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SOLUTIONS TALK #5: Reverse Osmosis vs Water Distiller - Which is Right for You?
245 Plays2 years ago
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Transcript
Introduction to Water Filtration Methods
00:00:03
Speaker
I did an episode a couple of months ago on comparing distilled water versus Berkey water filters as a solution to filtering the poison that is coming out of your tap.
Installing and Comparing Reverse Osmosis vs. Distillation
00:00:21
Speaker
Since then, over the last week and a half, I've installed the reverse osmosis system in my house. So I thought I would share some of my views on what's the best way to proceed. So in this episode, I'll compare reverse osmosis versus distilled water, pros and cons that I can think of.
00:00:46
Speaker
and maybe help give you some tips and direction on what's the fastest way for you to start filtering or it's just getting clean water into your body, into your children, your spouses, family, pets, including plants even within the case of reverse osmosis because you can create a lot more water.
00:01:11
Speaker
So, I'll have a link to the previous episode if you're not in the market for a reverse osmosis system. You know, some people just let's say you might be renting or you travel a lot. Maybe that's not the right thing for you. So, in that case, you may want to
Personal Experiences with Water Distillers
00:01:32
Speaker
invest in a Berkey water filter or a small water distiller that you can take with you and stuff like that, right? So this is not gonna be a very long episode. Basically, I've been using distilled water, my water distiller that I got, I've been using it since, I think it's been total about eight, nine months maybe at this point.
00:01:57
Speaker
And when I started distilling my water, it's just like, it was a come to Jesus moment for me. It was amazing. It was also like quite warm here in Portugal. The summer was just starting, I think it was June. And just this water was so light and refreshing and oh my God. So yeah, distilled water, in my opinion, it's the best, cleanest thing, right?
00:02:27
Speaker
So, the problem with distilled water is you have to clean a little bit the unit every time. I use citric acid, I spray it inside all the shit and the gunk from the water that has to go somewhere and it sticks to the metal inside the distiller. So, you have to spray it down and rinse it, wipe it.
00:02:51
Speaker
And then there's the carbon filters on the nozzle that sometimes it might break. And you have to change it. And you have to go find where you left them. And you've got to change them every six weeks or so. And then the nozzle fell off of the top of the distiller's head. And the glass nozzle broke two or three times. I had to order new ones.
00:03:17
Speaker
You know there's like wear and tear on the unit that my water here is extremely high in calcium magnesium and minerals so the sort of rubber insulation that connects the top and the bottom of the distiller unit.
00:03:32
Speaker
that got calcified over the months and it started letting steam out so then only half of a jug would be processed in one go and that was really pissing me off so I had to order new spare kind of silicon or rubber whatever they are kind of installations and that had to go through customs here
00:03:59
Speaker
From the UK because they're not in the EU anymore. So it's a whole big pain in the ass, you know and So cleaning the unit every day. Let's say I do it really fast five. It takes between five and ten minutes. Let's say that's 30 minutes to an hour a week of clean dealing with the unit cleaning it between batches That's let's say Let's say just for let's say it's half an hour a week that is
00:04:26
Speaker
Uh, two hours a month. So times 12, that's 24 hours or a full day of the year that I spent just dealing with cleaning the unit, right?
Cost and Efficiency of Reverse Osmosis Systems
00:04:39
Speaker
So not, not fun, not the best use of my time. Now, the reverse osmosis system took me, I guess, a couple of hours to install and you know, because I wanted to read the instructions a few times and make sure I don't mess it up. Because in my case, it also had the issue where the valve that connects to your cold water that I had to put like two
00:05:08
Speaker
converters on both sides, the in and the out. You have to like put like Teflon tape to make sure there's no leaks and there was a leak and luckily I had someone that was installing my boiler so they kind of fixed it and showed me how what I was doing wrong to get leaks. So it's a little bit of a hassle setting up the system you have to clear under your sink that area and make some space and you know drill some stick some screws to hang the unit up and you know it's a little bit of
00:05:36
Speaker
Okay, a couple of hours of work. And then you want to make sure you monitor it. There's, there's no leaks, but now I don't have to freaking touch the damn thing for at least six to 12 months. You have to change the, so it's a five stage reverse osmosis system that I got off of Amazon here in Spanish, Amazon, and it was 200 Euro. And Jesus, man, like it has everything.
00:06:02
Speaker
For the first year and then it also came with I believe six or seven spare filters so I think in terms of
00:06:12
Speaker
requirements for filters. I think I'm good for like at least two years with this 200 euro investment. And here's the kicker, right? The water distiller that I had, I measured it, it was pulling about 800 watts while it was working. And I think it was just under four hours that it took to do a batch of four liter or like let's say close to a gallon if you're in the States.
00:06:40
Speaker
distilled water so that batch cost four kilowatt hours in electricity which the price is here I'm gonna round up a little bit let's say it's about 80 cents per batch and in the warmer months like May to September I definitely was doing at least
00:07:04
Speaker
on average a batch and a half to two batches a day. So that can be up to eight kilowatts per day. And that's just for me, my requirements. Imagine if my wife and my baby
00:07:15
Speaker
And my kid, you know, if I had, if, and for cooking, imagine if we had to just use distilled water. So not only is it quite a large cost in terms of electricity, just for me, it would be a lot 20, 25 euro a month electricity extra, right?
00:07:35
Speaker
But not only that but you're only processing four liters at a time so you have to clean it every time and you have to have space on the counter and in the warmer months it's blowing hot air up.
00:07:48
Speaker
It's really kind of not nice. And then in the colder months, you know, so in the warmer months, I might put it on the balcony, but you can't close the balcony door because of the cable. You know, there's like so many, it's such a hassle. You know, every, every time you're cleaning it as well, it's a hassle, you know? Whereas this reverse osmosis system, you invest a couple hundred bucks and it's actually about the same as what the distiller costs, right?
00:08:19
Speaker
It was about the same investment, but now in the next 10, 11 months, it will pay for itself by the electricity costs that I will be saving, right? In fact, it might pay
Water Quality and Health Implications
00:08:32
Speaker
more than what it costs in terms of the electricity savings. In fact, it will, not might, it will. So that's pretty awesome. I'm pretty happy, very excited, very happy about this reverse osmosis system and the water.
00:08:46
Speaker
The water quality, so I have a water quality tester. My distilled water, when I test, so you're testing TDS, also known as total dissolved solids, and it gives you a number in PPM, parts per million. So my water out of the tap in the kitchen,
00:09:10
Speaker
I was measuring it at around 480ppm which if you're in the states if you buy these tds meters from amazon they're like 10-20 bucks you will see on the back of them or in the manual it will tell you if it's over 500ppm
00:09:28
Speaker
the EPA, even the EPA consider that low quality and potentially dangerous and whatnot. So yeah, I was at 480 here, which is because it's a lot of limestone and it's a lot of basically spring water.
00:09:50
Speaker
that goes through a lot of rock to get to where it is and you know that kind of way like when it's from a small mountain and like goes through like rocky hills and down whatever rocks and lime it just picks up a lot of minerals right so
00:10:12
Speaker
That water, when I run it through the Berkey water filter, which is a great filter, don't get me wrong, it was still coming out at 480 because the Berkey filters, you know, chemicals and heavy metals and stuff, but it lets, quote unquote, essential minerals through. So calcium magnesium still make it through for the most part. Not all of it. It definitely blocks up my filters really fast here, the water.
00:10:41
Speaker
But yeah, 440 ppm is still very, very hard, this water. And long-term, that's really not a good thing to be drinking hard water. The main part is because calcium, magnesium, and whatever other minerals are in that water, they're not in the form that are easily absorbable by the body. So they tend to...
00:11:07
Speaker
just they can get jammed up into your joints and organs and so on. That's why you will find people that drink hard water. I haven't looked at the research yet, but I'm sure there's a great correlation between hard water, high calcium, magnesium content, especially calcium.
00:11:27
Speaker
and kidney stones and even liver stones and gallstones and stuff like that, right? So the distilled water I was measuring, I was getting the tap water from 480 ppm down to between seven and 20 ppm, which is really good. Seven ppm is, fuck, it's like almost,
00:11:57
Speaker
almost nothing in the water. You'll never get zero. In fact, these TDS meters, they can actually measure zero. So I don't, I don't, I don't even know how they would react with zero water. But the reverse osmosis water on the first day or the second day, while it was still sort of, you know, when you install it, you have to like flush a couple of chambers. It comes with like a little water tank, like a couple of gallons or two, three gallons.
00:12:24
Speaker
11 liters or so and that fills with water because it works slowly so you want some type of tank to when you need more water you have it so you don't have to wait and I measured it I think it was on the first or the second day with my TDS meter
00:12:46
Speaker
And the PPM was coming out at 20 to 26. I haven't really, I've been too busy to measure it again since then. It may have gone down, but I'm pretty happy with the 2025 PPM.
Materials, Costs, and Recommendations for Reverse Osmosis
00:13:00
Speaker
I think that's like 25 milligrams per liter, which some of the mineral water that I buy here is like 45, 50.
00:13:07
Speaker
milligrams of stuff and the reverse smosis membrane you know the way it works it lets whatever the TDS meter is picking up it should be it should be I'm saying should it should be very small atoms very small elements because only they're really able to get in first through the membrane so I'm I'm hoping
00:13:34
Speaker
you know that it's not because there is a the tank it's some type of ceramic tank I believe and then there's a plastic tubing from the tank to you know to the tap so I'm hoping it's it looks like quality materials you know that when when looking for a reverse osmosis system
00:14:02
Speaker
They seem to be pretty cheap and standardized in general. It seems that if you go to your hardware store, even my hardware store here, which I live kind of in a place where there's not many amenities and stores and whatever, but even our hardware stores here have the filters and they all seem to be standard filters for all the systems.
00:14:21
Speaker
So you should be able to find replacement filters quite easily. What else did I want to say? And yeah, you only have to change them every 6 to 12 months.
00:14:39
Speaker
Especially if your water quality to begin with is pretty good, it might even last you longer. For example, I don't have the space or ability here to... You can add a pre-filter, the water that comes into your house, you can add... I forgot the...
00:15:04
Speaker
the it's like granules you throw into like a filter and it basically decalcifies the water reduces the hardness of the water so if you can and it's good for like appliances like kitchen dishwashers and washing machines or your for your boiler to to or water here to protect them
00:15:24
Speaker
to protect the elements from the water hardness and the calcification. So if you install one of those, like a pre-filter, that can prolong the life of your system. But you know, 30 bucks for the three replacement filters.
00:15:38
Speaker
once a year, Jesus, come on. For the water quality you're getting, it's amazing. It's an amazing value for money. So yeah, what I would say is even if you're renting a house, like if I was renting a house or an apartment, I would still get the...
00:16:02
Speaker
If I knew I would be there for six months or more, I would still get the RO filter system
00:16:15
Speaker
because you need a couple of screws to hang it up inside the cabinet or above the counter or whatever. Most sinks, there's a second hole for a tap. You can just pop that open, stick the tap in there. If you know you'll be moving soon or you travel or you're not at home a lot, maybe a Berkey or a distiller, water distiller is a better investment because you'll be moving around. You can always have clean water with you, which is
00:16:45
Speaker
you know if that's not a priority i don't know what what a priority is you know like netflix and wi-fi i don't know like what if water is not your number one priority clean water and clean food uh jesus christ you gotta reevaluate your priorities not judging but you know this this is why i'm doing these
00:17:07
Speaker
podcast episodes to educate as much as it can because a lot of us they simply have not been educated and I was myself like this for a long time I simply was not educated about the choices that I make on a daily basis that were not conducive to good health and etc etc right anyway that's what I would say you know if you don't travel a lot and I would just say and there's more than
00:17:35
Speaker
If you need one for more than just yourself, you have a family or whatever, I would recommend go for the Arrow system as soon as possible. They're only a couple hundred bucks nowadays. It's amazing. You can get them even cheaper like starter kits and whatnot.
00:17:53
Speaker
Super amazing super happy with this. This was a really good investment distilled and it tastes very similar to the distilled water tastes really nice and Yeah, you can with this system I got it does up to 300 liters a day so you can use oh you can use it to water your plants and for your pets and cooking everything but what I was gonna say is
00:18:16
Speaker
There is the small issue depends on how you look at it right with reverse osmosis there is waste so water gets wasted in terms of one between two and four liters for every leader that you
00:18:36
Speaker
Get of our water. There'll be two to four liters. So it's one to Two or one up to one to three onto one to four is the ratio of wastewater quote unquote so that That is something to think about right if you're in You know a drought region that maybe is not amazing But you know if you think about waste and using of resources if it takes you four kilowatts
00:19:05
Speaker
per four litre batch or a gallon batch of distilled water, like with a normal water distiller. That's also quite wasteful when you think about it. So electricity is less, I suppose, less cheap than water in most instances, in most cases. And there is that tube that goes into your drain that you can divert that tube
00:19:35
Speaker
and into a let's say a bucket or like some type of container and you can use that waste quote-unquote wastewater for other purposes in your house, you know, you can collect it, water your plants with it or use it to flush toilets, whatever, you know, there's a million ways you can repurpose that water so it's not wasteful but the electricity from a distiller, you're not really going to get that back and you're only getting four
00:20:04
Speaker
for liters for four kilowatts of energy which is it's more expensive and more wasteful in the long term especially with a bigger than one person type situation right so those are my thoughts I guess what I'll just bottom line is if you you got it
00:20:28
Speaker
do something, right? You can't just drink water and filter it with a Brita filter. A lot of people, and I was like that for years, using these Brita filters, it's just not good enough. Whatever you do, you need to do something because the water
00:20:50
Speaker
your water has to be as pristinely clean as possible. This is your number one thing you have to sort out. If you're spending more than 20, 30, 40 euro or dollars or whatever per month on supplements or special health related things,
00:21:15
Speaker
But you're still drinking water out of plastic and whatnot, or out of the tap with a simple filter. You're doing it wrong, unfortunately. And trust me, you have to sort the water thing out. It's unbelievably important. I don't think people really realize it. It's like air. You don't think about the quality of your air at home.
00:21:43
Speaker
Anyway, I'm not going to get into air filters now. Maybe I should do an episode on that, though. But anyway, this is Christian Jordonov, Connecting Minds podcast, signing off. Thank you for tuning in. And I'll see you on the next Solutions Talk segment.