Why Is My Reverse Osmosis Tank Not Filling Up?
It can be frustrating when your RO system is on the fritz, like when the reverse osmosis tank isn’t filling up. Not only does that prevent your water from being
Reverse Osmosis vs. Distilled Water
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There are many water purification options on the market, some installed as part of the home water system and others on the faucet or as a jug in the fridge. With all the options available, it can be difficult to know which is the best for you and how they compare without becoming lost in marketing talk or scientific jargon.
Two of the most common purification methods are reverse osmosis and water distillation, each helping to remove contaminants in substantially different ways. To help you land on the best way to clean your water, let’s explore reverse osmosis vs. distilled water.
By Method: Reverse Osmosis vs Distilled Water
How water is treated makes a difference in contamination levels, what can be removed, and how it tastes. While both reverse osmosis and distillation produce very clean water without remineralization, they are very different processes that may be preferred for your home use:
Reverse Osmosis Process
Reverse osmosis uses membranes to filter out water, typically four fine membranes that water passes through to remove any contaminants or other impurities at a microscopic level. By using a high-pressure pump, water is pushed through different membranes or filters, such as a sediment filter and carbon filter, before passing through the semipermeable membrane which removes up to 98% of dissolved solids.
Generally, the process happens in this order:
- Prefiltration: typically the carbon and sediment filter to remove sediment and chlorine.
- Water is pushed through the reverse osmosis membrane where dissolved particles are removed
- Water flows into a storage tank where it sits until needed
- When water is turned on at a drinking water faucet, the water flowing out of the tank goes through a postfilter for one last filtration before flowing from the faucet.
Distilled Water Process
Water distillation is one of the oldest ways humans have cleaned their water, it’s an effective and quick process that has been around for centuries. Essentially, the water is heated to a boil and the vaporized water is then separated from contaminants in it.
The process works in this order:
- The water is heated to above 212 degrees Fahrenheit (boiling point for water) which removes many harmful contaminants and microorganisms. Keep in mind that water begins to evaporate at a much lower temperature than 212 degrees, meaning that the majority of contaminants will be left behind.
- The steam rising from the boiling process travels out of the container and into a tube, reducing the steam’s temperature and producing condensation. As the steam turns back into water droplets, it will be free of most of the impurities and contaminants originally there.
- Once the water has been fully condensed, the droplets fall and water is collected. Keep in mind that commercially distilled water uses carbon post-filters to remove any additional contaminants found after the distillation process is finished, mainly volatile organic compounds.
Comparing Reverse Osmosis and Distilled Water
As reverse osmosis and water distillation are different processes, you’d be correct in assuming they remove different things or one does more than another.
Take a look at the chart below and see what contaminants each process does and does not remove:
Contaminant Removal
Reverse Osmosis | Distilled Water | |
|---|---|---|
Contamination Removed | Very high effectiveness in removing protozoa, bacteria, and bacteria.
Will remove common chemical contaminants (metal ions, aqueous salts), including sodium, chloride, copper, chromium, and lead.
May reduce arsenic, fluoride, radium, sulfate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrate, volatile organic chemicals, and phosphorous. | Very high effectiveness in removing protozoa, bacteria, and bacteria. Will remove common chemical contaminants, including arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, nitrate, sodium, sulfate, and many organic chemicals. |
Contaminants Not Removed | Dissolved gasses include specific pesticides, and solvents. Risk of bacteria growing on membrane and entering water supply. | Specific pesticides include volatile solvents, and volatile organic compounds that have boiling points close to water. |
As you can see in the chart above, each process makes drinking and cooking water substantially better for you by removing a range of chemicals, bacteria, microplastics, and other contaminants. This is especially beneficial for people with weakened or compromised immune systems.
While both deliver health benefits, there are other areas to compare and contrast distilled water with reverse osmosis water:
Sustainability
Environmental impact, especially when it comes to water, is always critical to the technology used or how the process impacts the area. While all filtration systems have some environmental impact, both at-home RO systems and water distillation systems have a much smaller effect on the environment than buying bottled water. While filters are changed, adding waste to the world, it is in no way comparable to the thousands of water bottles that end up in the dump or power used by water bottle companies compared to the power used at your home.
Water System Setup
For any person, the difficulty in setup is often a key to whether they’ll adopt a technology or not and water filtration is no different. Here is where distilled water systems win out over reverse osmosis.
RO systems are attached to the plumbing in a home, so cannot be installed in a rented space and can be complicated to set up due to the number of stages water passes through. Water distillation systems, on the other hand, are as simple as plugging in a coffee maker.
Costs
While it may seem counterintuitive, RO systems are less expensive than distilled water ones. The initial cost is typically smaller with reverse osmosis, but it wins out with operating costs as well. The cost per gallon of an RO system is much lower due to how little electricity is used to operate the system compared to distillation.
Choosing the Best Water Solution for You: Reverse Osmosis or Distilled Water?
In Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington, the water quality is unique with high amounts of nitrates due to heavy agricultural use and septic systems. While both distillation and reverse osmosis systems can help combat that, there are other factors (like taste, bacteria, microplastics, and cost) to consider.
How you clean your drinking water depends on your lifestyle, health needs, and budget, as at the end of the day cleaner water is the goal and both systems help deliver that. To help combat contaminated water, H20 Solutions delivers water your way by empowering individuals with safeguards to improve the water in their homes. From EcoWater Systems in the home to SimpleLab testing kits, we are committed to cleaner water throughout the Pacific Northwest.
We empower people in our community with the knowledge and tools to take charge of their drinking water.
Questions? We’re Here to Help
Navigating the maintenance and care of your EcoWater treatment system is vital to ensuring its lasting efficiency and performance. Whether it’s understanding salt maintenance, troubleshooting regeneration issues, or planning system deep cleaning, our team, as an EcoWater Systems distributor, is here to assist you every step of the way. Contact us today.
More To Explore
Reverse Osmosis vs. Distilled Water
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