Yes, we install whole-house reverse osmosis — and we will also tell you honestly whether your situation actually calls for it, because for most Hill Country homes a point-of-use system plus softening solves the same problems for far less money.
What Whole-House RO Involves
A whole-house reverse osmosis system treats every gallon entering the home to RO purity, rather than treating a single tap.
That requires considerably more equipment than an under-sink unit: high-capacity membranes, a booster pump to generate the necessary pressure, a large atmospheric storage tank because RO cannot produce water at household demand rates in real time, and a repressurization pump to deliver stored water back into the plumbing at usable pressure.
It also requires substantial pre-treatment. Sediment filtration, carbon filtration, and almost always softening ahead of the membranes, since hardness scales them rapidly.
This is a system, not an appliance, and it needs space — typically a dedicated area in a garage, utility room, or outbuilding.
When It Genuinely Makes Sense
There are real cases for it.
Water with very high total dissolved solids that softening and filtration cannot bring into an acceptable range. Certain well supplies where dissolved contaminants are present throughout and bathing water is a legitimate concern. Properties where the incoming water is aggressive enough to damage plumbing and fixtures regardless of point-of-use treatment.
Households with specific medical requirements sometimes justify it as well.
Why It Usually Is Not the Answer
The economics are the issue, and they are worth stating plainly.
You drink and cook with a very small fraction of the water you use. The rest goes to showers, laundry, toilets, and irrigation — none of which require water purified to drinking standards.
Whole-house RO also produces wastewater. A portion of the feed water is used to flush rejected contaminants to drain, and at whole-house volumes that adds up meaningfully on a well or a metered supply.
Then there is the recurring cost. Membranes and pre-filters at whole-house capacity are considerably more expensive than the cartridges in an under-sink system, and they need replacing on schedule.
For the large majority of homes, the same water quality outcome is available for a fraction of the investment.
The Configuration We Usually Recommend
Three components, each doing the job it does best.
A water softener handles hardness for the whole house — scale protection for your water heater, appliances, and pipes, plus the soap, laundry, and skin benefits.
A whole house water filter handles sediment, chlorine, and odor at every tap, which covers the bathing and laundry concerns that motivate a lot of whole-house RO interest.
A point-of-use RO unit at the kitchen sink handles dissolved contaminants — lead, nitrates, sodium, dissolved solids — where you actually drink and cook.
That combination addresses nearly everything whole-house RO would, at a much lower installed and operating cost.
Testing Decides It
This is not a decision to make from a brochure. Whole-house RO is warranted by numbers, not by a general desire for better water.
We test water quality on site — hardness, total dissolved solids, pH, iron, chlorine, and a broader panel on wells — and the results determine whether the standard configuration is sufficient or whether your water genuinely falls outside what it can handle.
If it does, we will scope and install a whole-house system properly, including the pre-treatment and pumping it requires. If it does not, we will say so.
What Proper Installation Requires
Where whole-house RO is the right call, the details matter: correct pre-treatment sizing so the membranes are not destroyed early, adequate storage sized to peak household demand, properly specified repressurization, and a maintenance schedule you understand before you buy.
Service is covered under our Care Club maintenance plan.
We serve Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Boerne, Comfort, and the surrounding Hill Country. Contact 72 Degrees or call (830) 240-1835.
