Drinking Water for home
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Lets look at the contemporary options for drinking water at our homes,
1. Metro Water – Apparently the treated metro water still has organic and inorganic contaminants. Boiling, eBoiling etc do a limited job in killing microbes (Bacteria, virus), but does a poorly against chemical contaminants in the water. Of course using an Aquaguard can get rid of some chemical contaminants too (but I am not sure if it can remove all inorganic contaminants in our water).
2. Ground water – Same as above
3. Buying Purified drinking water – Expensive water from Coke, Pepsi, Bisleri, Team deliver quality consistently. Cheaper local supplies may be laced with contaminants.
It is okay to keep status-quo, but test the water you drink at a lab for “ALL” organic and inorganic contaminants, before you consume. Many people whom I have talked to hold a notion, that body exposed to contaminated water makes you immune. It may not be always true, as chemical contaminants like mercury, lead, cadmium can do irreparable damage to our brain and body.
So if the lab results are unsatisfactory best is to establish Reverse Osmosis plant at home. It starts at about RS10,000 (8 litres per hour, Annual maintenance of about Rs600), and since this technology extracts pure water, its free of all contaminants (same as what the Pepsi, Coke, Team or Bisleri delivers as Purified drinking water)…..However if your well water is safe (take samples when the water table is low as well as when the water table is high), that would be better as it can have good minerals in it.
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I used Aquaguard in one of my earlier apartments. We didn’t take the trouble to check whether it was serviced recently and my flatmate became unwell as a result. Guess several others would also have run into the same problem when staying in rented apartments.
If I remember right, Aquaguard is also priced upwards of 7000, which makes the reverse osmosis a very good option. Aquaguard servicing contract is even more than the 600 you mentioned (people correct me if I wrong on this).
How does one go about getting a reverse osmosis plant. Is there any company doing this in India…
Voltas which sells the Aquaguard brand, sells R.O system for Rs.12,000. If you check out the Yellow pages for portable R.O.systems you can find something in Rs.10,000 range. Its not just the price, checkout the maintenance details from the supplier. If you are looking for the local brand I have described, I have to check with my family friend on the details, he has been using this system for about 2 years now.
I have had the Conybio Water Filter (Counter top model) for the past 2 years. It cost me INR.2500/-. It has two candles. The seller told me that it would take atleast a year before we have to replace the first candle. But, with the level of contamination in my flats, I had to replace it in 6 months itself. The good part is that a set of two candles cost INR.250/-. And when you want to replace the first candle, the second candle is almost untouched and can be moved to be the first one. The best part is that it does not need the Voltameter to live. Why would I mention this here? Well, there is this one time when the reverse osmosis plant dint actually “osmosize” the contaminants and ended up pulling the plug for many of the residents in our flats. We were using the same water at that time, only with the water filter between us and the plant. We survived the attack. Infact, we came to know of it only during one of those “wives talk” a month later. Cony Bio Water Filter
To add to the above conybio filter, you dont need a specialist to change the candles. The couter-top comes with a small spanner using which my wife herself changed the candles. Now top that
Got a demo of the high end RO system from Eureka Forbes (7 stages, with UV treatment, costing Rs.25,000)…..the water from the system still had odour and was not tasteless…read-on.
Eureka Forbes sells 2 models with RO through dealers. One at Rs.7000, a pure RO plant and another at Rs.14,000 with 7 stages. Besides this Eureka Forbes do direct marketing of another system which has UV treatment, and some minor features at Rs.25000. Anyway wanted to try the highend system. The Sales person gave a good level of dump on TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and mentioned that TDS should not be ridiculously low as in Saravana water etc. TDS measurements from our ground water was around 800, and post RO was around 50 to 100, whereas Saravana Water was between 10 to 20. The Sales person advised that TDS too low means the water is devoid of any minerals and advised to go with the high-end system. The Sales talk would not stop extolling EF prompt door-step service etc, when I interrupted with “Well TDS or no TDS, I don’t care, I want my water to be tasteless and odourless from the system, else I would directly take my well water which is clean, gets UV light from direct sun-light, and the water is potable with minerals”. After this I asked the Sales person to sample the Metro water out of his RO system, and he confided that the water was not odourless nor tasteless, and quickly added a new unit would perform better…..With a smile I mentioned, you are most welcome to do the demo again with a new system, and until then its good bye to Eureka Forbes RO. The point I am trying to make is, get yourself a demo, know the investment and running costs before you buy an RO system…
Wow Sudarsan, you have taken EF apart in your post. Wonder if they are reading !
Yesterday Eureka Forbes Sales person came in for the second round. While the unit was running, I asked the Sales person for the justification of the Integra 7 at Rs.24,000 compared to their own brand selling an RO system at Vasanth for Rs.8,000 to Rs.14,000. Since it was their own brand, the Sales person came up with “I think” etc, and at that point I requested the sales person to come back to me with the facts straight with feature comparison of this product with their own models as well as with their competitors like Kent. Finally I also got to measure the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of the well water, RO rejected water and the RO water Vs Saravana Stores bottled water. The results are as follows,
TDS of my well water ~800
TDS of RO unit rejected water ~600*
RO water ~50
Saravana Stores ~20
*don’t ask me why TDS of RO unit rejected water is purer than the TDS of my well water. Perhaps the TDS gets stuck in the filters or in the RO membrane.
Also I got to talk to one Dr.Axxxx Kumar of Eureka Forbes labs to know their lab-results Vs competition. The summary was that their RO membrane is more or less identical vs competition. The Integra7 has optional modules not available in competitors such as for,
a. removal of heavy metals (Cadmium) & iron which may not be completely eliminated. Note this optional module may/may not be relevant, as it was launched for WB & Orissa.
b. Magnetizing chamber
In summary for high-end RO systems, Kent and Integra 7 stand-out in the category of filtration+RO+UV. Kent system costs around Rs.14,000 only, but does not have auto-clean of filters like Integra7 (I need to check this out). But personally I don’t mind manual cleaning than having to pay Rs.10,000 more on the Integra7. This ends my dilemma. Once again vanilla RO systems (with pre-filters) start at Rs.8K from Eureka Forbes.
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Please call me at 9777829891, as I am interested on it.
If your water purifier is within warranty and/or you have entered in to an annual maintenance then IMMEDIATELY approach the Consumer Forum in your area. Please keep all the papers in tact. Consumer forum is a Government Body with semi judicial powers. The phone calls will not be accepted in the court as an evidence. Send a letter. Eureka Forbes will totally ignore your letters or phone calls till warranty or contract period is over. The Consumer Forum will impose penalty on Eureka Forbes for cheating and deficiency of service. Eureka Forbes will engage lawyers and do maximum to evade. The Consumer Forum has powers to issue arrest warrants if penalty is not paid. Please claim full refund of costs of machine, the amount paid for annual maint. contract, damages to your health and family’s health, especially if you have senior citizens in you household.
[...] Drinking Water for home [...]
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Thank you for breaking this down for the rest of people. We need greater numbers of this! Thanks.
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