Why Choose Us:
- Matt Backus, the owner, is a trained mechanical engineer and has 10 years of experience both in researching and designing water treatment systems. He oversees all system designs to ensure your water filtration needs are met!
- Our installers are fully vetted and trained to the highest standards. They have extensive knowledge in plumbing and the installation of our Aqua Zero Labs systems. You can trust them in your home!
- We use only the highest quality components in the industry.
- Every system is custom-designed and built for specific needs of each customer.
- Our prices are fair and affordable! We are here to provide you the best bang for the buck that you will find anywhere.
- We are a local, family-oriented business. We take our commitment to your family seriously.
- We are deeply committed to your satisfaction as our customer and we will go above and beyond to win your business and keep your business.
What is a whole-house filter and how is it different from what other companies offer?
Many companies use small canister filters and label them as "whole-house filters". Our standard whole-house filter is a 12" diameter tank that is 52" tall and contains 55 pounds of granular carbon! This amount of carbon is needed to filter the amount of water flow that an entire household will use. Some applications will use even larger tanks with more carbon, but seldom do we use anything smaller.
Why do I need an RO filtration unit AND a whole-house filter?
The whole-house filter uses a granular carbon which removes chlorine/ammonia compounds that are particularly harmful in the showers and baths (see article on Toxic Showers) . These chemicals are also damaging to softeners and anti-scale systems. For these reasons the whole-house filter is very important to use where water enters your house. However, this carbon does not remove toxic fluoride nor chromium-6 which are important to remove for drinking water. The RO filtration also provides a much more clean and polished taste that many find appealing in their drinking water.
What is the difference between a traditional softener and your salt-free, anti-scale technology?
A softener uses salt and an ion-exchange process to remove calcium and magnesium from the water. The upside to a softener is that it totally removes the scale from the water.
The downsides are:
1) One must buy, transport and load salt on a regular basis.
2) In the process of taking the minerals out, softeners leave salt behind in the water.
3) Softeners regenerate often using a fair amount of water and also putting salt back into the groundwater.
The anti-scale system does not remove the minerals at all but neutralizes the scale so it does not accumulate in your plumbing, water heater, appliances, faucets, etc. It is a "media" from Germany that is made of tiny ceramic beads. They react with the calcium carbonate in the water forming tiny crystalline structures that don't adhere but simply flow through your plumbing and out the other end. There are several upsides to this technology: 1) No salt is required so regular maintenance is eliminated. 2) It doesn't regenerate or waste any water. 3) It leaves a small amount of CO2 in the water which is a natural cleaner. It helps in cleaning clothing and dishes and it also removes old scale from your plumbing! It will actually clean out any scale that you now have in your water heater or pipes. 4) The units are small and space-efficient and also eliminate bulky brine tanks needed for a traditional softener. The con to this unit is that because it doesn't actually remove the minerals, it is still possible to get an occasional water spot on a counter or shower or faucet. The spots will not be the hard, crusty scale but usually softer and easy to clean up. The resin has a lifespan of roughly 5 years and then needs to be replaced at a cost of about $400 for a standard size unit. But over that time frame one has avoided the cost of purchasing salt so financially the maintenance cost is usually a wash.
Probably 90% or more of my customers choose the salt-free option. But if someone tells me that they never want to see a white spot ever again in their house, I tell them to choose the softener. However, if someone wants a low-maintenance option to protect their plumbing, water heater and appliances then I recommend the anti-scale option.
What is different about your reverse osmosis drinking systems compared to others?
All reverse osmosis (RO) filtration systems work basically the same way. There are a series of pre-filters which usually consist of a 5 micron sediment filter followed by a carbon block filter. Following the pre-filters is the RO membrane which is rated by gallons per day. Our systems use a 50 gallon/day membrane but higher rated membranes are available. The RO membrane does the main filtering. Then lastly comes a post-filter or what we might refer to as a "polishing" filter.
There are two basic complaints against RO filtration and we solve both of these issues.
1. Traditional RO systems waste a lot of water. In fact the waste can be as high as 10 gallons of water wasted for one gallon of filtered water! So when you draw off say an 8oz glass of water from a typical RO system, it takes nearly 80oz of water wasted to replenish the 8oz. Our systems use a special device called a permeate pump which reduces that waste by 80%. It also makes the system more efficient producing more highly purified water. For the average household that uses 2 gallons of water per day for drinking and cooking, this device saves over 5000 gallons per year!
2. RO filtration strips everything out of the water including mineral content leaving the water slightly acidic and with an unbalanced pH. Our systems us a ph-balancing post-filter, after the RO filtration, to raise the pH by adding mineral content back to the water. This also gives a crisp, refreshing taste that you will be sure to enjoy! We routinely get compliments from our customers stating how much they love the taste of our RO water