RO system recommendations?

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Got it.
On the end of the 100 ft run, where the pressure tank and outlet gets located, would I keep all associated fittings in the 3/8" size or just put a 1/4 to 3/8 union on both ends of the 100 ft run and run all 1/4" fittings?

I'd jump down to 1/4" but that is not critical

 

[KevinP]

That tank is not certified for drinking water.

Crap!
Not all HDPE containers are created equally huh?
Search continues...

 

[beren]

RO wastes a lot of water so for a similar price or less you could get an electric distiller. Some areas are heavily affected by drought and it makes a difference.

 

[JAReeves]

Living in SoCal, water waste is a huge issue. I pipe my waste water into the rain barrels in the backyard, which then is used to water the plants. I do the same with the cooling water going through my plate chiller. I had to buy about $10.00 worth of extra tubing to go the distance. @Buckeye_Hydro is definitely a great vendor to work with and helped me figure out what was wrong with my house water pressure so that we would get the most out of the system.

 

[Deadalus]

Living in SoCal, water waste is a huge issue. I pipe my waste water into the rain barrels in the backyard, which then is used to water the plants. I do the same with the cooling water going through my plate chiller. I had to buy about $10.00 worth of extra tubing to go the distance. @Buckeye_Hydro is definitely a great vendor to work with and helped me figure out what was wrong with my house water pressure so that we would get the most out of the system.

I've been doing this too I have some containers handy for lower volumes but I just ordered a bulkhead ptc fitting so I don't have to unscrew the big cap on my IBC tote. Can't think of much to do with it though in the wintertime. Maybe get a smaller tank for inside and hook it up to the washer.

 

[Bobby_M]

Crap!
Not all HDPE containers are created equally huh?
Search continues...

If it's not, then I guess I don't understand what "Meets FDA standards" means.

 

[Bobby_M]

RO wastes a lot of water so for a similar price or less you could get an electric distiller. Some areas are heavily affected by drought and it makes a difference.

"Waste" is a bit of a loaded word. It would be a waste to run it down the drain but if you repurpose it for other activities that would otherwise use water, it's not bad. You can wash dishes and clothes with it. Note that distilling water not only spends up electricity, which in many cases is produced by burning coal or natural gas, but it also needs a source of cooling for the condensing which comes from either tap water or ice (see above).

 

[beren]

"Waste" is a bit of a loaded word. It would be a waste to run it down the drain but if you repurpose it for other activities that would otherwise use water, it's not bad. You can wash dishes and clothes with it. Note that distilling water not only spends up electricity, which in many cases is produced by burning coal or natural gas, but it also needs a source of cooling for the condensing which comes from either tap water or ice (see above).

Or from an electric fan, like mine has. I wasn’t talking about a pot still. Sure some electricity is dirty some is from solar or wind. If you’re in an area with severe drought you’re probably not watering your plants very often nor would I want a barrel full of old water to use for a washing dishes clean, and plumbing it for a washer? Really? Neither solution is perfect but for total cost per gallon when I looked distillation was far cheaper. Single purchase and no filters to ever buy vs an expensive setup, expensive filters, and 20% efficiently or worse (1gal ro with 4gal waste). My old distiller uses 580w to distill 1gal in about 5h. Less if I use hot tap water. There’s downsides to each method and hidden costs whether it’s environmental or labor or consumables.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

If it's not, then I guess I don't understand what "Meets FDA standards" means.

If an item says it meets FDA standards, it is acceptable for any food type materials. To be safe for water (and food), it would need to meet NSF standards.

NSF stands for National Sanitation Foundation. If NSF rated it means it has passed some standard or test procedure and is certified for use in a residential or commercial project for contact with potable water.

Russ

 

[day_trippr]

My old distiller uses 580w to distill 1gal in about 5h.

At 100 hours and 58 kilowatts ($8.12 here) I don't see such a device as a solution for brewing liquor for my 10 gallon batches.
A total non-starter unless one is brewing single gallon batches, imo...

 

[Deadalus]

Or from an electric fan, like mine has. I wasn’t talking about a pot still. Sure some electricity is dirty some is from solar or wind. If you’re in an area with severe drought you’re probably not watering your plants very often nor would I want a barrel full of old water to use for a washing dishes clean, and plumbing it for a washer? Really? Neither solution is perfect but for total cost per gallon when I looked distillation was far cheaper. Single purchase and no filters to ever buy vs an expensive setup, expensive filters, and 20% efficiently or worse (1gal ro with 4gal waste). My old distiller uses 580w to distill 1gal in about 5h. Less if I use hot tap water. There’s downsides to each method and hidden costs whether it’s environmental or labor or consumables.

As far as fishing lines through a wall, 1/4" is about as easy as it gets, it's on the level of speaker wire being thin and flexible. It's more a matter of where your RO system is and where it is needed. A storage tank might be something of a space problem, but you have incoming water pressure to help position the tank where it might fit. Hooking it up would be easy too. Best bet might be to run it to a toilet, that'll use it up rather fast and could be easier to keep separate from the main line where it might be illegal to connect without precautions. All the substances in the concentrate are already in the water but municipalities might get testy.

Using hot top water is using energy, not sure if your less is meant for time. Conceivably your water heater might use less energy than the distiller but if you have a traditional tank water heater, probably not.

 

[Bobby_M]

Or from an electric fan, like mine has. I wasn’t talking about a pot still. Sure some electricity is dirty some is from solar or wind. If you’re in an area with severe drought you’re probably not watering your plants very often nor would I want a barrel full of old water to use for a washing dishes clean, and plumbing it for a washer? Really? Neither solution is perfect but for total cost per gallon when I looked distillation was far cheaper. Single purchase and no filters to ever buy vs an expensive setup, expensive filters, and 20% efficiently or worse (1gal ro with 4gal waste). My old distiller uses 580w to distill 1gal in about 5h. Less if I use hot tap water. There’s downsides to each method and hidden costs whether it’s environmental or labor or consumables.

$100 RO system I linked to comes with extra filters and if the system is only being used for brewing, you'll only end up replacing the prefilters about once per year ($15), if that and about 3 years on the membrane ($25). Even running my system on low well pressure (45psi) I was getting 1 gallon of RO for 3 gallons of waste and I tightened that up with a booster pump (now only 2.25g of waste).

The other factor is that I use RO for drinking, for irons, for the fridge ice maker, for topping off the aquarium.

 

[Deadalus]

As far as fishing lines through a wall, 1/4" is about as easy as it gets, it's on the level of speaker wire being thin and flexible. It's more a matter of where your RO system is and where it is needed. A storage tank might be something of a space problem, but you have incoming water pressure to help position the tank where it might fit. Hooking it up would be easy too. Best bet might be to run it to a toilet, that'll use it up rather fast and could be easier to keep separate from the main line where it might be illegal to connect without precautions. All the substances in the concentrate are already in the water but municipalities might get testy.

Using hot top water is using energy, not sure if your less is meant for time. Conceivably your water heater might use less energy than the distiller but if you have a traditional tank water heater, probably not.

...and before somebody rips a huge hole in their second+ floor, the floor would need to support ~8lbs x number of gallons for the tank. Gravity would be helpful though for dispensing, otherwise you might need a pump.

 

[d40dave]

RO wastes a lot of water so for a similar price or less you could get an electric distiller. Some areas are heavily affected by drought and it makes a difference.for water T

I did a measurement a few weeks ago. For every gallon of RO I get about 2.25 gallons of waste. For what I pay for water that amounts to about 25 cents per batch of waste (16 gallons).

 

[JAReeves]

Cost effective, and as I have mentioned here and in other posts, for those of us that live in water-wise areas, repurposing the waste water from an RO/cooling system is a basic good.

 

[beren]

At 100 hours and 58 kilowatts ($8.12 here) I don't see such a device as a solution for brewing liquor for my 10 gallon batches.
A total non-starter unless one is brewing single gallon batches, imo...

I have a 99% efficient tankless water heater, and I use 5gal water jugs to dump the distilled water into. I don't brew as often as I'd like, but I started to distill the water at my office and can get 15 gal/week in cooler weather when the added heat in the room is welcome. The tap water there is gross so clean water is even better.

When I looked at RO systems last year it seemed the cheapest was like $225. $100 is not a bad price.

 

[moto125]

Does the system that Bobby linked removed chloramines? It's my understanding that having 2 carbon pre-filters would remove chloramines due to the increased contact time.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

It does not come with the filters anyone would recommend for chloramines.

 

[Bobby_M]

Does the system that Bobby linked removed chloramines? It's my understanding that having 2 carbon pre-filters would remove chloramines due to the increased contact time.

Most 4-5 stage RO systems ship with one sediment, one GAC and one Carbon Block. At the flow rates of residential membranes, it looks like that's enough standard activated carbon to do the job but you can augment that in a few ways.

Swap out the sediment filter for another GAC to increase total carbon.
Swap out the middle one for a Aries AF-10-1053 Catalytic Carbon Filter
Do neither and put a tiny pinch of Potassium Metabisulfite in the water afterwards.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Standard GAC is a carryover from the old days and if a new system comes with a GAC filter I'd look to another vendor. GAC is included because it is very inexpensive for the vendor and users don't know any better. CGAC is a different story. But you're better off going with two carbon blocks, one or more specifically made for chloramines: Chloraguard Chloramine Carbon Block - Buckeye Hydro

 

[VirginiaHops1]

All pressurized RO storage tanks tend to result in the taste and odor of the plastic bladder in the tank showing up in the water. Even very small tanks. This is easy to address however with a simple taste and odor filter between the tank and the outlet.

I bought an APEC system a couple years ago with small pressurized tank and haven't noticed this at all. My wife is super anal and made me use the RO filter for our sparkling water, so she almost definitely would've noticed if some weird off-flavor was coming through.

 

[day_trippr]

I bet your APEC system has a snap-on charcoal filter atop the membrane cartridge plumbed between tank and output port.
Mine does...

Cheers!

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I bet your APEC system has a snap-on charcoal filter atop the membrane cartridge plumbed between tank and output port.
Mine does...

Cheers!

Hmm, that might be the case. There are quite a few filters the lines are running through before heading to the tank

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

I bet your APEC system has a snap-on charcoal filter atop the membrane cartridge plumbed between tank and output port.
Mine does...

Cheers!

Yep - the apec systems I'm aware of have just that.
https://www.buckeyehydro.com/inline-taste-and-odor-filter/

 

[Bobby_M]

I bought an APEC system a couple years ago with small pressurized tank and haven't noticed this at all. My wife is super anal and made me use the RO filter for our sparkling water, so she almost definitely would've noticed if some weird off-flavor was coming through.

There seems to be a certain sized tank where the bladder off flavor and aroma starts becoming an issue. I have two systems with small 2 gallon tanks and while I ran the output back through the carbon filter the system came with initially, I never replaced it and just bypassed. No issues. I did get at metal shell 20 gallon pressure tank that I flushed about 20 times and still had a horrendous plastic/solvent aroma so I basically stopped using it.