What Is Reverse Osmosis?

A highly technical term, most people don’t understand the concept of Reverse Osmosis despite its importance. Reverse Osmosis is the process of taking minerals out of water by pushing it under pressure through a Reverse Osmosis Membrane. Sounds like a lot of gibberish? Let us break it down for you.

Osmosis

Osmosis is the process where cleaner, filtered water will be drawn towards a saltier solution as if salt water were a strong magnet. The semi-permeable membrane acts like a screen door that allows some molecules to pass through, letting in air and sun, but keeping out bugs.
Since Osmosis happens naturally and without the need for force or energy, Reverse Osmosis is the opposite. This means that water needs to be ‘pushed’ through the filter to lose sodium and contaminants instead. The pushing requires pressure that is greater than the naturally occurring pressure to purify the water, holding back most of the debris and molecules harmful for consumption. From then, the fresh water produced is called permeate and the concentrated salted water is called waste or brine.
reverse osmosis

The Reverse Osmosis System

While the membrane is the core part of the setup, Reverse Osmosis includes other types of filtration which can be made of up to five stages. Every system contains three pre-filters or post-filters, including a sediment filter, carbon filter, and the membrane itself. The sediment filter focuses on dirt, dust, and rust while the carbon filter reduces volatile organic compounds (such as acetone, acid, ethanol, formaldehyde, etc.), chlorine, and other contaminants that make your water taste or smell bad. To begin the process, water enters the system and passes through the sediment and chlorine filters that could damage the RO membrane. Then, the water dissolves particles through reverse osmosis, filtering through into a storage tank where it remains until needed.

Benefits

Reverse Osmosis is an efficient, environmentally friendly system that saves you money, involves simple maintenance, and improves your water quality. By using an RO system, you can consume great tasting, clean water for drinking and washing. With cleaner, efficient water, you use less water per use and avoid buying bottled water, decreasing the plastic waste generated per person. Filtered water doesn’t smell and tastes great, too. The quality is comparable to bottled water for pennies per gallon. No more 2 dollar bottles of ‘fancy’ water.

Are you ready for great-tasting, clean water? Call Lehigh Valley Water Systems today for a free quote and consultation on water softening, conditioning, testing, and much more.

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