Need to replace discontinued API Tap Water Filter unit

[bertoni]

Drinking the reject water is fine if you are careful about bacterial contamination. I'd be careful about that, personally. The odds of having problems might be low, but getting sick is no fun.

 

[pisanoal]

Not sure about refillable cartridges from Aquaticlife, but I had an RO Buddie and I would burn through their DI cartridge in about 200G of water. My incoming TDS is only 24 and 1 going into the DI stage.

In the 2 years I've owned that unit, I've replaced the carbon and sediment filters 5 times, and the DI cartridge more times then I can count. That entire unit is garbage IMO. While it works, what you spend in cartridges over the course of a year, you can buy a brand new RO/DI water saver plus unit from BRS which has a rejection rate of 2:1.

Check for CO2 in your tap water. If TDS is that low going into the DI then it has nothing to do with your unit being bad. I had a very similar situation and added a degas chamber before my DI and have significantly extended my resin life. I have made twice as much water on a half used canister(based on color change), getting better water then I was before the degas chamber was added, haven't noticed any color change creeping up where before I would notice it every time I turned the unit on, and outgoing conductivity is steady at .3.

 

[pisanoal]

To the OP, if you are worried about being wasteful, imagine the resources used that go into making your DI resin you are burning through, as well as the resources used to deliver it to you. Unless I missed your point of not wanting to be wasteful, this seems like you are well ahead to dump the RO waste to the ditch. Not trying to lecture you on it, just pointing out the balance.

 

[Bananafish]

I actually just figured this out as I got a new RO/DI unit and wanted to see if the advertised rejection rate is correct. The formula is pretty simple if you have a TDS meter.

(Tap TDS - RO TDS) / Tap TDS x 100 = rejection rate.

Example:
My Tap TDS is 24, after RO TDS is 1 = 95.8% rejection rate.

Thats how much the RO membrane rejects of the TDS, the rest or 4.2% of the TDS creeps through the membrane where the DI stage clears that up to get 0 TDS water.

BRS's water saver unit advertises 1:1, I'm getting more like 1.5:1(I measured the waste and production). So basically for every 1 gallon of RO/DI I make, I'm throwing away a gallon and a half. Not bad considering the 7:1 I was getting with the RO Buddie by Aquaticlife. My water company liked sending me a bill. lol

Depending on your TDS you could probably do a sediment cartridge, carbon block and DI. Totally skip the RO membrane where all the waste comes from. Although I would think you would burn through quite a bit of DI.

Thanks much for taking the time to figure that out for me. I was actually thinking of getting a unit and skipping the RO membrane, so thanks for reading my mind, too

 

[Bananafish]

I understand not wanting to waste water (although we are in a relatively water rich region), but DI resin takes at least 24 gallons of water to manufacture, so my guess is you waste the water down your drain or at the plant. There are 1:1 systems available as well.

Same can be said for electric cars. Burn the carbon in the car or at the plant. But this is not about me being a tree hugging waste-not-wannabe. I absolutely understand water is wasted at some point here. My concern is putting myself in a position where I'm dumping a boatload of water into my [unknown configuration or capacity] septic system.

 

[bertoni]

If the TDS in your water supply is fairly low, you probably don't need much pre filtration. The DI isn't going to last all that long, compared to a RO membrane, so I'm not sure how much multiple sediment and carbon block canisters will do.

 

[Bananafish]

I just wanna add this

you can do what some lfs stores do. get a water filtration company deliver you large amounts of di water . you just buy or rent a tank and pay for the water . the larger the tank the cheaper the cost. here there are several of them who do it..

you waste nothing ..

Thought about that, but then I have to deal with storage of a larger tank. I might give it a try to buy RODI from a local LFS for awhile. If nothing else it's a stop-gap until I get a new unit rigged up and ready to go.

I would just buy a RODI unit with a pre filter, carbon, two RO membranes and two DI units.

You can also drink your rejection water. It's basically tap that has been through a pre filter and carbon (both are NSF). I do this, also use it for the garden because it's hella better than the chloramine crap from the tap.

You probably will save money on DI alone that way, you might not see it that way making as little as you do, but DI is not cheap, and the 3 filters ahead of it will save some resin.

I was thinking of getting a 4-stage unit with sediment, carbon, RO, and DI, and then replacing the RO with a second DI. No, DI is not cheap, but the cost of running DI myself is much less per gallon than if I buy it.

Drinking the reject water is fine if you are careful about bacterial contamination. I'd be careful about that, personally. The odds of having problems might be low, but getting sick is no fun.

Not gonna happen, probably, since I will have more water than I would use to start with, and then there is the bacterial problem, as you wisely point out.

To the OP, if you are worried about being wasteful, imagine the resources used that go into making your DI resin you are burning through, as well as the resources used to deliver it to you. Unless I missed your point of not wanting to be wasteful, this seems like you are well ahead to dump the RO waste to the ditch. Not trying to lecture you on it, just pointing out the balance.

Point is not about saving money or wasting water. Point is about not plugging up the septic system at my 100+ year old house where there are no plumbing plans on file with the town so I have no idea about the size, location, number, or capacity of the pool(s) in my system. If I suddenly flood it with all this water and have to spend $20k to fix the problem, I'll be a little ****ed.



Thanks to all for replying. I really appreciate it. I was originally thinking of just repacking the API cylinder with fresh carbon and resin, but that seems to be a pain. After reading all your comments and doing a little research, I think I may just get a small unit and doctor the stages to do what I want. I'm hearing to stay away from AquaticLife and to go with BRS for a variety of reasons, mostly to do with the RO piece. I also got several PMs from salespeople pushing other products. Not sure which way I will go, but I'm sure like anything else you get what you pay for.

 

[pisanoal]

If you are that worried about the septic, someone else suggested running it straight to the ground. Flow rate is plenty slow enough for that without fear of erosion. Especially if you are septic, that means your soil passed a perc test at one point, should be no issue

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Bananafish]

If the TDS in your water supply is fairly low, you probably don't need much pre filtration. The DI isn't going to last all that long, compared to a RO membrane, so I'm not sure how much multiple sediment and carbon block canisters will do.

I'm currently getting about 150 gallons on a single API cartridge with about 1/4-inch of good resin left. I would expect that would stay about the same, give or take, for an equal amount of resin. I have no idea how much resin is in the API cartridge vs. a BRS cartridge, but it stands to reason that I should get the same amount of water per pound of resin.

One thing's for sure - I'm all out of API cartridges, and the only one I have found (yes, one, as in a single unit) is sitting at the LFS as part of the whole kit. I either have to buy the entire filter and prolong this or just bite down and get something else.

 

[Bananafish]

If you are that worried about the septic, someone else suggested running it straight to the ground. Flow rate is plenty slow enough for that without fear of erosion. Especially if you are septic, that means your soil passed a perc test at one point, should be no issue

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

Thought about that, too, but I've got sprinklers installed, so it's easier to just use them to water the stuff outside. Sure, I could just run the waste water out under the deck, but I was never big on RO (the DI is the important thing, really) and I'd just as soon not bother if I don't have to.

 

[Bananafish]

I thought I'd update you good folks who were kind enough to offer suggestions last month.

I've just bought a 6-stage RO/DI. It came yesterday, not yet hooked it up. It's got two small horizontal DI cartridges, and those should be fine for awhile since the TDS on my tap water is 35. Still, I intend to mount them vertically to maximize efficiency. I may eventually replace them with two larger cylinders that use standard 2.5x10 cartridges.

I bought a 20-gallon Roughneck garbage can (#4, LDPE) with a bulkhead, valve, and a few other things so I can just run RO/DI into the bucket and always have clean water. I plan on setting the bucket up on a section of cabinet I have in the basement so I can open a valve and fill buckets by gravity. The only part I haven't gotten yet is any type of automatic shut-off. I'm thinking a float in the bucket should work. Does anybody have tips for installing this type of setup or know of any gotchas that I should look out for? Any particular type of float I should be looking for?

Much thanks!

 

[bertoni]

Most decent float valves should be reliable enough with RO/DI output that I wouldn't worry all that much. SpectraPure.com sells some shut-off kits, for example.

 

[pisanoal]

Brs also sells a kit and has an install video. Either would be sufficient.

 

[Bananafish]

Thanks, gents. Looks like I've got a little project this week

 

[homer1475]

Depending on the unit you bought, it probably has the ASOV(automatic shut off valve), all you need is any quality float that has a 1/4" john guest fitting.

BRS has a nice video as well as all the stuff you need. Only thing I did different was put a Y valve with 2 shutoffs so I can clear the TDS creep from the water sitting in the line(my water runs over 20 feet from one end of my house to the other where my mixing station is).

 

[Bananafish]

Depending on the unit you bought, it probably has the ASOV(automatic shut off valve), all you need is any quality float that has a 1/4" john guest fitting.

BRS has a nice video as well as all the stuff you need. Only thing I did different was put a Y valve with 2 shutoffs so I can clear the TDS creep from the water sitting in the line(my water runs over 20 feet from one end of my house to the other where my mixing station is).

Thanks, Homer. This unit (Koolermax AR-122) does have an ASOV. I need to reinforce the cabinet I plan to set the tank on before I can do the hookup, and I've got a float coming today by UPS along with some fittings and extra tubing. May not get to it for a week or two, but if I can install it according to plan I will only have about 4 or 5 feet of line, so I'm not too concerned with TDS creep. Will take a look at the video. I appreciate the heads up.