Yes. R.O. water is softened through the reverse osmosis purification process; however hard water (above 7 grains of hardness) will shorten the life of the membrane. The harder the water, the shorter the life. Example: If you incoming water is 15 grains hard, you may only get 2-3 years of life from your membrane.
No. Calcium and magnesium (limescale) are two of the hardest minerals for the R.O. membrane to remove. Sodium (added to the water by the softener) is much easier on the membrane and it will reject 98% of all sodium in the water. A water softener will help extend the life of the membrane.
No. A water softener removes calcium and magnesium from the water and is usually installed at the point-of-entry (P.O.E.) of the water to the house. A water softener is good for the home’s plumbing and water related appliances, but does little to improve the taste or quality of your drinking water.
You will be able to tell by the taste and clarity of the water. For example, ice cubes made with the R.O. water are harder, clearer, and last much longer. If you take two clean glasses of the same size and put ice cubes made with R.O. water in one and the same number of ice cubes made from tap water in the other, you will notice that it takes longer for the R.O. ice cubes to melt. Not only do ice cubes made with R.O. water last longer but juices and mixed drinks made with R.O. water taste better. When ice cubes made from tap water are melted in a glass, you will most likely see unsightly sediments on the bottom. This is not so with R.O. water. Another way of determining the amount of dissolved solids removed from tap water is by the use of a conductivity meter. This meter measures the conductivity the dissolved solids impart to the water. This is converted on the meter scale into parts per million of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Premier offers a water sample kit for the testing of a customer’s water to determine how the TFM membrane is working and when to replace the membrane.