What Is the Full Form of “RO Water Purifier”?
Written by: Alexandra Uta // Last Updated: May 8, 2023
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You might come across many abbreviations when delving into the world of water purification and filtration, such as RO water purifier.
What does it stand for?
Let’s discuss the full form of RO water purifier and what it means.
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Key Takeaways
- RO water purifier stands for reverse osmosis water purifier, and is a filtration system that uses the process of reverse osmosis to remove contaminants from household drinking water.
What Is the Full Form of “RO Water Purifier”?
So, what is the full form of RO water purifier? The full form of RO water purifier is reverse osmosis water purifier. It’s a filtration system that uses the process of reverse osmosis to filter water.
Reverse osmosis is a process where water is forced through a semipermeable membrane in order to remove any contaminants lurking in there. RO systems are capable of removing up to 99.9% of impurities.
What Is an RO Water Purifier and How Does It Work?
A reverse osmosis water purifier for home use is a multi-stage system designed to remove almost all contaminants from water, leaving you with nearly 100% pure H20.
There are a few kinds of reverse osmosis water purifiers, whole house systems that filter all the water coming into your household or point-of-use systems that filter just one water source in your home, usually the kitchen sink. There are also commercial and industrial systems for other purposes, but you probably aren’t here for that!
A reverse osmosis water purifier or system will usually come with multiple filtration steps, generally involving pre-filters and a post-filter, as well as the reverse osmosis filtration step.
The reverse osmosis step involves forcing water through a semipermeable reverse osmosis membrane. These membranes have microscopic pores, which are usually too small for any contaminants to pass through. This allows water to move through the membrane, but not any pollutants.
Pre-filtration steps usually remove larger sediment particles and chemicals like chlorine, which could otherwise damage the RO membrane. Post-filters are used to remove residual tastes in the water but can often be customizable and could include remineralization and other treatment methods.
The water that is left on the other side of the membrane with the contaminants is flushed down the drain as waste water.
The Benefits of Using a Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier
Installing a quality reverse osmosis water purifier comes with a plethora of potential health benefits.
Effective Contaminant Removal
Reverse osmosis systems are known for being one of the market’s most thorough water treatment devices. Its broad level of contaminant removal is almost unparalleled, eliminating even some of the most challenging water contaminants that even chemical treatment won’t work on.
Reverse osmosis water purifiers can remove the following:
- Disinfection chemicals used in municipal water treatment (chlorine, chloramine)
- Sediment
- Pesticides
- Organic compounds
- Bacteria and other microorganisms
- Heavy metals
- Salts and minerals
Clean Tasting Cooking Water
Contaminated water may be affecting the taste of your cooked foods. Using reverse osmosis purified water will make sure no contaminants remain in the water that could be causing your soups to taste like sewerage.
RO Improves Water Taste and Smells
If you have tap water that contains a lot of chlorine, or other chemicals that add a strange smell or taste to the water, reverse osmosis systems remove these and leave you with fresh, clean-tasting water with no smell at all. This may also encourage you to drink more water, and improve your level of hydration.
Filtered Water Available on Demand
Unlike other filtration systems, reverse osmosis systems can either provide water on demand or store water to have at the ready for you when you need it. You don’t have to wait for anything to boil and cool down!
Reduce Single-Use Plastic
Installing a reverse osmosis filtration system means you will no longer need to use bottled water in your home. This is not only a money saver, but it can also mean you are reducing your household environmental load.
Point-of-Use Systems Are Easy To Install and Maintain
Not a handyman? No problem. Point-of-use reverse osmosis systems are relatively easy to install and simple to maintain. You can do it yourself without calling a plumber or specialist.
You Can Customize Some Models
Some reverse osmosis systems can be customized. For example, if you want to add a UV water purification step, you can, or run lines to your refrigerator’s ice machine, you can. This is usually okay with under-the-sink point-of-use models rather than countertop models.
Further Reading:
Removes Salt From Water
On a low-sodium diet? Reverse osmosis removes salt from drinking water, ensuring that you aren’t getting any added salt into your diet that you didn’t know about. This may be particularly important if you are using a water softener, as they tend to add sodium to the water.
RO vs UV vs UF
In a nutshell, RO is short for reverse osmosis, UV is short for ultraviolet, and UF is short for ultrafiltration. There are some differences between the three.
- Reverse Osmosis was covered earlier, removing most contaminants from water using its semipermeable RO membrane with tiny pores of 0.0001 microns.
- Ultraviolet purification or UV purification specifically kills pathogens in water, but it can’t remove contaminants like reverse osmosis or ultrafiltration. It will not remove anything from the water; it simply kills any active germs in there and renders them incapable of transmitting disease. Some people like to pair a UV purifier with their RO system, particularly if they have a lot of pathogens in the water.
- Ultrafiltration is similar to reverse osmosis as it uses a physical filter that traps particles on one side, but it has larger pores (0.01 microns) than reverse osmosis (0.0001 microns), so it isn’t as thorough when it comes to removing microscopic contaminants. Ultrafiltration can remove things like giardia and other protozoa, bacteria, and some larger viruses, but not many chemicals.
If you have any questions about the full form of RO water purifier please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
About the Author Alexandra Uta
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