RO-90, 5-Stage Under Sink Reverse Osmosis System, 90 GPD

A lot of good descriptive reviews here, I'll add mine here but will focus on my perspective as someone living in Israel. Israel is an arid country which in recent years made a big transition to desalination. The national water company (called "Mekorot") is using >50% desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea mixed with about 25% water taken from the Galilee sea (which is actually a fresh water lake) and the rest comes from mountain and coastal plain aquifer. Water then travels in the "national conduit" to various regions in Israel. The water in Israel are heavily treated, mostly because the national conduit is an open system, i.e. water travel in big pipes that are open to air and elements (e.g. rain water), but also because aquifer can become polluted with industrial waster and fertilizers, so does the Galilee sea. Also chlorine is added and recently fluoride as well. not to mention whatever is picked up from pipes until it reaches the kitchen tap. Local mineral water companies (with strong brands) draw from fountains in mountainous areas and bottle onsite, but are exposed to the same contamination of aquifer. For instance, one very strong brand I examined had 3 times of what considered (in the U.S) the max safe concentration of nitrates. I hope I'm successful so far at convincing you why water filtration is important in Israel. Now comes the question, what are the options? for most people in Israel who don't want to research too much it's these: 1. water pitcher filters, like Brita 2. Tami4 - a water bar that combines carbon filter with UV lamp 3. bottled water, e.g. mineral water 4. there are some local vendors who install advanced water filtration systems like Everpure or some Reverse Osmosis systems Next, why I think all of the above options are either not sufficient or cost effective water pitcher filter - relatively cheap but only filters chlorine and stops some sediments like dust. you're still exposed to a lot of chemicals and heavy metals in the water Water bar vendors - VERY high initial investment (~$1000) and high maintenance (~$150 year), not to mention if their equipment breaks you have to pay for repair. Also it's merely a carbon filter with a UV lamp, with some cold/hot function. I really don't think it's worth the money, especially since the UV lamp is there to kill the germs that grow in the machine itself. important to realize the due to the chlorine and UV treatment by the national water company, small chance of bacteria to survive in Israel's normal tap water. Bottled mineral water - relatively expensive, need to carry from supermarket, or pay a monthly fee to the vendor to deliver to your house. Also not eco friendly (plastic), exposed to aquifer contamination (almost zero regulation and testing by government) and some say under heat conditions plastic can dissolve into the water. But most importantly, from TDS meter readings I've made, tap water and mineral water have the same TDS levels, while unlikely that healthy mineral concentration (e.g. calcium, magnesium, potassium) is any different. In some brands mineral water TDS was even much higher than normal tap water. Local Reverse Osmosis Vendors - at best they are importers who lock you in high maintenance fees. worst case they import cheap chinese systems. You pay a premium for them to import, install and maintain the system for you. I chose APEC RO-90 after hours and hours of research. It's very important for me to say APEC did NOT ask me to write this review and I'm doing it because I think their product and service is amazing and I'd like to give back. Even after shipping and Israeli customs fees, the RO-90 was cheaper and more cost effective than any of the alternatives I specified. What I really like 1. packaging was excellent and the product is robust, The system was intact and I had no worry about that. 2. installation was very easy, everything just connects beautifully. I installed it in a few hours (I like to read the manual very thoroughly) 3. water tastes great, even my pregnant wife who is very sensitive to tastes said she liked it 4. TDS went down from 260ppm (tap water) to 15ppm (after RO-90 treatment) 5. the included tap is elegant and fits nicely on our kitchen counter 6. system is VERY quiet, can't hear it 7. customer service is really good, I already talked to them twice about questions I had, they respond really quickly and their reps are knowledgeable. 8. maintenance is cheap considering the other options, and I have full control over the process. What I don't like 1. the installation guides needs to be more specific about first run - you shouldn't drink first 2-3 tanks, open the tap and let them drain. 2. the feed water adapter should come with more options, I had to buy 1/2'' to 3/8'' adapter to make it work with my pipes - cost me another $10 What still needs to be tested 1. my water bill, but I checked in my house water gauge that the system stops working once the tank is full, so I'm Ok for now. 2. TDS measures at 15-25ppm at the moment, customer service promised it will go down even further, although I'm fine with that level as well. All in all, I'm am very happy with this product. water quality is excellent and it gives me peace of mind I've made a cost effective and healthy choice. Final note: During my internet research on the long term health concerns of reverse osmosis water I've made some interesting discoveries. This is a long subject and I believe I researched it well enough to make an educated decision. I'm tempted to post my thoughts about it here but this review seems long as it is. perhaps some comments might convince me to update this review with some key learnings. For the time being I would like to say this: Almost all resources you'll find on negative long term health effects of reverse osmosis water are based on the World Health Organization research from the 80's. That research had some notable flaws in it and it tends to dramatize concerns. I believe that for people living in western countries and use home reserve osmosis system most of those concerns are not relevant. Reverse osmosis water are safe to drink, especially if you consider the alternatives.

Here's my review of the APEC RO-90. I have had this system installed for 2 months now so it's time to put down some thoughts. First impressions when opening the box...great. The system is well packaged, seems quality made and the instructions are very clear.(comes with a detailed installation manual). Tubing is color coded to make life even easier. Installation took about an hour...it would have taken much less if I hadn't dropped the o-ring that comes with the feed water adapter. Tip: keep your eyes on the 2 small o-rings that come with the brass adapter :) I have included photos of the installed unit. It fits easily in one side of a standard 36" sink unit, even with a garbage disposal on the same side. Even though I am not a big fan of push fit water connectors, the supplied fittings are good quality and I had no leaks from the get go. We have been using water for drinking and cooking for two months and I haven't noticed an appreciable rise in my utility bill. It's so much more convenient than a trip to the big orange store for heavy 5 gallon water bottles every week. It's a bit startling when you first open the faucet for the first couple of gallons are murky but it clears up pretty quickly as the sediment flushes out. Taste is great, I was really skeptical about that part but it really does taste much better than tap water. I have also heard anecdotally that RO water is not good for kombucha or fermented vegetables. Not true, as far as I can tell mine are doing just fine. Things to note: The faucet requires a hole in your countertop which may be difficult for some, luckily I had an existing hole I could use. There is a lot of range of countertop installation depth, mine are 1.75" concrete and the faucet installed easily. I would recommend a visual check of all the hoses and connections once a month to check for leaks, just to be on the safe side. I would recommend this unit to a friend

We moved into a home in a little town in New Hampshire built in 2003 that has the water supply from a deep well..the second well on this property. We had the water tested and were dismayed when the results indicated we had Arsenic in our water 5 times the acceptable level for drinking set by the state. We had hoped to have a Arsenic mitigation system put in, but could not due to physical constraints of the home. After a lot of research and the purchase of another filter system that promised to remove the Arsenic....and failed to do so...we decided to buy this reverse osmosis filter system. It promised to remove Arsenic and has more filtering options than the previous system. It was delivered pretty quickly and I was a bit concerned when the system included paperwork that mentioned there are multiple types of Arsenic and this system does not remove ALL the types...so my optimism turned somewhat pessimistic. Installation was a breeze..I flushed the system multiple times during a four day period, just to make sure I had a good flush and had the water tested. Our water test passed...the system did what it promised to do and we now have water we can drink...and it tastes good too. I only have good things to say about this system..easy install..does what it says it will do. What more can you want. We are so grateful!!

Just installed so this is based on first impressions. Will update with longer term review. Pull up a chair- this is going to be one of my longest reviews. First, I decided to get this system because it claims to have filters that only need to be changed once per year. Also it has almost twice the daily volume of the 50gpd system. Using a TDS meter, my tap water is around 360 to 340TDS. Ouch - that's very high. Min standards for city water is 400ppm for TDS so this is right below the limit. To compare, distilled water purchased locally has a TDS of about 120 ppm. Some bottled water I had handy was about 30 ish. Installation - Effort: I would rate this as easy for people who've installed things like a sink disposal. My only tools I needed were two adjustable wrenches. Make sure you have a stubby handle adjustable wrench with wide jaws. If one has never installed anything under one's sink then it might be seen as medium easy. What will make this more difficult is deciding and drilling the hole for the faucet. I have a corian/synth marble top so I'm nervous about drilling. Have not done it yet. Many people will have an existing accessory hole so that will make for a much easier install. Time: I took my time and double/triple checked for leaks. Very important. I found a few and had to make some adjustments. It took about an hour. But keep in mind I have yet to drill and install the faucet or waste line (more on that later). I did connect everything up and ran the waste line into a 7.1 liter bowl. The three large main filters need to be unwrapped and installed. All the other filters are pre-installed. What caused me to pause a bit was that the three main filters (sediment pre filter and the two carbon block filters) when placed in the screw on housings, prior to screwing them on; the filters rattle around. There's a good space around each filter. The filters are about an inch smaller in diameter than the inside of the housings. Also I was not quite sure how this would align to the inside of the top portion. I should have taken pics of this. Judging from how it operates after putting it all together I am thinking it must self align. Although there might be potential for mis-aligned filters. I hand tightened the 3 main filters and then snugged them with the supplied wrench. I opted to not use the wall mountings as I would like to keep the filter unit in a small basin as protection against any potential leaks and for monitoring such. That being said - I observed no leaking from anywhere so far. It's only been about 3 hours since I installed it. After assembling the system and connecting it to the cold water supply. One turns on the needle valve to supply and fill the filter and tank. I suppose one could pre-charge the system with filtered water but I let it fill as normal. There was quite a bit of air in the system and I bled that out through the faucet which I had connected but have not drilled and placed into the counter. The first liter of water was blackish due to the carbon dust from the filter. WASTE Water Ratio - OK this was one of my primary concerns. I read here and there people saying this system wastes water. Well, yes - but not on a constant basis. Here's what I found out. For me- as the system and tank filled, the Waste water ran out pretty quickly from the black tube. I timed and measured this. The manual said expect to take 2 to 3 hours during which time the waste water outlet tube will run constantly until the RO filter stops the flow when the 4 gallon pressurized tank is full. I started filling at 11:32 and the waste water tube was filling up 7.1 liter stainless steel bowls at a rate of about 9 to 10 minutes per bowl. At 12:36 the waste water stopped flowing into the bowl. According to the manual - if one has higher water pressure it takes a shorter time to fill/charge the system+tank. So, my water pressure must be a bit higher than 60psi. They also note that if one has lower than 40psi, the system could run all the time meaning waste water would continually drain out and that would be a huge waste of water. WATER PRESSURE NOTE- One should probably test their water pressure before buying this or any other RO filter. Also, if / when water pressure in the house supply drops that will cause the RO filter to open up and your water bill will go up due to water being constantly wasted through this system UNLESS you shut it off except when you are getting filtered water. ALL RO Filters have a ratio of filtered water to "wasted" water. This is because the filter lets by purified water and blocks the contaminants which are carried by the "waste" water. HOW MUCH WATER IS WASTED? So - manual says to drain the first tank. Don't drink the first tank of water. Says that will take about 5 minutes. I drained the system by using the faucet in fully open position. It took about 9 minutes and filled about 2 bowls of 7.1 liters until the water from the faucet slowed to a trickle. So about 14 liters of filtered water. During this time I ran the waste/drain black line to another 7.1 liter bowl. The waste bowl filled up about 4 liters. I shut off the faucet and the system started to re-charge itself. During this time, the waste water drain line continued to flow and I kept close track of this. I ran my stop watch app. Each time the 7.1 liter bowl filled, I registered a lap. First lap / 7.1 liter bowl took about 9min33sec. The second lap / 7.1 liter bowl took about 11:30. Third took 12:07 etc. So the waste water flow was slowing as the tank filled. The waste water stopped flowing at 59minutes and some seconds. About 2:06 into "lap 6". SO - that means 5 whole bowls + about 1/3. Plus about 4 liters of waste water that was produced during the 9 minutes / 14 liters of filtered water "used". To sum up - for the first 14 liters of Filtered Water, my system "wasted" about 6x7.1 liters of water. So ratio is 14 Liters of Filtered Water to 42.6 Liters of "wasted" water. Remember, the system has stopped draining any water since the 4 gallon tank has charged. This means my system with my water pressure will use 3 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of filtered water. This sounds like a massive amount but consider that this is for drinking and most people consume about 1 gallon / person / day. So for an average family of 3 drinking 3 gallons of filtered water per day will also waste / use an extra 9 gallons per day x 30 days = 270 extra gallons per month. For me I use about 2 gallons per day for drinking and cooking so that's only 6 gallons per day more than normal use = 180 gallons extra use per month. NOT Bad and probably not enough to spike or increase my water bill. We'll see. UPDATE - Purchased a 1/2 inch Bosch BlueTurbo Granite Carbide bit to cut through my cultured marble top. WOW. This is tough stuff. Took about an hour to drill through about 2 inches of the counter top. TIP - use a smaller carbide bit 1/8 inch to start the hole to prevent any wandering of the larger bit. Then, use a 1/4 inch bit to widen the hole. Then I used the 1/2 inch bit to go about another inch. Then I went back to the 1/8 and bored all the way through. Then the 1/4 inch through and finished off with the 1/2 inch bit. The Bosch 1/2 inch bit cost about $10 so budget that into your installation and was worn out after. Drilling through a stone/marble counter top increases the difficulty of installation. I would not relish the thought of drilling any more holes through that stuff.

I LOVE it, but I should preface that with saying I just got the system up and running and so this is not a review of the long-term functionality of the product. (That will come later.) The APEC RO came well-packaged and all product parts were included, though it would not have killed them to add a few spare parts in case something got damaged during the installation. I decided to install the RO system myself and let me say I am not a plumber and have never "plumbed" anything in my life. But after shelling out this amount of cash for the product I could not bring myself to pay more money for someone to install it. So I prayed and decided to give it whirl. It was not as difficult as I imagined it would be, but there some parts of the installation that stumped me had me crying for my Mom. I started the installation on a Sunday afternoon about 11:00 am and completed the installation the following Monday at 4:00 pm. I estimated that the job would take me two days prior to starting and my estimate was correct. APEC's instruction manual is very good, but a few notable mentions in manual would have greatly shortened this project for me. (No. 1) Some of the installation sequences are a bit out-of-order. It was a real pain to realize that the fitting on the cold water supply should be installed directly onto the cold water supply connection and then the 1-inch adapter installed onto it. The manual has you connecting the needle valve, cold water fitting and the adapter together prior to installing it onto the cold water supply. This became a nightmare because it was impossible to screw on the fitting due to space limitations under the kitchen sink. I could barely get a tool around the fitting to tighten it, (No. 2) Save yourself the trouble of using the fancy plastic QC faucet adapter and go with the metal compression nut (included in the package). The cheap plastic fitting leaks like a sieve and was an absolute waste of time, (No. 3) It would have been nice if the manual mentioned that when you pull out the plugs from the RO unit that it may take out the collet fittings. I had no idea about this until I got on the phone with APEC -- prior to that my tubings kept blowing out and spraying water all over me and my kitchen. The APEC guy was very responsive and helpful, the system now works great and the water taste is truly fantastic. I totally recommend the product and suggest installing it yourself for the experience-- you do not need the youtube videos. You will need some wrenches (pipe wrench too large), go for the standard sizes. (One last thing, the faucet part of the RO system is a tad on the cheap side, so I wonder if I wanted something more quality whether or not APEC has options for that?)

I bought the RO-90 and I love it! It has excellent water flow and taste! Couldn’t be happier. I was using zero water filters for a little while but can’t stand the fish smell they create after using it for like a week or two. This is super clean and clear tasting, nice smooth water. No aftertaste or anything unpleasant. I also use it in my counter top ice maker and it makes super clear ice. I’m very impressed. It’s very durable feeling. I started installing it and my wife was like it takes all three of those filters!? Then I showed her the water tank it come with lol. It’s definitely not small. I love it though, you can tell just by holding it how well it will work. I used a PPM meter and when I first installed it, the readings were all over but definitely better than my tap. I am now consistently reading about 25. Compared to 260 or so from my tap with a water softener. I use the water for my plants so having a dependable and clean water source is life changing. I am very happy. Also I didn’t get the alkaline system because I don’t need a high PH for my water. I have about 7.3-7.5 coming through my system same as my tap. Which is close enough I don’t even have to test it anymore. I’m that confident in this water. Maybe in 6 months I’ll update this and include the PH and PPM. If I remember lol

Great system, I installed mine over a year ago and still working fine without a filter change yet and no leaks

Purchased in a July 2026. Do not believe the PSI rating. Purchased it before we needed it, so we would be prepared after we remodeled our kitchen in August so we can't send back. Just got off phone with Support. She said it will not work with 40 psi very well or at all. How about not at all. Now we have to purchase a pump. It would be good if they would state on the Amazon web page that will only work with at least 60 -70 PSI. It states right in the product 30 - 100 PSI. So what is it, APEC? Edited in September followup for rating...I had to come back to finish the story on the problem with this unit from APEC. Installed the pump, guess what? It still wouldn't work., no water, no pressure, nothing. Now mind you, we did this on weekends. After many unsuccessful attempts. My husband decided to check the Inlet valve on the 4th stage membrane. APEC installed a check valve in that location. The water was hitting a brick wall so to speak. Once my husband fixed their mistake. We now have water for our filter system. The female on the phone with APEC was so dismissive in regards to helping, blamed it on the PSI right away. Waste of time and money from the beginning. We did not need to purchase a pump after all. Terrible company front person who answers the phone. She knows nothing about the product that she's answering the phone about.

Excelente aunque en mi ciudad necesito ayuda de una bomba presurizadora pero más que eso funciona muy bien

Waited a few weeks before reviewing... now I have been drinking the water for a few weeks, I must say I really like it. I am on a well that was dug last year at 160ft. My water is very hard and has over 700ppm of minerals but is otherwise great quality, no bacteria, no iron or other difficult to treat problems, just very mineral like it was expected in my area. So I installed a water softener to get the hardness down to less than one grain...in order to get ready for RO. I was looking for a good quality RO system with made in USA or Canada filters. My most important criteria was to get a real Dow membrane which this model has. So, on to this RO unit... Installation was done in about 2 hours. I am very handy and this was very easy. No leaks, no fuss... clear instruction (which is a frequent complaint with cheep systems). Every thing is high quality, the filter holders, the faucet and all of the hardware is very good... Water tasted a little metalic the first few days... figure it was the system flushing out (tank and filters). Now don't worry about some black stuff in the first few flushes as this is the loose carbon in the carbon filters, they all do that (all those I have owned...they flush themselves...) . So what I did was drain the tank every time I passed by it in the first few days... then the water taste cleared up real nice. It now tastes like bottled water... Now, my input is over 700ppm of dissolved solids (varies between 700 and 720)... when I measure the output of this system, it hovers around 20ppm... now that is a 97.3% rejection by the membrane... good job Dow Filmtec ... That is why I wanted an American made membrane... Now I am not worried about chlorine as I get my water from a well but I also liked the fact that it has 2 carbon stages for other agricultural chemicals... I would definitely recommend this unit... I am very pleased with the value and ease of installation...

Alles Tip Top

Fácil de instalar, pero asegúrate de tener la presión adecuada (50 - 80 psi) para que se llene el tanque que viene en el sistema de purificación, de otra forma tienes que instalar una bomba para pecera que aumente la presión que entre al sistema. Las partículas por millón que recibo en Cuajimalpa, marca 96 PPM, después de filtrarse el agua, me marca 03 PPM. ¡Increíble!. Incluso el agua embotellada marca 50 a 60 PPM y el filtro sencillo que instalé para los hielos del refrigerador, solamente reduce la mala calidad a 70 PPM. En resumen, vale la pena invertir en este sistema.

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