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No more carrying 40 Lbs water jugs. What we don’t like about the filter is that it wastes 3 gallons for every gallon you get, just goes into the sewer. We love the convenience of not carrying heavy water containers.
The taste is amazing. Here in Las Vegas we have hard water. We have tried other water filters without the success we achieved with this filter. To us it’s well worth the money spend.

We bought a TDS meter to test the water. Results:
faucet tap= 328ppm
aquafina bottle water= 2ppm
kirkland (Sam’s Club bottle water) = 20ppm
and the apec water = 25ppm

I researched these systems for a few weeks (on Amazon and talking to my plumber and associates at Lowes/H.D) and finally decided on this system. For starters, this system is packed very well and arrived to my home completely intact. I was impressed upon opening it as the main filter housing unit seemed very high quality and heavy. The unit ships with a filter in each of the three compartments as well as an extra set of filters (excluding membrane).

Whether this system is easy to install or not is obviously subjective depending on factors such as the your previous experience with basic plumbing and/or your particular location for install. I decided to install mine under the kitchen sink and also ran a separate line for the refrigerator’s ice/water line. More on that in a bit.

The included faucet is satisfactory and works better than I thought it would. You can push the lever down and hold it if you just need to fill a glass or you can flip it up until it locks and and it will continually dispense until you turn it off. Another neat thing about it is once you bolt the base of the faucet down, you can still swivel the entire neck around so you could, for example, fill the dog’s water bowl with it sitting on the kitchen counter next to the sink if the sink is full. The finish of it is a shiny chrome, and it matches my new Moen stainless faucet well enough. However, I may replace it in the future if my boss (wife) requests it or if the mood strikes.

You will need to drill one 1/2″ hole to mount the faucet. I couldn’t find this info anywhere prior to ordering the system, but I was very happy once it arrived. Some of these faucets require a 1 1/2″ hole, and that would concern me because I have a synthetic granite/composite sink that it tough as nails to drill into. If you need to drill into granite/marble, get a bit such as a Lenox diamond tip whole saw bit (1/2″ bit) It will cost you about 20 dollars and you can buy it at the big name blue or orange home improvement stores.

TIP: Once you locate where you want the faucet mounted, get a thin piece of wood (such as a shim) and drill a 1/2″ hole in it. Then get some duct tape and tape it onto your sink where the hole in the wood is directly where you want the hole for the sink faucet. Then drill through the hole in the wood into your sink’s surface. This will keep your drill but from “dancing” or walking on the surface. Also, take your time!! This is a crucial step and you don’t want to screw it up. The key is using the proper drill bit for your application. In my case, it took me a good ten minutes to drill through my sink (probably a 1/4″ thickness) and the bit was completely useless once I got through the surface. In other words, I just made it. Also, don’t be afraid to get an eye dropper or baster to drop water in the hole as you’re drilling. It will help your bit to not burn up so fast. Once the hole is drilled to your liking, follow the illustration for assembling the hardware for the faucet and mount it.

The actual hook ups and plumbing for the system is where I kinda did my own thing. I have a 2200 square foot ranch that was built in the eighties with that nasty, defective polybutelene plumbing and, after a ruined master bath and another close call in the kitchen after owning the house for just 6 months, I had my plumber completely re-pipe to the tune of 5K. So I guess what i’m saying is I am not fond of cheap plastic ice maker line, or the plastic inserts or nuts. The good news is because all of the fittings on the system are 1/4 inch connectors, you can use the fancy braded chrome ice maker lines with the compression tips that would normally go behind your refrigerator to hook up most of the system. If you decide to do this, the only one you won’t be able to use one on is the yellow line that goes from the RO unit to the tank (because it has a crimped-on special two-way valve). One word of caution though- if you do this be very careful and mindful that you are screwing a metal compression connector onto plastic threads on the unit. My advice, in hindsight, is to determine where you’re going to want the unit and place it there prior to beginning the install. Then determine what lengths of lines you will need and hopefully you will only have to screw the hoses onto the unit one time, as opposed to screwing a 5ft hose on the unit only to realize that you only needed a 2 ft hose and then having to unscrew the connector. If you want to incorporate your icemaker line, you will need a 3 way female 1/4″ T connector, one for the fresh RO water coming in, and then two lines-one for the RO faucet and the other for the ice maker.

Bottom line is-take your time!! If you do, you will love the result. It took me longer than it probably would have taken most people, but I have a unique kitchen sink with funky plumbing (couldn’t use 1/2″ adapter included to feed system from faucet bottom, instead had to convert down to 3/8″ and run from cold water valve).

Oh yeah, the water tastes amazing!! I would be the first to tell you if I didn’t think it tasted good but it is phenomenal! I am a coffee drinker and the coffee tastes so much better! It also tastes better than the bottled water that we buy. It’s like the water has absolutely no after-taste. It’s just pure H2O! Feel free to email me at mcneil2348@yahoo.com if you have questions or want to see pics of my system in action!! Good luck!

**UPDATE** 6-15-2014

The system has been in now for two weeks and we’re very impressed. My wife, who typically drinks coke or sweet tea, is literally drinking 2-3 large cups of this water daily! She absolutely loves it! I went to a Mexican restaurant last week with my boss and ordered water with my meal (which is what I always drink) and I noticed immediately how horrible their water tastes now! I never noticed it before until I started drinking the APEC water.

As far as reliability goes, I have not had any problems or leaks with any component of the system, and we are using it rather heavily. We also have a baby due in 9 weeks so we’re looking forward to making baby formula with this great water, too!

Love this RO system. Affordable and makes delicious water. We already had a separate “beverage faucet” (with simple inline carbon filter) mounted on our sink so it was pretty much plug and play. Didn’t use the included faucet. However, do yourself a favor and make a couple of modifications:

1. Add a remineralizing/pH balancing filter. I’m using a Watts Premier 560087 as the 5th stage filter (last is the carbon filter) in our APEC ROES-50. We used the RO system without the Watts filter for about 1 week. Believe it or not, after drinking our normal morning coffee brewed the same way, I experienced acid reflux out of the blue. Never had acid reflux before with our inline filtered water used to brew coffee. I knew that RO systems increase the acidity of the water, but I didn’t think it would actually produce symptoms! So, we added the Watts filter in hopes of raising the pH of our filtered water. No more acid reflux after drinking coffee! Water tastes nice and neutral too, a very pure taste and great mouth feel. I also tested the water using an API dropper test kit. The pH went from a 6.4 (slightly acidic) to about a high 7 or even an 8.0 with the Watts filter (see attached pics)! P.S – I know APEC makes a remineralizing/pH filter, but the Watts filter contains additional minerals such as magnesium and potassium, whereas the APEC filter is just calcium. Also, reviews state pH level isn’t increased very much with APEC filter, but who knows, I didn’t test it. Finally, I like the 2-way design of the Watts filter. It installs in between the tank and the tee, vs the 1-way “final filter” of the APEC (probably why it doesn’t raise the pH that much – water passes through it too quickly).

2. Upgrade to 3/8″ output lines, 3/8″ tee, and 3/8″ final carbon filter. You can easily find 3/8″ poly tubing at your local orange HD store. Hit up Amazon for the 3/8 x 3/8 x 1/4 tee, I used B012TT7PQ6 (do an Amazon search). The tee just replaces the 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 existing tee on the RO system For the 3/8″ final filter, I really like the Hydronix filters, I used B00D04BYIK (again, search on Amazon), but any 3/8 inline carbon filter will do. With all of this in place, the water dispenses much faster (at least double the rate) with no effect on the quality on the water. No more waiting at the sink. P.S. – APEC sells a high flow upgrade kit for like $40, but it’s pricey for what you’re buying, plus you don’t really need the 3/8 tank valve, so you don’t have to switch yours out and waste an entire tank of RO water.

3. Mount it in your basement if possible. No impact on your undersink space, much easier to access and change filters, much less catastrophic if something leaks.