Whole home treatment handles the water you wash in. Reverse osmosis handles the water you drink, at the one tap where it matters most.
Reverse osmosis pushes water through a membrane fine enough to hold back dissolved solids that carbon and sediment filtration pass straight through. It is the most thorough treatment available in a house, and it is also the slowest, which is why it belongs at a single drinking tap rather than on the main line.
A typical installation puts the unit in the kitchen sink cupboard, and most homeowners also run a line to the fridge so the ice maker and water dispenser draw from the same treated supply. Under the sink you will see the filter housings, a small pressurized storage tank, a fitting on the drain pipe for the reject line, and a separate small tap on the counter. Many are air-gap taps, which gurgle briefly while the tank refills; that is normal. A full tank pours quickly, and after you fill a large pot it slows while it recovers.
Reverse osmosis works best downstream of softening: on hard York Region water with no softener ahead of it, hardness minerals wear out membranes far sooner than they should.
Reverse osmosis membranes are consumables, not permanent parts. On hard water with no softener ahead of them, they are expensive consumables.
A clean under sink install that does not cost you the cupboard.
We look at what is already treating the water upstream, because a softener ahead of the RO unit is what determines how long the membrane lasts.
We agree on tap placement, where the unit and storage tank will sit, and whether the fridge line is worth running while the cupboard is already open.
The unit, storage tank, dedicated tap and drain connection all go in to code, laid out so future filter changes do not mean emptying the cupboard.
We flush the system through, verify the output quality, and show you which cartridge is which.
On private wells in King City, Stouffville, rural Georgina, Bradford's concessions and East Gwillimbury acreage, RO is the stage that handles what whole-home equipment does not: the sodium a softener adds, and nitrate if a well test shows it. It only lasts if the water reaching it is already treated, so it goes after iron and sulphur treatment and after the softener; a membrane fed untreated well water fouls quickly.
Well systems run at lower, cycling pressure, and a slow-filling RO tank there often points to a small booster pump, which we check at the visit. Where Keswick and Sutton homes are on municipal supply it is drawn from Lake Simcoe, and the carbon stage ahead of the membrane is what deals with the seasonal taste and odour people notice; see water treatment in Keswick.
The number of stages and whether you want a remineralizing stage for taste, tank size, how far the fridge line has to run, whether the counter already has a spare hole or we drill stone or quartz, a booster pump on low-pressure well systems, and whether a softener or iron filter needs to go in first. You get a written price before the work starts.
What homeowners ask before putting an RO system under the kitchen sink.
Drinking water system installation and service is available in every community we serve.
We will look at what is treating your water now, recommend the right system, and install it cleanly under the sink.
