A separate drinking water faucet at the kitchen sink, set up for Keswick homes on the Lake Simcoe municipal supply, for rural properties nearby on private wells, and for lakeshore places that close each fall.
Whether your home is in Keswick on municipal water drawn from Lake Simcoe or on a rural property nearby with a private well, we start by testing what actually comes out of the kitchen tap. The complaint might be an off taste or smell, white scale in the kettle, or a pantry stacked with bottled water. Reverse osmosis fixes that at the faucet you drink from: carbon stages remove taste and odour, and a membrane holds back dissolved minerals carbon cannot catch.
Where the house has a softener, the RO faucet also removes the little sodium softening adds. Layout matters too. Converted cottages off The Queensway and Church Street often sit over crawl spaces, while subdivision homes around Woodbine, Glenwoods and Biscayne commonly have a basement under the kitchen for the storage tank.
Every install follows our reverse osmosis drinking water service for York Region, and our page on plumbing for Keswick homes covers the rest of the house.
Reverse osmosis is a finishing stage. Sediment, hardness or iron left untreated ahead of it decides how soon the membrane wears out.
Most of the job is planning, so the faucet lands where you want it.
We see what already treats your water, whether a softener, sediment filter or well equipment, and test what reaches the sink to judge whether the membrane needs another stage ahead of it.
Reject water from the membrane empties into the kitchen drain, so we fill the sink and watch it drain. If it runs slow, the line is cleared before the RO is connected to it.
The feed comes off the cold line through a proper tee and shut-off, replacing any grey polybutylene there. Reject water passes through an air-gap faucet, or an equivalent indirect connection, before reaching the drain saddle above the trap, so drain water cannot flow back into the RO. A fridge line goes in now if wanted.
The first tank is flushed away, joints are checked for leaks and the treated water is tested. We label the cartridges and show you the shut-off.
Rural properties on private wells outside Keswick's municipal service area, along the concessions and toward Pefferlaw and Baldwin, get a water test before we pick a system. Iron, sulphur and hardness all foul a membrane, so well water treatment for iron, sulphur and hardness goes upstream and RO comes last. RO is not disinfection either: if a sample shows bacteria, most likely after the spring melt, a UV unit at the point of entry handles it. Because well pressure swings as the pump cycles, a slow-filling tank may need a booster pump.
Seasonal homes near Roches Point and the lakeshore need the RO tank emptied and the housings drained at closing. At opening we fit new pre-filters, sanitize and flush, and on a well the drinking tap waits for a fresh water sample.
Off tastes and smells from the tap drop out of coffee, tea and ice made with RO water.
The RO faucet pours gently, and after a big pot it slows while the tank refills.
A kettle filled from the RO tap stops building white scale inside.
A short gurgle at the air-gap faucet and a trickle while the tank refills, then quiet. Water running to drain with the tap unused means a valve needs attention.
Sediment and carbon cartridges protect the membrane. How quickly they load up depends on what your water carries, so we check the cartridge itself, not just the calendar.
Reduced flow or a flat, salty taste suggests a worn membrane. We test the water on both sides of it before replacing anything.
A tank that runs out after a glass or two has usually lost its air charge and can be recharged or replaced.
Each membrane change and cottage opening includes sanitizing the housings and tubing.
The number of filter stages your water needs, and whether you want minerals added back for taste. Whether a faucet hole must be drilled through stone or quartz. Whether the tank stays under the sink or moves to the basement, and how far a fridge line runs. On a well, a booster pump or upstream iron and sulphur treatment may be included. The price is written down before we begin.
RO treats drinking water at one tap and does nothing for showers, laundry or the water heater. Water softener installation in Keswick prevents scale throughout the house, and whole-home water filtration treats sediment, taste and odour at every tap. If only drinking water bothers you, RO alone may be enough; if the kettle and shower glass scale up too, start with a softener. Everything else is under AquaTec Plumbing services.
What Keswick homeowners, well owners and cottagers ask before choosing a drinking water filter.
More from AquaTec Plumbing in Keswick, Sutton, Jackson's Point and Pefferlaw.
Call about your water and your kitchen, and get a written price first.
