New RO system, a question or two.

[samboco]

Hi everybody,

Have just bought a 75gpd RO system and have an idea how i would like to set it up but not sure if it'll work this way or not.

At present in a cupboard in the kitchen I have a filter plumbed in which feeds water to the fridge. What i would like to do is tap into this plumbing (before the fridge filter) to set up my RO system. I then want to feed the output from the RO system through the floor and run it under the floorboards across the house to the living room (about 15-20 metres) and bring it up through the floor so I can feed the RO water straight into the tank.

I wonder has anybody tried this sort of thing? was it successful?

The one problem I suspect might be that there wouldn't be enough pressure to bring the water up and into the tank but as i have never used a RO system I have no idea what sort of pressure the filtered water comes out.

Also I change approx 50L at a time when doing a water change, how long does this usually in reality take? And also is there anyway that the speed of out put can be varied or does it all just depend on the water pressure going in?

Any answers to these queries or plain old top tips would be most appreciated.

cheers

 

[hinch]

11.8 litres per hour so you're looking at about 4.5-5 hours to refill your tank after change from a 75gpd ro unit. however you may get less than 75 gpd through the system if you're unput pressure is quite low you may need a booster input pump.

output will always be dependant on input pressure.

the ideal solution for you would be to have a nice big barrel filter water into that (can leave it running 24/7 near enough just turn it off say at night when its colder as cold will reduce the filtration rate too - as will too much heat).
then when it comes water change time you can pump it out of the barrel into the tank so you can fill the tank at a much faster speed.

 

[foxfish]

I don't the reason for you wanting to use RO water but, I run a feed to my tank using 6mm RO tube straight from the mains.
The feed goes to a auto top up valve & runs from the kitchen up into the loft & back down to the lounge tank, works very well with plenty of pressure but obviously limited volume.
I certainly would not rely of the 6mm tube to refill after a water change as it really would take a long time!

 

[ian_m]

I have seen people who have piped their RO water into the garage to a large drum with float ball valve. This can be quite easy to do as due to low flow rates can be done in "easy put through walls/under floors etc" 6mm (or 1/4 inch) piping.

Night before water change, turn on RO water, put heater in barrel (and RO salts) and leave on all night.

Done by morning.

Pump to tank, job done.

If I were doing this I would also get a RO input cut off valve. You can get valves that will cut off the input to RO unit when the output stops flowing or else when you barrel is full, say during the night, you will still be wasting water.

Here is a shut off valve.
http://www.ro-man.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=23&product_id=216

Here is a float switch to put in your water barrel.
http://www.ro-man.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=float&product_id=276

Remember a good RO unit may use 4 litres (or more) of water for each litre of RO water produced.