What's not in my home's drinking water today could possibly be there next month and chances of hearing about it are slim and usually come too late. And the many trips to purchase bottled water and the amount of plastic that's included in our weekly waste disposal, I concluded there must be a better way to provide reliably healthy drinking water at reasonable cost for everyone in my home. So, my search began...
As it turns out I was late to the party on this subject. There's a huge international industry offering residential Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) Systems and selling them all over the internet. Unfortunately, when it comes to my family's health and installing equipment that has the potential to cause water damage in my home, I'm extremely skeptical of internet vendors. So, paying attention to who best to put my trust in was of great concern to me. The individual components of a worthy R.O. System are somewhat common between manufactures but with closer scrutiny significant differences between them can be found when it comes to designing all these components into a complete reliable & effective system. And like so many other companies, possibly start-ups working out of a garage who market their products on the internet, I questioned how long they might be around after the sale. Narrowing the field down to the top three total system manufacturers, Ispring Water Systems became the #1 contender to meet my needs. Included photo is a 'Google Maps' image of their actual brick & mortar facilities in the U.S.A. They have been in this business for well over a decade, are a supplier of water systems & components a well-known big-box store, and my phone call to their customer support resulted in prompt, polite, & direct answers to all of my questions without any scripted responses or sales pitches by a representative whose primary language is English, how refreshing! Although these systems contain components produced from many parts of the world, Ispring takes responsibility for the entire system. After doing what I thought was my due diligence, I made my decision and purchased this 7-Stage R.O. System by Ispring Water Systems. Was it the right decision?
The system promptly arrived, was unboxed, and contrary to what some may think we certainly don't live in a perfect world, 'STUFF-HAPPENS' and it did! Due to a simple clerical error, I didn't get the system I expected! Dang-it, now what? Although Amazon is great with these things, I'm 70 yrs. old and was not looking forward to lugging a rather large & heavy box to my local shipping company for a return & replacement. So, I called Ispring's customer support and explained my situation to their rep. Don, who instead of offering up the usual insincere apologies or making any face-saving excuses, was eager to understand my dilemma and quickly resolved all of my concerns. My new and correct system arrived just two days later including a return shipper for the incorrect system which was picked-up at my front door. Big Score for Ispring Water Sysem's Customer Support & proving my evaluation of their customer support was spot-on! Now for the install...
Although Ispring states how easy their system is to install I must admit my DIY Plumbing Skills are on the very low end. However, after reading the installation manual, watching a few recommend YouTube videos, and considering the $225. install quote from a local plumber I decided to give it a shot myself. Besides, I was now confident that if I needed any expert advice along the way, Don at Ispring's customer support was just a phone call away and he's Free! But Ispring's claims are actually true, with their easy to follow manual and color-coded waterline connections, I had it installed & working by the end of the day, photos included. I also purchased & installed Ispring's ice maker kit which includes all the food grade 1/4-inch tubing and connectors to supply my refrigerator's ice maker & chilled water dispenser with the R.O. water from my under-sink system. And of utmost importance it fired-up with NO-LEAKS! I've included a photo that shows how I utilized a piece of wood that I supported against the existing sink faucet base & backsplash with a 1/2-inch hole to use as a drill-guide to avoid walking a diamond core drill bit all around my granite countertop, commonly available at the same previously mentioned big-box store. This worked just great and took less than ten minutes!
Final comments: Build & parts quality is better than expected. I didn't realize that there is much more to these systems than daisy-chaining a bunch of filters together. Ispring has incorporated pressure switches, a booster pump, & flow valves that work together to maximize system filter performance, extend filter life, & decrease energy consumption. Such as the automatic shut off of the Ultraviolet Bulb in the sanitation filter when no demand for flow is detected or cutting power to the booster pump that provides sufficient water pressure for R.O. membra read more
