Will Reverse Osmosis Water Make Clear Ice Cubes? Let’s Find Out!
Written by: Alexandra Uta // Last Updated: Jun 1, 2023
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If you enjoy chilling your drinks with ice, you’ve probably noticed an annoying phenomenon in your ice cubes from time to time:
Often, they have a slight cloudiness to them and might even leave residue in your drinks. This is caused by a mixture of air and contaminants in your water.
Can both of those be addressed with filtration processes like reverse osmosis?
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Key Takeaways
Filtering your water with reverse osmosis usually helps producing clearer ice cubes.
Will Reverse Osmosis Water Make Clear Ice Cubes?
Will reverse osmosis water make clear ice cubes? Yes, it will.
Reverse osmosis works very well for removing contaminants from water. It usually also gets rid of excess air. This makes RO water it perfect for producing crystal clear ice cubes with no cloudiness to them. If you have never filtered your water before, you will probably notice the difference immediately.
How to Make Crystal Clear Ice Cubes
Making crystal clear ice cubes depends on two factors. You need to ensure that your water is pure enough, but you must also freeze it the right way.
Water Purity
The more impurities your water has, the less clear your ice cubes will be. Some contaminants will be particularly prominent in this regard.
Not all of them will create a visible distortion in your ice cubes, though. Some contaminants might still affect factors like the taste and smell of your water, which would impact your ice cubes as well.
There is no better way to purify water than using a reverse osmosis filtration system! Other methods are distillation and boiling, although boiling won’t remove floating particles.
Further Reading:
Freezing Method
You can also try an alternative freezing method to produce crystal clear ice cubes. Keep in mind that this usually takes more effort. One thing you can do is fill a large container like a cooler with several inches of water and let it freeze. After a while, you should have a layer of unfrozen water at the bottom. All of the air will be trapped there, leaving you with crystal clear ice above that.
You can even purchase dedicated machines for making crystal clear ice. Those are probably the most straightforward solution, although they do come with certain disadvantages like higher cost and taking up space in your kitchen.
Can an Ice Maker Be Connected to a Reverse Osmosis System?
It’s technically possible to connect an ice maker to a reverse osmosis system, but you need to keep a few considerations in mind.
- If you have an under sink or countertop reverse osmosis system, an extra pump may be required in order to make sure you have enough pressure in the line connecting to the ice maker for the water to reach it.
- Ideally, you have a tank-based system. Because if you go tankless, there will be pulsing. Pulsing is when the ice maker only has the water available that is already in the water line connecting it to the RO system. Once that water is used up, the filter system needs to purify more water before it can supply the ice maker. Think of it this way: Your ice maker is thirsty for water but it only gets it one drop at a time. A reverse osmosis water storage tank solves this problem – as long as it’s within close proximity to the ice maker (around a dozen feet at max).
Can a Refrigerator Be Connected to a Reverse Osmosis System?
The same goes for connecting a refrigerator to a reverse osmosis system. It will work if you do it right, but there are some extra precautions to keep in mind. You might notice pulsing and other similar issues in this case as well. Once again, make sure that you have a sufficiently large storage tank to accommodate the additional needs of your refrigerator.
If you have any questions about reverse osmosis ice cubes please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
About the Author Alexandra Uta
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