I’ve been drinking ionized water for years and only just recently started using reverse-osmosis-remineralized-water as my source water. I had no subjective knowledge of reverse osmosis prior to about 6 months ago, so I am writing this blog post for others who are in that situation.

There are many reasons one might need to use reverse osmosis. But, there is a serious problem with Reverse osmosis, and that is: it takes too much out of the water, leaving it void of all the healthy minerals and leaving it acidic as a result. RO used to be considered unhealthy, “dead water”. However, now, with the use of the  Water Remineralizer, RO water is a healthy source water to use with a water ionizer. With my reverse osmosis system, the RO water before being remineralized is about a pH of 4, and after remineralization it’s about a 9 pH. If you’re not happy with your municipal water, co-op or well water as a healthy enough source for your ionized water, reverse osmosis might be the very best option for you.

Reverse osmosis was originally developed to remove salt from seawater. Which prior to that time, only distillation would do this trick. So if you use a whole house sodium-based water softener, something like a reverse-osmosis-remineralizer-system would be needed for your drinking water.

To give you an idea of just how small of a particle an RO system will filter out, here’s a chart that might help you grasp it:

• A 1 micron filter  will filter out particles up to 1millionth of a meter [or 1 thousandth of a millimeter] [or the width of a single strand of hair].
• A .1 micron filter will filter particles 10 times smaller than 1 micron.
• A .01 micron filter will filter particles 100 times smaller than 1 micron.
• A reverse osmosis unit will filter particles from 1,000 times up to one million times smaller than 1 micron.

There is another problem with reverse osmosis: that is the time to filter using RO is very slow. Using RO slows down the time for pouring, and also if you empty the RO tank (too low) you'll have to wait for 20 minutes for the tank to fill up enough to pour more. So, you may not be able to get all the water you want, when you want it with RO.

I’m not really complaining [too much], because…

I LOVE MY NEW REVERSE-OSMOSIS-REMINERALIZER-SYSTEM!

But, for someone wanting ionized water on the run, just keep it in mind that using reverse osmosis as your source water will slow things down, and you may run out of water during heavy-use times.

I did a series of videos, trying to figure things out with my reverse osmosis system – so I could answer my customers’ questions and communicate more accurately about reverse osmosis systems in general.

Q: How Much Does an RO System Cut Your Water Flow to the Water Ionizer?

Ans. The RO System cuts the pressure to the water ionizer quite a bit, so it is capable of flowing through the water ionizer about 40% slower — almost in half [in my observation]. So, a glass of water takes about twice the time to fill using RO as it would using your regular municipal water.

Q: How Much Water Does a 6-Gallon Reverse Osmosis Tank Hold?

Ans. It holds about 4 1/2 gallons of water. The rest is filled with air [pressurized], which is necessary for maintaining the water pressure.

Q: Using a 6-Gallon Tank, How Much Ionized Water in One Pouring Can I Expect to be Able to Get?

Ans. After the initial 40 ounces or so of ionized water production, there is a severe lessening in the water pressure to where it slows down so much the water ionizer stops ionizing [or ionizes the water only intermittently].

Q: How much water can you flow through a water ionizer before the pressure drops too much?

Ans. About 3/4 gallon out of the 4.5 gallons in the tank.

That having been said, the tank will replenish that 3/4 gallon in a pretty short time. So, in about 20 minutes you should be able to get another 2 quarts of ionized water from your water ionizer.