Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water systems look complex, but do you ever wonder how they work? There are all kinds of filters and hoses and a tank, but how can the tank possibly work with only one hose attached?

If you want to learn how a home Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water system produces super pure, great tasting drinking water for your family then follow along!

First, a bit of history. Reverse Osmosis was first invented by the US Navy during World War II to purify sea water into drinking water for use on submarines. So you know that it’s particularly effective at removing minerals like sodium from your water. In fact, up to 95% of the mineral content is removed!

A Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water System is perfect for you if you’re looking for an inexpensive source of "super pure" drinking water for your home. For a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system to operate flawlessly, the raw water needs to be pre-treated to make sure there is no hydrogen sulphide, iron, manganese or hardness present which would quickly foul the membrane. 

A Reverse Osmosis system is connected to your cold water plumbing. The process starts out by passing your water through a Sediment Filter to remove dirt particles in your family's water before going through a Carbon Filter to remove chemicals like chlorine or chloramines. People always ask why most Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Systems have two carbon filters, one right after another -- that’s to give the carbon enough contact time to remove all of those chemicals from your water source.

Then the water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane which allows pure water to pass through it, while rejecting the contaminants that are too large to pass through the tiny pores in the membrane. As this water is being purified, the membrane to continually cleaning itself, washing the rejected contaminants away from the membrane and down the drain.

Because Reverse Osmosis water is produced relatively slowly it needs to be stored in its own small pressure tank to make sure that there will be plenty of water to be dispensed quickly from the faucet for your family. As such, a dedicated faucet is installed at the kitchen sink to dispense the Reverse Osmosis water. If you have a refrigerator with an ice maker and water dispenser, the Reverse Osmosis system can be connected to it also, giving you cold "super pure" water as well as nice clear ice cubes which leave no residue when they melt in your glass.

Oh and to answer your starting question, why does the tank have only water line going to it? There is a “T” connector after the last filter so water can flow either to the tank or the faucet or potentially both. When the tank is filling and no water is being dispensed through the faucet water flows into the tank. When water is flowing to the faucet it primarily comes from the tank with a small amount coming straight from the RO system.

As you can see, High Efficiency Reverse Osmosis Drinking water systems provide super pure and great tasting drinking water for your family. An RO system provides you with an unlimited premium water supply in your home, and eliminates the wastefulness and environmentally damaging use of single servicing plastic water bottles. It's simply the easiest and most inexpensive way to significantly reduce unwanted mineral and chemical content from your family’s drinking water!

• Need a High Efficiency RO System in your home? Most of our Reverse Osmosis drinking water systems and their replacement filters and membranes are Made in USA and we offer FREE shipping coast to coast in Canada.  Whether you are looking for a small inline water filter for your Reverse Osmosis drinking water system or a full set of filters, we have what you need, all at discount prices.
• Looking for our RO customer favourite? The HUM Water Saver 75gpd Reverse Osmosis System is it. This great system offers premium 5-stage water filtration, installs easily under your sink or in your basement, and includes a chrome faucet and all the fittings for easy installation! Check it out here.
• Have an RO unit already? We offer replacement filters for Waterite, Goldline and many other popular brands. Be sure to check out our combo and multipack filters which will save you even more by purchasing a complete set of replacement filters for your Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water System.

Go here for your next video on Reverse Osmosis water filtration and I’ll see you there!