[Bill Little]

There are key differences between reverse osmosis and filtration. Reverse osmosis removes the salts and other effluent materials from the water molecules. That will not happen with just a plain filter although you may be able to reduce the pH and your TDS may also drop. I purchased a used working RO unit on Craigslist. I didn’t trust the carbon block in the unit so I purchased a new one for another $18 -$20. I attached the RO unit to a freestanding piece of plywood. The water going into the unit is a ¼” piece of tubing about the size of airline tubing. I acquired a coupling that attached to the RO tubing and the other end of the connector has a standard garden hose connector. When I want RO water I connect the unit to an exterior hose bib. The water runs through the RO unit and out into a 5 gallon fish bucket. When I am finished I just disconnect the RO unit and put it in the corner of the garage. I normally make 5 – 8 gallons of RO at a time. Making 8 gallon of RO water at a time; it didn’t take long to recover my $8.00 investment. I measure my water in terms of uS rather than TDS, but you can convert. My RO has a reading of 12 uS coming out of the unit.