I live in a super hard water region. So hard in fact that it destroys every appliance despite regular descaling. I’ve remineralized 5l jugs of demineralized water for years but I feel it’s not very sustainable in the long term. Plus demineralized water is not supposed to be safe for human consumption.

I’m looking for an affordable RO system that removes most if not all TDS so I can remineralize it using my favorite recipe.

Do you use any? What are your thoughts? Thanks !

  • Eheran@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Why is"demineralized" water not safe? How is it demineralized?

    Have you thought about getting a water filter for your water supply? Reverse osmosis or ion exchange.

    • huquad@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      ELI5: Your body runs on slightly salty water, aka saline. By drinking “pure” /demineralized water, you reduce the concentration. If you only drink distilled water with no other mineral intake, you will start bursting/killing your cells due to osmosis. However, most everyone has plenty of salt/minerals in their diet anyways from food, so it’s not a problem for most people. TLDR: don’t go on an all distilled water diet, and you’ll be fine.

      • Eheran@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        For your cells it does not matter if it is distilled or normal water, the concentration of salts is way too low in either case. Hence drinking 15 liters in one go will kill you. Other than that you will have a hard time getting in trouble from drinking to little salts, unless you live at an ocean and only consume that water for salt while also being extremely careful not to take in any salts… perhaps.

    • Microplasticbrain@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      From what I’ve read you should be getting adequate minerals from your diet anyways. Ive been drinking RO water for like 2 years now, but I take a multivitamin daily as well.

    • WFH@lemm.eeOP
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      4 days ago

      Honestly, no idea. It’s written on the jugs that it’s improper for human consumption and destined to be used in appliances. It might just be that it’s not been certified, or maybe the general processing chain is not food grade. I dunno. Or maybe because it’s been demineralized it lacks the chemicals considered “essential” for drinking water.

      • nuez_jr@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        In college I discovered the physics department’s distilled-water tap and started filling my water bottles from that because the regular drinking fountain on that floor was nasty. A classmate tried to tell me distilled water would make me die from dissolving all my minerals away or something, which I poo-poohed and kept drinking it for the taste. In hindsight I should probably have avoided it for the same reason as the big sign on the physics department ice maker, also accessible anonymously from the hallway: “No maintenance is performed to deter bacterial growth”. Oops. Well I turned out just fine pretty good okay so all’s well as ends without food poisoning.

        • WFH@lemm.eeOP
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          4 days ago

          This water will end up in my espresso machine’s boiler, I doubt anything really harmful would survive several hours a day at 95C.

        • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          i don’t know about the ice maker, but wouldn’t they test the distilled-water tap? or is that just something you do in clean facilities.

      • Eheran@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        There are no essential ingredients in water. There is usually so little in water that you can compare a liter water to a small piece of beard. Also note that in some areas the water is naturally extremely soft.

        • WFH@lemm.eeOP
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          4 days ago

          Yeah, well the water here is so hard that using a boiler once is enough to have it all scaled up. Like opaque white in a single use.