Best RODI

All units are pretty much the same, it is the membrane that makes the difference, Make sure it is atleast 3 stages, you should be good. Buy the cheapest and spend the money on the membrane.
 
olds350racer;79038 wrote: In regards to the clear housings... is there a benefit to this? Will the cartridge appearance indicate anything that a TDS meter wouldn't? I'm with Roland... I like the clear housings, but I'm curoius if it's a necessity.
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I think the clear housing do actually help maintain your RO. TDS meter only tell you the end results. a pressure guage after each "stage" tells you when you need to replace filters. Since most RO don't have pressure readings after each stage, the clear housing gives you an idea of what going on at the prefilter stages, and for your color changing DI also.

Even though our tap water TDS is low, our "solids" can be VERY HIGH. Which can clog a prefilter very fast. That = pressure drop. (A membrane needs 50+ PSI to operate right) It can also = premature exhaustion of carbon stage, which can = chlorine reaching membrane = premature damage of membrane. Ive seen a 1st stages get clogged SOLID in less than 3 months. Some parts of ATL have a lot of sediment in the water due to old pipes... so yeah I do see value in having clear housing.

My RODI i can test the pressure drop across each stage. The clear housings remind me to check those things

FWIW most people only test TDS after the DI. TDS testing after the DI does not tell you if your RO membrane is working at all. IMO it really Just as important to test TDS after the RO before the DI.
 
So I am watching this thread with great interest and am going to buy an RO/DI myself. Question - what do you all do with the "waste water" you get from it?
 
water plants outside. I have a line run directly outside into a flower bed.
 
FWIW For those who use a lot of water, there are low waste water RODIs. Mine gets about 1to1 ratio. Thefilterguys sell one like it. Thefilterguys also sell a higher quaity product than some ebay vendors. I think they give a 10% culb discount.
 
Cool. I will use whatever I get for watering the plants... I was wondering if waste equalled contaminated or something.. .lol
 
Your plants aren't going to notice!

My RODI is in the basement, so I just route the waste line into the condensate pump for the furnace--it ends up in a flower bed outside. And I have a water alarm on the floor in there in case the pump fails!
 
ReeferJW;79180 wrote: Cool. I will use whatever I get for watering the plants... I was wondering if waste equalled contaminated or something.. .lol
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contaminated with what? it's just water that didnt make it through the process.
 
The TDS of the wastewater will be higher than your normal tap water in the same ratio as your clean water to wastewater flow. Assume your tap water TDS is 50 mg/L. So if you get 4 gallons of RO water for every 1 gallon of wastewater, the RO TDS will be 0 and the wastewater TDS will be 250mg/L. Not exactly because of the carbon and resin beds, but good enough for this discussion.

I would not water indoor plants with the water because of salt creep, but it is fine for outdoor use.

Personally I have my unit in my laundry room (good location because I already have a water tap at the washing machine) and run the wastewater down the washing machine drain. No beneficial reuse, but I don't have to worry about it overflowing a waste tank either.
 
Thanks Stanfill. That is what I was trying to get at, but "contaminated" was obviously the wrong choice of words.

I went ahead and got one from one of the above ebay sellers. Time to take the hobby to the next level... great thread to learn about RO DI....
 
Stanfill Reef;79430 wrote: The TDS of the wastewater will be higher than your normal tap water in the same ratio as your clean water to wastewater flow. Assume your tap water TDS is 50 mg/L. So if you get 4 gallons of RO water for every 1 gallon of wastewater, the RO TDS will be 0 and the wastewater TDS will be 250mg/L. Not exactly because of the carbon and resin beds, but good enough for this discussion.

I would not water indoor plants with the water because of salt creep, but it is fine for outdoor use.
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Your math is right but your ratio was back-wards, It 4 waste to 1 clean. So your waste water about 20% higher than your tds in. In the case of 50 TDS in yours waste will be 60 TDS out.

Your waste water is fine even to drink IMO. I reprocess my waste water 2 more times before it goes down the drain. Still the waste water is under 100 TDS. Thats still about 2-3 times lower than the national average.
 
Wow, that is really interesting Roland, but why would you reprocess the waste water? To get the most "clean" water you can to use in the tank? I never tested my water from the tap, or the RO/DI water I get from Optimum... Guess I need a TDS Meter.
 
Stanfill Reef;79430 said:
I would not water indoor plants with the water because of salt creep, but it is fine for outdoor use.

quote]

It is freshwater. There is no salt creep.
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I reprocess my waste water to minimize my amount of waste water. I get about a 1 to 1 ratio of waste to clean water. I use a lot of water that justified me spending a little extra money for a DIY 3 membrane unit.
 
There is salt creep. What do you think the tap water TDS is that you are removing in the RO/DI? If you have hard water, you get salt creep. Ever notice the white, crusty junk on the top of the soil of your indoor plants. That is excess salt from the tap water that your plants don't want. It is not as bad as tank salt creep, but it is exactly the same thing.
 
I guess I have soft water then. I don't get any of the white, crusty junk. My tds of tap water is usually only around 30ppm. Figured the tds in freshwater was other stuff: minerals, flouride, chlorine, etc. ?
 
Stanfill Reef;79493 wrote: There is salt creep. What do you think the tap water TDS is that you are removing in the RO/DI? If you have hard water, you get salt creep. Ever notice the white, crusty junk on the top of the soil of your indoor plants. That is excess salt from the tap water that your plants don't want. It is not as bad as tank salt creep, but it is exactly the same thing.
Click to expand...

All this time, I thought that was lime and/or other minerals. It also accumulates on shower heads, etc. Have I been buying and using Lime-Away for nothing all these years?
 
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