Waterdrop K19 reverse osmosis

dfk41 · Jun 15, 2024

MattH I think many of those comments (but I might be wrong) were US based. I have not had to think about ordering yet as I am hoping they might be on promotion at some point. They do have a warehouse in Manchester to service UK customers. I ordered mine on a Monday afternoon and it turned up on the Thursday morning. If there seems to be any issues I will post them on here as I would hate anyone to order a unit based on my experiences then having their own issues!

I know their stock comes on the slow boat from China so it maybe possible for things to get held up. The answer is to order in advance!

DavecUK · Jun 15, 2024

DavecUK Now I have seen the photo. It could be that is has a solenoid that uses the waste water first and once that’s empty, switches to the main part of the tank, which of course can then dump back into the waste tank.

If the solenoid was set so when it was drawing from the waste tank, it put the rejection water in the main tank and once the waste was empty and it operated, the rejection water is then pumped into the waste tank. This would prevent the concentration getting ever higher.

The initial small amount going into the main tank wouldn’t make much difference.

After talking with David and him running some tests, no they have not been that clever. It simply looks like a clever solution, but isn’t really doing anything.

dfk41 · Jun 15, 2024

DavecUK I do not really understand the working side of this machine. For my simple needs, it seems to produce filtered water with a low TDS reading, which is exactly what I bought it for! Does anything else really matter or am I missing something?

DavecUK · Jun 15, 2024

dfk41 I’m just correcting my incorrect assumptions in the earlier post….so as not to mislead people.

dfk41 · Jun 15, 2024

DavecUK It is not a problem. Fairy Dust does not exist, but the point I was making, was no matter the process, the end result is the same (I think)

dfk41 · Sep 11, 2024

Another couple of months on from my last post. I am still really happy with my unit. I am not going to bang on with needless woffle but it’s good points are:

compact

buttons to operate easy and intuitive

filters quickly

display panel

seems to produce RO water

Waterdrop. customer services are a pleasure to deal with

Bad Points

I am struggling to think of any.

The cost of these units varies as to when you look at it. On their website they are generally discounted to about £279.99 but I have seen them cheaper. The replacement filters are £70 and I have not seen them discounted yet. Although a Chinese/international operation you deal with customer services wherever they might be but they do have a UK address for dispatch. Bearing in mind the Osmio Zero that I previously owned is now £445 to buy, that is a hefty saving to be made.

Does anyone other forum member own one?

dfk41 · Oct 29, 2024

A few weeks since I posted on the Waterdrop. Still chugging away. I check the TDS output every few weeks and it always seems to be low enough not to worry. @DavecUK also has a unit and he noticed that if he draws off some hot water then immediately checks the TDS it shoots up. Perhaps the cleverer folks amongst us can explain why!

For me, if the unit lasts as long as my Osmio Zero did (I bought it in August 2020 so about 45 months) then I will be well pleased

DavecUK · Oct 29, 2024

dfk41 The key observtions I have of the unit compared to the Osmio.

The TDS is no where near as low, usually around the 30 or 40 mark as a minimum I can achieve running a lot of water through, the Osmio can go down to 5. So waterdrop membrane filtering is not as effective
Hot water is not as hot as Osmio and there is about twice as much cold water initially out as in an Osmio
Controls are nice and modern and it has a smaller footprint and nicer look. It’s a real irritation to have a child lock out for hot water, which cannot be disabled. Osmio controls are older, but more convenient, dosing control on the Osmio is slightly too much or loads and not as good as Waterdrop…but the Osmio standard dose can be stopped as required by twisting the knob. This is more reassuring than using a touch screen.
The cup/drip tray is plastic with a stainless insert, the osmio one is plastic with a metal effect platic insert, waterdrop wins hands down here.

Overall the Osmio is more expensive, but the better unit functionally, the waterdrop is fine for those on more of a budget and is the better unit aesthetically and footprint wise..

MMWJB · Oct 29, 2024

DavecUK The TDS is no where near as low, usually around the 30 or 40 mark as a minimum I can achieve running a lot of water through, the Osmio can go down to 5. So waterdrop membrane filtering is not as effective

Is there any remineralisation on the Waterdrop? Do you have the remin cartridge in the Osmio?

dfk41 · Oct 29, 2024

DavecUK The TDS is no where near as low, usually around the 30 or 40 mark as a minimum I can achieve running a lot of water through, the Osmio can go down to 5. So waterdrop membrane filtering is not as effective

I am not finding that on mine. Whenever I test the water it is usually around 12 to 16. Maybe Dave’s water has a higher hardness starting point than my water. But I think, at the levels we are experiencing, scale should not be an issue. I would expect the Osmio at a couple of hundred quid more would outperform the Waterdrop in some areas. I do not use it for hot water very often so am not concerned by that. I bought an Osmio as it is easier to treat the water you put in to your machine than deal with the consequences and as long as they both do that, I am happy!

DavecUK · Oct 29, 2024

dfk41 I am not finding that on mine. Whenever I test the water it is usually around 12 to 16. Maybe Dave’s water has a higher hardness starting point than my water.

Your water is much softer than mine, mine (TDS) is close to 320 in summer and 280 in winter. yours is about 100. The Osmio with no remineralisation cartridge could achieve 3-5, or a rejection rate of around 99%on the membrane, the water drops rejection rate is at best 90% and worst can me literally 80% or less!

MWJB Is there any remineralisation on the Waterdrop? Do you have the remin cartridge in the Osmio?

No there isn’t and even with the remin cartridge, it can’t quickly put back a lot of minerals if large quantities are being drawn straight after filtering a large amount.. With the water drop I pulled lots of water out and measured the TDS of a second or 3rd pull of water, to try and e;iminate what I believe is the TDS increasing effect of a copper, or other metal, instant water heater.. The Osmio uses a ceramic heater.

dfk41 · 27 Jun

I have had my unit up and running for exactly a year now. On the whole I am pretty happy with the unit. Most days I fill the 5 litre reservoir at least once. I have a cheap TDS pen and regularly test the output, both filtered and unfiltered. The filtered score is usually around the 10 mark. That is not quite as low as the Osmio that used to produce single figures. With the Osmio, the accepted advice seemed to be ignore the button that told you to change the filter as it was set up to automatically do this on the anniversary date and just continue using and testing every few days until the readings started to increase.

Now, I normally follow the advice our host gives to me but this time I cannot square the circle. If I regularly (monthly) test the output and it is fairly constant at around 10, do I have any reason to doubt the accuracy? Should I just change the filter because the machine tells me to? I know Dave’s Surrey water is a lot harder than my Northumbrian water so the filter is never working as hard. Dave bought his unit a month after I bought mine and has just changed his filter, but his readings were always higher.

Does anyone who owns one of these units have any comments on how happy/unhappy they are with it please?

DavecUK · 2 Jul

My final verdict on the Waterdrop K19 Instant Hot Water Reverse Osmosis System is a do not buy after using it for 10 months.

Below is what I wrote to waterdrop:

I’m writing to let you know that after 8 or 9 months usage of this unit, I have to express my disappointment with it and will not be recommending it to my coffee forum members.

After about 9 months I changed the filters because the red droplet symbol was lit, even though the filter light had never come on
2 weeks after changing the filter the red water droplet light came on again (indicating water in it’s internal storge tank was above 50 TDS
I measured the TDS and it was over 80, my tap water TDS was around 340. This indicates a rejection rate of less than 80%
This has happened on multiple occasions

A rejection rate of less than 80% is terrible, RO systems should be giving a rejection rate of 98% or better. I found this problem with the first filter and the replacement you sent me. It is a system I absolutely cannot recommend to anyone looking for an RO system and certainly not to the members of my forum. Clearly the single combined filters performance simply isn’t up to par.

dfk41 · 2 Jul

This advice all depends on how you use an item of course. Personally, I have praised this item as I use it in a completely different way. I put water in, once a month I take a TDS reading and it is around 10 usually. My tap water when I checked it today was 125 I think and the K19 at 14. My theorising. ends there! All I want to know is that the water I am filtering to put in to my coffee machine is of an acceptable quality and will not cause me scale issues in my coffee machine.

I expect to follow guidelines and change the single filter once a year and I am about to. My house drinks the water it produces and for £249 which is what I paid, I am quite delighted. I fully accept that there are other RO desktop systems around that produce better figures but why pay for them if your needs are simple as mine are. I believe another popular desktop machine is £495 on the manufacturers website.

The epitaph is, if you are a farmer and need a 4 wheel drive tractor capable of attaching a plethora of farming items do, a Fiat Panda 4×4 might not be suitable, but if all you want is to go to the shops once a week, a Lambourghini tractor might also be overkill!

LMSC · 2 Jul

The difference is the TDS at the source.

Dave, IIRC, are you need feeding the softened water?

DavecUK · 2 Jul

LMSC The difference is the TDS at the source.

Dave, IIRC, are you need feeding the softened water?

it’s the % rejection rate I’m not happy with., yes I am feeding it softened water.

Cuprajake · 3 Jul

buy a marine tank ro system, £80 for a 25gal system,

lasts ages