Best tasting water I've ever tasted! Clean, crisp, pure.
I decided not to do the chlorine sterilization. It would be complicated by the connection of the refrigerator to the RO system. It might be hard to flush both sufficiently afterwards to get rid of any chlorine taste. In fact, it might be impossible to get rid of any chlorine taste afterwards.
I now have the best tasting water on the planet, and have finally joined the elite set who have filtered water, filtered chilled water, and filtered water ice, all made automatically, and served in my kitchen. Why go anywhere else?
I noticed that the plumber wasn't doing or mentioning the sterilization as he was doing the pressure test, so I asked him about it. He said it wasn't necessary. I had been planning to do it anyway after he left, just to be safe, and because I like doing things the best way possible. But now I've decided that if the plumber said it wasn't necessary, it probably isn't actually necessary. If it were, with all the RO installations he had done (and he said he had done many) he would have known by now if the chlorine sterilization were actually necessary.
Both the reverse osmosis system, and the refrigerator icemaker and water dispenser lines, had never been used. Both were two and a half years old, but had never even connected to water.
The reverse osmosis system had been removed from the box when the previous plumber started to install it two years ago, but then returned to the box afterwards. It came from the factory with all filters preattached to the filter manifold, thereby reducing the possibility of anything getting contaminated during installation.
In contrast, the refrigerator has actually been in use for two and a half years. That worries me a bit more. I'm worried that kitchen air could get into the refrigerator water line, bringing with it bacteriological contamination. But it probably wouldn't amount to much, and I've now flushed 5 gallons of water or so through the refrigerator chilled water dispenser and disposed of a few gallons of ice as well. I believe the refrigerator water line had a cap on it also, to help keep it clean.
After the first 2 gallons or so, after I had repeatedly flushed the RO system itself, I removed the charcoal water filter in the refrigerator (now 2 years old, though never actually used). I initially did this while thinking I would do the chlorine flush. Obviously I would not want to do the chlorine flush with that filter in place because the chlorine would be filtered and not make it all the way to the chilled water dispenser. Also because the chorine would foul the taste from the filter itself. But then after I removed the refrigerator filter, and after I decided I wouldn't be doing the chlorine flushing anyway, I decided I'd get a new filter. Then finally I decided it was fine to run without a filter on that point, since the entire refrigerator is being supplied with filtered water. The water circulates fine with the filter removed, the manual says you can do that if you don't want the refrigerator to do any filtering.
A friend of mine who is a biochemist and a very exacting home brewer has had a reverse osmosis system hooked up to his refrigerator for 20 years now, and has NEVER sterilized it with chlorine in all that time. He changes the carbon filters every year or two (instead of every 6 months the manual calls for) and has never had to replace the membrane. He says he mainly uses the RO tap and not the chilled water dispenser in the refrigerator.
I've already ordered ($9 plus $3 shipping) a bacteriological water test kit. My plan is that in lieu of chlorination I'll do periodic testing, just as if this were a spring water source. In fact, I like to think of it as my own spring water source.
Just like a spring water source, once the water has passed the prefilter there is little or no chlorine in the system. That is why there is a slight risk of contamination in the system after that point. Anything that was in the water line prior to connection might start growing. And very small amounts of bacteria* can even pass through unintended holes in the membrane. But there is also little stuff in the water, after being filtered by the RO membrane, for anything to grow on. The most likely places for anything to grow is in the filter cartridges themselves, and they get replaced periodically. (That was another good reason to remove the old filter in the refrigerator.)
*I start with clean San Antonio city water which has already been sterilized with chlorine by the water utility. It's sterilized for delivery, mainly, because the deep well sources in the Edwards Aquifer are bacteriologically clean to start with. The chlorine kills almost everything that gets picked up with the water during processing and transport, but not absolutely everything. Then my RO membrane filters out most everything that is not pure water, but 5% or less of the original remains. So the bacteria which passes into the unchlorinated part of my filtered water system is greatly reduced twice, and hopefully reduced to the point of being inconsequential. By the way, there are bacteria in your nice glass of chlorinated water also. The best thing for me to do is to keep the water flowing through my system with daily usage, so as not to let the water sit and the bacteria level increase.
Anyway, it tastes like the cleanest of spring water sources, and its water is uncontaminated by chlorine, just like a real potable water spring. Source Peterson! A friend suggests I could start a business bottling water.
My homebrewer friend likes his reverse osmosis water also. But I like to think mine is extra special because of all the special work I did in purging and flushing. Also, I like the way I arranged the water tubes with none (except the heavy stainless steel line for the refrigerator) touching the floor of the cabinet. On Monday I leveled the water tank and then did another flush.
One concern of mine had been the possibility that bacteria (if any) from the refrigerator water line might contaminate the water going back to the RO faucet. Yes, that is possible, but like most appliances the refrigerator is equipped with anti-backflow valves. The valves only open up when water is being drawn into the refrigerator. Now there could be some tiny amount of leakage backwards, but probably not enough to make any difference.
I can see now why the RO system has to have an air gap for the sewer line. We don't want any contamination from the sewer back up into the RO system itself. Anti-backflow valves would not be good enough to prevent that.
One thing I haven't figured out is how much water is stored in the refrigerator for the "chilled water" feature. I've seen the water tank for a GE refrigerator, and it looks like it holds a quart or two of water. I haven't yet found a picture of the water tank for a Whirlpool refrigerator. The manual says to flush it out before use with 2-3 gallons of water, and I've used much more than that, but I think it only holds a quart or two of water.
I love my RO water too!
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