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Nice Post, got all the doubts cleared
The water purifier market is flooded with 100s of models similar to mobiles.
The water purifier market is flooded with 100s of models similar to mobiles.
Good guide!
My 2 cents about the minerals in water. It doesn't go along with traditional thoughts in this country. [ Disclaimer: I don't have an RO. I have a UF+UV based water purifier but it's mostly being used as convenience rather than water filtration. Our tap water is ~150 TDS and we drank it just like that for many decades. ]
My 2 cents about the minerals in water. It doesn't go along with traditional thoughts in this country. [ Disclaimer: I don't have an RO. I have a UF+UV based water purifier but it's mostly being used as convenience rather than water filtration. Our tap water is ~150 TDS and we drank it just like that for many decades. ]
- Need of minerals in water is over hyped.
- Our body needs more than 10 grams of minerals everyday. Our food serves 99.99% of the minerals we need.
- Next time you buy a bottle of mineral water, do check how much magnesium, sodium and potassium it has. And then google how much magnesium, sodium and potassium a human body needs daily. You would literally have to drink thousands of bisleri bottles daily to cover your mineral needs. But drinking so much water would essentially remove minerals from your body and you will die.
- Drinking the water for its minerals is like marrying all the women in India so that you can call Katrina Kaif as your wife.
- One can easily survive on distilled water (aka battery water) which has a TDS of 0. It's a superstition that one can't.
- Secondly, you don't know what kind of mineral you are getting in the name of drinking TDS water. In southern India, it may be laced with industrial chemicals whereas in northern India, it can carry fertilizers. Let's not expect that water you are getting is cleaned of pollutants.
- I agree on that we can do away with copper infusion like gimmicks. Because,
- Minerals are considered in pairs. Copper pairs with zinc. Our digestion system usually can't differentiate between copper and zinc. Both are important minerals and used for different functions. But intaking one more will suppress the other. You take copper supplements and you will find that it comes with zinc too.
- Slightly unrelated, our bodies aren't good at absorbing metals in the pure form. Essentially, they need a bus. Meaning in order to absorb a metal it needs to be in a form of oxide, sulphate, phosphate, carbonate etc. There's no benefit using copper vessels by thinking it'll refill your copper levels. If that had worked, people would never develop an iron deficiency.
- Another important yet highly unknown factor: The chemical called Phthalates.
- It's found in most of the plastics, cosmetics, fertilizers etc. It's everywhere. It could even be food grade plastic, IDK. It's one of those bad plastic ingredient that no one yet talks about because no one knows. It's a hormone blocker. It's anti testosterone and estrogen. It makes your capital-D into small-d. Although adverse effects are temporary for adults, but if they reproduce, the next 2 generations may have adverse effects (I really don't mean to offend anyone). Plastic plumbing is everywhere these days. I did some research and PVC pipes have it while uPVC don't. Some people use cPVC for drinking water but I couldn't make sure if it carries phthalates or not. Somebody working in chemical industry please let us know. Edit: cPVC do contain phthalates. Just found out.
- AFAIK, RO and charcoal filters can remove phthalates. No idea about others filters.
- About taste, a good RO should produce distilled water like taste. Distilled water has no taste. People who complain that their RO has changed the taste never knew how pure water tasted like.
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dexterz
Adept
Basically this. Alkaline water, water pH, remineralization of water are all gimmicks. We are not dependent on minerals from our drinking water. Esp for south indians, food like Rasam which is acidic with 4pH is consumed on a daily basis for generations with no adverse effects.Our kidneys perform the task of maintaining the required pH balance. I'm ambivalent about UV as most of the time people don't even check if the UV light is still working or not after some time passes.
As far as RO systems go, buy something with UV UF and RO(if required) preferably something that can be maintained by yourself.
blr_p
Skilled
If you eat a balanced diet.
My experiments with the bottled water sold here indicate almost no minerals in the water unless it's Evian. The hardness of aqua fina was under 10mg/L. A lot of them are just RO.
I didn't get the connection between copper vessels and anaemia.
That's a new one for me. All the water we get from the water utility comes from those pipes these days.
As for plastic food containers, BPA-free is the big thing nowadays.
There is one of those in my aquaguard. course I've not replaced it in a while
Yes. Our internal stomach acid is super strong compared to anything we eat. In the name of science, one can put 3 finger down the mouth and vomit some clean stomach acid on the hand. It's going to burn the top layer of the skin. It's that strong.
People eating and drinking out of vessels containing iron and still be anemic. Same applies to copper. Using copper vessels doesn't increase copper levels in our bodies.
There are several things a food grade plastic shouldn't contain and BPA is well known.
Phthellets is a group of chemicals which makes plastic durable and flexible. It also make cosmetics absorbable into the skin. People don't know much about it as there's no awareness. And BTW, it's in PVC as well as cPVC (these look yellow) pipes.
More info:
I have been slowly phasing out plastics from my life. But it's hard. Take example of water purifiers themselves. We don't know the plastic used in purifier and filters contain phthalates or not.
Sorry for OT.
Can anyone recommend budget range Stainless steel UV+UF purifier?
animishticomb
Disciple
Any idea about livpure smart... Dont want to waste money on useless aquaguard support...
Has anyone rented and used livpure? Looking to do so in bangalore
Has anyone rented and used livpure? Looking to do so in bangalore
6pack
ex-Mod
I would like to add something here. I bought a no name non ro water purifier whose parts are readily available for cheap in market. It's good and does the job if everything is to specs. See that bolded bit? A lot of faith rests in that if. Why? I ordered replacement filters from the same company. Problem is these no name people just buy wholesale from somewhere without proper testing etc. What happened is the size of the replacement filters is off by a mm so my unit does not close properly. And another problem i found was the carbon block filter started leeching some dirty smell and color in the water. Thing looks like it started breeding mold inside it.
Had to remove it and clean off other filters and replace them with new ones. This is the major drawback of such unknown brands where you can end up spending double the amount of money if even one filter in between is some nasty crap.
I've decided to stick with branded ones. Even if they cost more, you can raise a stink on twitter or their helpline and get them to replace them parts of you have amc. No such luck with your own setup.
Had to remove it and clean off other filters and replace them with new ones. This is the major drawback of such unknown brands where you can end up spending double the amount of money if even one filter in between is some nasty crap.
I've decided to stick with branded ones. Even if they cost more, you can raise a stink on twitter or their helpline and get them to replace them parts of you have amc. No such luck with your own setup.
Emperor
Skilled
Some Matka Filter just upto Rs.400/- for more details click here
TEUser2K1
Skilled
@Soyab0007 Last year purchased LG PuriCare ~@19K on an offer.
Water storage area is stainless steel, 10yrs warranty mentioned in front, don't know in detail how warranty works.
For first year, they are coming every quarter for maintenance checking, replaced filter once.
Water storage area is stainless steel, 10yrs warranty mentioned in front, don't know in detail how warranty works.
For first year, they are coming every quarter for maintenance checking, replaced filter once.
ascalon
Disciple
What's the advantage of having a stainless steel storage area over plastic? Algae growth and cleaning is one major selling point I can think of. Anything else?
blr_p
Skilled
What's your take on consuming alkaline water?
Meaning water that has a higher than usual pH coming out of the tap. So if normal water is around 7, then I'm referring to water of pH 8-9
I wonder if RO can reduce pH.
I have no opinion on this matter. Still, I think it depends what kind of minerals the water is carrying. Metal salts increase the water Ph. Our bodies need dozens of metals to survive. In the cities, the groundwater is bound to carry harmful metals. Lead is one such example. It's omnipresent. You don't want alkaline water with lead salts.
Our digestive system, although a state of art technology, isn't perfect. It sometimes fail to distinguish between different metals thanks to their similar valencies (I think that's the word).
But yeah, RO should be able to decrease the pH.
Ssreek
Adept
I've been using Livpure smart for 2 years.
animishticomb
Disciple
All good? Have you had to call their service? How much is typical a water downtime in a month?
Ssreek
Adept
Will tell you in detail, before that, what is water downtime?
animishticomb
Disciple
I just made up this word... Essentially like Internet downtime where you had no data access while waiting for the isp to fix the connection
Do they also delay the service for long? How long?
Ssreek
Adept
So here is "my experience" with Livepure smart rent-type water purifier.
Got it after the first lockdown ended. Back then, they only gave Bolt Model. Now there is another one, Zinger Copper something, but advantage is it has hot water facility too. Not sure if the hot water area is plastic or metal in Zinger. Bolt is simpler and doesn't have any additional features, just twist the tap and u get water.
Now some cons:
So all in all, a very good experience for me. I just wish we could get atleast 100 tds, that's all. Feel free to ask any questions if you have.
Got it after the first lockdown ended. Back then, they only gave Bolt Model. Now there is another one, Zinger Copper something, but advantage is it has hot water facility too. Not sure if the hot water area is plastic or metal in Zinger. Bolt is simpler and doesn't have any additional features, just twist the tap and u get water.
- We get around 690-750 tds water in taps, so with this purifier the tds comes around 60-70. Tds is not customizable.
- In 2 years, I had downtime issue only once. The recharge wasn't somehow updated from their end and downtime was 2 days.
- You have to recharge it just like mobile prepaid plans.
- The app shows water balance and filter life.
- Usually they don't come and change filters when the filter life goes red. You have to call them and initiate the process. They didn't ask any questions or charge anything, mechanic just comes and replaces filters.
- You have to check what filters they are replacing. Sometimes the mechanics are lazy and change only the main filter. But there are 3 inside, so u have to ask him to change others as well.
- Customer care is excellent, I really liked how prompt they are. They don't bother you with questions or need lengthy explanations, I just told them issue and they go with the process. In all these 2+ years, I had to contact them 3 times.
- Didn't pay anything apart from recharge. Changed filters thrice, no service charges also.
Now some cons:
- Entire thing is plastic, yes there is UV light but u don't know if it's working or not, entire parts are concealed.
- Tds is not customizable.
- While I had great experience, I asked mechanics what other subscribers felt. They say usually there is problem every now and then with these models, but things are basic and repairable.
- My neighbor too got this, he had issues several times and they called 7 times in a year for various issues. I checked his complaints and simply posted to twitter and demanded to replace the product. They gave him new one, and no issue since then.
- So what I'm try to say is, your mileage may vary, but if you don't like it, just replace or cancel the subscription.
So all in all, a very good experience for me. I just wish we could get atleast 100 tds, that's all. Feel free to ask any questions if you have.
ibose
Skilled
Any idea of the TAT for complaints if you face issue with the purifier ? Same day, next day, hours ? I would expect hours if the issue involves the purifier not working at all. Also if the filter status is red, does it stop working or is it just a notification to change it ?
Also your location / locality since the service quality usually depends on location. Kent has excellent service back home in Kol while it is pathetic here in Bangalore.