Review on Clean and Crisp: APEC 5 Stage Reverse Drinking Water Filter by Anferny Pineda

"Have these on every floor?" Yes. I have three APEC RO filters and love them all. Let me explain: Where I live we have "city water" but it's really a public well. The water here is VERY hard. The last time I tested it for water softener size, I hovered at around 30 grains per gallon (that's about three times what the WQA considers "very hard water"). There are also tons of sediment. At the tap, we're around 600 ppm with my reliable water tester. Not that "I once used a glass I wasn't sure about and got 571 ppm," but "in new plastic cups that were washed with distilled water, the readings were between 590 and 630." No wonder the water tastes disgusting as a result. If you don't want to read the whole report, here's what you need: This filter turns 600 ppm water into 10 ppm water. 10. One, zero. Anyway, I've been going the Primo water route (water coolers with bottles you swap at Kroger/Walmart/etc) for years, but I got really sick of it, about 40 gallons every time I went to the store to carry water. And if I did the math, my top-of-the-line APEC Ultimate RO-PERM filter should have paid for itself in about six months compared to what I paid for Primo water each month (not even the gas and the time it took) . to get the bottles). Then we panicked about PFAS. The river just meters from the city's water supply was contaminated with PFAS. It's "don't eat fish and if you go swimming and accidentally swallow some water you'll get sick" infected. The tests were conducted on a municipal water supply and found to be safe. let me stop here I live in Michigan. I don't live in or near Flint, but I bet you've heard about it and the state has also declared that its water is safe. And as a level 1 conspiracy theorist, I'm still at the learning level. I decided I wanted a second reverse osmosis system in the upstairs bathroom. My family usually spends a lot of time upstairs and I found it convenient to brush my teeth and such. As much as I love Ultimate RO-PERM, I was skeptical about the Essence series. It was cheaper but performance was similar (except for the permeate pump and associated performance). It turns out the biggest difference is that all Ultimate Series filters are made in the USA and certified by WQA. The Essence series uses imported filters, and APEC seems to have missed the cost of WQA certification. You can't tell the filters apart side by side other than looking at the labels to see where they came from. As far as I can tell the quality is the same. In addition, the parts are interchangeable. So if you want to "upgrade" the Essence series by replacing the filters with American Ultimate filters, you can do so. But as far as TDS goes, both filters seem to be equally effective! The installation was - as with my first system - damn easy. Turn off the cold water, remove the compression fitting from your faucet, install the adapter (there are several different configurations that should fit almost everyone, they are included), place the faucet on the adapter, drill a hole for a new reverse osmosis faucet (difficult on steel, very easy on laminate/composite surfaces), drill a waste hole, tighten the fittings, hook up some PEX lay-in tubing and you're done. I'll put it this way: I was really overwhelmed the first time I installed it, before I even got started I spent an insane amount of time on unnecessary preparation and caution and had no problems. After I finished it was so easy that I offered to help my friends and family. The installation took maybe 30 minutes, most of which was spent on a small change. So the basic setup doesn't get any easier, the quality is great, and by the way, the customer support is amazing. I had a pressure drop in the tank, but at first I couldn't understand if the problem was with the filter or something else. They were very quick to respond to emails, we identified the problem, the troubleshooting steps were simple and when we found out the part needed replacing there was not the slightest objection to just sending me a brand new tank. . Are you considering a reverse osmosis system? Buy it. Got a few bucks extra/want to buy an American? Get the Ultimate series instead. NOW. I know it's wordy. If you don't care about pressure, efficiency, or the changes I made, skip the rest. I decided this particular system would be in my basement. I have various projects I'm working on in the basement including home gardening. Lugging around bottles for water changes isn't the nicest thing in the world, and heavily softened water at 600ppm concentration just isn't good for gardening. I had already spent a lot of PEX there last year installing my whole house humidifier, so I knew adding another reverse osmosis filter would be a no-brainer. But. I also knew that the pressure in that line was low and I didn't like the idea of generating so much waste water. Enter the permeate pump! I wanted maximum pressure and recovery on my Ultimate filter, so buying the permeate pump version was overkill on my part. But in the basement on the low-pressure line it came in handy. Permeate pumps also increase efficiency by approximately 80% and reduce wastewater discharge by more than 50%. Not everyone needs it, but you might need some push. Or you may need one to improve efficiency and/or reduce water usage. I'm happy to report that the Essence ROES-50 performs like an absolute low pressure champion with this pump. All I did was disconnect the water line from my humidifier, add a shut-off, and extend the drain line a bit so it goes to a floor drain. The manifold on this filter is metal, so it wasn't hard to pierce (we're talking maybe three or four minutes), but adding a pump clamp and rerouting the connections from the auto shutoff took only minutes. Almost everything you need (depending on the length of PEX you need if you are extending your inlet or outlet line) can be found in this kit for less than what you would pay for a tee and check valve in one hardware store would pay . The ENTIRE installation from box to modification to clean water removal took about 30 minutes. And after filling, rinsing, and filling, I now have 10ppm water in my basement too. I love this system and am not even thinking of buying it from any other company. If you don't use the Ultimate system, don't mess with cheaper similar brands on Revain. Choose APEC and enjoy pure water from a reliable system from a company that's still there when you need to change your filters.