Applied Membranes Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System, Under-Sink Water Filter System with 5-Stage Coconut Carbon and RO Membrane Filtration, Comes with Faucet and Tank, 200 GPD Output

I purchased this filtering system based on reviews here on Amazon and other sites online. I had originally picked out a 6 stage system which included the UV light disinfector. After careful consideration and a budget minded decision I changed my mind and went with this 5 stage unit. When the unit arrived it came in a huge box, which was just the outer protection to a smaller box that had all the parts pretty much ready to assemble. I have to say that the instructions were clear, could have been layed out a little better, but they got the point across. I proceeded to shut the main water valve off only to find out that it began to leak, thus adding a little more expense to the project. At the hardware store I was told that I can replace the screw in valce with a 90 degree ball shut off valve that had a longer life expectancy, so I went with that. I also bought some extra tubing and compression fittings since I was going to tee the water line off to the refrigerator ice maker as well. After about an hour of installing the main water dispenser and securing all the connections using teflon tape to avoid a possible leak, I finished the job by attaching what is called the waste water line to the drain pipe under sink. I was not sure why this needed to be there but I did it anyway. The final step was to connect the color coded tubing to the filtering assembly, and then turn on the water. I was glad that I took my time during the install, because there were no leaks from any of the connections. After the water filled the system, I noticed a sound as if water was trickling into the sink drain. It turns out that the waste water line was purging the system and dumping the waste water. On initial installation, this waste water seems to go on for about an hour but once the storage tank is full the same water pressure shuts the valve off and the system is ready to work. I did notice a little bit of a spike in my water bill, however once I saw the difference in the ice coming from the ice maker and tasted the water which can give Dasani a run for their money I have to say it is all well worth it.The ice from the dispenser used to be cloudy in nature and at times had a faint chlorine smell to it, and the taste of the water was just as bad. The ice today comes out looking like clear pieces of glass, with no smell and no cloudyness, while the water is the best I have ever tasted. The improved water has even given my soups and coffee a much better taste that guests actually noticed. Only one drawback to this is that I lost most of the space in the cabinet under the sink, but if you pre plan how you want to lay out the system before you do it it will make a world of difference. One final thing, give yourself plenty of time and no distractions for a smooth install.

We have very hard water and it occasionally has a bit of a chlorine odor (made the ice cubes unusable). Also, I'm cheap and lazy -- I was tired of going to the store every two weeks to for 25 (5 x 5 gallon bottles) gallons of filtered water. Lugging them from the car down to the basement, then from the basement up to the kitchen.Now we have clean clear water for drinking, coffee, cooking, baby formula, and the fish aquarium. Additionally, I now have extra counter space where the bottled water dispenser was, I no longer have to haul around (and refill) those five gallon jugs, and I get (unsolicited) compliments on the quality of the ice, coffee, drinks (from powder mix) and water produced by this system.I tried a different RO system before this one, but had difficulty installing it due to a some defective parts. This one cost less and I had it installed (at two sinks upstairs kitchen and downstairs laundry) in less than two hours. It's been providing clean clear water for the past eight months. I purchased an inline turbidity meter (search amazon B001EHAZGW) and the readings are still (after 8 months) 340ppm - 360ppm in to 32ppm - 36ppm out. Note that I had to purchase additional tubing, splitting pieces, and a tap from the hardware store (~$15 total) to install at the second location.Will be looking at changing out the sediment and carbon filters in the next month or two and adding a permeate pump (amazon search B0056C1HX6) for additional pressure at both sinks. The pressure is fine now, but in addition to being cheap and lazy, I'm also impatient -- at any given time the tap produces approximately 1 - 1.5 ounces per second.I installed this unit in the basement and ran tubing up to the kitchen sink rather than try installing under cabinet. I believe it would have fit in the cabinet under the sink, but there would have been little room for additional storage and may have been cumbersome to access for maintenance and / or repairs.There is a considerable water cost when making the filtered water. I'd guesstimate approximately three to four gallons of waste (brine) water for every gallon of clean RO water. I've opted to capture some of this waste water in a watering can that overflows into my utility sink. The water has been used to water the house plants weekly since it was installed with no ill effect to the plants.I would highly recommend this unit to anyone looking to purchase a RO system.

First off, this product was amazing right out of the box. shipping was fast and arrived a lot sooner than expected. The kit is designed to be mounted underneath your sink to draw tap water in and drain bad water out. Part of the setup process involves drilling into a drain pipe under your sink, no big deal even for a novice. However, the pipes should be plastic to make drilling easier and the chance of leaks minimal. This excludes many half bathrooms or personal bathrooms from being able to handle the drain system since it's designed to hook up to garbage disposal pipes. You will need to buy teflon tape for the pipe threads, the book says to wrap it 3 times but I stress to you to wrap it at least 6-8 times to start with to avoid sprays and leaks. I would actually recommend that you wrap all of your hose threading with teflon tape (everything that you unscrew should be wrapped 4-5 times even if it wasn't taped before). the book recommends that you drill with a 1/8" drill bit then move up to a 1/4" drill bit, this worked for me and my drill died halfway through so I had to do it manually. Great investment. It brought my PPM from >200 to 9 and my PH from 6.5 to 8.3 after I ran the advised 2 tank fulls through it to get rid of factory sanitation residues. This was a fun project to do on my day off and I will be enjoying the fruits of my labor for many years to come. Thank you for the good business. Thank you for not sending me any defective goods, and mostly - thank you for not flooding my kitchen :)