Review on APEC Water Systems RO 90 Certified by David Stewart

Just installed so this is based on first impressions. Will be updated with longer term review. Pull up a chair - this is going to be one of my longest reviews yet. I initially chose this system because it claims to have filters that only need to be changed once a year. In addition, it has almost double the daily volume of the 50 gpd system. With a TDS meter, my tap water is between 360 and 340 TDS. Oh, that's very high. The minimum standards for city water are 400ppm for TDS, which is below the limit. In comparison, locally purchased distilled water has a TDS of around 120 ppm. Some of the water bottles I had on hand were about 30 pieces. Installation - Effort: I would rate this as easy for people who have installed things like removing a sink. My only tools I needed were two adjustable wrenches. Make sure you have an adjustable wrench with a short handle and wide jaws. If you've never installed anything under the sink, this might be considered a no-brainer. What complicates this is deciding and drilling a hole for the faucet. I have a Corian/synthetic marble countertop so I'm nervous about drilling. Haven't done it yet. Many people will have an existing accessory hole, making installation much easier. Timing: I took my time and double/triple checked for leaks. Very important. I found a few and had to make some adjustments. This took about an hour. But keep in mind I still need to drill and install a faucet or drain line (more on that later). I hooked everything up and ran the drain line into a 7.1 liter container. Three large main filters must be provided and installed. All other filters are preset. What got me thinking a bit is that when assembling, the three main filters (pre-filter and two carbon block filters) are mounted onto the screws on the housings before they are screwed in; filters rattle. There is free space around each filter. The filters are approximately 2.5 cm smaller in diameter than the inside of the housing. Also, I wasn't quite sure how it would line up with the inside of the top. I should have photographed it. The way it works after assembly I think it should align itself. However, there is a possibility of misalignment of the filters. I hand tightened the 3 main filters and then tightened them with the supplied wrench. I did without wall brackets because I want to store the filter unit in a small tank for protection. against possible leaks and to monitor them. I haven't noticed any leaks yet. Only 3 hours have passed since the installation. After assembling the system and connecting to the cold water supply. One contains a needle valve for feeding and filling the filter and tank. I assume it's possible to pre-fill the system with filtered water, but I'll let it fill as usual. There was quite a bit of air in the system and I let it out through a faucet which I connected but didn't drill out and put in the counter. The first liter of water was blackened by carbon dust from the filter. WASTE Water Ratio – well that was one of my main concerns. I've read people here and there saying that this system is wasting water. Well yes, but not permanently. Here's what I found out. For me, the waste water flowed out of the black pipe fairly quickly when the system and the tank were full. I saw and measured it. The manual says it will take 2 to 3 hours, during which time the waste water outlet pipe will run continuously until the reverse osmosis filter stops the flow when the 4 gallon pressure tank is full. I started filling at 11:32 am and the sewer pipe filled 7.1 liter stainless steel canisters at a rate of 9 to 10 minutes per canister. At 12:36 the sewage stopped flowing into the cistern. According to the instructions - with higher water pressure it takes less time to fill / charge the system + tank. So my water pressure should be a little higher than 60 psi. They also note that if someone has less than 40 psi pressure, the system can run all the time, meaning the waste water is constantly draining and it's a huge waste of water. NOTE ON WATER PRESSURE. Probably before buying this or any other reverse osmosis filter. If/when the water pressure drops in your house lines the reverse osmosis filter will open and your water bill will increase as water is constantly being lost through this system UNLESS YOU turn it off unless you are filtered water. ALL reverse osmosis filters have a ratio of filtered water to "lost" water. This is due to the fact that the filter allows purified water to pass through it and blocks the impurities carried by the "wastewater”. HOW MUCH WATER IS LOST? So - the instruction says to empty the first tank. Don't drink the first tank of water. Says it will take about 5 minutes. I drained the system with the faucet in the fully open position. Took about 9 minutes and filled about 2 7.1 liter bowls until the water from the tap became a trickle. So about 14 liters of filtered water. During that time I extended the black waste/drain line to another 7.1 liter bowl. The trash can is about 4 liters full. I turned off the faucet and the system started charging. At that time, the sewer continued to flow, and I kept an eye on it. I launched the stopwatch app. Each time the 7.1 liter bowl was filled, I registered a circle. The first round/bowl of 7.1 liters took about 9 minutes 33 seconds. The second round/bowl with 7.1 liters lasted about 11:30. The third lasted 12:07 p.m., etc. Thus, as the tank filled, the sewage flow slowed. The sewage stopped flowing after 59 minutes and a few seconds. At 2:06 to the "sixth circle". SO - means 5 whole shells + about 1/3. Plus approx. 4 liters of waste water produced in 9 minutes / 14 liters of filtered water "used". In summary - for the first 14 liters of filtered water, my system "consumed" about 6x7.1 liters of water. Thus, the ratio is 14 liters of filtered water to 42.6 liters of "useless” water. Note that the system stopped draining water since the 4 gallon reservoir was full. This means that at my water pressure, my system uses 3 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of filtered water. That sounds like a huge amount, but keep in mind that this is for drinking and most people consume around 1 gallon per person per day. So for an average family of 3 drinking 3 gallons of filtered water per day, an additional 9 gallons per day x 30 days = 270 additional gallons per month is wasted/used. As for me, I use about 2 gallons a day for drinking and cooking, so that's only 6 gallons a day more than normal usage = 180 gallons extra usage per month. NOT BAD and probably not enough to drastically increase my water bill. Just take a look. TO UPDATE. Bought a 1/2" Bosch BlueTurbo granite carbide cutter to cut through a fake marble countertop. WOW. This is a difficult thing. It took about an hour to drill about 2 inches of the countertop. TIP - Use a smaller 1/8" carbide end mill to start the hole to prevent the larger end mill from wandering. Then use a 1/4 inch drill bit to widen the hole. I then used a 1/2" bit to go another inch. Then I went back to 1/8 and missed it to the end. Then 1/4" and finished with a 1/2" bit. The 1/2" bit from Bosch was about $10, so it got installed in your drill and wore out after that. Drilling a stone/marble countertop will make installation more difficult. I wouldn't want to drill any more holes in this material.