Explain RO install like I’m not as smart as a 5 year old

[Guppysnail]

On 11/5/2023 at 1:43 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Do you live in a state where growing marijuana is legal?

No I live in pa. 

 

On 11/5/2023 at 1:10 AM, Galabar said:

Just remember, with that pressurized container, you are look at up to 96% waste water (depending on how you use it)

My outside spigots are frozen solid 3-4 months a year. And hubby does want the spigot vs buying drinking water. 

 

On 11/5/2023 at 5:21 AM, jwcarlson said:

that is more for drinking

We do want this. In addition to my hauling water for tank we buy it for drinking and for cats and frog. My tap is 🤢 and 25-35 nitrate. 
 

 

On 11/5/2023 at 5:21 AM, jwcarlson said:

For $100 RO unit and a $30 Brute trash can you could be making RO water from a utility sink in... An hour.  Maybe less.  It's probably a grand to have someone else do it. 

Whatever I get must live in my kitchen. I have no utility sink or any sink other than our two bathrooms and kitchen. 
 

Yes this project definitely got more expensive when hubby got involved. I was intending on using half the money from my wholesale of fish this weekend. Hubby decided part of our household extras budget was going into it for the ability to have drinking water and water to cook with and other pets. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:39 AM, Guppysnail said:

No I live in pa.

Still may be worth looking into. Check your local hydroponics store. They do sell units that can be cheaper and could get the water down to 50 TDS or so.

[Guppysnail]

On 11/5/2023 at 1:10 AM, Galabar said:

Just remember, with that pressurized container, you are look at up to 96% waste water (depending on how you use it)

Can you explain this more? We chose this one in part because it has this statement in the description along with gallons per minute is near double the others available at Lowes. 

 

[jwcarlson]

I'll confess that I didn't read the whole thread!  If you need the drinking water it would not be a good application for what I've got going on. :). You will still need to figure out some sort of accumulation, but obviously that can be temporary.  30 ppm nitrate is rough.  Though maybe not for plants!

 

[Guppysnail]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:55 AM, jwcarlson said:

Though maybe not for plants!

Plants love it. I use no fertilizer. I can put tap water in an empty dish on the windowsill and even high consumers like hornwort grow like crazy 😝

We have serious agriculture run off issues. I could bottle and sell it as fertilizer 🤣

[Galabar]

On 11/5/2023 at 2:44 AM, Guppysnail said:

Can you explain this more? We chose this one in part because it has this statement in the description along with gallons per minute is near double the others available at Lowes. 

This video explains it pretty well: 

 

This one is also very good: 

As you fill the pressurized cylinder, it starts fighting the membrane, causing more water loss.

If you need a bulk supply of water for your fish tank, it might not be the best choice to go for those pressurized cylinders.  However, if you want drinking water conveniently through a tap at your sink, those are the way to go (even if they are very inefficient).

Edited November 5, 2023 by Galabar

[TOtrees]

@Guppysnail I made it through half the first page of replies, and so I don't know if my contributions here will help or not. 

If you're planning on "making" your water by adding tap water to your RO, then the DI stage isn't necessary. 

I have an Aquatic Life 50gpd system and I'm happy with it. I know a BRS system would be more robust. There are lots of add ons and parts that you can get via amazon to help control the budget. Eg replacement membranes and filters, etc. Some accessories I recommend are a dual inline TDS meter like this:

and a RODI float valve kit like this one (from Aquatic Life, no less, but there are others):

The float valve kit includes an additional piece of the puzzle which is the 4-port auto-shutoff "solenoid" (required because the float valve isn't powerful enough to shut off water coming into the system, so what it does is use the small amount of backpressure at the end of the system [where the float rises up] to power the closing off of the other half of the solenoid that is connected to the water coming into the system).

Another useful add-on is a flush valve, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5CFco_Ceog it just requires a couple tees and a valve to install. 

With all these, you can make RO water into a bucket or tank or container of your choosing, without worrying about overflow or forgetting to turn it off, or whatever. One thing you will want to avoid (you mentioned earlier what questions you aren't asking 😛) is using the RO water right when you create it. It's not that it needs to sit, but it will come through your system very cold (esp in winter). Letting it sit/warm up overnight will let it come to room temp. Though this might be less of an issue if you are using tap water to mix your final product (since you can add warmer tap water to cold RO water to get the temp you need). 

Earlier in the thread, you were asking about the barrel/tank thingys. In the event this hasn't been answered... These take the place of a holding tank or bucket, as described above. Eg if you have a system under your sink, you don't want to wait for 2 minutes to fill a glass (because most systems have a pretty low output rate, eg my 50gpd system, if working optimally, would take about a minute to fill a cup, ie 1 cup liquid measure - no one has that time/patience). So those tanks hold 1-2 gallons only, and have a diaphragm that uses air  pressure. The pressure in your tap and through the RO system fills the tank, and forces the diaphragm to move compressing the air inside. the tank. When you open the tap on the sink, the stored air pressure pushes water out. So I don't think that system/product/solution would be practical if you want more than a gallon or two available to use.  

Other questions: yes you should cut a tee into your incoming water before the water softener, and that can be your source. I use one of these, which you can splice into pex or copper piping: 

[tolstoy21]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:39 AM, Guppysnail said:

My tap is 🤢 and 25-35 nitrate. 

I feel ya, mine is close to 40ppm nitrate, just under the limit for drinking water in my state.

Edited November 6, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Galabar]

I'll agree with @TOtrees in that the storage cylinder might not be great for bulk water usage.

[Guppysnail]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:12 PM, Galabar said:

I'll agree with @TOtrees in that the storage cylinder might not be great for bulk water usage.

Hubby wants the drinking fountain spigot . He fills his thermos in the morning and makes gallons of tea. 
 

I don’t mind just filling a few gallons a day and setting them to the side for water change day. I never really need bulk all at once. 
 

I agree the big brute trash bin would be ideal I could just drop a pump in it. Hubby is entirely opposed though. 
 

Compromise keeps my married life very happy. 

[TOtrees]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:30 PM, Guppysnail said:

Compromise keeps my married life very happy. 

One of my favorite expressions, that I use in personal (married) and professional life very very often, is that a compromise is a solution that leaves everyone unhappy. That's not to say you can't be happy when you reach a compromise, but I find that definition works. If someone gets what they wanted, well they're not compromising, are they?

Edited November 6, 2023 by TOtrees

[Galabar]

On 11/5/2023 at 2:30 PM, Guppysnail said:

Hubby wants the drinking fountain spigot . He fills his thermos in the morning and makes gallons of tea. 
I don’t mind just filling a few gallons a day and setting them to the side for water change day. I never really need bulk all at once. 
I agree the big brute trash bin would be ideal I could just drop a pump in it. Hubby is entirely opposed though. 
Compromise keeps my married life very happy. 

If I was doing the facet and holding tank, I'd definitely get a plumber too. 🙂