RO an expensive way to go

So for a few months the water in the house has been a little problematic.  The smell of sulfur shows up sometimes, especially in the hot water and sometimes the water does not look as clear as it once did.  I had the water equipment replaced around five years ago by a local company that I have a good relationship with.  When they put the system in I had been dealing with around 10 years of poor water quality with the old equipment.  They highly recommended the performance of this system and it lived up to their claims.  The water quality in the house was much, much better than it ever was prior.

So anyway, last year the water guys were out doing well work and they said there was some maintenance that needed to be done on the water cleaners they only found about recently.  I could tell their attitude about the cleaners had now turned somewhat sour, despite mine still working well.

The guy from the water company came out yesterday tasked with looking at the equipment to see if he could address the problems we were experiencing.  I was not home but Cindy was.  The guy spent literally a couple minutes, just long enough to verify what model of equipment I had.  He briefly talked to Cindy and then left me a message to call him, which I did later.

So apparently they have now gone full tilt against the equipment I have and no longer sell it.  Although my units have been more or less trouble free, evidently other customers of theirs have had a lot of problems.  He said one option was to have the filtration media in my unit rebedded although it is also leaking a little bit in the top valve section.  The cost to do so was $1000 but he highly recommended against that course of action.

He thought I should replace the equipment altogether.  His first option was a system that sounded almost identical to what was pulled out.  It has this huge holding tank that has air injected into it to separate the sulfur.  Knowing how poorly that system worked for me before that was a non-option in my book.

Option two was something I was considering 5 years ago, a whole house RO (reverse osmosis) system. Small RO systems that fit under sinks are used a lot for drinking water.  I had one for a number of years.  The filtration for RO water is extremely thorough, giving you the best quality water possible.  Of course there are downsides.  The RO filtration process is slow so you need a large holding tank of purified water.  The filters require regular maintenance and replacement and are costly.  And the system itself is VERY expensive, the guy quoted me $6400 and a $500 trade in value for my old equipment.  I already knew the approximate price from 5 years ago although I hoped the price may have come down somewhat since. It didn’t.

I told Danny that when I talked to them 5 years ago I mentioned RO and was actually steered to what I had by their recommendation.  He acknowledged that they were all about those systems back then but no longer are as a result of the problems they have seen longer term.  He reiterated the benefits of RO which I already know, the cleanest water possible.  In a way it seems like overkill having purified water going into the toilets or out the hose bib.

I also pointed out to him that in addition to the huge up front costs, there is a lot more upkeep and maintenance costs.  He said they have either monthly or quarterly maintenance plans I could pick up if I didn’t want to do it myself.  If I got a system that expensive I might go for the maintenance to ensure it’s longevity.  A quarterly plan might add up to close to what I pay for water softener salt per year, which would no longer be necessary.

I was a bit frustrated by my options but told Danny I wasn’t going to pull the trigger on new equipment just yet.  If I decide to go that route it likely would need to wait until I see how my tax refund is shaping up for this year.  If I plan to stay in the house long term, RO might make sense.  We will see how things unfold in the next couple months.