Many of you seem to have a preference for stainless steel water purifiers - here’s my take on it.
It is a well known fact that storage in stainless steel (food, water, and others) is always better than plastic - even if it is food grade plastic.
It is said that water purifiers with water tanks made of plastic are prone to bacteria and algae growth after purification. To counter this, many water purifiers have UV purification for continual purification of the stored water. Stainless steel water purifiers are said not to have this problem.
Stainless steel tanks in water purifiers have a lower tank cleaning requirement because of this.
While stainless steel by itself is rust and corrosion resistant (based on what type of steel is used), the joints that may be welded could be prone to rusting. However, most stainless steel water purifiers I’ve seen do not have such joints. So it does not seem like a concern.
So net-net, it seems like a positive. I’ll cover RO water purifiers first - ideal for water TDS levels over 200-250 upto 2000-2500 depending on the model you select and then I’ll cover UV-UF water purifiers next - ideal for water TDS levels upto 200-250 depending on the model you select. I’ve linked to a TDS meter in the description if you would like to measure.
WATCH INSTEAD OF READ?
🛒🛒 Best RO water purifiers with stainless steel tank
🛒🛒 Best UV/UF water purifiers with stainless steel tank
BEST STAINLESS STEEL TANK RO WATER PURIFIERS
Coming to RO water purifiers - many people have messaged me saying RO is required only above 500ppm. That’s right as per Bureau of Indian Statistics (BIS). However, almost all UV-UF water purifiers only support upto 200ppm, there really is no other option. The second important concern you have raised with me is about TDS controllers - that it is not great as it mixes some of the unfiltered water. Let’s understand why it is important - RO water purifiers by default reduce the TDS in water by 90% or upwards. So if you have a TDS of 500, your output TDS will be 50 - which is at the border of potable drinking water. If your TDS is lower - your output TDS will become much lower - which is not safe for drinking. Hence it’s important to be able to control the output TDS - which is where the controller comes in. The amount of unfiltered water it adds is miniscule to impact the purity of water, but is essential to make sure water is potable. While TDS below 200 is palatable for drinking, you can set the TDS output between 50 and 150. For reference, bisleri sets its TDS to 120. Amongst the models compared - only Bepure and Eureka forbes have the TDS controller, rest do not.
OK now that we understand these concepts - let’s jump to the comparison of RO water purifiers. RO reduces impurities in water upto 0.0001 microns. But as a result - it also strips off essential minerals and makes water acidic if the TDS goes too low. So having a water purifier that can also mineralize and make water alkaline is useful. Alternatively, you can add mineralizer strips later too. Ofcourse all of the models compared have RO. UV is used to kill virus and bacteria, UF is used to remove suspended virus and bacteria from the water. So having all these three technologies is useful to filter out most impurities to ensure water is potable. Amongst the ones compared, LG has many models with different configurations of RO, UV and UF with just one or two models having all three, all models do have a mineral boost. Bepure has all the filters + alkaline + mineral boost. Havells and Eureka Forbes do not come with UF and AO Smith only comes with RO.
🛒🛒 Best RO water purifiers with stainless steel tank
Some models shown on the screen come with hot water mode. One thing to be aware of is in hot + cold water purifiers, many times only the hot water tank is stainless steel and cold water is plastic - which could defeat the purpose of you looking for stainless steel water tanks. Amongst the ones that offer hot water, only one model of LG and Eureka Forbes offer stainless steel for both tanks. The others have ambient water in food grade plastic tanks.
From a tank capacity point of view, it ranges between 7 to 12 liters as shown on the screen. There are some complaints about the tank for Eureka Forbes being too small. About 5 liters in total and when there is hot water, even lower. So ideal only for a small family of 1-2 people.
Pricing, warranty are shown on the screen. Most vendors offer a warranty of 1 year with LG giving additional 10 years warranty on the SS tank and bepure giving 3 year warranty on the SS tank. All other models do not give extra warranty on the tank.
Maintenance of these range from 2K - 5K per year, based on the brand. Bepure claims to have the lowest maintenance charges while LG and Eureka Forbes are the highest - based on reviews. Bepure does have an extra 500 installation charge which is not there for most others. LG is offering 3 free visits on the first year offer at the moment.
🛒🛒 Best RO water purifiers with stainless steel tank
TOP STAINLESS STEEL TANK RO WATER PURIFIERS
So based on all this, my top 3 recommendations for stainless steel tank water purifiers are:
Bepure Alken 12L - with RO+UV+UF+Alkaline+Mineral Boost+TDS controller. At a pricepoint of about 13K, this little known made in India brand is giving a great product at a reasonable pricepoint, with a one year warranty on product with 3 year warranty on the SS tank. It does have an installation charge but is known to have lower annual maintenance at about 2-2.5K per year.
From a branded water purifier, I recommend the LG stainless steel RO water purifier - it comes with RO+UV+Mineral Boost and a 1 year warranty on product with 10 year warranty on the tank. The price is sizeable at 31K, because, ofcourse it’s LG - quality can be expected. It does not have a TDS controller nor UF filter though and there have been some concerns raised that the output TDS goes too low as it is not possible to control it.
If you are looking for hot+ room temperature water purifiers, I recommend the Eureka Forbes Aquaguard primarily because both the hot and ambient tanks are stainless steel - unlike most others which give only the hot water tank in stainless steel. It comes with RO+UV+Mineral Boost+TDS controller. At a price of about 25K, it gives a 1 year warranty on the product. The main con I see with this is the capacity is only about 4L - Ambient water tank - 3.1 litres and hot water tank -0.8 litres.
BEST STAINLESS STEEL UV/UF WATER PURIFIERS
From a UV-UF water purifier point of view, you can use it only in places where water TDS is less than 200-250ppm. There are very few brands available for comparison - Bepure and Cuckoo. AOSmith does have one model, but only hot water tank is stainless steel, so I have not included that here.
From a capacity point of view, Cuckoo is too small, so I will not include it in the comparisons. The rest of the models have a capacity between 7 and 12 liters - with Bepure being the highest at 12 liters.
🛒🛒 Best UV/UF water purifiers with stainless steel tank
All of them offer UV and UF. Some Bepure models also offer Alkaline and Mineralizer - which is not absolutely essential for UV-UF water purifiers really - as unlike RO water purifiers, UV-UF purifiers do not strip off the minerals or make water acidic.
Warranty is 1 year across the board and pricing varies from 10-15K - based on whether hot water is available or not.
I would not recommend any of the models with hot water - as only the hot water tank is SS, the other tank is food grade plastic, which like I mentioned earlier - defeats the purpose of getting a Stainless steel water purifier.
TOP STAINLESS STEEL TANK UV/UF WATER PURIFIER
With this information- I have just one recommendation for the UV-UF water purifier with a stainless steel tank and that is the Bepure Alken basic UV+UF one without Alkaline / Mineralizer. Available at a price of about 10K and a warranty of 1 year on the product, it is one of the few options available for UV-UF water purifier with a stainless steel tank.
🛒🛒 Best RO water purifiers with stainless steel tank
🛒🛒 Best UV/UF water purifiers with stainless steel tank
Comentarios