Ro Question

[J8851]

Does it hurt your RO system if you run the water slower than what its rated for? I know that if your run it to fast the water quality suffers i was wondering if it was the same for running it slower. I can't figure out why it would have a negative impact because the filter has more time to treat the water.

I have a 50gpd but i don't need that much

[generalee]

How would you run the water slower? Normally these units are hooked directly into a supply line and they regulate themselves.
Just how do you have yours plumbed?

I also have a 50gpd set-up and jsut have it hooked directly to a supply line. I open a valve and get the water I need and then close it back off when done.

[J8851]

i have mine hooked up to a faucet like you have on the outside of your house, there is no gauge like most have i have a Pro-Flo II 4 stage unit

[Neublian]

This is just speculation, so someone can feel free to contradict me.

If you have too much pressure you can have impurities pushed through the membrane and the pure water will have lower quality.

If you have too little pressure you have nothing pushing the water through the membrane, so you'll get very little pure water but that output should be of a very high quality.


Every real life setup should be somewhere between the two extremes. I would expect that if you lowered pressure you'd see the ratio between pure and waste water change towards more waste per unit of pure water. It shouldn't "hurt" the RO unit.

Hope that made sense.

-Neublian

[J8851]

I'm getting a lot of waste water, is that normal?

[bpd964]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10234427#post10234427 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Neublian
This is just speculation, so someone can feel free to contradict me.

If you have too much pressure you can have impurities pushed through the membrane and the pure water will have lower quality.

If you have too little pressure you have nothing pushing the water through the membrane, so you'll get very little pure water but that output should be of a very high quality.


Every real life setup should be somewhere between the two extremes. I would expect that if you lowered pressure you'd see the ratio between pure and waste water change towards more waste per unit of pure water. It shouldn't "hurt" the RO unit.

Hope that made sense.

-Neublian

I have to agree..

Also, you are going to have a bunch of waste water.. That's normal..

[JonTarutis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10234743#post10234743 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by J8851
I'm getting a lot of waste water, is that normal?
How much is a lot? You should be seeing a 1:4-5 ratio... product to waste.
Jon

[J8851]

Thats about what im getting. which means its fine i guess. Thanks for the help

[BuckeyeFS]

In most cases, residential water pressure isn't too high for these systems - low pressure is more common.

If you have a Filmtec membrane for instance, they are rated at 50 psi. Other manufacturers are rated at 60 or 65 psi. We have a nice calculator on our website if you want to play with the water temperature ans pressure and see what those changes do to the amount of purified water produced.

Within limits, higher pressures mean more purified water, and better purification.

So assuming you don't have very unusually high water pressure (you'd know it if you did), open up that spigot all the way and provide as much pressure to the system as you can.

Russ

[J8851]

Thanks for that great information!

[justincognito]

Some people save the refuse water for gardens or the washing machine. Expecially helpful when they have water reistrictions during dry summers.

[generalee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10239307#post10239307 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justincognito
Some people save the refuse water for gardens or the washing machine. Expecially helpful when they have water reistrictions during dry summers.

Other people actually run the waste through a second ro/di unit and get more RO/DI water out of it. Some other people also use the waste water for watering houseplants.

[J8851]

I tested the RO water and all the levels are fine no chlorine,Nitrates etc so looks like im in business!

[BuckeyeFS]

Good deal. All's well that ends well