Rhode Island · Buying guide
How to compare water treatment companies
There are several good water treatment companies in this Rhode Island. We are not going to tell you we’re the only one. What we will do is answer the six questions a buyer should be asking — so you can hold anyone, including us, to the same six.
The six questions
Our answers on the left. What to ask everyone else on the right.
Print this if it helps. We’d genuinely rather you bought a good system from someone else than a bad one from us.
1. Can you give me a price before you visit?
Origin Water Co.
Usually yes. A few questions on a short call is normally enough to give you a complete installed number. If your situation genuinely needs eyes on it — a well, an awkward plumbing run — we'll say so rather than pretend.
Ask anyone else
Ask for a number over the phone before you book anything. A company that will only quote in your living room is telling you something about how the close works.
2. How long is the in-home appointment?
Origin Water Co.
The free consult takes about fifteen minutes. We're not there to run a presentation at you.
Ask anyone else
Ask how long to set aside. If the honest answer is three hours, that is a sales process, not a consult.
3. What grain capacity am I being quoted, and why that number?
Origin Water Co.
We size it from your test result and your household, and we tell you the number and the reasoning before you buy. If your utility already softens — and in Providence it does — that changes the sizing, and we will say so rather than quoting you the biggest unit on the shelf.
Ask anyone else
Ask for the grain number and the reasoning. 'It's our best system' is not a reason. Also worth knowing: a salt-free conditioner has no grain capacity at all — it prevents scale, it doesn't soften. Anyone quoting you grains on a salt-free unit is confused or hoping you are.
4. What are the components, specifically?
Origin Water Co.
A dedicated softening tank and a dedicated carbon filtration tank, plus a 7-stage reverse osmosis unit at the kitchen sink. We will hand you the manufacturer's documentation for the exact equipment going into your house, before it goes in.
Ask anyone else
Ask which resin and which valve, by name. A brand sticker on the tank is not a component list.
5. What does the warranty cover, part by part?
Origin Water Co.
We hand you the manufacturer's written warranty for the exact system you are buying, before you buy it — not a summary of it, and not a verbal promise at your kitchen table.
Ask anyone else
Ask for it broken down by component, and ask specifically whether labor is included and for how long. A great many 'lifetime warranties' mean parts only, from day one.
6. What does it cost me after year one?
Origin Water Co.
Salt for the brine tank, and RO filter changes annually. We'll give you both figures on the call rather than after you've signed.
Ask anyone else
Ask the annual filter cost and whether there's a trip fee once the first year is up. This is the number that quietly separates a good deal from a bad one over ten years.
One more thing
The industry’s worst habits, named
If you see any of these, it isn’t a red flag about that one salesperson. It’s how that company is built.
The price that drops if you sign tonight
A price that falls by thousands because you hesitated was never the real price. Real pricing doesn't care what day it is.
Testing your water to frighten you
The precipitate demo — where tap water turns orange in a jar — shows dissolved minerals, which is what hard water is. It is not evidence your water is toxic. It's theatre.
'Lifetime warranty' with nothing behind it
Ask which components and whether labor is included. If the answer isn't a table, there isn't one.
Financing quoted as the price
'$97 a month' is not a price, it's a payment. Ask for the cash number and the total you'll pay over the term. Both.
Then go and ask everyone else the same six.
Most homes we can quote right over the phone. Get our number first — it makes every other conversation easier.
Book a consult
Find out what's actually in your water
We'll test your water at your kitchen sink, show you the result, and tell you what — if anything — you need. Free, and there's no system that fits every house.
- A straight recommendation for your water
- Exact price up front
- Locally owned