Re-routing Waste RO Water so Minimal Water Wasteage ? ?

[furface]

Hiya. Been away for a while. Hoping someone has the answer, on another forum a few years ago there was a post that instructed yoj how to re-route the waste RO water so water waste was minimal ? Anyone know how to do this ? Or point the way ?
Thanks people
Furface

 

[kharmaguru]

Stacking membranes would be the way.

 

[furface]

Stacking membranes would be the way.

Ooh you little legend you ! !

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

You can also go with a 2:1 ratio if your water supply is Soft Water.
I did it with Spectrapure, they have tests to check the water then a new flow restrictor.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Smaller flow restrictor (Higher number) equates to lower waste. That puts more stress on the membrane and the output TDS is higher (more DI use)

What the 1:1 system does is "auto flush" the membrane frequently during water production. Still hard on it, but less than just letting it scale up.

 

[furface]

I’ve been told by Osmotics that I need water pressure of 80psi for this extra membrane to work properly ? Is this your experiences ?

 

[kharmaguru]

I’ve been told by Osmotics that I need water pressure of 80psi for this extra membrane to work properly ? Is this your experiences ?

I run a dual membrane in series ( 2 x 75gpd) and I'm on well water but I do have a booster pump that keeps it about 65-70psi. I think I lost about 5psi on the guage when I added the second membrane.

 

[furface]

I run a dual membrane in series ( 2 x 75gpd) and I'm on well water but I do have a booster pump that keeps it about 65-70psi. I think I lost about 5psi on the guage when I added the second membrane.

I have discovered now, as I bought the unit a while ago that it is a 5 stage 150 Gallon Per Day Unit with dual membrane I believe run in series as I only have 1 waste. Water pressure is 50psi without a booster. I can buy the booster. Is it worth fitting a 3rd membrane ? Would this cut my waste water by another 50% ? ? And is it a rule of thumb to be 80psi ? It just really irks me the amount of waste Water.
Thanks

 

[kharmaguru]

I have discovered now, as I bought the unit a while ago that it is a 5 stage 150 Gallon Per Day Unit with dual membrane I believe run in series as I only have 1 waste. Water pressure is 50psi without a booster. I can buy the booster. Is it worth fitting a 3rd membrane ? Would this cut my waste water by another 50% ? ? And is it a rule of thumb to be 80psi ? It just really irks me the amount of waste Water.
Thanks

If the waste line from one membrane goes into the input of the other membrane , then they are in series. If you get a booster pump, add another membrane, reduce your flow restrictor - alone or combined they each will reduce waste water. Unfortunately, waste water is an unavoidable consequence of reverse osmosis. Personally I'd start with the booster pump - 50psi is borderline and not that efficent. Production should go up and TDS should go down. Win win.

 

[furface]

If the waste line from one membrane goes into the input of the other membrane , then they are in series. If you get a booster pump, add another membrane, reduce your flow restrictor - alone or combined they each will reduce waste water. Unfortunately, waste water is an unavoidable consequence of reverse osmosis. Personally I'd start with the booster pump - 50psi is borderline and not that efficent. Production should go up and TDS should go down. Win win.

Yeah, the booster pump was always going to be needed. Booster pump it is for starters ! ! Thanks Kharmaguru ! !

 

[Timfish]

Why not run the "waste" out to your garden? Having run through a sediment and carbon filter it's cleaner than your source water.

 

[furface]

Why not run the "waste" out to your garden? Having run through a sediment and carbon filter it's cleaner than your source water.

Yeah I plan on putting whatever waste water there is into some garden water storage bays to water the garden. I just remember hearing a. While ago about a way to reduce your waste water significantly and improve production of RO water so a win win

 

[mtnbike101]

My concern with running two membranes in series versus parallel is that you are inserting high TDS waste water into the second membrane thereby reducing the lifespan of the second membrane. I have mine in parallel with a booster pump and pressure is around 80 psi.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Parallel membranes do not reduce waste (in fact may increase it due to pressure loss over the membranes).

Series membranes reduce waste by ~50%
Yes the second membrane sees a bit higher inbound TDS - but this should not be an issue with reasonable source water. If you are shoving 600 TDS into the first membrane, then yeah the second will take a bit of a beating... but really both are taking a beating anyway.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I have discovered now, as I bought the unit a while ago that it is a 5 stage 150 Gallon Per Day Unit with dual membrane I believe run in series as I only have 1 waste. Water pressure is 50psi without a booster. I can buy the booster. Is it worth fitting a 3rd membrane ? Would this cut my waste water by another 50% ? ? And is it a rule of thumb to be 80psi ? It just really irks me the amount of waste Water.
Thanks

In theory it will work - but simply running a more restrictive flow restricter (lower number) will reduce waste. You just need to power flush (bypass the flow restrictor) the membrane after every run to keep buildup at a minimum.

 

[furface]

In theory it will work - but simply running a more restrictive flow restricter (lower number) will reduce waste. You just need to power flush (bypass the flow restrictor) the membrane after every run to keep buildup at a minimum.

Yeah, I’ve read a heap about it now. My ro unit already has 2 membranes so I’m going to run wit. That for now and see how I go. Whatever I do there will some waste bug I do want to reduce it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I think there is a valve at BRS that will cycle the waste bypass on startup and then every hour or something during operation. Not a bad idea.
I am almsot done with my own controller... but far more complex than most people would want to undertake.

 

[Breadman03]

I think there is a valve at BRS that will cycle the waste bypass on startup and then every hour or something during operation. Not a bad idea.
I am almsot done with my own controller... but far more complex than most people would want to undertake.

An Apex, or other controller, should be able to control a solenoid to perform the flushes.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I was going to use the P4 to do it… but decided to build a stand alone unit…Touch screen, pressures, etc.

 

[jhentr]

I use a Aquaticlife RO booster buddy along with a lower restrictor flow (150gpd) and get about a 1:1 ratio. Then run the waste water 250 ft to my slope garden to a water drip line to water my shrubs, plants, etc. makes me feel better this way!