DMBillies
Active member
With energy prices going up and a drought down here in the south (I think we are technically still in one), I've been thinking a bit more about the footprint our reef tanks have.
I'm not going to quit reefing, but I wanted to post an idea I had for reducing the amount of water I'm pouring down the drain from running my RO/DI (most units reject 3-4 gallons for each gallon you collect in your bucket).
What I did was split my waste water output from my filter and put a long hose on it so that it can reach outside. Out there I set-up a 20 gallon trash can I just so happened to have from upgrading my water bucket for holding SW inside. I can hook the long hose into a float switch on that bucket. This will allow me to collect the waste water from the RO/DI to water plants outside.
On the long hose, shortly after the split I also put a ball valve. The ball valve will allow me to shut off that output if I don't feel like hooking the hose up outside (if the reservoir is full or if I am feeling particularly lazy).
The other end of the split goes unrestricted into my washer drain as it would have before I added the T.
This system allows me to attach my tubing outside during the night and run my RO/DI. If the container fills, the float switch will stop water flowing outside and start flowing through the other part of the T and into my normal washer drain without actually restricting the flow from the output (which is a no-no for RO units).
Ok... so in theory this sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm experiencing a little bit of a problem with water going up the standard drain tube, building a siphon, and then slowing the flow out to the bucket to a trickle. Because those water lines are so thin they have quite a bit of capillarity and the siphon will not stop itself even when there is little/no pressure coming out of the RO/DI. This is compounded by the fact that the distance that the water travels up from the T is relatively short, so it doesn't take much pressure to push the water up that little tube.
I'm thinking that using a larger diameter tube for the part of the standard drain will build slightly more pressure in that tube to help push the water down the longer piece of tubing (as long as the float switch is open). It should also make it so that a siphon is not created where the tubing drains down into the washer drain if a small amount of water makes it up there. Finally, if my thinking on the physics of it is correct, once the float switch is closed, it will not require a significant amount more pressure to push the waste water up into the standard drain pipe and then down the regular drain (once the system is closed on the long end, water can flow right up the standard drain tube because the drain pipe still never goes above the height of where the drain comes out of the RO/DI). Does that make sense? It won't create more back pressure than I would currently have, right? Will this slight modification (increasing the standard drain size) work? If so, what is the easiest way to get from a small quick connect fitting to a larger tube size (I'm thinking the clear rubber hose, maybe 3/8" ID)?
I'm not going to quit reefing, but I wanted to post an idea I had for reducing the amount of water I'm pouring down the drain from running my RO/DI (most units reject 3-4 gallons for each gallon you collect in your bucket).
What I did was split my waste water output from my filter and put a long hose on it so that it can reach outside. Out there I set-up a 20 gallon trash can I just so happened to have from upgrading my water bucket for holding SW inside. I can hook the long hose into a float switch on that bucket. This will allow me to collect the waste water from the RO/DI to water plants outside.
On the long hose, shortly after the split I also put a ball valve. The ball valve will allow me to shut off that output if I don't feel like hooking the hose up outside (if the reservoir is full or if I am feeling particularly lazy).
The other end of the split goes unrestricted into my washer drain as it would have before I added the T.
This system allows me to attach my tubing outside during the night and run my RO/DI. If the container fills, the float switch will stop water flowing outside and start flowing through the other part of the T and into my normal washer drain without actually restricting the flow from the output (which is a no-no for RO units).
Ok... so in theory this sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm experiencing a little bit of a problem with water going up the standard drain tube, building a siphon, and then slowing the flow out to the bucket to a trickle. Because those water lines are so thin they have quite a bit of capillarity and the siphon will not stop itself even when there is little/no pressure coming out of the RO/DI. This is compounded by the fact that the distance that the water travels up from the T is relatively short, so it doesn't take much pressure to push the water up that little tube.
I'm thinking that using a larger diameter tube for the part of the standard drain will build slightly more pressure in that tube to help push the water down the longer piece of tubing (as long as the float switch is open). It should also make it so that a siphon is not created where the tubing drains down into the washer drain if a small amount of water makes it up there. Finally, if my thinking on the physics of it is correct, once the float switch is closed, it will not require a significant amount more pressure to push the waste water up into the standard drain pipe and then down the regular drain (once the system is closed on the long end, water can flow right up the standard drain tube because the drain pipe still never goes above the height of where the drain comes out of the RO/DI). Does that make sense? It won't create more back pressure than I would currently have, right? Will this slight modification (increasing the standard drain size) work? If so, what is the easiest way to get from a small quick connect fitting to a larger tube size (I'm thinking the clear rubber hose, maybe 3/8" ID)?
I will now purchase some more tubing and just run it out to the flowers outside. Excellent idea.
