We just bought a home with a well and we are concerned about the drinking water quality. We had the water tested and the hard water has too many dissolved solids according to the EPA (just above 500 TDS) for drinking. After getting quoted $1600 for a Kinetico RO system, I decided to install one myself. This one. Probably a bit of overkill in my opinion.
The problem is that the cold water in my kitchen is plumbed to the hard water (apparently that was a good thing back in '02). I'm told the iron (33 gpg) would ruin the membrane quickly. The basement is finished below the kitchen but I can see 3 water lines running the length of the home (1 hot, 1 hard, 1 soft). I'm trying to decide how to best get the RO water in my kitchen with soft water. I have a few options:
1) Install a bypass in the mechanical room so that the hard water line becomes soft. This would make the entire kitchen on soft water as well as an outdoor spigot (and potentially 2 toilets if those get plumbed with hard water typically?). This would let me put the RO system under the sink.
2) Run a line from the kitchen to the mechanical room and run soft water through it. I have 50ft of 1/2" PEX left over I could use ( the run would be ~40'). With the finished basement the PEX would rest on the sheetrock and run through a bulkhead then between joists. If it just supplies the RO system, I imagine it wouldn't make too much noise. I could install the RO system under sink with this line, or I could install it in the basement and have the RO water run through this line (hoping the pump on the RO system would help with the pressure).
3) Similar to #2, instead of PEX, I could run a more manageable 40' 3/8" PE line and just run the RO water through it from the mechanical room. I'm assuming this line would be easier to run since it is more flexible and thinner.
4) Tear up the basement ceiling and plumb the kitchen with soft water. I'm thinking at least 2 large holes in the textured ceiling (my drywall skills are terrible so I'm kind of dreading this option).