ro/di? waste water

[pixiegirlie]

i just got a 6 stage water filter system today- ro/di (2) - from water general or something like that - i was wondering if there is supposed to be so much waste water? i mean its pouring out full blast off the back end and hardly nothing (like a little better then a drip) out of the front of it - maybe i have it hooked up wrong or something?

 

[chrisstie]

that is about what mine is like. mosto f the water goes to waste as it takes a long time to filter what you can.

 

[pixiegirlie]

has anyone tried to bypass the dump and just let all the water that goes in comes out the filtered end?

 

[waterfaller1]

You can use the waste for other stuff, like clothes, plants..but you don't want it in your tank.

 

[pixiegirlie]

but i get alot of waste water - it would seem cheaper to buy the water from the store for the price i waste in water - i just dont know if iam supposed to get all this waste water or not - cause i get tonsssssssssssssss - like for 5 gals of waste water i get about 1 inch in a 5 gal bucket of good water

 

[DJChesnutRabbit]

I believe most ro/di units have a ratio of 4g (bad) to 1g (good).
I piped my waste out to my flower garden, and now I have mutant pants, LOL. They're way bigger where they get the waste water.
-Rabbit

 

[cstires]

Yep, I think a 4/1 ratio is pretty accurate.

However your ratio is no where near that if your only getting an inch of good vs. 5 gals of bad...

Doesn't seem right to me either!

 

[pixiegirlie]

i wonder what i should do - iam going to call the place tomorrow to find out

 

[orb]

check your pressure coming into the rodi unit. the more you have the better. the guys in this forum http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=212 will definitely be able to help you out, though.

 

[DC321]

Also cold water has a negative effect on production.

 

[jay24k]

You might have it setup wrong. It should drizzle out but not pour out. It sounds like you might have a valve turned or something backwards. I'd just call the company like you said.

 

[flfirefighter13]

Call the comp. that sold it, Mine has a flow restrictor that goes inline to on the waste side to ensure the waste water is slowed enough to be near the 4/1 ratio. If your wasting that much id be willing to bet there is a restrictor missing or a valve that needs to be adjusted. By blocking the line and trying to filter all the water I think you will clog your RO membrane pretty quick and end up with no water, but Im not 100% sure on that.

 

[InLimbo87]

Yeah, mine just drizzles at a faster rate. 4 to 1 is probably about right. I would do as others have said and contact the company/manufacturer you bought it from.

 

[cschweitzer]

4:1 is correct for the watergeneral...I use it and love it.

Using the wastewater in the fashion you guys said is not the best idea...the RO wastes water for a reason. If you don't like the waste water, you can go full DI filter without the RO...the problem is the amount of filter changes/recharges you will have to do because all of the junk your RO was pushing out is bad water. In other words, do not restrict the waste water ofr stop it completely. The Ro unit will have absolutely no effect on the water then.

The drain depends on many factors:
How old is your system?
How old are your filters?
How much pressure(PSI) is your intake giving?
How bad(PPM) is your intake water?
Cold or hot water?

Solutions:
System age determines how much PSI you need. Newer ones need 60-80 PSI. If your RO filter is old, you need to replace it, as the older it gets, the more waste water needed to produce. Bring your PSI to the right level as this determines not how much waste is produced, but how much actually comes out of the system. If your intake water is severely high, this will cause worse performance...this can be solved with an extra filter or two on the front end before getting to the RO. Only use cold water!!! Warm water breaks down the filters and renders them unusable for long periods. Also, warm water has a higher starting PPM and filters cannot filter it correctly.

I have used Watergeneral for 2 years and love them...I just replaced my unit for a whole kit from the same company and mine is working very well. They are a good company(and cheap) and stand behind their product. Call them and see what they say.

 

[orb]

you can use the wastewater however you want. some people recycle it back into their ro systems and purify it again. i've seen some elaborate systems, where the wastewater keeps getting reused, until there is about as much waste, as their is ro being produced. i dump my wastewater into the lawn. it turned my grass yellow, so i moved it to the plants, and they are doing fine.

cschweitzer, what's wrong with how they are using their wastewater? i don't feel there's any problems re-using it for plants and that kind of stuff. plz explain.

 

[DC321]

I set up my system with 2 RO membranes to reduce the wastewater. It works very well.

 

[Pacific Reefs]

^ Nice Setup!

 

[DC321]

Thanks.

That's not even a picture of the entire setup.
First stage and 8800 Booster pump:

Then the setup above, and I added an additional DI stage after the 2 RO membranes. I had a bad experince with a Natural Salt Water delivery, and it almost killed my entire tank. i lost way more $$$ than I spent to insure that this would never happen again.

 

[cschweitzer]

My intake water is 140PPM. My waste water is 158PPM. If you cut off the flow for the waste water like described above, the RO unit is doing no good. If you reuse the wastewater to flow through again, the RO unit is first trying to separate 140PPM, then 158PPM from the first batch of waste water, then from another cycle this amount will continue to increase and the RO filter will be destroyed very quickly. This incurs much higher cost to replace the RO filter, which is more expensive than all five other filters on my system combined.

The RO filter wastes this water for a reason. I did not mean you cannot use it to water plants, wash clothes, whatever. I meant you should not close off the waste water line, you should not use for drinking water(unless you are happy with water that has more impurities than tap), you should not re-run RO waste back to the RO...

The way to combat waste water is to remove the RO filter from the setup completely, run it through more carbon and sediment filters, and then run it through a few DI filters(I would recommend at least three). This will, however, cause you to need to refill, replace, or renew your DI filtes much more often and is not really recommended as a perfect solution yet.

 

[DC321]

I too felt bad about the large amount of wastewater. I prefer to run the wastewater through the second RO membrane to extract more pure water. I also have an automatic flush system.

"Upon system start-up and every hour thereafter, the 24 VAC normally closed solenoid valve automatically "power-flushes" the membrane at full pump flow for 18 seconds every hour. Turbulent water action scrubs organic and inorganic contaminants from the membrane surface, extending membrane life and efficiency. The valve has a built in, self cleaning, flow restrictor which allows controlled flow to drain when the valve is in the de-activated (closed) state."