[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by rdst_1

I have a Borewell which supplies water for our household and drinking purposes.

Not really a recommendation but sharing my experience. In our borewell water, we would get quite a bit of sediments and water was visibly muddy. What we did was added couple of kg alum to the borewell and let it settle down below for a day. That fixed the sediments problem for good. Now we do have around 250 ppm tds which is reduced through an RO but water has always been clear.

[sgiitk]

@rdst_1; In my part of the world water from a deep tubewell is kosher except for the high content of dissolved salts. In IITK they relaxed the salt content about 3-4x from the norms.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@rdst_1; In my part of the world water from a deep tubewell is kosher except for the high content of dissolved salts. In IITK they relaxed the salt content about 3-4x from the norms.

Most of the year, we have no problem with drinking water straight from the well (so to speak). But during the rainy season, the water table rises substantially. The soil is also very sandy and gravely which increases the sediment predicament. I am wishing to do away with any germicidal technology as they seem to have some side effect or the other. I am hoping that despite the rise, the water from the well will remain free from bacteria and other germs.
We also have access to a clear water mountain spring(roughly a km away) that the village utilizes for drinking but we have become just a bit lazy since we dug the borewell .

[sgiitk]

@rdst_1; Stuff like sand in borewell water is an annoyance, no more. In Kanpur fine sand (Golden Ganga sand0 is present almost in all the water, so we just ignore it.

[govigov]

I am eyeing the LG RO water purifier. The WW170.

http://www.lg.com/in/water-purifiers/lg-WW170EP

How is the upkeep on this model? I have no experience with any kind of water purifier. What kind of maintenance am I looking at?

[govigov]

Update: I have ordered the Kent RO Pearl model. This is a model that can be a wall hanging and can be counter mounted as opposed to the Grand/GrandPlus models that have to wall mounted. Having a counter top model was a requirement for me; as I am at a rented place and I don't want to do any permanent installations.

The reason to go with kent as opposed to LG was the free availability of spares in amazon and ebay when compared to none available for LG. This would just make servicing easy. Lots of youtube videos on how to troubleshoot the kent models and the LG models are relatively unproven.

The water in my apartment is from about 12 different bore wells and has tons of sediments and minerals in it, sometimes the water is so suspended with particles that it can make a fine coat of mud in a bucket. It is really bad. I will be putting in a sediment pre-filter about 5 microns before the actual purifier, but now I am thinking of an additional spin down filter for larger particles before the pre-filter. Spin down filters available online are really expensive. Can we buy spin down filter from Brick & Mortar stores? Do you guys know, have any experience with this? Any tips, please? Any workarounds for spin down filter for large particles like sand and such?

[sgiitk]

@govigov; A lot of parts are generic in nature so can be interchanged. Of course the vendor will like to supply them ad infinitum. Problems come in electronic parts. Ask, your friendly neighborhood repairer. We switched from Kent to ZeroB when we moved flats. No issues. Of course both are popular brands. I guess LG should also be in the same genre.

[govigov]

Thank you, sgiitk!

I really liked the LG water purifier. But decided to get Kent pearl, because of a 13k difference that I could not justify the LG. 16k vs 29k.

The appliance is arriving tomorrow and hopefully, it will be alright. I am trying the installation on my own. I have most of the parts and pre-filters ready.

Btw, is there a place/site where I can buy plumbing couplings online. I am looking for a brass 1/2 male to 1/4 female reducer and I am drawing a blank online.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus

So, basic guideline is,
1. Test your raw water for all constituents based on IS:10500.
2. Decide on pre filtration based on TSS.
3. Decide on RO system based on TDS.
4. Decide on post treatment if required.

Hello Raja,

How do I go about testing the raw water? Who does this testing and what is the ball park price for this?

And how is the weather in tenkasi these days?

[RajaTaurus]

There are water testing laboratories in major cities who do IS:10500 testing. A full test will cost around INR. 10K. But, you can also unselect the elements that are not absolutely necessary and cost would come down.
Weather here - very windy, sporadic rains, occasional drizziling, some water in waterfalls, temperature in the range of 24-32 Deg. C. and overall, not bad.

[bharanidharang]

Need a suggestion. We have hard water in Pallavaram, Chennai. I have put a softner which reduces hardness to an extent but there is white residue in the water which clogs up the taps, comes down to the tap. We tried using an RO but have moved to buying water cans for drinking.

Any suggestions on how to filter out the white residue ??

[RSimonS]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@rdst_1; In my part of the world water from a deep tubewell is kosher except for the high content of dissolved salts. In IITK they relaxed the salt content about 3-4x from the norms.

Sir, I live in Bangalore and most part of Bangalore rely on tube wells for water supply, TDS would usually between 400 and 700 . I am in search of a water softner for the whole house. I came across 2 types of products

1. Scale Prevention Systems like 3M -
- Does these remove TDS?
- Would we need RO unit to be setup for drinking?

2. Softner Systems (like Auto Soft 3AS)
- Any idea what would be the PH of the output
- Would presence of Sodium have any bad effect on consumption

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by RSimonS

Sir, I live in Bangalore and most part of Bangalore rely on tube wells for water supply, TDS would usually between 400 and 700 . I am in search of a water softner for the whole house. I came across 2 types of products

1. Scale Prevention Systems like 3M -
- Does these remove TDS?
- Would we need RO unit to be setup for drinking?

2. Softner Systems (like Auto Soft 3AS)
- Any idea what would be the PH of the output
- Would presence of Sodium have any bad effect on consumption

Thanks a lot in advance.

Basically water treatment is done in steps

1. Filter coarse particles.
2. Filter fine particles.
3. Remove Chemicals.
4. UV Treatment for bacteria

So any house using raw water needs all these steps, and for each there is a separate device.

Softeners are of two type
. Chemical exchange types like 3M and ionExchane
. RO, which comes in sizes starting from small domestic units - .5L/min to large industrial types of 10000+L/min.

If you have space then install
. One pre-filter to take care of larger particles - a fine mesh would do, as long as you clean it regularly. This will prolong the life of the candle filter.
. One candle type filter to filter out most TDS. This will last between 1 and 6 months depending on the TDS.
. UV irradiation unit.
. RO unit of sufficient capacity. In out house we use around 750L/day, so the capacity of RO unit for whole house would be of 40-50 L/H.

You will need two tanks. First one to hold raw water. Second one to hold final RO output and a pump to convey raw water to the filters and subsequently to RO.

If you look up on the net there will be off the shelf systems incorporating all the above from industrial water treatment suppliers.

This system will ensure that you have clean TDS and chemical free water with no scaling.

here are some links
https://www.espwaterproducts.com/
http://www.filterwater.com/
http://www.aquaconditioners.com/whol...SAAEgJt-vD_BwE

[RajaTaurus]

^^Please read post #624 in this same thread for more clarity on terms like TDS and it's removal methods.

[JKBKS]

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus

I have been following this thread...Please post any questions regarding RO and I will be glad to answer.

Hi Raja,

I have been using RO systems for some time now and am at a point where i need to replace my current RO (Aquafresh). I live in Bangalore and did some research based on which i understand that RO is an overkill if you live in a city getting municipal water (am in Bangalore) and one can get good enough protection using any UV system for a municipal water. And its preferable if the water container unit/tank is detachable (enables regular cleaning.My current RO gets opened once a year for cleaning and changing filters).

I liked this idea and based on this, I selected Kent Maxx (having Sediment & Activated Carbon filters, UV, UF protection and a detachable tank). I also have a prefilter that can be attached before this Kent system. The only downside to this will be a change in taste but we will get used to that eventually

I need to ask you and other experts here if I am thinking in right direction or should i go back to having an RO system? Also in your post #624 you talk about test water quality. So is a digital TDS3/PPM/TEMP meter available online good enough for this or do we need to get the water tested professionally?