What do you do with ALL THAT left over waste water from RO/DI ?? Is it worth it??

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

this is nholding me back from purchasing a unit.
I mean if i make up 25 gallons of RO/DI, i have 50-100 gallons of waste water!!!!!!!!!
Isn't that a huge problem and not cost efficient?

If you get a system that allows you to run off some water before DI for drinking, does that cut down waste water or no?

Also, how much time does it take to actually make the water on say a 50gpd without pump on a well with average to below average pressure & Cold Water??

Thanks- Matt

[dragon_slayer]

i pump it all down the drain, no need to try and save it water is cheap, i pay about 8 bucks for 3000 gallon. taking RO water for drinking does nothing to cut down on waste water at all. and lastly a 50gpd will make about 1-2 gallon per hour with cooler input water temps.

kc

[AZDesertRat]

Here is a link to some graphs from Dow Filmtec that show how temperature and pressure affect production. Keep in mind this is only for Filmtec membranes, Applied Membranes and GE Water membranes take 15 psi greater pressure to begin with so I would not even consider them.
http://www.dow.com/PublishedLiteratu...romPage=GetDoc

The cost of a 50 and 75 is the same so go with the 75 as it will make water 50% faster.
Waste is not a good thing in todays conservation savvy world but it really isn't waste in the true sense. It goes in to the sanitary sewer system and gets recycled for golf courses, parks, lakes and even recharged in the ground and drawn out again by deep wells. If it is a great concern just capture the waste and use it for laundry, landscape, pool etc. Water is a cheap commodity in most of the US with 748 gallons (one cubic foot) to 1000 gallons costing less than $2.00 in almost all locations so its not a huge expense, like you point out its more the waste aspect.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

thanks guys!

my concern with dumping down drain is that i CAN'T!
I have a low spot in yard with a leak along line & almost 90% of all drain water ends up in the "PIT"

[zapata41]

fix the leak and then make your ro di water. dont try to lighten your horses' load when it has a broken leg

Tim

[robsmith32]

Well, if you are getting it from a well, why don't you just have your waste output back to the well, therefore you aren't dumping any.
But you are dumping back those nutrients you're taking out of the water to have them accumulate more, probably negligible.
Look into those for use on wellwater as you wouldn't be concerned about getting chlorine or chloramines out. You mainly probably need sediment filtration.
If wastewater is still a big concern, Calfo and steven pro tout the cati-ani di system but hard to get and initial cost is high but seems to pay off in the long term similar to a ca reactor.

Definately, if coming from well you'll want to also look into the aquatec booster pumps. They arent' cheap but on e-bay you can get them for roughly $80 for the 8800. They boost the water pressure going into the ro unit.. I'll have to get one myself since my water pressure from county supply doesnt' exactly have the best pressure either. My 100gpd took a day to fill an 18g rubbermaid.. so have to do something about that.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

how does it go back to well?
i was gonna tap in through my cold line going to washing machine in laundry room.

[Chap]

I hooked the waste line of my RO to a soaker hose and lay it in my wife's flower beds. Her flowers and plants have never looked better and not all of the water is wasted.

[dragon_slayer]

Originally posted by AZDesertRat
....................with 748 gallons (one cubic foot)...............

recheck your figures there, a single cubic foot of water is only 7.48 gallon and 10 cubic foot 7,480 gallon. your 748 gallon would be just shy of 5 cubic foot.

kc

[ChemE]

dragon_slayer,

You mean (10ft)^3 = 1,000 ft^3 = 7,480 gallons because 10 cubic feet is 74.80 gallons.

[p4ck37p1mp]

I plumb mine out to my garden to water herbs and tomato plants. =)

[AZDesertRat]

City of Phoenix bills is 100 cubic foot amounts or 748 gallons per one unit. I think 1000 gallons is much easier myself but I'm not the City.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

still, mt well is up my back yard. So i cannot run hose to it with wastewater.........i have been looking into strictly Deionizers(Kent 200R), since my tap is well water free of chlorine and chloramine with a TDS of 150(avg.) i think this may be an option!
ZERO Waste water!!

What's your thoughts?

[AZDesertRat]

With a TDS of 150 entering the Kent unit you will be lucky to get 50 gallons per DI refill. A RO/DI is still your best bet if you can figure out what to do with the waste. Why not run the waste in to a 30G Rubbermaid can and dump it on the back 40 acres?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

well....we are on our 3rd pump and the well costs more in long run than city water, so I'm throwing $ into grass.

How about the Rechargeable Kent Deion-R ?? My LFS owner can get me the resins(Kani-Ani to run....just need to get M. Acid and Lye)

[AZDesertRat]

If you are comfortable working with hazardous materials like acids and caustics they are great. Even working around water treatment plants myself I wouldn't be comfortable doing that at home.

[mke6103]

I have a 55 gallon drum in my basement that the run off water goes to. I then use that for clothes so that im not wasting water. Believe me im no tree hugger or a cheap scape and live in the city but i just cant see pouring that water down the drain.

[hammerhead]

I have mine set up as a drip irrigater for my flower shrubs

[robsmith32]

if your' going to the di setup, i'd encourage you to go to spectrapure.com , but beware, may cause head to heart as well as the wallet.

[pnsnowboard]

in the summer i run it over the grass

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

head to heart? sorry, what does that mean?

i picked up a Kent Deion200 and have the Cation & Anion resins coming in next weekend(i will get the 40-50 gallons or so that the mixed bed 2 stage with a first stage carbon block can give me before exhaustion, then switch in a week or two.)

I got it from a local LFS who's owners are gret and sponsor my local reefers club(& a good deal)

I will be getting Red Devil brand Lye & Muratic Acid tomorrow for recharging.

Any thoughts of trouble to come or at least watch for?(I'm a rookie)

thanks - matt

[donski]

AZDesertRat, I've noticed noone has recommended Kent or Spectrapure. Overpriced??? Overated?? I have a well system at my house and have researched your links. My #1 choice now is the Typhoon III you have spoken about. The wastewater I will try to recycle as much as I can. H2O in California is a valuble resource.

[AZDesertRat]

Spectrapure is the Cadillac or RO/Di units in my book but as you mentioned they are pricey. I think you can get the same performance from the Typhoon III for much less $$$. The Kent unit is OK but I don't think their filter micron ratings are sized optimally. To get maximum life from your pre and carbon filters Walter at AWI has the best configuration, 10 micron pre, 5 micron carbon, 1 micron carbon and then 75 GPD Dow Filmtec RO. That way each filter traps what it is capable of and passes the smaller stuff to the next one in line. Look at some units, the start with a 1 micron and then go to 10 micron carbons, the prefilter plugs way too quickly and the carbons are never used to even a fraction of their potential. Then some follow up with Applied Membranes or GE Water membranes which take 15 psi greater pressure to produce the same amount of water as a Dow Filmtec membrane 950 psi vs 65 psi). Walter has done his homework and provides everything you need including the TDS meter, pressure gauge and standard size refillable DI all in one package.

Now if the industry just had a better solution for the waste stream we would be set. Recycling it back to the hot water heater is probably not the best solution but I guess works for some.

[seandanekind]

My wastewater line feeds a 180 gallon African cichlid tank. The 180 gallon then drains to the sewer. The fish LOVE it. I give them a constant supply of particle and carbon filtered water. They have airstones in the tank, but no filtration other than dilution by a constant turnover of fresh water. I've been running the tank like that for over a year now with 70+ fish.

I got the idea because a friend in my local club has two 1000 gallon tanks where he only runs a constant drip/drain (around 50-100 gpd) and airstones on tanks with around 200 fish per tank. That's been almost 10 years now...
http://www.gcas.org/articles/info_10...lon_tanks.html

[waverz]

Being our RO unit is hooked up to the same faucet as the washing machine we run teh waste water right in the washer and use it to wash the clothes. The washer hardly ever needs to fill itself, we only use water on the rinse, cant really see a reason to waste all that water. IMO the earth will run out of fresh water eventually, might was well save all you can. Man im starting to sound like a tree hugging hippy....