Reverse osmosis is a term you might have heard about. You might also have heard about the disadvantages of reverse osmosis. Home reverse osmosis systems exist, but they’re being replaced by filtration designs capable of meeting the needs of the private sector.
Let us take their advantages and disadvantages at the same time. The advantages can only be found in the commercial sector. The disadvantages of reverse osmosis in the home sector match step with every commercial advantage of the design. In the commercial sector it performed well in the role it was specifically designed to fill, desalination. Then it was used in the printing industry to supply clean water to its machines.
But when it came to the residential part it failed miserably. It could not live up to the hype its owners said it would. What are some of the main disadvantages of reverse osmosis? We will tell you in a minute. Home reverse osmosis systems are just that, reverse.
The home reverse osmosis systems take too long to filter water. They take about three to four hours to filter one gallon of water. This is one of the disadvantages of reverse osmosis. If you want more water you will have to wait and wait. And on top of that you pay $10,000.00 to install it in your home.
Next we see that it cannot filter out anything lighter than water. That leaves chemicals in the water we drink. This isn’t a concern in the commercial sector, machines don’t need to drink the water. In regards to desalination, you take what you can get, pretty much. The list of disadvantages of reverse osmosis go on. The home reverse osmosis systems are showing themselves in a very dim light.
Next is chlorine. Of course they cannot take out chlorine too, what with it being lighter than water as well. So now we have to deal with chlorine too? Will the list of disadvantages of reverse osmosis never stop? Home reverse osmosis systems look more dismal now, don’t they?
Well, if they are famous for not taking things out from water then they will also leave minerals behind, right? The answer again is No. They take those out. What!? They leave a lot of things behind, but necessary minerals and nutrients are removed? Home reverse osmosis systems really are reversed in their priorities.
Last, but not least, the design of home reverse osmosis systems requires the use of a lot of water. Around four gallons per every filtered gallon. A monetarily and environmentally unacceptable ratio of waste. This is another of the disadvantages of reverse osmosis. All this waste for a system that doesn’t filter what it should and removes minerals we need? Completely unacceptable.
How were home reverse osmosis systems ever sold? The answer is simple, misrepresentation. Using terms like "professional grade" and "industrial grade" the design was promoted as the best possible system. Now the disadvantages of reverse osmosis have caught up with it and buried it alive.
