What is the reverse osmosis (RO) process?
Reverse Osmosis is a process in which dirty water is forced through a special cellophane-like RO membrane under elevated pressure. The cold water inlet side must have a static pressure in the range of 40 to 100 psi for our Conqueror series and the tabletop models 460 and 465. The Gladiator series units are used when the inlet water has no, or not enough, pressure. They have a built-in booster pump which pressurizes water to the proper level. The hole size in an RO membrane is no larger than 0.0001 microns. Water (H2O) happens to be nature’s smallest liquid molecule at room temperature and it slowly seeps through the tiny holes in the membrane, while the contaminants consist of much larger molecules and are stopped. Oxygen dissolved in the water also passes through the membrane. That’s why RO is used for aquarium where fish can live. The dirty water left behind is drained out at a constant rate determined by the capillary flow controller unit. In constrast to the RO process, the hole si
