minimum waste RO system ?????

[Crusty Old Shellback]

HI all,
I'm looking for some information or directions to a website/manufacture that has a RO system that produces none to very little waste water. I've heard of them before but not for sure where to start looking. I just upgraded my membrane to a 25 G per day one and I always hear a lot of waste water going down the drain.

Anybody have one or can point me in the right direction to find one?

TIA.

[scooter86]

Kold steril by Poly Bio Marine is not RO, but it produces no waste water. Do a search on this forum for more detail

[glaudds]

Costco sells one..I believe bergzy uses one.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=10034720&whse=&topnav=&cat=&s=1

[gath2]

seems hard to believe, but I have done zero research on this. How often do you have to change filters on that thing? All the waste has to build up somewhere.

[Ceannas]

Originally posted by glaudds
Costco sells one..I believe bergzy uses one.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=10034720&whse=&topnav=&cat=&s=1

The system Costco sells is made by a company names Watts Premier. the reason it's zero waste is because they are returning the waste line to your home's hot water system. This can be done with any of the RO/DI systems out there.

Regards

[mjstech]

I don't waste the 'dirty' water, mine drains to a tree in my front lawn. But water even here in arizona is like $1-2 for a 748g of water. I am not worried about it at all. (I have 110gpd)

mark

[Crusty Old Shellback]

I also found a site that has a setup you can add to a existing RO unti that will pump the return water back into your hot water line. But it's as much s the one at costco.

I do have one question about these that I hope someone may be able to answer. I think I understand the concept in that they are just pumping the waste water back thru the hot water line into you hot water tank.

But what do you do if you have a tankless hot water heater? That's my case. I have a tankless hot water heater for the house. Where would the waste water go if it can't go back into a hot water heater?

[AZreefkeeper]

blown63chevy
I just got off the phone with Watts about a problem I have with their "Zero Waste Unit".
First off I would like to state that this is my experiance.
1. When my recirc. pump came on I noticed warm water coming out of the R.O. which in turn KILLED my membrane.
2. After that I measured the TDS with the bad membrane and it was at 410-420 (my tap water is 180 - 190)
3. Cold water in the house would measure 190 but hot water after a batch would be in the 350 - 400 range.
4 I called Watts for support and questions regarding this and they offered very LITTLE help. They agreed that the check valves failed and they were sending me new ones but they want me to pay for the new membrane ($65) NOT.
5. NO WHERE in the directions does it state anything about a recirc. pump or any other special instructions regarding setup for tankless or other set ups.
I am going to change out the R.O. If that is all that was wrong I will install a new membrane. I paid $300+ for this system and am VERY disappointed with the outcome. Customer support was not there for me and I don't think they really thought about the issues involving a recirc. pump or a tankless system.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

AZ,

Thanks. I have one of their regular drinking RO systems and have been using that for my RO water for my tanks. I recently replaced all of my filters and even steped up to a 25 GPD membrane. Now it seems that I have a lot more waste water than before. The system also feeds my ice maker and my float valve on my sump. Between the three consumers, I'm using about 15-20 GPD. I just want to reduce my waste water and my water bill.

Here's a link to another system I found while doing a search. At teh end of the page is the zero waste system that retros into an existing system. I'll give them a call as well as watts and see what they say about a tankless system.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

OK here's the link.

http://www.pure-earth.com/ro.html

I called and talked to them and was told that the new merlin on demand system is the way to go for a tankless water heater. he also said that it actually has less waste water than the otehr systems and rivals that of the zero waster system. I'm going to look into that one unless someone comes up with a better idea.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Any one use the Kold steril?

It sounds good but if I have to replace filters every 3 months, it might not me cost effective. Any thoughts?

[hottuna]

i use it...and only replace the activated alumina every 6 mos...and the poly discs and carbon every year....very good product

[Crusty Old Shellback]

What all are you feeding with this unit?

Mine would be for drinking water, ice maker, auto topoff of around 5 G a day on a 500G system and 1/2 G a day manual topoff on a 45G system.

Feed water to the system would be from a exchange resin water softner.

Just trying to get an idea. I think their website says 5000G of use from the small system.