Reverse osmosis and acidic PH levels

That's exactly right. RO water is more acidic than the incoming water. From what I was told it's not enough to cause any issues, but it's also why you aren't supposed to run ro water through any copper lines. The more acidic water will leech the copper from the lines and cause it to wear through from the inside out. Sure seems like if it's acidic enough to eat away copper, you shouldn't be drinking it!

The remineralizing filter only adds back minerals that were removed. It doesn't affect the pH at all. Now I will say I remember vaguely about whether you should be using ro water for baby formula or kids, but honestly it didn't concern me so I didn't really pay attention to it, so you may want to research that some more.

I would not say that RO water is any bad. Check this article, you might find your answer in there.

There are entire cities that are using RO water only so it was a problem it would be readily apparent. I have one for my kitchen faucet and the ice maker in the fridge but it makes no sense to worry about water used for bathing or laundry or the toilet.

I would use a second way to check the pH of the water coming out of the RO unit. The RO meters that sell for under $100 are not to be relied upon.

It's not that RO water is bad for you, health wise. You can get the minerals you need from other sources than drinking the RO water. It's better for you than most city waters with all the chlorine and fluoride and who knows what else is added.

I haven't heard of any cities using RO water. That would be extremely expensive and wasteful since people will use it for watering, toilets, everything and that's not necessary. Plus they would have to raise the pH value of the water before it leaves the treatment plant otherwise any plumbing that isn't plastic will disintegrate over time from the acidity.

Calson said:

There are entire cities that are using RO water only so it was a problem it would be readily apparent. I have one for my kitchen faucet and the ice maker in the fridge but it makes no sense to worry about water used for bathing or laundry or the toilet.

I would use a second way to check the pH of the water coming out of the RO unit. The RO meters that sell for under $100 are not to be relied upon.

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Can you recommend a reliable second way to test the PH?

Buying a meter that costs over 100 dollars that I probably would only use once doesn't make that much sense to me. Better yet, how do those withwimming pools check? I would believe they have some reliable way that doesn't break the bank.

RO water is nearly pure H2O. It helps your body flush out waste and toxins,

So as long as you get your minerals from food and/or supplements, there are no negative effects, arguably a net plus.
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You can get water test strips that will give you a range for the pH. For instance my pH is 7.5 and the ro water is 6.5. I’m not sure the range of the swimming pool strips.

but my RO water is around 5.8.

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I wouldn’t worry about it. I’d be happy to rinse with it after drinking something below 4.0

Here are a few common drinks
Perrier carbonated Mineral water is about 5.25
Club soda is about 5.24
V8 is about 4.23
Minute Maid orange juice about 3.82
Pepsi is about 2.89
5hr Energy is about 2.81
Minute Maid lemonade about 2.6

How much more acidic a RO system makes the water depends on the properties of the incoming water, so it’s not possible to say to what degree a RO system acidizes. If the pH of your water is 5.8, then you have nothing to worry about. Even natural, unpolluted rainwater is more acidic at 5.6. And anything that we drink gets mixed with stomach fluids that have a pH of about 2.0.

I’ve never been concerned about the pH of our RO water (installed because our well water has elevated arsenic levels), but I did research high quality test strips because I wanted to be sure of the pH of the non-RO water going into our closed loop hydronic heating system. Its metal components are more susceptible to damage from slightly acidic water than are our stomachs. For test strips, the best results comes from strips covering a narrower pH range. These are the ones that I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/Macherey-Nagel-92120-pH-Fix-4-5-10-Strips/dp/B00S1ULYQU

Chris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH

doesn't look scary.