Using water from those machines outside markets - Safe?

[Arkayne]

I've an RO unit at home so I'm ok with my water situation. However, I never paid attention to those water machines outside Vons/Ralphs/etc. I'm wondering, are they safe to use for our tanks?

I walked over to one the other day and the label said that it filtered the water via reverse osmosis and passed through UV. Has anyone seen the innards of one of those machines?

Doesn't the RO process take a long time? These machines can pump out gallons of the stuff on a whim!

 

[Driftwood]

I would not trust them. About a year ago I had a major algae outbreak after using that water. My guess is that some machines do not get their filters changed as often as they should.

Dave

 

[okkiedokki]

When my smaller tank was setup I used one of these at my local grocery store. I'd test the water before I used it and it consistently had a TDS of 4. From what I read of RO only units that's not bad. They also did filter changes because it was down onetime but I never went over to look at the inside.

It did pump a gallon of water out faster then my RODI I have now, and I did notice that the first gallon of water that I'd get was warm and the rest were cold which I suspected that it had some type of tank to hold the water before dispensing.

I'd think if you used it, you should test for all the necessaries parameters before using it.

 

[zma21]

I use it with no problems, but i don't recommend using it unless you have a tds meter.

 

[Shagsbeard]

Call the number on the machine and ask for a TDS reading. If it's more than 2 ppm, don't risk it.