

The RCC7AK even contains a built in water leakage alarm, to alert you to malfunctioning while in another room. The only significant flaws are what the RCC7AK doesn’t have due to its lower price range, such as a UV radiation light for shining on and killing microorganisms.

For the average household determined to clean up their water supply, the iSpring RCC7AK is more than good enough.

 

Three – APEC Ultimate RO-90 Water Filter

A 5 stage reverse osmosis water filter, and one which pumps out a particularly high volume of water. 

Firstly, the APEC RO-90 meets every essential requirement. It wastes just 3 gallons of water per 1 gallon of freshly filtered water produced. The APEC RO-90 is designed to filter 1000+ contaminants, including arsenic, chlorine, lead, fluoride, heavy metals, bacteria, and viruses. It’s designed for a swift, 1 hour installation for anybody with basic DIY expertise. 

The standout feature though, is the APEC RO-90’s massive 90 gallon per day production rate. That easily beats the Home Master TMAFC and the iSpring RCC7AK with 50 and 75 respectively.

This reverse osmosis water filter is ideal if you have a large family, are a small business which specialises in food and drink, or simply wish to use pure water for every aspect of your life, rather than the essentials of eating and drinking.

The APEC RO-90 also comes with a pre-pressurized water tank, containing 4 gallons, while the inbuilt faucet is lead free. The inner tubes and materials consist of FDA-approved, food-grade materials. This reverse osmosis water filter is particularly durable; the replaceable water filters are super capacity and last for twice as long as cheaper brands.

Another great feature is the APEC RO-90’s WQA gold seal certification. The Water Quality Association is an organisation which monitors numerous water filters and water softeners, and they only hand out certifications to reverse osmosis water filters which 1) have high structural integrity, 2) consist of clean materials which are unable to contaminate the water passing through them, and 3) meet industry standards for efficient filtering.

Once more, the APEC RO-90 lacks a UV radiation light to destroy microorganisms, and the most significant flaw is its lack of a remineralisation filter. However, the big advantage is its 90 GPD pump rate, giving you a clear choice. APEC also completes the big three of the water filter company trio, standing alongside iSpring and Home Master, making it a highly reliable brand. Last but not least, it’s a USA-manufactured brand.

For maximum output of clean and purified water, the APEC RO-90 is hard to beat. 

 

Four – Express Water RO5DX

A reverse osmosis water filter with a mid-range price, yet almost every feature you could ask for.

The gallons per day rate is 50. The filter removes 99% percent of harmful contaminants. The reverse osmosis filter removes arsenic, chlorine, lead, fluoride, heavy metals, bacteria, viruses, unwanted pharmaceutical spillovers, and 1000+ contaminants, while the machine comes with an inbuilt faucet.

Express Water RO5DX is a 5 stage reverse osmosis water filter. In stage 1, a 5-micron propylene filter removes sediment. This is followed by fine and rough carbon filters to remove numerous small particles.

It’s in the fourth stage that the magic happens: the extremely fine reverse osmosis filter removes 99% of other contaminants, whether it’s lead, arsenic, or pharmaceutical spillovers. To finish off the process, there’s a final polishing carbon filter.

Express Water RO5DX is an expertly designed reverse osmosis water filter. Another excellent assurance is that the machine is fully free from BPA and lead, two common contaminants in plastic and metal consumer products. Express Water has been very thoughtful with the installation and maintenance, colour coordinating each hose to the socket to make things mindlessly simple.

As for the disadvantages? Two are identical to the APEC RO-90 – there’s no UV radiation light for suppressing microorganisms, and no remineralization filter to reintroduce minerals like magnesium. If the taste and nutrition of your water is vital for your goals, you should choose the Home Master TMAFC, but if you’re only looking for cleanliness, for an affordable price, the Express Water RO5DX is outstanding.

The final flaw is Express Water RO5DX’s lack of Water Quality Association certification. It’s therefore slightly less rock solid than the Home Master TMAFC, but given that official certification is an expensive process, requiring detailed inspection, the gold seal is a bonus and it’s no deal-breaker that the Express Water RO5DX doesn’t have one. A final advantage is the four replacement filters it comes with.

Express Water R05DX is a high quality, affordable reverse osmosis water filter.

 

Five – iSpring RCC7

One of the most popular reverse osmosis water filters ever, with thousands of happy reviews, and a perfect machine for a lower price tag.

The iSpring RCC7 is a 5 stage filtration system, lacking the final remineralization stage of the upgraded RCC7AK model. The water will therefore taste slightly less fresh, and that’s why its price-tag is lower…

…but if you live in a heavily polluted city and removing heavy metals and chemicals is your only concern, this machine is perfect. The iSpring RCC7 features a 75 gallon per day pump rate, matching the RCC7AK.

The system begins with a polypropylene (PP) sediment filter, a basic filter for removing chunks of sand and dirt. Next there’s the granular activated charcoal (GAC) carbon block (CTO) filter, which both filters out smaller particles and protects the reverse osmosis filter from contaminants like chlorine and chloramines.

Then we have the thin reverse osmosis filter itself, filtering out pollutants down to 0.001 microns, including the following according to iSpring: lead (up to 98% of lead), chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, hormones, asbestos, calcium, sodium, bacteria, giardia, viruses, and over 1000 more. The one substance that isn’t filtered is pure and fresh water.

The final stage is another round of carbon filtering, using coconut-sourced carbon. The iSpring’s inner tubes are entirely BPA free, while the inbuilt faucet is free from lead. Another uncommon feature of the RCC7 is the transparent housing, allowing you to witness the first filtering stage in action, and also spot when a filter needs to be replaced.

Speaking of which, the method is identical to the RCC7AK: cartridge-based replaceable features, which you can easily remove using the prepackaged plastic wrench and a small amount of skill. Once more, iSpring’s YouTube video will give you the guidance you need.

The RCC7 uses a pre pressurised tank with a 2.5 gallon capacity. This tanks measures 16 by 11 inches, with the entire reverse osmosis machine measuring 17.5 x 14.5 x 5.25 inches, meaning that it will fit comfortably underneath the average sink. The iSpring RCC7 is also WQA gold certified, and is routinely inspected every year.

The only flaws of this reverse osmosis water filter relate to its lower price. Firstly, there’s no UV radiation filter to shine on microorganisms and destroy them. Secondly, there’s no remineralization filter, and finally, the filters are standard compared to the super capacity filters found in APEC models.

The iSpring RCC7 is perfect for a more affordable model, and from one of the most trusted companies around. 

 

Six – Home Master HydroPerfection

Easily one of the greatest reverse osmosis water filters available today.

The Home Master HydroPerfection costs more than the TMAFC Artesian, but its extra features make the money worthwhile, beginning with its built-in UV radiation filter. This kills up to 99.8% of bacteria and microorganisms, reducing the risk of infection. It’s particularly vital when using natural water sources. Something to remember is that the UV light requires a 110v outlet to function.

Secondly, Home Master’s patented full contact technology returns with this machine, remineralizing the water twice after passing through the reverse osmosis filter. Healthy minerals like magnesium and calcium are restored, and with them, some alkalinity and flavour.

The Home Master HydroPerfection only “fails” in one respect: its gallons per day rate is a mere 75 compared to the 90 GPD of the slightly cheaper APEC Ultimate RO-90. On the other hand, the RO-90 lacks a UV radiation filter, giving you a clear choice: a moderately higher water output, or the cleanest, purest water available.

The machine comes with a permeate pump to increase the pressure, reducing the wasted water to a mere 1 gallon per 1 gallon of fresh water, far below the average. The Home Master HydroPerfection is made in the USA, and has a 5 year limited manufacturer’s warranty. Home Master has even upgraded this machine to feature 3/8 inch diameter tubing, increasing the flow.

The reverse osmosis film has a 1 year filter life, double many of Home Master’s competitors. The inbuilt pre-pressurized storage tank is deep, able to store 4 gallons of water. The inbuilt chrome faucet is free from lead too.

The installation story is similar: anybody with minor DIY expertise can install this reverse osmosis water filter within the hour. The replaceable filters are easy to remove as well.

Home Master HydroPerfection is a flawless reverse osmosis water filter, producing water that is both clean and fresh-tasting. 

 

Seven – APEC ROES-50

The APEC equivalent of the iSpring RCC7 – the APEC ROES-50 is a cheaper alternative to the APEC RO-90 model, but one that keeps most its perfect specifications. 

Like the other cheap models, the APEC ROES-50 lacks a remineralization filter. It’s also much weaker than the RO-90, pumping out 50 gallons of pure water per day compared with 90, but its lower price tag makes it perfect for households which use less water, perhaps for people living alone, or an older married couple.

The APEC ROES-50 is a five stage machine, matching the iSpring RCC7, featuring an initial sediment removal filter followed by carbon filtering and eventually, the ultra fine reverse osmosis filter. The first three filters require replacement every 6 months, while the last two, including the reverse osmosis membrane itself, need replacing only every 2 to 3 years.

A disadvantage, meanwhile, is that to replace the filters, you have to remove the whole housing first, and then remove the filters, an operation which can take expertise. With Home Master, you simply slot them in and out. Additionally, the filters lack an indicator to show when they require changing; you have to check them manually.

But making up for this is APEC’s five instructional YouTube videos. Installation is simple too, coming with special Quick Connect fittings and targeted at an amateur DIY enthusiast for installation within 1 hour. Another advantage is the food-grade tubes, which are approved by the FDA. The faucet is lead free, while the entire reverse osmosis water filter machine is certified by the Water Quality Association.

The wasted water rate is about average, with 3 gallons wasted for every 1 gallon of fresh water produced. This is sent down the drain, but APEC recommends funnelling it into your garden water supply. The APEC ROES-50 is made in the USA, and is “truly leak free”, meaning that checking for leaks constantly isn’t required.

The APEC ROES-50 isn’t quite the ultimate reverse osmosis water filter, but will easily make a massive difference to your water quality. 

 

Eight – Global Water RO-505

A well designed reverse osmosis water filter which is pretty much in line with APEC ROES-50, but excellent for people on a lower budget.

The Global Water RO-505 pumps out 50 gallons of fresh water per day. The inbuilt pre pressurized water tanks can store 3.2 gallons of water, while there’s quick connect fittings for easy installation.

Once more, the Global Water RO-505 is a 5 stage water filtration machine. The first stage is a polypropylene sediment filter which removes material down to 5 microns – sand, mud, and dust. Next, there’s a 10 inch coconut shell activated carbon filter for chlorine and volatile organic chemicals, followed by an even finer carbon filter. Then there’s the reverse osmosis filter itself, removing contaminants down to 0.001 microns, and 99% of overall contaminants.

The final stage is called a polishing filter, meaning that it removes all possible rough tastes and odours to improve the taste. It’s similar to the APEC ROES-50, but with minor variations. Additionally, the Global Water RO-505 comes with a replacement filter for every stage, except for the reverse osmosis filter itself.

According to Global Water, their machine is designed to work with household water pressures of 40 to 80 PSI. Global Water RO-505 isn’t fully certified by the WQA, but its filters, steel tank, and faucet are individually certified by the NSF. Note that an important requirement for NSF certification is to be entirely BPA free, which the Global Water RO-505 is confirmed to be.

Every part is free from lead too, including the inbuilt metal faucet. It would be pretty foolish to make a water filtering product which removes heavy metals only to carelessly reintroduce them, but poorer quality manufacturers often miss this basic point (less so nowadays).

Global Water makes the DIY installation particularly simple with their colour coded tubing. What does this reverse osmosis water filter lack? It’s the usual story for affordable brands – a UV radiation light for eliminating microorganisms, and a remineralization filter.

The Global Water RO-505 is similar to the APEC ROES-50, but another excellent affordable choice. 

 

Nine -APEC Countertop

Our next reverse osmosis water filter is our one and only countertop machine.

The APEC Countertop is perfect for people with no under-sink space or for a temporary travelling water supply: it sits on your countertop, and requires no more installation than connection to the faucet. Despite the portability, its output is surprisingly strong, pumping out 90 gallons of fresh water daily.

The APEC Countertop is also efficient, wasting 2 gallons of normal water per 1 gallon of freshly filtered water. It sacrifices little quality; there’s only 4 stages of filtering, with no remineralization filter, but the APEC Countertop can remove 99% of all contaminants. This includes chlorine, copper, lead, arsenic, and fluoride, according to APEC.

It’s convenient too: the faucet adaptors can switch between pumping water normally or through the reverse osmosis system. A disadvantage, however, is that there’s no storage tank for water on-demand, an inevitable consequence of its portability. Similarly, even with a high pressure pump, it takes time to fill a container with freshly filtered water, so you have to be smart when using this machine.

However, the APEC Countertop comes with a 1 year manufacturer’s warranty, and the comforting gold WQA certification seal. It’s made in the USA, and according to APEC, no BPA and lead is to be found in its materials. The machine weighs just 7 pounds, easy to carry into the middle of nowhere for a camping trip.

The APEC Countertop is the single greatest portable reverse osmosis water filter. 

 

Ten – iSpring RCS5T Commercial Grade

Another high price reverse osmosis system which justifies it with special features.

The main advantage of the iSpring RCS5T is its extremely high gallon per day rate, achieving up to 500 GPD or 0.34 GPD. This reverse osmosis filter is intended for large families, restaurants, hotels and other small businesses. Yet despite pumping out over 5 times as much water as the APEC RO-90, it costs surprisingly little extra.

Of course, if the water itself isn’t filtered to a high standard, the extra output is meaningless, and the iSpring RCS5T succeeds wildly here too. It features a 5-stage filtration system, able to remove 99% of all small-particle contaminants, including 1000+ heavy metals and chemicals, including chlorine, fluoride, lead, arsenic, pesticides, pathogens, THMs, PFOA and PFOS.

The RCS5T also feature a patented Side Flow reverse osmosis membrane. This allows the machine to save water and waste much less per gallon of fresh water produced, up to 70% more according to iSpring. You also have the benefit of iSpring’s trustworthy reputation. Like iSpring’s other reverse osmosis water filters, it’s made in the USA, and certified with a golden WQA seal.

It’s as easy to install as any iSpring reverse osmosis filter. This comes with a 1 year money back guarantee and a 1 year warranty. You can also convert the RCS5T into a whole house water filter, although this requires an extra 200-500 gallon water storage tank.

There are two disappointments with this machine: firstly, its lack of a UV radiation light to kill microorganisms, and secondly, its lack of a remineralization filter. It’s still highly priced, so to summarise, this machine is ideal if 1) you only care about pure, toxin-less water, and 2) high volume rather than a fresh taste is particularly important to you. If freshness is ideal, the Home Master HydroPerfection is the preferable high-price option.

The iSpring RCS5T is the top reverse osmosis water filter for maximum pure water output. 

 

About the water production rate (gallons per day)

If you’re researching reverse osmosis water filters on your own, then GPD is the first term you’ll instantly see. Gallons per day is simply the amount of purified, fully filtered water the machine produces per day. Common figures include 50, 75 or 100 GPD, but this is often misleading, because this refers to maximum output.

Most machines operate at just 60-80% capacity on a day to day basis. Why? There’s multiple factors, including 1) the quality of your water supply and how much work is required to purify it, 2) the water temperature, and 3) the natural incoming water pressure.

For example, the major water filter brands (iSpring, Home Master) test the Gallons Per Day output under standardised conditions: temperatures of 77 degrees Fahrenheit, water pressure of 60psi.

Think about the opportunities for variation. In a bone chilling winter, the water is constantly colder, and while the normal household water pressure ranges from 40-80psi, the quality of your neighborhood piping will affect your specific water pressure (it could be a relic of the Wild West). The companies also use a standardised water level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), meaning that if you live next to a Chinese car factory, belching out its pollution and fumes, things will be a little different.

This isn’t to say that there’s fraud going on – just remember that GPD refers to the maximum clean water output. A higher water temperature is superior for water flow, because cooling water expands. Picture how much rainwater expands when it’s in the form of lying snow.

There’s also another misconception about the gallons per day rating – that machines with high GPD scores only achieve this by loosening their filtering standards.

Many years ago, machines would permit larger molecule sizes to pass through the reverse osmosis filtering stage, larger than the 0.001 micron standard for the machines here. This would allow more water to pass through, increasing the GPD score, but weaken the quality of the filtering, allowing far more pollutants to pass through.

Those days are long gone though, as the trick now is to increase the diameter and quality of the tubes and piping. You don’t have to worry anymore about seemingly superior reverse osmosis water filters actually being of poorer quality.

Also remember that if your gallons per day rating is falling below what was advertised, you can enhance the output using a permeate pump. The Home Master HydroPerfection comes with a permeate pump automatically, while with the Home Master TMAFC, you can get an inbuilt one by paying slightly more.

 

The Water Quality Association

The Water Quality Association is a not for profit international organisation which examines products from all areas of the water industry, also including water softeners. Its gold seal is a sure sign that your water filter is high quality.

To receive the seal, companies must send an application to the WQA, and then submit to rigorous testing of every aspect of their water filters. The raw materials, the manufacturing process, and the stability and quality of the actual design are all tested.

Finished water filters are required to last for 10 years in a normal household setting to get the gold seal. Companies are prohibited from using any materials which contaminate the drinking water passing through it (like BPA). Companies are reinspected annually and even have to submit to the WQA’s code of ethics.

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A WQA gold seal is not essential, because like with organic foods and official certifications, the inspection process is long and cumbersome and can be too costly for well-meaning companies who are just starting out. Nevertheless, it’s an excellent bonus to have. It proves that its design is up to scratch AND that the company is honest, reputable, and has nothing to hide, even if the product has a missing feature or two.

A trick to watch out for, however, is “tested to Water Quality Association standards“. This does NOT indicate that they’ve received the seal; it just means that the manufacturer has replicated the WQA’s tests in their own experiments. They rarely get into detail on whether every test was performed, and whether every manufacturing process was tested. It’s a subjective phrase to use, and while the company may be telling the truth, only the gold seal carries weight.

 

Pressure pumps

A pressure pump can either be a built in feature or an optional extra for your reverse osmosis water filter. Such a pump significantly increases the pressure of the water flowing into the unit, resulting in an increased water production rate and a more efficient machine.

Ordinarily, reverse osmosis water filters waste a lot of dirty water when producing clean and fresh water. Back in the early days, primitive machines might have wasted 20 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of filtered, drinkable water produced. Many customers complained about their soaring water bills, while the environmentally conscious simply disliked the idea of so much waste.

Nowadays, the average is more like 4 gallons, but with a pressure pump, you can slash the waste to 1 gallon per gallon. The pressure of the incoming water flowing into the thin reverse osmosis membrane is one of the main factors that determines how much water is wasted. Brands like Home Master HydroPerfection come with inbuilt permeate pumps, but pressure pumps are also available to buy separately, for easy DIY installation.

There are two types available: an electric pump, and a permeate pump. Permeate pumps are entirely non-electrical, using the power of waste water to force water into the reverse osmosis filter at higher pressures. They’re particularly important for households with naturally low water pressure, and can be beneficial during wintertime too.

In addition to buying a permeate pump, you can also redirect the wasted water into a normal cold faucet, perhaps for washing dishes, or even for watering your garden.

 

The filtering process

How do reverse osmosis filters actually work? Firstly, osmosis itself is indeed the opposite of reverse osmosis, as the name suggests.

Osmosis is the process of weak liquid solutions being absorbed through a semipermeable membrane to join a strong solution. The most basic example in the world is a plant’s roots absorbing water from the soil to live. The cells in your body also absorb water through their semipermeable membranes, whether it’s your brain cells or blood cells.

A semi permeable membrane is a filter which allows particles of a certain size to pass through, but not those of a larger size. It can be natural or synthetic; even your skin is a semi permeable membrane.

Reverse osmosis, meanwhile, is a rich solution being stripped of its particles, once more funnelled through a semi permeable membrane. While different machines may feature UV lights, remineralization filters, and other specialities, the key part varies little: a thin, reverse osmosis membrane which eliminates any inorganic compounds greater than 0.001 microns.

The membrane is so small that impurities 900,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair are eliminated. The likes of lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium (toxic heavy metals) don’t stand a chance. While a UV radiation light is a nice bonus, most bacteria and microorganism cells are actually larger than the 0.001 microns required to be ruthlessly eliminated.

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The downside, of course, is that healthy minerals like magnesium and calcium are also ruthlessly eliminated. Magnesium is actually a mineral which many people lack today, suffering the consequences such as sleep deprivation, a low mood and aching muscles, while calcium is the classic bone health mineral.

Drinking water is not a massive mineral source these days, but it’s nevertheless decent, and that’s why a machine with a remineralization filter is easily the best choice.

Most machines funnel the water through marble. Old machines used synthetic limestone, but modern reverse osmosis filters use naturally occurring crushed marble, or calcium carbonate, to fill your water with natural minerals.

Most importantly, the alkalinity of the water is increased; non-remineralized reverse osmosis filtered water has a maximum PH of 7, and often as low as 6.5, in acidic territory. While it’s a myth that highly alkaline water is ideal for human health, and ionic water alkalisers should be avoided, slightly alkaline or neutral water is perfect. It helps that it tastes far fresher too.

 

What you stand to gain

Most of the brands here boast of eliminating 1000+ contaminants, whether heavy metals or artificial industrial chemicals, but the reality could even be higher.

Volatile organic compounds are being generated constantly; scientists cannot predict how two synthetic washing tablet fragrances will combine and suddenly form a whole a new set of toxic compounds.

Then there’s the countless species of bacteria, the endless new drugs which make their way into the water supply, and the thousands of chemicals registered for usage in personal care items and industry, many of which have not been extensively examined for their effects on human health.

We’ll never be able to cover every toxin (which is one reason why a blanket elimination strategy like reverse osmosis is smart), but here’s some of the worst villains you’ll soon be eliminating, which are often referenced directly by iSpring, Home Master or APEC:

BPA – a synthetic chemical which is falling out of fashion, but still used in plastic water bottles, shower curtains, paper receipts and endless consumer goods.

It’s frequently accused of turning male frogs into female frogs after spilling into rivers, and the tales are true, for BPA is a strong hormone disruptor. Its estrogen-boosting effects are second to none, with perilous consequences for both sexes: feminisation for men, and breast cancer for women.

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BPA also has two more familiar side effects, causing chronic inflammation and depleting your antioxidant supplies. As such, it can contribute to acne, brain fog, and aching muscles. A reverse osmosis water filter is particularly important in this instance, because many old water pipes built in the early 1900s were built using BPA lining.

Lead – decades ago, lead was an ingredient in children’s toys, but was banned after causing brain damage among the kids who inevitably started chewing the toys.

It’s now a byword for toxic contaminants, and after being popular since the Roman Empire, lead pipes were finally banned in the 1970s. The problem is that preexisting lead pipes were never dug up and removed, meaning that lead particles are still roaming around your water supply, with significant geographical variation.

Arsenic – a widely hated heavy metal which is just as toxic as lead, but has a strange ability to worsen acne too.

Somehow, arsenic can stimulate your body to produce more keratin, a protein which binds living skin cells together, but also binds dead skin cells together into pore-clogging clumps when produced in excess. Arsenic is also pro-inflammatory, and generates free radicals when consumed.

Sources include apple juice, grapefruit juice and rice. Arsenic is a natural ingredient of the earth’s crust, so small amounts will naturally and safely occur in water, but excessive levels can be found in California and other Southern States. Internationally, Argentina, Chile, Bangladesh, Nepal, parts of China, and Mongolia are the arsenic hotspots.

Fluoride – a synthetic chemical, an enamel strengthening agent added to toothpaste and mouthwash to protect people’s teeth. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first American city to introduce fluoride to its water supply, to generously protect everybody’s teeth from harm whether they liked it or not.

The trend spread nationwide over the coming decades, but what also spread was research showing that fluoride decreases IQ in infants, triggers a massive inflammatory response, and depletes your antioxidant supplies. Fluoride is still added to water, and spillover from people’s toothpaste and mouthwash is inevitable. A reverse osmosis water filter is the perfect way to avoid this.

That’s just a taster of what’s lurking in tap water, or to look at it positively, a taster of what you can now banish from your life. 

 

Conclusion

There are more reverse osmosis machines being sold out there, and when researching them, remember the terminology and concepts you’ve learnt here today.

Likewise, there are more accessories too. You can buy isolated UV radiation lamps to install in your machines, and you can buy Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) readers to examine how pure your water is. I don’t recommend the latter, because if your reverse osmosis water filter has a remineralization filter, the amount of TDS will automatically be higher, and won’t be indicating secret pollution which made it through the filter.

The brands in this article contain every feature you could possibly need.

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Thanks for reading!