Zero Water

[ibglowin]

We made a Costco run yesterday and while there came upon a Zero Water display. I remember reading about them a while back and thought it sounded like a great system if it actually worked as described. The filter is a real 5 Stage Filter just like the ones they have in the store. I have a Pur system at work for my personal drinking water. It is only a 2 stage and that was top of the line a few years ago when purchased. The demo included a TDS meter that basically reads Total Dissolved Solids in water. In other words anything beside H2O will be measured by this device which looks like a small portable pH meter like what many of use in our wineries. Anyway we were shown ABQ tap water which read ~179 ppm. Then the water right out of the zero water filter. Sure enough it read 000. The thing actually did remove 100% of the solids in the water.

Now here is the too good to be true part. The Zero Water system was priced at $34.99 and for that you got a TDS meter to check the water coming out of the filter. You change filters at 6ppm. You get a ~1.25G water reservoir as well as 2 of the 5 stage filters. The TDS meter I thought must be worth at least $25. The filters around $30 (for 2 filters) so the thing was a bargain.

Coscto is supposed to be getting replacement filters in stock in a couple of weeks and they will be priced around ~$10 each which is even better than Amazons price.

We took one home and I got it all set up and filled up the upper tank of the filtration unit with tap water. It took about 20-30 mins to do a gallon.

First I measured the water I buy from my local grocery store for $0.41G and it measured 7ppm. Then my tap water. It measured 85ppm. Much lower than what I thought it would be since ABQ was ~179ppm. Then filtered water from the refrigerator, it measured ~80ppm and that filter was replaced about 3 weeks ago. So the expensive filter for your fridge is a total ripoff.

So how did the water do coming out of the Zero Water? The TDS meter read 000. It worked just as advertised.

So now the question is how many gallons can we do until the TDS meter reads 006? It varies by the amount of TDS in the water so am hoping we can get at least 30-40 gallons from a filter before I need to change it. That would make the water come out to between $0.25 - $0.33 a gallon which would be cheaper (and better water) than the stuff from the grocery store.

We are not big users of bottled water but we do have a very high $$ coffee center that we use nothing but bottled water on. Our water taste great but has quite a lot of silica in it due to our surrounding rock that the wells are drilled into. I also will use the bottled water on kit wines (whites) that I do throughout the year. So a filter should last me 6-8 months or so and I won't have to lug home the heavy 5G jugs of bottled water from the store which will be nice. One gallon at a time in 30min is pretty easy to do on demand.

Will update this thread with real world results as I have more. So far very happy with the results as well as the taste!

 

[DoctorCAD]

TDS are not the only thing in water that a filter takes out. Run sulfur water rhrough charcoal and the smell will be gone but the solids will still be the same. That filter was targeted to show 0 ppm TDS. Marketing, it is the driving force in products.

 

[ibglowin]

Right so the filter is working exactly as advertised. Charcoal doesn't really remove all that much really. The main difference between this filter and the other ones on the market is the use of a fairly large Ion Exchange Resin which is what is found in high end water softening/purification systems.

 

[geek]

Interesting.
Will check my local Costco.

 

[ibglowin]

5 Gallons purified to date and still reading 000 TDS. Happy for now!

 

[JohnT]

Question: Isn't 100% pure water harmful to humans? I remember seeing somewhere that purified water can rob the body of much needed nutrients.

 

[nucjd]

Question: Isn't 100% pure water harmful to humans? I remember seeing somewhere that purified water can rob the body of much needed nutrients.

In actuality any type of water can be harmful to humans in too much quantities causing dilution hyponatremia ( while very rare ) which then can cause central pontine myelinolysis and increased ICP. Again this is super rare.

 

[ibglowin]

This is not distilled water, just purified like what you can buy from the store or the water machine that are in stores. It has no dissolved solids as the filter removes them all.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Quote"... Still has the good minerals but it has no dissolved solids..."...Sorry, but you can't have it both ways...either it HAS dissolved solids (of which minerals are solid) or it has none.

 

[Fog]

We have been using Zero Water for about 3 years now and I love it. As well as normal drinking that's what I use for all my wine water too. (kits, hydrating Yeast, K-meta, etc.) I think we end up going through about 6 filters a year for the two of us. Right now my water is about 270 before the filter, and 0 after. I was happy to see that Costco had the filters.

Rob

 

[ibglowin]

15 gallons filtered to date and the meter still reads 000. We picked up a 4 pack of filters from Costco last time we were there for $36. Only need to get to 23 gallons filtered to reach a break even point with the store (machine) water. Looks like we will blow through that easily at this point.

 

[geek]

Really need to get one of those at local Costco.

 

[TXWineDuo]

Are you going to use the water for wine making?
I'm not clear on comment before that the filter will take out the minerals too, doesn't the yeast need the minerals?
We hare an Reverse Osmosis setup and we were told not to use RO water for wine making.

 

[ibglowin]

I use it for an expensive coffee machine the most that requires a good source of water, I also used it last week to dilute some of my fresh grape must down. Its purified but not distilled Since the TDS is zero it should have very few (if any) minerals left. I have been using the machine water from the store to rehydrate kit wines for years and they have all turned out fantastic. I tested the store bought water for TDS and it read 007 on my meter so this makes cleaner water than the store. Your supposed to change the filter when the TDS = 006.

 

[jswordy]

In actuality any type of water can be harmful to humans in too much quantities causing dilution hyponatremia ( while very rare ) which then can cause central pontine myelinolysis and increased ICP. Again this is super rare.

 

[ibglowin]

Update on this. Have now passed 30 Gallons of purified water and still reading 000 on the TDS meter. Meter reads 120 on tap water. Cost is now down to $0.30 a gallon vs $0.42/gallon for the store machine water which read 008 on my TDS meter that came with the unit. I will definitely be making purified water for the Kit (white) wines I have to get going this Winter. Also this item looks to have now come and gone from Costco as many items do. Still available from Amazon and other places.

 

[BernardSmith]

I guess my native Scottish skepticism is bubbling up.. what is it about the "solids" in water that makes their presence so bad for the human body? I can understand that if you were making nano tools and there were molecules of minerals that were larger or as large as the nano tools you were cutting and shaping that that might create engineering problems ... but with drinking water...? What is the reason why we want to remove everything but hydrogen and oxygen from the water? Is that supposed to "improve" the water? If so, in what way? and on what basis is that "removal" always only a good thing?

 

[jswordy]

Mike, having visited NM very often, I think filtration is a really good deal for you. I know NM has very high dissolved solids (hard) water, that cyanide can be present and that there is some radioactivity present in most NM water.

On the other hand, I am in an area fed by limestone formations. My well has only 32 ppm solids, and it is good on the bugs, so for me it would not be worth it. Touch a bar of soap to your hands, it foams up like crazy here. Very soft water.

Glad it worked out for you, though. If I lived there, I would always filter drinking water from any source. It's great that the unit works so well for so long!

 

[ibglowin]

My real reason for purchase was to stop buying machine made store water and make my own for hopefully less $$. I need to filter out as much of the solids out of water for our expensive Jura coffee machine. You don't want to crap that thing out with solids and have to send it in for an expensive repair if you can avoid it by using very clean water to start with. We go through about a gallon a week on that alone. You need about 2G if you want to use this to make your own water for re-hydrating a kit wine. Seems like a filter will last me a long time and I can make it on demand easily so I am happy.

 

[BlueStimulator]

How many gallons now and what is ypur cost per gallon. We have pretty hard water here in Yakima and put in an RO system years ago and love it. In the new house we piped it into the fridge for ice and cold RO waster. If you like the taste of your water use it to mAke your ice too. RO is great but the filter are $$$$