Ro

[mithrohir]

Hello guys, I recently installed an RO system to standardize my water, and then I add minerals to suit my style profile. So far it's worked great. However, my filter operates at 1:4 efficiency: 1 gallon of RO water for 4 gallons of waste water. My question is, can use this waste water for example for cooling with my plate chiller? Any ideas, besides cleaning, on what else I could use it for?

 

[Konadog]

You can use it for anything! It's just water with a little higher mineral content.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

It's not water. It's called brine. It's very high in salt. It will clog things up over time.

 

[KPBrews]

My RO system included lots of ideas for redirected the brine (rejected) water, along with the standard tap into the drain line. Many people redirect it into a rain barrel to water with, for instance. As was noted above, at and mineral content is higher than the normal stuff coming from your pipe, but it can still be very useful to capture it rather than dumping it down the drain.

 

[Konadog]

It's not water. It's called brine. It's very high in salt. It will clog things up over time.

What! I've had an RO/DI system for over 15 years and never had a problem.

Found this for you:
"The discharge water from an RO system is only slightly less pure than the source water entering the filter. The concentration of minerals in the discharge water is often less than 25% greater than the source water; well within safe drinking water standards and certainly suitable for irrigation or other alternate reuse applications."

An RO system removes ALL minerals (measured in TDS), not just salts. The concentration really depends on how many gallons of waste per gallons of RO. Most systems we can purchase range from 3/1 to 10/1 waste to RO water.

My waste is plumbed to a 55 gallon drum, that overflows to fruit trees. I use the water to water plants with, but know people that use it to fill their pools, washing machines, water buckets, etc...

 

[VT-NAV]

It's not water. It's called brine. It's very high in salt. It will clog things up over time.

It is called brine, but if the water input is fresh, the wastewater is not significantly salty/impure enough to cause problems. Would be a different story if your input was seawater.

Recycle the water however you see fit. Just be aware it will be slightly 'harder' than tap water.

 

[Hackwood]

I've been in the business for almost 20 years and never heard of the reject water from an RO being called brine. Now, the salty mixture in your salt tank/brine tank connected to your water softener, yes, that is called brine. Like stated above if your source was to be ocean water I could see calling the waste water brine, but still not really.

Like stated, run the waste water to a barrel or out to plants and get use out of it. Or do like most and let it go to drain.

 

[KPBrews]

What! I've had an RO/DI system for over 15 years and never had a problem.

Found this for you:
"The discharge water from an RO system is only slightly less pure than the source water entering the filter. The concentration of minerals in the discharge water is often less than 25% greater than the source water; well within safe drinking water standards and certainly suitable for irrigation or other alternate reuse applications."

An RO system removes ALL minerals (measured in TDS), not just salts. The concentration really depends on how many gallons of waste per gallons of RO. Most systems we can purchase range from 3/1 to 10/1 waste to RO water.

My waste is plumbed to a 55 gallon drum, that overflows to fruit trees. I use the water to water plants with, but know people that use it to fill their pools, washing machines, water buckets, etc...

Well, not ALL minerals, but most of them. My APEC 5 stage RO systems is among the better systems, and it brings my LA tap water (nearly 400 TDS) down to under 30, but not to zero.

But otherwise, yeah. I wouldn't drink the rejected water (that's all the stuff I was trying to avoid in the first place!), but it should be fine for nearly anything else. GCPHomeBrew was right in that it's more likely to clog or scale than regular water, but the increased hazard is probably so low as to be immeasurable, given the tiny volume of RO brine vs normal water flowing through those pipes.

 

[brhenrio]

Most ro systems remove ~95-99% of dissolved solids but do NOT produce pure water. The waste water would be fine to run coolers with but be aware if the source water is already hard, you will run the risk of having deposits on exchange surfaces.