Prefer to watch a video with example / demo footage? Check out the video below, or read the full structured breakdown underneath:
The value to my overall healthspan of using exclusively Reverse Osmosis (RO) water—for drinking, food preparation, cooking, coffee, and clean cleaning products—cannot be overstated.
With everything from pharmaceuticals, PFAS (”forever chemicals”), chlorine, microplastics, heavy metals, and pesticides appearing in municipal and well water supplies, eliminating these contaminants before they enter the body is a foundational priority.
Consider the sheer volume: I drink roughly 88 oz of water (eleven 8-oz glasses) plus 24 oz of coffee daily, using only clean glass, stainless steel, and ceramic vessels. That is 112 ounces—just shy of a full gallon, or nearly 8 pounds of liquid ingested every single day. When you are consuming that much mass daily, ensuring it contains near-zero impurities is essential.
1. The 20-Year Legacy RO Setup
Over 20 years ago, we installed our first conventional under-sink RO system alongside a whole-house filtration and softening setup. It included a standard multi-stage filter array (sediment, carbon, and RO membrane), a pressurized storage tank, a dedicated stainless steel faucet, and an inline remineralization and pH-rebalancing cartridge.
We used it for everything: drinking, washing produce, rinsing meats and fish, making coffee, and cooking. The water tasted clean, but over the years, conventional systems revealed a major blind spot: a complete lack of real-time diagnostics.
With legacy systems, you have no way to know:
The exact condition or degradation of individual filter stages.
Whether the water coming out of the spigot meets target purity.
Whether the remineralization and pH rebalancing stages are still functioning effectively between annual service visits.
2. The Evolved System: Upgrading to Cloud RO
About two years ago, my brother-in-law was researching RO systems and asked for my input on a modernized system from a company called Cloud RO. After thoroughly evaluating the technical specifications against legacy hardware, I was convinced. I purchased a unit and installed it in our second residence a little over a year ago.
(As always: I purchase 100% of my equipment with my own money. I have zero sponsors, accept no free products, and only share tools I personally test, maintain, and validate.)
What sets the modern system apart:
NSF Certified: Verified filtration standards for peace of mind.
Live Telemetry (Smartphone App): Real-time monitoring of drinking water quality in terms of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), total gallons consumed, water bottles saved and PH/remineralization metrics.
Proactive Maintenance: Clear filter end-of-life notifications and seamless cartridge replenishment, direct from Cloud.
DIY Friendly: Fast, mess-free cartridge swaps that don’t require calling out a service technician, using a quarter counter-clockwise turn to release the old cartridges and then lift out. To re-install you just reverse the motion.
With our primary residence’s older system reaching the end of its useful lifespan, I recently upgraded it to the Cloud RO system as well.
Key Takeaway
Installing and exclusively using clean, remineralized RO water for drinking, food preparation, and cooking removes a massive daily toxic load before it ever reaches your cells. Pair that clean source with non-reactive drinking vessels (lead-free glass, food-grade stainless steel, or ceramic) to ensure pure intake from start to finish.
Next week, in Experience Note #5, we’ll take this a step further: How I use RO water to formulate a clean, non-toxic dish soap and multi-surface cleaner.
Until then—here’s to building the best version of you!