Home Water Purification (RO) System

from www.PureWaterClub.com (also sold through eBay under “purewaterclub” and “costreef” subsidiaries of DA Computing Technology Corp.). Note that although the product ships from California, the eBay seller is registered in Taiwan.

Game Clock

It's now been over 6 weeks since this system was purchased and still no 'clean' water and no significant action on the part of the vendor, www.purewaterclub.com. It now looks like the system is out for the count -- no RO membrane was ever installed in the housing! The vendor's response: duh, still waiting.

If you've had a similar experience, you can send your comments to info@HarborFreightReviews.com.

The water system reviewed here is a 7-stage system which includes three prefilters, a 100 GPD RO membrane, a DI filter, a carbon-polishing filter, and a UV-sterilization unit. This represents the state-of-the-art water purification system for home use and surpasses the systems normally used for commercial water preparation in many popular bottled waters. An optional DI filter (zero-TDS resin) was added to the 7-stage system which further treats the water to produce a final product that should technically exceed the ‘purity’ characteristics of triple-distilled water. This is for special purposes such as respiratory therapy and other uses that require near zero TDS plus the removal of organic solutes that can be ‘carried over’ even during the distillation process. (The RO processing should remove the organic solutes, while the additional DI filter is necessary to remove residual ions.) The zero-TDS water output is separate from the drinking water which retains trace inorganic ions that contribute to the normal taste of water (zero-TDS water has a ‘bad’ taste and is therefore not used for drinking).

Factory-supplied configuration

Figure 1: Original, factory-configured system. When received from the company the UV-unit was not properly connected to the DI filter output. The figure shows the proper installation from a stock photograph.

The 7-stage system is priced very competitively, making it one of the most cost-effective solutions to home water purification available. Replacement filters are also very economically priced. Unfortunately, the low price appears to be associated with a low quality, unsupported product that simply doesn't’t work and therefore represents ultimately a very bad investment. The technical details of the system’s actual performance are shown below.

System Enhancements

To monitor the system’s performance, pressure gauges were fitted before the first filter, after the first three filters, and after the RO filter. The first pressure gauge monitors in the feed water pressure to ensure that an adequate supply pressure is maintained for processing. The second pressure gauge determines when the initial filters require replacement, and the third pressure gauge helps monitor the condition of the RO membrane. (Pressure drops significantly different than their initial values indicate obstructions in these filters.) An inline TDS meter was also added to obtain real-time water-quality readings of the feed water and the purified water output. All TDS measurements were independently determined with a separate TDS meter.

Figure 2: Enhanced Water Purification System. Three pressure gauges, a dual inline TDS meter, and an 8th-stage zero-TDS filter were added to the factory-supplied system. None of these modifications changes the operation of the unit (except the additional filter which further purified the water) -- they simply provide real-time monitoring of the system's performance and indicate when the various filters need to be replaced.

Test Parameters

Feed water: 90 psi (static pressure)

29 psi (system running)

134 TDS (raw water)

RO-input: 23 psi

RO-output: 12 psi

Water Quality

Final output: 159 TDS (“pure” water)

151 TDS (“waste/brine” water)

Optional DI resin: not tested (received with mold in one end of the filter, see Figure 3)

Water production rate: 260.6 GPD (equivalent)

(This obviously exceeds the 100 GPD nominal production rate and suggests a ruptured RO membrane or other problem than precludes proper processing of the feed water. Note that all components were assembled and tested(?) at the factory. The addition of the three pressure gauges and the inline TDS meter does not alter the processing of the water in any way.)

Figure 3: Close-up View of the System "Plumbing." The pressure measurements at three specific points in the system help to determine when the filters and the RO membrane need to be replaced.

Interpretation

The water “purification” system actually produces water that is ‘dirtier’ (i.e., more contaminated) than the feed water supplied by the public water authority. The 134-TDS feed water is typical of public water across the United States and is much ‘cleaner’ than most well-water and some public municipalities. The 90 psi water pressure is more than sufficient for optimal processing of the feed water by the RO membrane. Nonetheless, the system simply doesn't’t work.

Comments

So what’s wrong with this water purification system? Nobody knows, the seller won’t respond. After a month and over a half-dozen e-mails, the vendor appears to be stalling in the hopes that this problem (in this case, the buyer) will simply ‘go away.’ Meanwhile the water purification system is unusable and the buyer will attempt to salvage what he can from this bad investment. If you’re using this system to treat your drinking water, be sure to test the water quality before consumption! (Update: After waiting for support for over six weeks, I finally started systematically troubleshooting the water purification system myself. When checking to see if the RO membrane was ruptured or defective, I made the awesome discovery that THERE WAS NO RO MEMBRANE in the housing! Hum, I suppose this could be a problem. Considered with the facts that the UV-unit was only partially connected and the zero-TDS filter moldy, it looks like this was a "Monday" unit from China.)

Moldy DI Filter Recieved from the Company

Figure 4: The Zero-TDS DI Filter with Apparent Mold. The additional filter designed to produced zero-TDS water for special applications was received with one of the end caps missing. There appears to be mold growing in the end that was unprotected when received.

Abbreviations

DI: deionizing (filter/resin)
GPD: gallons per day (standard measure of water production for RO systems)

PSI: pounds per square inch (water pressure measure)
RO: reverse osmosis
TDS: total dissolved solutes (a measure of water purity)

UV: ultraviolet (UV-C radiation functionally 'kills' bacteria and many other water-borne organisms)

Indexing terms: purewaterclub, pure water club, costreef, Da Computing Technology, eBay, RO systems, reverse osmosis, water purification, problems, complaints, dispute, dissatisfied customers, poor communication, class action suite, litigation, legal action

On a positive note, we did find a great source for low-priced, quality fittings shipped quickly from the Crystal Clear Water Company in Florida (be careful, there are several companies operating under the same or similar names -- use the hyperlink). And they only charge a flat rate of $4.90 for all of the fittings that you purchase in a single order! Their service is fabulous (say hi to Debbie), and their products are great using mostly quick-connect type fittings for the 1/4" tubing popular with water purification systems. E-mail them if you have any special requests for fittings not listed in their online sales through eBay.