New to reverse osmosis? · 3-min read
How RO water works — and where MineralDose™ fits.
If you've never owned a reverse-osmosis system, here's the whole picture in plain English: what RO is, why it replaces bottled water (and the plastic that comes with it), how it's set up under your sink, and exactly how MineralDose™ drops in.
(01) — The basics
Reverse osmosis, in plain English.
RO makes water almost pure — by removing nearly everything, the bad and the good.
Start with what it is: reverse osmosis (RO) is a drinking-water filtration system — a compact set of filters that lives under your kitchen sink and purifies your tap water to a level that rivals anything in a bottle. In fact, it's the same technology behind much of the bottled water on store shelves. A home RO system simply moves that purification to your own faucet.
That's why people install one. You get bottled-water quality on tap — without the bottles: no cases to buy, haul, and store, no single-use plastic going in the trash after one drink, and no per-bottle price. Once it's under your sink, purified water costs pennies a gallon — for drinking, for a reusable bottle on the way out the door, for cooking, for coffee.
Here's how it does it. The system pushes your tap water, under household pressure, through an extremely dense film called a membrane. Water molecules make it through; dissolved salts, metals, and the vast majority of contaminants are turned away. The clean water that comes out the other side is called permeate — and it's what you drink.
It's thorough: a healthy system removes roughly 90–99% of everything dissolved in your water. That's the whole appeal — and also the catch. RO is so effective that it strips out the beneficial minerals right along with the contaminants, which is the gap MineralDose™ was built to fill.
(02) — Under the sink
What a standard RO system looks like.
It all lives in the cabinet under your sink, feeding one dedicated faucet.
A typical system mounts inside your sink cabinet. It taps the cold water supply with a small fitting, runs that water through a couple of pre-filters (sediment for grit, carbon for chlorine and odors), then through the RO membrane — the part doing the real work. A final carbon "polish" filter cleans up the taste on the way out.
Because the membrane purifies slowly, most systems park the clean water in a small pressurized storage tank until you need it; newer tankless systems skip the tank and use a pump to make water on demand. The water the membrane rejects (the "reject" or concentrate) is rinsed away down the drain — that's normal, and it's what keeps the membrane from clogging. Everything comes out a separate, dedicated RO faucet — not your regular kitchen tap.
(03) — The connection
Where MineralDose™ fits in.
It taps the one clean-water line between your RO system and your faucet.
Between your RO system (or its tank) and that dedicated faucet runs a single clean-water line — the finished, purified water on its last leg to your glass. That's exactly where MineralDose™ installs: inline on that line, so every drop passes through it on the way to the tap.
As the water flows through, MineralDose™ adds back a measured dose of minerals — plus electrolytes, an energy blend, or a hint of real-fruit infusion if you want them — right before you drink. It's the same clean line on every system, so it works whether yours has a tank or is tankless.
(04) — Installation
Installing MineralDose™, step by step.
No drilling, almost no tools — most people are up and running in minutes.
MineralDose™ taps right into the clean water line between your RO system and your faucet, so it's a quick inline connection that reuses the faucet hole you already have.
- 1
Disconnect the clean water line
Find the clean permeate line coming out of your tank or tankless RO system and disconnect it — the line carrying the filtered water you drink.
- 2
Connect it to the IN port
Attach that line to the port marked IN on the MineralDose™. This is where your RO water flows in.
- 3
Connect the OUT port to your faucet
Run a line from the OUT port up to your RO faucet. Now your water passes through MineralDose™ on its way to the tap.
- 4
Route the dial's wire — no drilling
On the Elevate and Elixir, feed the dial's power wire up through the existing faucet hole, then slip the faucet pad under the faucet. The pad lifts the faucet just enough for the wire to come through that same hole, so no new holes are needed. On the Element there's no topside dial — skip this step.
- 5
Plug it in
Connect the MineralDose™ to power. You're almost there.
- 6
Power on & run First Calibration
Turn it on, join your home Wi-Fi, and follow the First Calibration sequence — it appears right on the display on the Elevate and Elixir, or in the companion app on the Element. The guided steps walk you through getting set up — then you're pouring.
That's it — an inline tap onto your existing RO line, using the hole you already have. It fits all standard residential RO systems and both 1/4" and 3/8" tubing, so there's no rerouting your system and no new plumbing.
Pure RO water — with the minerals put back.
That's the whole idea. If it sounds like what your water's been missing, get on the list for first access and early-bird pricing.