Reverse osmosis units

[StewMang]

Hi

Can anyone explain to me how you physically fit a reverse osmosis unit up to your water supply? Is it necessary to modify the plumbing in your house to do this or can temporary or mobile fittings be made?

I also understand that the membranes need to remain wet once exposed to water. Does this mean the RO unit has to be running water through it constantly? Is it possible to turn an RO unit 'off' and just take out water when you need it?

I ask as I'm living in rented accomodation and do not want to have to modify the plumbing in the house in any way. I'm also very paranoid about any potential flooding disasters as I've read about such occurances!

Any help greatly appreciated.

[papagimp]

If you have access to a garden hose, you can get adapters for that. they also make simple clamp on style adapters that clamp onto the feed line under the sink, and run a 1/4 tube to the ro unit. You do need to keep the membrane from drying out though. My ro/di is hooked to the garden hose out back, and when I'm done, I have a valve on the output side I close and it keeps water in the unit until I need it again. As for flooding disasters, i've had my share, but 99.9% of the time it was cause there was something good on tv and I forgot the bucket was filling up. You can combat this kind of problem by using a simple float valve hooked to a 5g bucket, when bucket gets full, float valve shuts and doesn't allow more water to enter. Be sure to test you're water (tap) very well, with known good test kits. If it's bad enough it may be cheaper to buy your own water from LFS. This is what I've had to resort to after spending a bit on an RO/DI unit, only to find out that I have to replace the cartridges every 2 months, if that. The unit is good, just horrible tap water here.

[tkeracer619]

I have my ro/di under my kitchen sink. All it takes is a trip to home depot to replace the main valve for your sink with a new dual output valve. Then it uses the 1/4 clear tubing.

[StewMang]

Thanks for the responses.

I don't have an outside tap so it would have to go under the kitchen sink. Is it difficult to fit a dual output valve to the sink?

I have the water quality report from my water supplier and have done tests on basics such as nitrates and phosphates my self. What factors do I need to look out for that would cause the RO membranes to degrade quickly?

How frequently must the membranes be replaced under normal cirumstances?

I definitely don't want to buy one then find it will cost too much to replace the membranes.

[tkeracer619]

What you need to do is turn off your water to the house a few screws and the valve is replaced. turn on water and you'll be done. you might have to use some adapters to get down to the 1/4. I didn't really know exactly what i needed so i just turned the water off, took off the original valve, went to hd, and got the right valve on the first attempt.

You might be able to rig up something with a portable dish washer hookup for your kitchen faucet. Don't know but if its a big concern about modding the house that might work.

I have mine on for drinking water =]. You will never look at bottled water the same when you get it out of the tap.


I get my stuff from www.airwaterice.com. I'm not sure what to look for but email those guys. They have been great so far at answering my ?s