RO DI for drinking water too

[clownsntriggers]

How would I go about using an Ro Di unti like a spectrapure or typhoonIII for drinking water and for my tanks?

Or would it be a better idea to buy a resiential unit and add a DI filter to the Ro?

[Gooli]

i have the typhoon III and use it for aquarium and drinking water - it's great. There is a little fat tube they gave me to connect when making drinking water - it makes the taste better - that's the only difference between the aquarium water and the drinking water.
HTH

[javatech]

You take the water before the Di and then run it to a stoage presure tank

[saveafish]

its the best drinking water you'll ever drink two ways 'T' it off right befor the D I canister and run it to the pressure tank ( i got a 5gal tank under sink) or if you have a big one like a 150-200gallon a day ro/di run it directly up to your new water spiget its so much better for you to drink that water than tap water

[fmuakkassa]

Be carefull if you drink only RO water as it has no minirals or flouride (important for tooth decay). I have the Typhoon III but use it only for the aquarium. I have another RO unit for the house and use that water for making tea, coffee, ice and occaisional drinking for taste. For my kids, I tell them to drink tap water for the minirals and flouride. If tour tap water is horrible where you live, then this is another story.

[AZDesertRat]

Your body receives such a small amount of minerals from water its not worth mentioning. Drinking RO or even RO/DI water exclusively has no proven detrimental effects on human health period. Most good RO/DI units have a bypass that supplies RO only water before DI for drinking and other uses.
I have my Spectrapure MaxCap set up so it feeds a 14 gallon pressure tank with RO only water. From there I can feed my DI faucet, a RO faucet at the garage laundry sink, a RO faucet at the kitchen sink and my icemaker all with pressurized water.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/AJOIII/2006_08_31021.jpg

[clownsntriggers]

Thanks guys,

I'll tee off the the Ro from the Di when I get it.

[jag1979]

I got the dual home/reef from airwaterice.com it has everything you need for both aquarium and home use.

[ReeferAl]

Fluoride can be an issue though. Most of the time the major source of fluoride is drinking water. If you have kids and you use RO water for drinking then you should consider getting a fluoride supplement from your dentist to replace that from the drinking water. Other than that the minerals lost in RO are really trivial compared to those in a normal diet.
Allen

[ReefDent]

Ditto what ReeferAl said. We are now experiencing somewhat of a resurgence in tooth decay with the rise in use of RO and other filtered/ bottled water. Even the Britta and Pur filters now have some DI in them which sucks the fluoride out.

The biggest effect of fluoride is topical, not systemic during tooth development, so the supplements are not as good as having a little in the water (and thus pretty much everything consumed) and the teeth getting a constant, 1ppm fluoride bath, but they are still a significant help.

In my opinion, most drinking water systems would be more than sufficient (perhaps superior) with just particulate and carbon block filtration (from a dental standpoint, not necessarily taste...)

James

[brianbigoats]

I would be careful drinking any H20 that has gone through a di system ever thing has been removed and the water will remove nutrients from your body causeing dehydration especially if you are sweating. remember osmosis from chemistry class.

[BuckeyeFS]

An additional note - as suggested above you can place a tee in the line running from your RO permeate port to your DI "in" port, then run a line from the tee to to a pressure tank.

However, the tubings and fittings configurations is a bit more complicated than that - you'll need a pressure tank valve, an in-line GAC cartridge with fittings, and a RO faucet.

We also add a check valve to prevent flow from the pressure tank from coming backward through the DI stage so as to maintain a longer residence time in the resin.

Russ @ BFS

[badpacket]

There has been a lot of hysteria regarding drinking RO/DI,
with many Process Engineer types going on about how volitile DI is, and the uses it has in Manf. as strippers, etc.

This is true too. Unfortunately, once you place it in your mouth, it is no longer DI water as it rapidly absorbs any and everything with free electrons which neutralizes its charge. Sort of like the half life of ozone output directly into a tank.
Let's not even bother with what happens when the water hits your stomach acids, contents.....

I think there is a potential question still unknown out there though, and that is how tooth enamel responds to repeated 'washing' with DI. Some theorize that this may impact enamel negatively, not sure if there is a final word yet. Wouldn't be surprised if it actually helped with minor gum irritation/gingivitas.

But if you're going to drink RO or DI, it will taste much better if you dirty it up with a post-carbon filter.

Edit- Just saw some comments after AZ which have more detail. Interesting comments, and here is a thread where some experts of various sort were discussing it:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:X_j0QBcjEhUJ:finishing.com/156/65.shtml+drinking+di+water+safety+stomach&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3&client=firefox-a

[Criminal#58369]

I was thinking ro/di was better than tap water, i know for aquariums it is, so im not sure it pays to have one installed for drinking if it takes out things needed for me.

[AZDesertRat]

There is nothing wrong with drinking RO or RO/DI water unless you are a child that benefits from fluoride. Not one single study has ever proved otherwise. DI is bland and does not taste gooid to most but it will not hurt you in the quantities we are talking about. RO passed through a final carbon filter is quite good.

[jmicky41]

Health concerns due to the water being too pure aside, can I just fill up a one gallon jug from the RO output line? I use this water for drinking, coffee, and making ice. My tap water tastes awful. Do I need to ever disinfect the canisters on the RO system? My DI is an add on type, so I just disconnect the RO output from the DI input and run it into the jug.

[badpacket]

Yes you can, just try and use a jug for water and not juice, etc. I've read that those types of containers often use a plastic that may be less resistant to clearn water, though it may not be as much as nissue with RO vs DI.
Also, one of thre reasons there are all sorts of warning about not drinking product water in the industrial area is because of exactly that, bacterial blooms, etc. I've read that there can be a fair bit of bacterial growth in RO/DI systems, especially if it is not one that is running constantly, flushing the bacteria away. I would expect AZ to know more though.