RO Water Costs

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Imburr

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In another thread I was recently commenting on having 2 by 10 to 15 1 gallon jugs of distilled water and what a pain it was and also at a dollar a pop it wasn't exactly cheap for water. Someone commented to go get the Primo water jugs at Walmart. So I went to check out the pricing and it ends up being more expensive then buy one gallon jugs. Any thoughts and opinions? Am I may be looking at the wrong thing?
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I started doing this through our local Smiths grocery store. I just take the 5 gallon jugs back to Smiths and fill them up at .41 cents per gallon.
 
In another thread I was recently commenting on having 2 by 10 to 15 1 gallon jugs of distilled water and what a pain it was and also at a dollar a pop it wasn't exactly cheap for water. Someone commented to go get the Primo water jugs at Walmart. So I went to check out the pricing and it ends up being more expensive then buy one gallon jugs. Any thoughts and opinions? Am I may be looking at the wrong thing?View attachment 552158
Those are the jugs that you exchange that have already been filled. I believe that the comment was regarding the "fill-yourself" water machine that most Walmarts have in them. It is a machine about the size of a refrigerator that basically has a faucet that dispenses RO water (not distilled) into jugs you provide. I bought 5 gallon plastic water cooler jugs from Walmart in the hardware area near where they sell the water coolers.

It doesn't matter what container you refill, it costs $0.37 per gallon. So individual gallons, 3 gallon jugs, or 5 gallon jugs can be used.
 
King Soopers (Kroger) has it for $0.39/gal.

Have you checked Harris Teeter? Wonder what their price is.

I wouldnt waste much time driving or thinking about it for a few bucks though.
 
.25 a gallon at the machines around my area. I take two 5 gallon .Mil water cans (plastic) and fill them both.
 
Once you buy the jugs (you can buy the 5 gallon jugs empty) you can fill them up at the machine in the store. Also you can see if there are any "Glacier" R/O water machines in your area. Those machines are great also if you find one that is serviced every month and then it costs $1.00 to $1.25 for five gallons.

John
 
Consider buying a RODI system and you'll have all the water you need, without having to lug around heavy containers. It'll probably pay for itself in a year or two.

http://www.buckeyehydro.com/rodi-systems/

Agreed. Between brewing and reef keeping, mine paid for itself rather quickly. If you can be patient enough (50 gallons per day), the RO Buddie starts at $70 on Amazon and will filter your water to 0 TDS. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com is also currently running a 10% discount on all their RO/DI options as well (4 stage starts at around $120).
 
Agreed. Between brewing and reef keeping, mine paid for itself rather quickly. If you can be patient enough (50 gallons per day), the RO Buddie starts at $70 on Amazon and will filter your water to 0 TDS. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com is also currently running a 10% discount on all their RO/DI options as well (4 stage starts at around $120).

I don’t keep a reef but still got the 150 Gal per Day RO system from bulk reef supply as well. I too waited for a sale. You don’t need the 4 stage according to Martin. DI is just excessive filtering. I get around 9-13 TDS which is well below any level of concern for brewing. Highly recommend it. Good luck.
 
The 'RO Buddie' system is junk. Don't bother with it.

You also don't need 'RO/DI'. All you need is Reverse Osmosis water, the deionization step is unnecessary for brewing water. RO/DI is useful for folks with aquariums so they can top off tanks without altering the mineral content (however minutely) over time.
 
Invest in a TDS meter to check that water. Not all of the machines are maintained properly and a quick test with a TDS meter will help determine if the membrane is working properly.
 
Weird. We literally have machines or stores on about every street corner here in phx cause our water is super hard and nasty. The going rate seems to be $1 for a 5 gallon fill or 0.25 per single gallon. That said I have an RO system from Amazon that should be delivered today cause I’m sick of lugging jugs back in forth for drinking water and my brewing water.
 
This exchange program is the same one I have at the Wal-Mart near me. They don't have a fill up yer own area. I was interested in moving to RO myself and I believe an RO system in my apartment isn't feasible
 
The Primo water is RO, BUT it has minerals added back for "taste". You may need to take that into account as you build you water profile.

Trout
 
I use a portable RO system that isn't mounted. I take it out once a week to fill my 5 gal water bottle for daily use. I usually brew every two-three weeks so it gets used for that as well. Most come with a kitchen faucet hookup (depending which type faucet you have). I don't have the old style faucets so I hook mine up outside.

There are portable RO systems on Ebay that are $100 or less. Not sure of the quality but it would be a start.

Buckeye Hydro as well as Bulk Reef Supply have RO systems for around $150, which is what I paid for mine.
 
Kitchen faucet hookup is really not ideal... for apartment an undersink shut off valve is a better choice. We can talk more about that if you'd like.

If you're going to buy an RO system - why not use it daily rather than spending $ to buy bottled water at the store? Why not make your coffee with RO - you'll taste a major difference? Ice tea? same thing. If you take this approach, you'll find you end up using an RO system daily. Our Residential RO System would be a good way to go, as would be our Premium RO System. Or even a hybrid of the two. We make the systems from scratch so customization to meet your particular situation is quick, easy, and low cost.
https://www.buckeyehydro.com/residential-ro-system/
https://www.buckeyehydro.com/premium-ro-systems/

Russ
 
I have delivered Deer Park bottles for drinking because I like the taste. I do the RO water @ WalMart for .39 / gal. I take my 5 & 3 gal better bottles in with the bright orange carboy caps. Seems to work well.
 
Do you have access to a utility sink? You could get an RO system, hook it up to the faucet, collect what you need in jugs, and take down the system. Nothing hard-plumbed.

I set up mine in my laundry room.

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Do you have access to a utility sink?
Unfortunately not. My situation is that i live in an apartment in a house that was built in 1800. The land lords live on the first floor, I am in one of two apartments on the second floor. We don't even have on site laundry. I just have a kitchen sink and a bathroom sink. Everyone is providing great ideas and i would implement them if i had a house of my own.
Right now I am just carbon filtering my brew water and adjusting water profile based on water inputs from the town water we are on. Even that is an issue because the town draws water from multiple sources so the water report is changing constantly and their website doesn't always have updates.
This is why when I see a thread like this it got me thinking that the Wal-Mart near my house may have a refill station but they don't, they just have the exchange option which can get expensive.
I did do some research yesterday and there may be a refill station about a 15 mile round trip from my house. I'm going to check that this weekend.
 
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