[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

I was in a similar dilemma sometime last year. I ended up buying Kent Pearl (RO+UV+UF) system.

Do you have any insight into the "Mineral RO" technology - it claims to retain essential minerals in output water, post RO treatment. Any idea how that happens?

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

No complaints till date, but the downside is that there is a lot of unnecessary wastage of water in RO systems.

You can use the waste water for household stuff like utensil cleaning, watering plants, etc.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Now I feel that I should have purchased Aquaguard Total Sensa, which selects the RO or UV branch depending upon the TDS content of the inlet water stream. This would reduce wastage of water and also prolong the life of the RO membrane.

Actually I stand corrected here - SENSA switches b/w RO and UF based on TDS of input water but UV purification happens in both cases. However, I have heard instances of the auto-switch mechanism going kaput and the unit running on RO or UF incessantly. Due to this, I am swaying towards Kent (Grand+ or Pearl).

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

From what I have heard, Aquaguard service is better then Kent.

Both are as bad So this is not a criteria for me.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Do you have any insight into the "Mineral RO" technology - it claims to retain essential minerals in output water, post RO treatment. Any idea how that happens?

TDS controller is nothing but a mixer. It mixes RO purified water (with less TDS) with UF purified water (with more TDS) to achieve the desired TDS. once the desired TDS has been achieved, this mixture is sent for UV filtration.

The difference between Kent system and Aquaguard system is that Aquaguard has an inbuilt TDS sensor which selects the RO/UF branch in real time depending upon the TDS content of the inlet stream. In Kent systems, the technician manually sets the TDS controller during installation, to achieve the desired TDS content. (The technician has a separate TDS meter using which he measures the TDS of the outlet stream and adjusts the TDS controller accordingly). The TDS meter is not inbuilt in the Kent product.

If you are not comfortable with the Aquaguard product, I would say opt for the Kent Pearl model. It has provision for wall mounting as well as counter top installation. (I am not comfortable with wall mounting such a heavy appliance using 2 puny screws).

Another benefit of Pearl is that it has a transparent removable storage tank, which is easy to clean periodically.

Rohan

[cool_dube]

Update - got Kent Pearl installed over the weekend...

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

TDS controller is nothing but a mixer...

The difference between Kent system and Aquaguard system...

Your explanation is spot-on! I figured this out after reading the owner's manual that came with my unit

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

If you are not comfortable with the Aquaguard product, I would say opt for the Kent Pearl model

I opted for Kent (over Aquagurad) Pearl (over Grand+) for the benefits stated by you.

Thanks for all the help! BTW, the water dispensed by Kent appears way tastier/fresher as opposed to that dispensed by my earlier unit. So far so good...

[grazd]

lots of god info in this thread already.. my 2p:

I think having an understanding of the local water conditions is VERY important. If possible get an initial water quality report done from a decent water monitoring lab. This service is also provided by some manufacturers such as eureka forbes, although their results are not entirely trustworthy since they have a vested interest in selling you the highest margin and most service intensive product.
One can check for TDS, heavy metals, organic and inorganic pollutants. Also try to have some idea of the main source that supplies your water and piping conditions in your neighborhood.

1. RO is a bit of an overkill for the vast majority of urban homes that get municipal (already treated to some extent) water. Unless you have particularly vicious municipality that supplies atrociously poor water, you don't need to have RO. Corporation water is supposed to be soft, with low-moderate TDS (100-500 ppm) and chlorinated.
If your home gets municipal water you need 2 main features from your filter:
--- (i) an activated carbon filter to remove chlorine
--- (ii) a membrane to remove suspended solids and certain bacteria/cysts
UF and NF units do this job pretty well.. check out permionics and certain other brands for the same..
If you are still worried about viruses, etc, then boil the water after filtering from above.. in fact if your neighborhood is going thru an epidemic/ seasonal viruses then boiling is pretty much the only reliable way to get rid of these problems... also for people whose immune systems are compromised - infants, convalescents, the elderly.. this is still the only way to go despite being cumbersome... for the rest of us, i would argue that your body will be able to handle the water well enough and the immune system will take care of the rest..
Lastly a membrane has an excellent inbuilt failure protection (if the unit is designed properly): the membrane will get clogged and water output goes to zero reminding you to get it serviced.. this also means that ONLY pure water can flow out of it.. or you will get NO water at all...

RO is mainly for water sources that have appallingly poor water quality - high TDS, multiple sources of contamination nearby, sewage, salinity, etc.

2. UV seems to be a bit of a sham. At best, it only deactivates the bacteria, meaning you cant store the water for too long, also it seems to give rise to a certain false security that you are drinking purified water. its in built failsafe features are not good enough, maintenence procedures are dubious, and not self serviceable..

Beware of units that are tied with high price maintenance contracts.. this is the classic gilette model of profiteering.. also I have a strong bias against celebrity endorsements of any kind for products in this space...I dont mean to shill for UF/NF units, but I am sick of this RO and UV media blitz, which seems wrong to me. These are wasteful and inefficient products and we can scare afford to waste water and power on such scales..

apologies if this was boring/repetitious..

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by grazd

If your home gets municipal water you need 2 main features from your filter:
--- (i) an activated carbon filter to remove chlorine
--- (ii) a membrane to remove suspended solids and certain bacteria/cysts
UF and NF units do this job pretty well.. check out permionics and certain other brands for the same..

Could you please suggest brands with UF n NF technology? Preferably, which have sales and service in Bangalore.

[grazd]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Could you please suggest brands with UF n NF technology? Preferably, which have sales and service in Bangalore.

I am not sure regarding the best models in B'lore in terms of sales/service. AFAIK, UF and NF units (the ones that I have used) need much less servicing than RO and UV models. In fact some of these models claim that the owner can himself maintain it with min. effort (although I am not sure how easy it might be).

Without necessarily promoting this brand, my friends and I had a good experience with Permionics (pureflo and other models)
There are other companies as well such as Aum and Rupali (I dont have any personal experience of these). Most of the firms I know are Pune/bombay based (maybe because some of them are licensing BARC developed technology). Maybe best to just google for ultrafiltration and inquire directly with the firm regarding local dealers and service.

[deep_bang]

Need some help on my zero b RO system.
It is just a few weeks old and I have an observation which I wanted to check with you guys.

The water output rate varies quite a bit. Some days it is a good stream of water while some other days it is just a little more than a trickle. I always thought that the whole concept of RO was that pressurized water was pumped through the semi permeable membrane and what flows on the outside would have about 95% or such rejection of salts. I assumed this means a constant volume of water, both on the pure side and the reject side. If that's the case how is it that the output is varying on my unit. Does it depend on the concentration of salts too?
I just wanted to know if there is a problem with my unit.
Thanks in advance.

[lohithrao]

Today Pureit decided to retire, developed a leak and when contacted the CS got a feel they are not in any hurry to fix it. a note seems like the support has dropped real bad last few months so i think people should stay away from pureit.

now the challenge, finding a replacement. presently i get corporation water where i live but i want something allrouder kind which can adapt to any kind of water.

So just the the UV based purifier is good or go for the expensive Ro stuffs?

lastly Aquaguard vs Kent???

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Today Pureit decided to retire, developed a leak and when contacted the CS got a feel they are not in any hurry to fix it. a note seems like the support has dropped real bad last few months so i think people should stay away from pureit.

now the challenge, finding a replacement. presently i get corporation water where i live but i want something allrouder kind which can adapt to any kind of water.

So just the the UV based purifier is good or go for the expensive Ro stuffs?

lastly Aquaguard vs Kent???

No point going for RO.

For one, it is expensive. Secondly, i will remove whatever minerals are in water, making it very low in minerals.

[lohithrao]

Thanks Deep, yes its expensive. any other purifier which does the cleaning job well?

Am keen on these modells but its quiet confusing..

- Aquaguard Enhance UV
- Aquaguard Ultra
- Anything from Kent tt can be considered?

thanks

Originally Posted by deep_bang

No point going for RO.

For one, it is expensive. Secondly, i will remove whatever minerals are in water, making it very low in minerals.

[nilanjanray]

Ok, so this thread was very useful when I started researching about various water purifier options.

Have finally opted for Kent Grand+. When the sales guy came and tested, the tap water (from tank) showed a figure of 540 TDS. Also did a testing of Bisleri bottle water, that showed ~ 20 (wonder if the sales guys purposely screw up the scales? Just a thought...maybe they have a switch to move from real readings to 'for influencing' readings )

Anyway, was reading that Kent responsiveness is bad. Faced that today when I called up the 1800 helpline number. No one was picking up the phone. So just used Just Dial to find about a few Kent dealers closeby, and went for an authorized dealer with good ratings. Prompt response. Sales guy came within 2 hours, fitting done within 5 hours of calling.

I had used the same route when going for a UPS. Seems for these kind of appliances, local authorized dealer route is the best way to go instead of relying on slow company processes.

The dealer has promised prompt response...let's see how it goes.

[Jebs]

As I'm moving to Royapettah to Okkiam Thoraipakkam (OMR) we should rely on only tanker water. I have registered with ZERO-B 9:50 P.M , immediately got a call from them next day morning. Sales guy came and tested the tank water which shows the TDS value as 250. Again we tested the local make (Aquapure) RO purifier from my uncle house it shows the 10.

He explained about ZERO-B Intello and Emerald. Both costs 16K inclusive of all and 2.5k for AMC.

I'm thinking to go for Emerald , Any one using Emerald at your home. Is this good choice? or should i go for the other options. Kindly provide your suggestions.

[sgiitk]

I have lived in IIT campus since 1977 and now am out of the campus drawing from the same aquifers. I never used any device while on campus and now use a simple Eureka filter. We have 300+ and never had a problem. If the water is not brackish then you are quite safe. All high power marketing is for RO for obvious reasons. They do not care about the 70%+ waste.

One point about RO - while Ion Exchange (ZeroB) uses Iodine in the final polishing, Kent relies on Ultra Violet.

[Jebs]

Thanks Sir,

I have asked that ZERO-B sales chap many times regarding the Iodine usage. That guy not aware of it and he says "It's not Iodine, it ION-Exchange our company name". I was like

Isn't using RO being the safe play when we have kid at home?. And does Iodine polishing really makes any side-effects?

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by Jebs

As I'm moving to Royapettah to Okkiam Thoraipakkam (OMR) we should rely on only tanker water. I have registered with ZERO-B 9:50 P.M , immediately got a call from them next day morning. Sales guy came and tested the tank water which shows the TDS value as 250. Again we tested the local make (Aquapure) RO purifier from my uncle house it shows the 10.

He explained about ZERO-B Intello and Emerald. Both costs 16K inclusive of all and 2.5k for AMC.

I'm thinking to go for Emerald , Any one using Emerald at your home. Is this good choice? or should i go for the other options. Kindly provide

I have zero b pristine model which has a 5 liter storage. I believe this is iodine based on top of uv although nowhere does it specifically mention about iodine.

For a tds of 250 ro may result in a very low tds which also is not a good thing. Why not check these models which do tds control so it is around 50 or so?

The other option is to get the water tested for presence of metals and such and see if they are within limits a simple uv filter might work the best.