[mashmash]

Hi,

We have been relying on the 20L jerrycan supplied by a guy close-by. However he has become unreliable and the source of his jerrycan is now a question. So planning to get a purifier. I have no idea about the type and kind of water coming in our taps. We rely 100% on tanker water. So again don't know where it's coming from, could be the near by lake, borewell, god knows. I have to clean my taps once in three months. There is debris and salt blocking water flow.

So which purifier would you recommend I use? If it helps, I live in Whitefield, Bangalore.

Mash

[sgiitk]

@mashmash; With variable sources I will advise you to go for an RO. Brand is almost irrelevant. Durability is a question though? Our son has one from Ion Exchange as the more popular Kent had problems in his previous flat. At the end of the the subsystems are about the same, so the brand is almost irrelevant. Check up with the RO service guys in your area since after the original purchase you are in his care.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by mashmash

Hi,
So which purifier would you recommend I use? If it helps, I live in Whitefield, Bangalore.

Mash

RO is definitely needed. More than the brand itself the after sales is more important, since these things have to be regularly serviced. I have an LG for which the service has been very good so far. You can ask around to see who provides good service in your area.

Would also suggest to take the annual AMC and avoid ones with any kind of fancy water dispensing mechanism which needs power to dispense water itself.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I have an LG for which the service has been very good so far.

Thanks for that first-hand feedback about LG. I picked one up 2 months ago, and have been happy with it. Going in to the purchase, I knew the service costs would be on the higher side, and was fine about that. The chaps who installed it (are also the ones who service it) were professional and efficient.

[mashmash]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@mashmash; With variable sources I will advise you to go for an RO. Brand is almost irrelevant. Durability is a question though? Our son has one from Ion Exchange as the more popular Kent had problems in his previous flat. At the end of the the subsystems are about the same, so the brand is almost irrelevant. Check up with the RO service guys in your area since after the original purchase you are in his care.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

RO is definitely needed. More than the brand itself the after sales is more important, since these things have to be regularly serviced. I have an LG for which the service has been very good so far. You can ask around to see who provides good service in your area.

Would also suggest to take the annual AMC and avoid ones with any kind of fancy water dispensing mechanism which needs power to dispense water itself.

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Thanks for that first-hand feedback about LG. I picked one up 2 months ago, and have been happy with it. Going in to the purchase, I knew the service costs would be on the higher side, and was fine about that. The chaps who installed it (are also the ones who service it) were professional and efficient.

Thank You so much for your updates. That really helped. This being my first purifier, I was just going to order a Kent on Amazon thinking that would be it. I never thought of service. Asked around the society and came to know of a multi brand Purifier distributor/dealer, practically in the neighboring street. Visited him and came to know Kent has a lot of issues in this area. He suggested a brand Aqua, looks exactly like the Kent Grand Models. Said that this can take upto 1800-2000 TDS and works very well in this area and also, he himself services them. So went ahead and got the Aqua Grand purifier.

The guy was in my house in 30 mins and installation took less than 20 mins. Tap water TDS as per a pen like device was 740. Purifier water reduced that to 50. The Jerrycan water was measured to be 60. Anything else I need to check? if nothing, then running after the jerrycan guy will end. The distributor will come himself and check on the filter every 3 months.

Fingers crossed, thank you again for the great inputs.

MaSh

[diyguy]

May be a bit off track but wanted to share that my 10 month wish of a water softener install is finally complete. I got a 3M water softener installed in my house. Also got a pressure pump installed at the same time. This is in the delivery line of my overhead tank. I got pipes down to my first floor to feed the pressure pump and the softener and then go back up to the original delivery lines.
There are some learnings from this and will share subsequently. For now it is just one day old and I realize hands are slippery after wash. On speaking to 3M was told this is due to soaps being designed for hard water mostly and should look for alternate soft water soaps
I now will be installing my 7 Stage RO that I had purchased from the US. It was not working due to low water pressure in my house. With the pressure pump this should now work fine.

[DwarkaDelhiWala]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Can you share the TDS of the water your are getting from purifier.

TDS: 15, pH: 8.5.

pH is very important as the 'local' RO units output acidic water 9i have seen pH of even 5.6) after reducing TDS.

No company technician carries pH meter - not even from A.O Smith or LG.

[DwarkaDelhiWala]

Originally Posted by mashmash

....

The guy was in my house in 30 mins and installation took less than 20 mins. Tap water TDS as per a pen like device was 740. Purifier water reduced that to 50. The Jerrycan water was measured to be 60. Anything else I need to check? if nothing, then running after the jerrycan guy will end. The distributor will come himself and check on the filter every 3 months.

Fingers crossed, thank you again for the great inputs.

MaSh

They come running because they make lot of money....


Pl. check pH.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by DwarkaDelhiWala

TDS: 15, pH: 8.5.

pH is very important as the 'local' RO units output acidic water 9i have seen pH of even 5.6) after reducing TDS.

No company technician carries pH meter - not even from A.O Smith or LG.

I must say I am surprised at the values. I always thought that RO reduces the pH to near 7 (say 6.5 to 7.5 or at worst 6 to 8). So there may be some truth in advts of controlled pH.

[DwarkaDelhiWala]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I must say I am surprised at the values. I always thought that RO reduces the pH to near 7 (say 6.5 to 7.5 or at worst 6 to 8). So there may be some truth in advts of controlled pH.

Drinking water should be slightly of more blood pH(7.4) - maintained by body as of extreme priority. Food mixed with low pH will deactivate saliva amylase. Anything less than 7 will lead to extra acidic solvent in stomach than required; causing so called 'morning acidity'.

Huge number of people take antacid (Proton pump inhibitors) as first thing in morning daily like Pantop, Omez etc. as 'anti-gas/acidity' pill for years -mostly 'prescribed' by chemists. PPIs block acid secreting cells by killing them. So till these cells regenerate there is nothing to disinfect food, break proteins etc - undigested part of which is fermented in intestine leading to a vicious cycle of 'gas'.

I know little bit because I'm practicing gastroenterologist for 33 years.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by DwarkaDelhiWala

TDS: 15, pH: 8.5.

pH is very important.

No company technician carries pH meter - not even from A.O Smith or LG.

Interesting. How come your water is so alkaline? I've never measured the pH from my Kent RO unit - will see if I can get hold of some pH paper - but I would expect it be close to 7 or marginally less 7.0 +/- 0.2.

I assume it can vary a bit (may be by up to 0.5, a log scale after all) depending on the TDS value too.

I do recall reading articles glorifying alkaline water, but haven't paid much attention to them. Can't imagine what artificial things people (vendors) will start putting in their waters to make them alkaline.

[sgiitk]

@Miyata; So you suspect the measurement. Around 7 even a small amount of impurity will make the pH go crazy. I must say, I tend to agree with you. I am sure that a precise controlled measurement may drop the numbers to nearer 7. Remember pH is a logarithmic scale centred on 7.0 for water.

[chinkara]

Exploring water purifiers.
Aquaguard and Kent are out due to very poor prior experience with service / tendency to stick additional service elements.
While Pureit and Bluestar are in the consideration set, any experiences of Aquafresh and other low cost ones? I see only a few reviews in this thread.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@Miyata; So you suspect the measurement.

Yes Sir. I think the measurement displayed could be inaccurate.

My rationale - pH meters are very sensitive precision instruments. From the memory of my using them, they need to calibrated on a three point scale (cubic) every few days for accurate measurements. Some do it on a two point scale too (linear), which will work fine depending on the range being measured and how close they are to the calibration points.

The ones we might use at home may not come with the privilege of having faithful and standard solutions for calibration.

And so my suspicion.

Originally Posted by chinkara

Exploring water purifiers.

You'll be hard pressed to find any with dominantly positive reviews. From my little experience, I would try get one that I can reasonably service myself. I do love tinkering around with things that way! Servicing most of these things is fairly straightforward. Few of the filters can be cleaned for a while by running the 'high' pressure water through them in the reverse direction;few would just have to be replaced. All the parts can either be got online or local stores.

When I am little pressed for time and the purifier needs attention, I prefer calling on to the local service providers - you'll find quite a few in any neighborhood. And they are many times a source for great knowledge on the subject.

[Iyencar]

Originally Posted by chinkara

Exploring water purifiers.

Regardless of the brand, choose a simple UV purifier and not an RO. The RO filters end up wasting a lot of water due to the way they work. They are also overkill in most cases and can be crazy expensive to repair. Lastly, there are some US EPA studies showing the chemicals used in the filters may be toxic.