Water mixer take 2

[sarduci]

Ok, here's the deal.....

I finally got my RO/DI unit mounted, the extra tube cute, and lines for the permeate pump in place, and then I realized I lost the water mixer kit somewhere.......

Great, so what the heck am I going to do?

Simple, DYI a DYI mixer valve (sorry Fahz, that's sorta what it looked like).
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2 garden hose adapters to JG fitting (GH)
4 JG straight through valves (STV)
1 JG Tee connector (TC)


Ok, here's the mental picture (camera pics to come tonight)

Cold h2o GH--------STV#1\
.........................................\
..........................................\
...........................................TC----/ /---STV#4-----To RO/DI unit
........................................../
........................................./
Hot H2o GH--STV#2--STV#3


We'll take this from top to bottom
Hook cold water adapter up to sink faucet. Run a bit of tube, hook on straight through valve (STV#1). Hook up hot water adapter to sink faucet. Run a bit of tube, hook on straight through valve (STV#2). Run a small piece of tub from STV#2 to another valve (STV#3). Take run of tube from STV#1, and connect it to the Tee connector. Take a run of tube from STV#3, and connect it to the Tee connector. Take the remaining connector on the Tee and run a length of tube to the last straight through valve (STV#4). Run a length of tube from the last straight through valve to your RO/DI unit.
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Now, for an explanation of what each thing does:

Cold water hose adapter:
Supplies the system with cold water

Hot water hose adapter:
Supplies the system with water above 77 degrees F.

STV#1:
Lets you turn off the cold water.

STV#2:
Lets you turn off the HOT water.

STV#3:
Used to control the mix of hot and cold water. Once you set this, use STV#2 to turn of hot water if you need to turn it off. Moving the valve of STV#3 will require you to check the output temperature to make sure it is UNDER the rated temp for your Ro/DI system.

STV#4:
Used to turn off the water to the RO/DI unit without having to turn off the individual valves for hot and cold. I recommend placing this at the end of the line right by the RO/DI unit or you'll end up with any water in the line after the valve draining if you unhook your RO/DI unit to change filters.
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What you need to do before you hook up your RO/DI:

You need to calibrate the output of the tubes before you hook up the lines or you will fry your membrane with hot water. Flush out the cold water sitting in your hot water pipes by letter the faucet run for a few minutes. Screw on the hot and cold water garden hose to JG fitting adapters. Make sure STV#1, STV#2 and STV#4 are open all of the way (STV#4 is NOT hooked to the RO/DI unit), and that STV#3 is closed. Turn on the valves for the faucet for hot and cold water.

At this point in time, you should have ONLY cold water coming out of STV#4 into a cup with a bucket handy. Fill up the cup, turn off STV#4 to stop the water, and take a temperature measurement. This is you baseline. If you ever get a temp colder than this, stop, and check everything again because something is wrong.

Dump the water out of the cup, turn STV#3 half open, and then open STV#4 to start the water flow again. Let this run into the bucket for a few minutes, then fill up the glass and take a temperature. Dump that out, and take another temperature. If the temp has changed, repeat this until it reads close to the same.

If your temp is somewhere around -10% of the rated maximum temp of your RO/DI unit, then call it good. Better to be safe than replace your filters. My current filter is rated for 77deg maximum, so approximately 70 degrees (77 * 10% = 7 77-7=70). If you are over the maximum temp or are just a degree or two under, you may want to close STV#3 slightly and try again. If you are still way under (15 to 20%), open STV#4 slightly and retest.

I'd suggest retesting the water temp monthly to make any adjustments to seasonal changes in heat. Water in my house right now is much colder than it is in the summer for the cold water line.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I'll be going to Home Depot tonight to buy all the parts to get this setup.

 

[sarduci]

He's a link that is close to what I am talking about.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=4180168

 

[sarduci]

Just finished cleaning up a mess, I bumped my skimmer and dumped water all over the place. Parts to come tomorrow!

 

[sarduci]

Working on resizing the pictures..... Shouldn't have taken them at 7MP....

 

[ronkent]

well i am waiting on the pics to see how it turns out. i have wasted alot af water making RO for the 125.

 

[sarduci]

Working on that (still)..... Time for bed for today(tomorrow, Saturday, err, whatever day), gonna run F&S tomorrow for a sump tank if I can't buy something at Home Depot in addition to building a stand and a run for parts for a counter current skimmer to replace my remora pro which I think is just a bit underpowered.....

Have to rip apart my tv tomorrow to to fix an input also, so busy busy day.....

Anyway, to make a long story short, the back pressure on my faucet causes it to drip from the handles, but they drip when water runs anyway without it hooked up. I have to figure out where I can cut the water to the copper pipes and replace them first before it becomes a perminate attachment. Looks like I'll have to cut the water to the house to do it.....

=?P

 

[sarduci]

Here we go:

All the equipment you'll need..... (and the order you'll use most of them in)

2 garden hose "Y" adapters
2 garden hose to half inch MTP
2 Half inch MTP to Quarter Inch tube
4 straight through John Guest 1/4" to 1/4" valves
1 Tee 1/4" to 1/4" to 1/4"

Start with the garden hose "Y"'s.

Add the two garden hose to 1/2" threaded female pipe, one on each "Y".

Screw the plastic 1/2" threaded male pipe insert to 1/4" tube adapter. This is where the fun begins....

Run a lenght of tube, not very much, just a few inches. Connect the same lenght to both sides.

Plug a 1/4"x1/4" valve into both of the ends.

Connect a small lenght of tube from either one of the valves, and connect a valve to the end of that one line.

At this point in time, you should have one valve and a tee left.

Connect the two valve end with tube to the tee.

And last, connect the last valve to the tee. All done.

 

[sarduci]

Here's how it works.

Screw on both hose adapters, the one with the single valve goes to cold water. Open the top valve in the pic, that's your cold water on/off valve. You should have straight cold water comming out of the valve after the tee.

Here's the trickey part, setting up the hot water.

Open the second valve from the hot water all of the way open. This is your hot water on/off valve. If you need to turn off the hot water to the line, use this one.

You first valve from the hot water is how you adjust the temp of the output water. Open it 50% of the way and take a reading of the water temp. If it's too cold, open the hot water adjuster valve a bit, and take another reading. If it's too hot, close it a bit and take another reading. Once this is set, don't change it unless your cold water temp changes greatly. Use the second valve to turn off the hot water if required.

To turn off the water to your ro/di, turn off the valve after the tee.

Let me know if something isn't clear...

 

[ronkent]

So what was the cost of this contraption cost you to build? I just got my water bill....$130. That is way up from my normal. About $90. I need to cut down on waste water.

 

[iceman5]

i heard that running hot water thru the ro/di unit is bad news i dont know if your going to do it that way. if you do i would call the manufacture to check. just tring to help Andrew

 

[fahz]

Hot water 95-100 will destroy a membrane but membranes are rated in GPD at 77 degrees. You just have to be very careful you don't make a mistake.

Fahz

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6867734#post6867734 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by iceman5
i heard that running hot water thru the ro/di unit is bad news i dont know if your going to do it that way. if you do i would call the manufacture to check. just tring to help Andrew

 

[sarduci]

Urg, I'll have to see if I can find the receipt again. and add it up. It was a bit more expensive than I thought it was going to be, but considering it's a fixed cost, you'll cost average down per gallon over the life (mostly plastic, so like 200 years...).

Temp of the water I'm putting through is like 60 degrees, my unit is rated for peak at 65, up to 75. I've turned the temp on the heater down since I hooked it all up, so my overall output temp is lower.

I'll have to sit down and figure out how much more per hour I'm getting now, I really don't think the permeate pump is helping any. I've moved if from where it was mounted in my room to a different room. (click...............click................click..............click.............)

 

[ronkent]

Well i ended up just ordering a zero waste retrofit kit. plumbs the waste water back toa hot water line with a checkvalve to prevent backflow. Should be here tomorrow or monday so we'll see how it works.

 

[goetzc]

Interesting idea.

Just curious why you opted to get this route instead of tapping into a cold water line and attaching ~25' of line to it which you could put in your sump or mixing bucket to bring up to temp?

Chris

 

[sarduci]

The phrase "check valve" always scares me.....

25' of line barely gets to my tank from my ro/di, I'd need 100'+ of line to do that in my tank. Another bucket might be a good idea, I'm going to do a 45 gallon water change this weekend I think.... (pump+new filters+water mixer should decrease time to about 18 hours for the water)

 

[ronkent]

its actually 2 checkvalves in line about a foot apart. if the first one fails there is a backup. With the new booster pump the system uses i am now up to par making water. all waste is pumped back to the house's water supply and so far no adverse effect. Long term will be the real test. I really dont mind being the guinnea pig for this system. at most i burn out my membrane and have to replace. its only money