Thanks Dave

This review has helped me so much and before this I was very close to having an under counter system but your thoughts has convinced me otherwise.

 

Just for clarity, Dave - did they provide a review unit, or did you purchase one, and then review it? (Not judging in any way - it's just nice to have it stated).

 

He bought it, I think he mentioned it before in a reply on a thread.

 

He bought it, I think he mentioned it before in a reply on a thread.

No I didn't buy it, I was going to but he said he would send one and it arrived the next day. Thought that was clear in the review, so perhaps I need to check and possibly clarify.

Just checked, perhaps saying I asked to review it wasn't enough and I need to make it clearer when I get back home.

 

Ah ok, Can't believe I got it wrong OMG shocker. Was more than likely me not reading probably my bad.

 

@DavecUK

Dave, thank you very much for this.

The first mention of the Osmio Zero, a couple of weeks ago, piqued my interest but I had questions that wanted answering. This review has provided those answers and more.

Over the past four or five years, our tap water, courtesy of Severn Trent, has been disappointing to say the least. Often times we get discoloration and visible sediment. The smell of chlorine and goodness knows what else, varies but is often unpleasantly strong. Other than coffee, we mainly drink water, often ambient but mainly hot. Our heated tap water tastes like TCP so, for 5 or 6 years we have exclusively used bottled water which at times is most certainly a PITA to fetch and carry.

Of late we have felt increasingly guilty every time we scrunch up an empty water bottle and put it in the 'recycle' bin.

So, we have just ordered an Osmio Zero and feel better already!

And yes we did talk to Osmio before we ordered.

Thank you once again.

 

@DavecUK

Dave, thank very much for this.

The first mention of the Osmio Zero, a couple of weeks ago, piqued my interest but I had questions that wanted answering. This review has provided those answers and more.

Over the past four or five years, our tap water, courtesy of Severn Trent, has been disappointing to say the least. Often times we get discoloration and visible sediment. The smell of chlorine and goodness knows what else, varies but is often unpleasantly strong. Other than coffee, we mainly drink water, often ambient but mainly hot. Our heated tap water tastes like TCP so, for 5 or 6 years we have exclusively used bottled water which at times is most certainly a PITA to fetch and carry.

Of late we have felt increasingly guilty every time we scrunch up an empty water bottle and put it in the 'recycle' bin.

So, we have just ordered an Osmio Zero and feel better already!

And yes we did talk to Osmio before we ordered.

Thank you once again.

Did they give you a deal, I suggested they should think up something for the forum members?

Oh and from the sound of it, I think you will absolutely love the unit. Just remember I felt it was about 10-12 litres before all the new taste disappeared from it.

 

Did they give you a deal, I suggested they should think up something for the forum members?

Oh and from the sound of it, I think you will absolutely love the unit. Just remember I felt it was about 10-12 litres before all the new taste disappeared from it.

Yes. The offer of a free Osmio Hydrogen Water Bottle or a set of filters. We went for the filters.

 

Yes. The offer of a free Osmio Hydrogen Water Bottle or a set of filters. We went for the filters.

Definitely the best move. I should have mentioned it in the review but I was told when the maintenance light flashes you need to change filters and that there is no warning. you can reset it by switching power off at mains and on again, but it soon comes on again. The solution to have a set of filters in hand. I must actually order myself a couple of sets soon....I also realised we're quite heavy RO users. Already today the unit has been filled 3 times! That's 12 litres of RO already and I suspect we will fill it twice more before the evenings out. no wonder my water bills were so are high with the under counter unit and perhaps I will need a filter change sooner than I think.

The one surprise was how fast it is to filter, but then it can wash/flush the membrane loads , because it's simply recycling the water back, ah well you'll experience it for yourself tomorrow.

 

Yes, we have already determined that it will be good policy to have a set of filters to hand and to re-order as they are fitted.

I would be surprised if we exceed 4 litres per day so I reckon it will be spot on for our needs.

Does anybody want to buy a kettle?

 

Thanks for the detailed review. Some minor points:

You mention "Fortunately this can be easily fixed by adding 0.15 of sodium bicarbonate to every litre of water. When shopping for it in the supermarket don't buy baking soda, it's not the same thing." . Baking soda IS Sodium Bicarbonate, maybe you meant baking powder?

Further down it says "so an alternate water treatment plan for coffee machines could be 0.8g of Bicarb per litre and leave the remineralisation cartridge in. I'm still testing this area and will update soon.", I don't think you mean 0.8g/L but maybe 0.08g/L? 0.8g/L would be 500ppm akalinity. 80mg/L should be enough and is within the SCA guidelines (~50ppm)

Did you also get to measure the output TDS without any re-mineralization?

 

Thanks for the detailed review. Some minor points:

You mention "Fortunately this can be easily fixed by adding 0.15 of sodium bicarbonate to every litre of water. When shopping for it in the supermarket don't buy baking soda, it's not the same thing." . Baking soda IS Sodium Bicarbonate, maybe you meant baking powder?

Further down it says "so an alternate water treatment plan for coffee machines could be 0.8g of Bicarb per litre and leave the remineralisation cartridge in. I'm still testing this area and will update soon.", I don't think you mean 0.8g/L but maybe 0.08g/L? 0.8g/L would be 500ppm akalinity. 80mg/L should be enough and is within the SCA guidelines (~50ppm)

Did you also get to measure the output TDS without any re-mineralization?

Will go through and amend errors, but yes you are correct.

I have not yet I will be removing the last filter tomorrow and checking, but it should be close to 0

 

It is also worth to remember about this:

"We offer a 1 year warranty for customers in medium hard up to 200 ppm Calcium Carbonate Hardness and TDS of 250 ppm. For customers with harder or water with higher TDS, we do not recommend this product unless you are happy to make be more frequent membrane filter changes. The unit is designed to shut off if there is blockage in the membrane or prefilters. As the system recirculates the rejected water from the membrane, the TDS level continually rises of the water entering the membrane filter. Therefore, for those with water of higher TDS, more frequent membrane changes are required. "

 

It is also worth to remember about this:

"We offer a 1 year warranty for customers in medium hard up to 200 ppm Calcium Carbonate Hardness and TDS of 250 ppm. For customers with harder or water with higher TDS, we do not recommend this product unless you are happy to make be more frequent membrane filter changes. The unit is designed to shut off if there is blockage in the membrane or prefilters. As the system recirculates the rejected water from the membrane, the TDS level continually rises of the water entering the membrane filter. Therefore, for those with water of higher TDS, more frequent membrane changes are required. "

So if you leave in London, you probably have to look for other options.

Nope, I don't think so, I think they are being over cautious and if you use RO of any kind they are all equally affected for water hardness. I think they were trying to be super careful to set expectations, but it's probably not setting the right impression. e.g. if an undercounter RO systemhas a cost that cost goes up the harder the water is, both in reject water and membrane life, with this system it's the same so nothing really changes relative to undercounter systems. Their big mistake was in scaring people off, rather than people just understanding it's more frequent changes. I think the warnings used to be along the lines of not recommending it.

It doesn't change the warranty, your still covered. In fact my water can be up to 300 ppm in summer sometimes and is around 250+ now. If I have to change my filters every 5 months I don't care. The other way around it is simply to change the water out with say 1.3 litres left instead of 1 litre.....then the membrane will last the 6 months...but i'd rather not muck about. The corollary is that if your water is softer than 200 ppm then your filters will last longer than 6 months......

The bottom line, if you live in London, then you definitely need to use RO, just change the filter a bit more often and they do have a twin membrane filter only option for those super dooper hard areas (e.g, east anglia etc..).... 2 membranes for £45, so you can always swap out just the membrane for £22.50, as it's only the membrane that's affected. The other filters don't much care about hardness....they time expire and go on chlorine etc..

 

OK, so maybe in that case they should be more clear on the webpage, as for me, non-native speaker it looked like, for hard water they recommend the classic RO system that does not circulate water.

And yes I agree, in area with such hardness as London or Warsaw, where I live, something like this is a must.

 

OK, so maybe in that case they should be more clear on the webpage, as for me, non-native speaker it looked like, for hard water they recommend the classic RO system that does not circulate water.

And yes I agree, in area with such hardness as London or Warsaw, where I live, something like this is a must.

I have discussed this with them, so I understood their concerns, but I think they understood that perhaps they give the wrong impression. They didn't want people to have a unit, have to change the membrane more often than 6 months and complain or think the company had been dishonest. Really though the people in areas like yours need this type of system the most.

 

Thanks for the review Dave. I've been looking for a solution for a while and I've thought about gravity filters like the Berkey and RO systems. The Osmio sounds like it could be the perfect solution. I personally drink around 3 litres of bottled water a day and I really want to find a clean alternative. What I can't work out from the Osmio is how long would it take to fill up 1 or 2 1.5 litre bottles?

 

How about the taste, compared with bottled or jug filtered water, for light roast beans? I take not many home users have RO systems installed, so that might be their first experience with it.

I am not really interested since water in Glasgow is soft and does not produce any scale - just has a chlorine smell which I started to hate after starting to filter the water! BWT jug does the job for me.

 

Did you use a direct RO system, similar to this: https://www.osmiowater.co.uk/water-filters/reverse-osmosis-water-filters/bmb-30-nova-pro.html

Different price range of course, but do you believe this is also good solution?

 

Thanks for the review Dave. I've been looking for a solution for a while and I've thought about gravity filters like the Berkey and RO systems. The Osmio sounds like it could be the perfect solution. I personally drink around 3 litres of bottled water a day and I really want to find a clean alternative. What I can't work out from the Osmio is how long would it take to fill up 1 or 2 1.5 litre bottles?

Working from memory it will fill up 1.2 ish litres sort of as fast as the little pump can pump it out of the internal tank, so 60-75 seconds or so. Then it will stop dispensing so the internal tank can refill, to refill completely takes around 4 or 5 minutes but you can draw smaller amounts before that...once the internal tank has filled a bit. In other words the internal tank has a high and a low water level probe.

Did you use a direct RO system, similar to this: https://www.osmiowater.co.uk/water-filters/reverse-osmosis-water-filters/bmb-30-nova-pro.html

Different price range of course, but do you believe this is also good solution?

It's very expensive and I would assume has the same waste water problems which cost me over £120 per year on a water meter. The filter changes look better than my old under counter unit, but so many of them and some look like a ballache to do. So unless your a real heavy user, I wouldn't have thought so. You have to remember, I am focussed on a few key areas, coffee, tea and what the family like to drink. I'm lazy, I don't want hassles, too many filters, no installation, no worries if it leaks and the water at different temperatures.

Before the Osmio, it was go to the water boiler and it's empty, go to the storage bottle and it's empty. Fill up storage bottle (takes minutes), fill up water boiler (15 minutes to heat up), come back later and make coffee. This doesn't happen now, it's press button, get boiling water. If it's not filled, remove tank, fill it from tap, fast and easy. Although I still got my hot water straight away. There is no race to the bottom to not fill the thing up because it's easy to do, no long waits for hot water. It's really hard to explain the dynamics in a family. It's the same thing as kitchen bin syndrome...no one wants to be the last to fill it up...because they have to empty it, so it ends up getting fuller and fuller...the adults version of Buckaroo.

How about the taste, compared with bottled or jug filtered water, for light roast beans? I take not many home users have RO systems installed, so that might be their first experience with it.

I am not really interested since water in Glasgow is soft and does not produce any scale - just has a chlorine smell which I started to hate after starting to filter the water! BWT jug does the job for me.

If it wasn't any good my wife wouldn't drink it...it was she who complained that she could still taste "chlorine" until about 8-10 litres had gone through. In reality it was the antibac preservatives compounds in the filters washing out because they were new. However, after day 2 it passed the wife test. My wife won't drink the tap water in our area and neither will I, tastes awful..

So for2 1.2 litre bottles around 7m 30 seconds in total including waiting time. Mainly because to keep the system small, it only has a small internal RO storage tank for RO water. Over the course of a day we use around 20 litres from the system but yes, getting a large amount all in one go does have a wait time.

High = stop producing RO water and flush membrane

Low = Start producing RO water and don't dispense/stop dispensing until the level rises a bit.

Hot water draw is identical for amount, but a little slower for speed as the flow rate is reduced with respect to temperature. So 95C water is dispensed at about 425cc per minute, or 2 mugs per minute.

This is why it's difficult to review, because so many questions it's difficult for me to anticipate...unlike an espresso machine, grinder or roaster.

 

Thanks for the review Dave, I will probably be ordering one soon.

 

I'm presuming that filling the coffee machine water tank is simply done by drawing cold water from the Osmio into a jug & then filling coffee machine water tank from the jug? Looks very neat. I have my water (Waitrose Essentials) delivered as my nearest Waitrose is several miles away. Means that my garage often has a stack of 4-pack water bottles precariously balanced

 

I'm presuming that filling the coffee machine water tank is simply done by drawing cold water from the Osmio into a jug & then filling coffee machine water tank from the jug? Looks very neat. I have my water (Waitrose Essentials) delivered as my nearest Waitrose is several miles away. Means that my garage often has a stack of 4-pack water bottles precariously balanced ��

Yes, I have a little 2ltr jug with a pipe on I use for filling the coffee machine (it's actually an automotive oil filler jug).

Keep your eyes out for new Videos on the video playlist, for internals of the system, a good trick for resetting the thermal cut-out on the HW boiler should you ever need it. On the review site some coffee nerd specific stuff and tests with the Osmio, plus a sterilisation vid and procedure. All of which I am in the process of doing. Unfortunately a contaminated fuelling incident with my wifes car has been occupying significant time (and money) over the last few days. Amazing how much it is costing just because of some bad fuel....lets hope I can claim back some of the cost from Tesco.

It would be nice to keep a sticky thread for new people to the site to check out as a water suggestion for machines, but also to share any knowledge/experience, especially in the years ahead should any repairs ever be needed. I will post and internal video soon and it's clear that it is a simple enough system inside.

 

Thanks Dave. Always enjoy your videos & reviews, even though they end up costing me a fortune

So far, a Vesuvius, a Niche grinder and, soon no doubt, an Osmio. Can't blame you for the recent purchase of a set of second-hand Acaia Lunar scales however.

Good luck with your wife's car and stay well.

 

K

Thanks Dave. Always enjoy your videos & reviews, even though they end up costing me a fortune

So far, a Vesuvius, a Niche grinder and, soon no doubt, an Osmio. Can't blame you for the recent purchase of a set of second-hand Acaia Lunar scales however.

Good luck with your wife's car and stay well.

hey, I work in Leamington so if you want to look into ordering two Osmio units and saving a few quid I might be in..