Suggestions needed - pump from laundry room to filter-closet

[psychofishy]

All,

My water source is approximately 45 ft in linear length away from my mixing bucket/sump/filter closet... My ceilings are approximately 8 ft high.

I am playing with the idea of having my RODI filter put water in a 44-gal container near the sink and then adding a second 44-gal container in the sump room.

In order to not have to manually transfer (or mess with hoses every time) the water from point A to point B, I would like to run a hose through the ceiling and have a pump to transfer the water whenever I need it to be transferred..

This would make my life infinitely easier and would eliminate a lot of messing around with buckets and what-not.


Questions: Has anyone done this or something similar?
I am no way worried about my ability to run the hose, but do you see any downside on this?

What type of pump would I need to transfer water to point B
The water would go 8ft high, then 45ft straight across and then 8 ft down.
I would be ok with an ultimate flow rate of ~100-200 GPH (more would be nice)


Thanks!

 

[leftygerbino]

Wouldn't be easier just to have everything in one location i.e. the filter closet? If there's room in there for all your equipment just tap into any copper waterline as a water source for your ro/di filter. Since that tubing is cheap and easy to run it would eliminate the need for a pump to move the RO/DI water from one bucket to another and eliminate having to have equipment in two places.
I have all my equipment in my laundry room near my sink and it makes water changes a lot easier for me. I have a shower curtain to protect my equipment from my wife and kids that set up works out great for me.
If I misunderstood your question sorry

 

[psychofishy]

Lefty,

I am definitely open to suggestions like that.. but I am not sure if that would work.

I could in fact run the smaller lines from the nearest copper tube to the fish closet, would probably save some distance as well doing that.. My worry with doing that is that it would need 2 lines though.. 1 for clean water, 1 to a waste somewhere... I'm not really sure where i have the ability right now to tap a waste.


question with the above suggestion:

if you run the red & black line for that type of distance (30ft), would the flow/pressure to the rodi unit be further restricted? I'm already at 25psi, approximately.

Sincerely,

 

[psychofishy]

also.. I'm fairly sure my pressure from the faucet is top of the line.. water comes blasting out of there... I will investigate why I get such low pressure on the unit. It's a brand new BRS unit.

 

[psychofishy]

alright.. so slight change of plan:

I will place the RODI unit under my kitchen sink, run a 1/4 tube (RO Output) up to the ceiling and to the Filter/sump closet.. this will eliminate all issues and make this a very clean process.

Just need to see what I can do to improve the 25PSI on the RODI unit.. i definitely have enough head pressure on the faucet... I will investigate when I get home later today.

Sincerely,

 

[SkiFletch]

That's definitely a better idea. If you have the ability to run a wider diameter RO output line, you'll help yourself out even further with this process. 3/8" will be better than 1/4". Might have to put a different fitting on the RO unit itself, but it will help prevent excess back-pressure. Also having your RO unit mounted high on the wall will help prevent excess back-pressure on the discharge.

As for your 25PSI source, that's pretty normal on municipal sources in WNY. Not sure about your location. There's really only 2 things you can do to boost pressure. Remove any old, crappy and probably rotting needle shutoff valves between the RO unit and the main to the house, and/or get a booster pump.

 

[psychofishy]

SkiFletch, I'm actually in New Hampshire..I was very surprised to see such low pressure, my faucet generally is blasting water out of it... REALLY strong... I will further look into this once i get home.. If i need a booster pump, no biggie

Sincerely,

 

[Haffs09]

My only concern with running the RO output through the ceiling is the potential for condensation. If the output water temp is relatively close to room temp you should be okay, but if it's cold, you run the risk of water condensing around that line and over time, that will cause issues in your ceiling. Insulating the line should resolve that potential issue.

 

[belgian_waffleman]

Haffs, how is the ro line temperature different from the regular cold water line? I don't know anybody that insulates the cold water lines in their homes. Unless for frost reasons.

Ruud, the bigger you can keep the line sizes the better off you will be. I agree with Mike.

Nico

 

[Willistein]

I wouldn't trust the little guage on the RO unit. Mine is way off too.

I would also have the RO unit by the sink and just run the 1/4" line to your closet with a valve at the end.

 

[SkiFletch]

Haffs, I usually have the opposite problem. If I run my RO unit 24/7 when I'm filling my 55gal drum to mix salt, AND I'm doing a laundry day, I get condesnation on my tapwater main going to the unit. I never get condensation from the unit or discharge line itself as by the time it gets there the water is mostly warmed-up. This of course only happens in the winter/spring when tapwater is colder than the air in my house.

 

[Haffs09]

My coldwater inlet always sweats when I run my RO unit. I usually run it several days at a time. Now that I think about it, I'm sure the reason is that I have a couple hundred gallons of water in my basement, even though all the tanks are covered and I have a dehumidifier.

 

[erndog1001]

I do remodeling for a living and my first question is. Are we talking about a basement? Or what?
Give me some details about this ceiling pls?

 

[psychofishy]

we are talking about a finished bacement.
ceiling is dropdown (in most places)
above the dropdown is about a foot of space, taken up mostly by 2x6 beams and some HVAC pipes, which area easy enough to avoid/go over.

Part of my job is to provide Structured Cabling solutions to our customers, I would treat the 1/4 hose the same as any cat5 cable and think I could get away with that..

thoughts?

 

[reefboarder]

When I built my fish room, I ran the 1/4" line from the laundry room through the ceiling to my mixing barrels, I have not noticed any condensation on the RO effluent but the copper main that comes in to the house does sweat when I make water, usually I run the unit for 48 or so hours at a time. My basement usually is a touch cooler also, and I run a dehumidifier at about 70% humidity.

 

[erndog1001]

I agree with with leftygerbino. Try to tap a pipe at the closet. i seriously doubt you're going to get 100-200 gph thru a 1/4" hose at any pressure Its just not big enough. And given the rise and distance makes it that much less likely to work.

 

[Willistein]

That is another idea Rudd, to put the RO unit in the sump closet and tap a nearby copper line for supply. Then for drain you could run the waste the long distance to the laundry sink or wherever you want to tap into a drain pipe. The drain line doesn't need to run fast so the 1/4" line zshould handle it no problem. This would maximize your supply flow to your mixing barrels.

 

[psychofishy]

well, the 100-200 was based on my original idea of running a pump though normal tubing, not the RO 1/4 tubing.

I really don't want to tap the copper tubing if I don't have to, as that is a permanent thing.... I will have a sink about 15-20 ft away from the closet, but if I hook the waste and supply up to there, it would still have to go 7 ft up in the air.

 

[Willistein]

Oh ok, I thought the sink was at the same level. RO at the sink makes the most sense.

 

[erndog1001]

I'm curious What did you ultimately decide to do?