RRL Cleaner, Vinyl Zyme, and Groove Glide

Sean, "Anything that isn't neutral (pH) will leave behind some type of residue" There are gases that will disassociate in water and alter it's pH. HCl and NH3 are two that come to mind. The first will give a very low pH, the second will be somewhat basic. Remove the solvent (water) and there will be no residue. Window cleaners tend to use surfactants that are volital and will evaporate; hence the 'no steak' claim.

Styx, Do you mean a reverse osmosis machine? I too have one and am uncertain whether steam distilled or it would be more pure water. I did try distilled water and it as rinses but heard no difference.

Tbg, we have a water purification system from the Pure Water Inc.
It makes 1 gallon of distilled water in 4 hr.
We usually take this water for drinking and cooking.
The coffee now tastes like coffee, especially with Lavazza.;)

I suspect we have the same. Our area has high sodium. As you say, coffee tastes right. I know the sodium, mercury, organisms, etc. cannot get through the membrane, so it probably is the same as distilled water where water is brought to a boil and the steam then condensed.

TGB & Styx,

Reverse osmosis is a great method for filtering water to the levels you enjoy but many molecules less complex than water get through the membrane. You probably have somewhere around 1 ppm total desolved solids in your water. This is very high quality for human consumption. Assuming you live in a city whith chlorinated water you will notice that you have an activated charcoal filter in your systems. The purpose of the charcoal is to remove the chlorine out of the RO water just prior to dispensing. Chlorine is less complex than water and therefore passes through the membrane. Surprising as it is, the charcoal improves the taste of your water far more than the membrane.

Industrial grade pure water goes through multiple steps to achieve a very low TDS. Chlorine may be introduced to kill bacteria. An iron filter may be needed to remove very high concentrations of iron that would overload conventional water softeners. Water softening would be used to remove most of the remaining minerals. Reverse osmosis is then used to further reduce (mainly salts) the mineral content prior to multi-stage deionizing.

Your products are very, very good as the life expectency is longer than a refrigerator, therefore producing high quality water very cheaply. They don't compete in a scientific comparison to deionized bottled water though.

I also own an RO system and love it. Be aware that in order for the membranes to last the water should first be conditioned as salts are easier on the membrane than hard water minerals. The only reason I know this stuff is because I designed several systems for food processing plants and each plant had specific needs based on the incoming raw water.

If you can find KDF filled replacement filter cartridges instead of charcoal you will only need to replace the KDF once every five years instead of every six months or so. It also removes some nasty chemicals that can pass through an RO filter.