Consistent taste, and no scale building inside brewers, steamers, or carbonators.
Commercial & Industrial
Commercial Reverse Osmosis & High-Purity Water Systems
When Softening Is Not Enough
Softening addresses hardness. It does not address everything dissolved in the water. When a process needs water with a much lower mineral load than the city sends, the answer is reverse osmosis (RO), and sometimes de-ionization on top of it.
Capacity20–20kgallons per day
OutputLow TDSRO, or DI on top
Service areaWest Michiganto Traverse City and metro Detroit
★★★★★ 4.9 on Google Family-owned since 1973 Commercial installs since 1973
How It Works
What Reverse Osmosis (RO) Does
Gordon Water Systems sizes, installs, and services commercial and industrial RO systems across West Michigan for beverage production, boiler makeup, rinse water, laboratory feed, and manufacturing processes where dissolved minerals interfere with the result.
RO pushes water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. Dissolved minerals, salts, and most other dissolved material stay behind and go to drain. What passes through has a much lower total dissolved solids (TDS) level than what went in.
Where Low-TDS Water Pays Off
That drop in TDS is what matters downstream. These are the applications where it makes a measurable difference in equipment life, product quality, and maintenance.
Lower TDS feedwater means less scale, fewer chemicals, and less frequent blowdown.
Water with a low mineral load dries without leaving film or spotting on finished components.
A consistent baseline you build from, instead of chasing seasonal shifts in the municipal supply.
Low-conductivity water for equipment that will not tolerate mineral load.
Less mineral dust and less nozzle plugging.
Before the Membrane
Pretreatment Decides Whether the System Lasts
This is the part that gets skipped, and it is the reason most underperforming RO systems underperform. Three things have to be handled before water ever reaches the membrane.
Step 1
Hardness has to come out ahead of the membrane.
Calcium and magnesium scale a membrane quickly. A softener upstream of the RO is standard practice, not an upsell.
SoftenerStep 2
Chlorine and chloramine have to be reduced ahead of the membrane.
Thin-film composite membranes degrade on contact with free chlorine. Municipal water in West Michigan carries a disinfectant residual by design, so carbon filtration ahead of the RO is part of the system, not an accessory.
Commercial Dechlorinator Systems →Step 3
Sediment and iron need addressing.
Particulate fouls prefilters and membranes; iron does both and stains.
PrefilterResult — RO membrane protectedWe size pretreatment as part of the RO package.A system quoted without it is quoted to fail.
Talk to Our Team → Equipment Lineup
Equipment We Install
Three system tiers cover a single lab bench through full plant loads, backed by bottled DI and RO water from our own Kalamazoo plant.
Up to 20k GPD
Industrial & process
Hellenbrand X1 Series Commercial RO
Configurable across a wide range of industrial and process loads, from a single point of use up to roughly 20,000 gallons per day.
Food service
Beverage & restaurant
Kinetico Commercial RO
Well suited to food service and beverage applications, including dedicated builds for restaurant coffee, ice, and steamer equipment.
Point-of-use
Labs, dental & coffee
Point-of-Use RO
Under-counter and equipment-dedicated systems for labs, dental operatories, coffee stations, and small-batch process needs.
High-Purity Water by the Bottle
Bottled at our FDA-registered plant in Kalamazoo
Red cap: de-ionized
De-Ionized (DI) Water
For applications that need lower conductivity than RO alone provides. Used for battery filling, specialty cleaning, and lab work.
Blue cap: RO · Green cap: mineral
High-Purity RO & Mineral Enhanced
Blue-cap high-purity RO water for drinking applications, and green-cap mineral enhanced where taste is the priority.
Spec Sheet
Sizing an RO System
We work through six numbers before quoting. Every one of them changes the equipment, the tank, and the price.
- Feed water analysis
- Hardness, TDS, iron, chlorine or chloramine, pH, and silica where relevant.
- Target product water quality
- Stated as TDS or conductivity.
- Product water demand
- In gallons per day and gallons per minute.
- Continuous or batched demand
- Decides storage tank and repressurization sizing.
- Feed water temperature
- Affects membrane output more than most people expect.
- Drain capacity for concentrate
- And any local discharge limits.
Ongoing Care
Service, Membranes, and Filters
RO systems need attention on a schedule: prefilters, carbon, and eventually the membrane. We handle all of it, and if you want preventive maintenance on a set calendar, we set that up with you.
Rental is available on most commercial equipment and applications. The first month, freight, and installation get the new system in; after that it is a monthly ACH payment, with normal wear-and-tear service included while you rent.
Projects
Systems We've Installed
Chick-fil-AStandale, MI
The challengeA restaurant needed one system covering every drinking water application in the building: ice, dispensed water, and coffee. That meant chlorine reduction at several points of use plus high-purity reverse osmosis (RO) water feeding the coffee and steamer equipment.
The systemKinetico chlorine reduction system, a focused carbon filter build matched to the brand's equipment standards, and a Kinetico commercial RO designed for beverage service
The resultCleaner, safer drinking water across ice, water, and coffee.
More commercial projects
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Chick-fil-AHolland, MI Quick Service Restaurant
More from Commercial & Industrial
Other Commercial Services
Most facilities need more than one of these. We size, install and service them together, on one schedule. See the full Commercial & Industrial overview.
Commercial Water Softeners
Single tank through triplex, electric and non-electric, from 3 GPM to 80 GPM and beyond.
Explore Commercial Water Softeners →Commercial Dechlorinator Systems
Point-of-use carbon through whole-facility backwashing systems, sized on contact time rather than a catalog number.
Explore Commercial Dechlorinator Systems →Commercial Salt Delivery
DuraCube delivered to your tank, your dock, or ready for pickup at four West Michigan offices.
Explore Commercial Salt Delivery →Office & Workplace Drinking Water
Bottleless coolers, bottled delivery, and break room filtration on a route you set.
Explore Office & Workplace Drinking Water →Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a commercial reverse osmosis (RO) system do?
RO pushes water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. Dissolved minerals and salts stay behind and go to drain, so the water coming out has a much lower total dissolved solids level than the water going in. That lower TDS is what protects beverage equipment, boilers, and rinse processes.
Do I need a water softener before a reverse osmosis system?
In almost every West Michigan application, yes. Hardness scales an RO membrane quickly, and a scaled membrane loses output and eventually fails. Softening ahead of the RO is standard practice, not an add-on.
Why does chlorine have to be reduced before the RO?
Thin-film composite membranes degrade on contact with free chlorine. Municipal water carries a disinfectant residual by design, so carbon filtration ahead of the membrane is part of a properly built system.
How much water can a commercial RO system produce?
The systems we install run from about 20 gallons per day for a single point of use up to roughly 20,000 gallons per day, depending on configuration. Point-of-use systems for a single machine or a lab bench are far smaller. Sizing depends on your product water demand, target quality, and feed water temperature.
What is the difference between RO water and de-ionized water?
RO reduces a broad range of dissolved material and gets you to a low TDS level. De-ionization goes further by exchanging remaining ions, reaching a lower conductivity than RO alone. We supply de-ionized water by the bottle, marked with a red cap, for battery filling, specialty cleaning, and laboratory work.
How often do RO membranes need replacing?
It depends on feed water quality, pretreatment, and how hard the system runs. Prefilters and carbon media change on a shorter cycle than membranes. If you want filter and media changes on a preventive maintenance schedule, we set one up with you; otherwise we service as needed, when output or water quality says it is time.
Can you build an RO system for coffee and beverage equipment?
Yes. Kinetico commercial RO is well suited to food service, including dedicated builds feeding coffee brewers, steamers, ice machines, and beverage dispensers.
No pressure, no obligation
Talk to Our Commercial Team
Reverse osmosis and de-ionized water for beverage, boiler makeup, rinse, and process applications.
Free water test includedWe size your softener to your actual water.
Local install, minimal downtimeBackground-checked Gordon team, never a contractor.
Honest adviceRecommendations backed by science, not a sales script.
800-928-3768Or call or text, we’re a local, family-owned team
Who you'll hear fromBrad DeBoer, Jaran Malafa, Tom Duisterhof
Tell us about your facility
Sized on peak flow and your actual water, not a catalog number.