• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

RO/DI

MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Hey guys ... looking for opinions on a good RO/DI for under $200. Anyone who is happy or unhappy with thiers or anyone who just has an idea of a good one i'd like to hear what you think. thanks in advance.
 
C

chrowski

A big seller on ebay is a company called aquasafe the whole 125GPD unit costs approx. $140 after shipping. This sounds great but it's a straight up case of 'you get what you pay for'. It purifies water just fine, but my product to waste ratio is 1:8 in the summer and even worse than that in the winter. And if the waste water amounts don't get to you, it'll be the fact that it takes me about an hour to make each gallon of water!! Luckily I downsized my tank so I don't need to make as much water anymore, but the next time I buy an RO/DI unit it will have to be one of those no-waste water systems about 1/3 more expensive to buy but would save so much time...the only catch being that I hear people have trouble finding replacement filters for those. Just my opinion on the matter...

--tom
 
D

DaveK

Even though they are more expensive, I tend to favor the brand name RO/DI units like SpectraPure. That being said, most RO/DI units are similar and can easily be upgraded. There is nothing wrong with getting the lowest cost decent unit, and seeing how it works. Then upgrade as needed.

Just about any decent unit will be a vast improvement in the basic water you are using.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
NJRC is doing a group buy for July from Air Water Ice. We've gotten as high as 30% in the past, though I've heard their GB policies have changed some. We'll have to look into it.

Our RO/DI is from a place on ebay called Fitler Direct (from Cali, not Canada). 100$ and it still works flawlessly 2.5 years later.
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Thanks everyone ... I ended up ordering the same one as phyl and mott off ebay ... thanks again... One more question in a new thread about a return pump. Thanks.
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
NapoliNewJersey said:
Thanks everyone ... I ended up ordering the same one as phyl and mott off ebay ... thanks again... One more question in a new thread about a return pump. Thanks.
Click to expand...

HA!

I just bit the bullet and bought the same unit.

I've been buying my water from Eagle Reefs for a few months now. He's really a nice guy with a great shop, but it seems like I'm spending ~$50 a month on water...so this will be a nice change.

:)
 
T

Talonstorm

FWIW, I got my RO/DI unit from Buckeye Field Supply http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com. They have great customer service and the unit is excellent (if only my new house had decent water pressure I wouldn't need a booster pump). When I lived in Somerset, NJ (closer to North Brunswick), my before tds reading was 352, my after was 0. In my current location the before is 76, the after is 0 (even with my horrible water pressure). My filter also has an adjustment to change the ratio of permeate to waste water (since it will be different based on temp of the water).

Tina
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

The one i ended up getting from Filter Direct worked out pretty good.

I forgot to say thank you to Phyl and Mott... Thank You.

It fills a 32gallon Garbage Can in about 5 hours which is great for me.

I haven't even tested my regular water but the new water is great RO/DI.
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
I gotta say...I don't quite understand the whole wastewater thing, but i'm guessing it'll be self evident once i receive and hook up my unit.
 
J

jazzsam

Talonstorm said:
FWIW, I got my RO/DI unit from Buckeye Field Supply http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com. They have great customer service and the unit is excellent (if only my new house had decent water pressure I wouldn't need a booster pump). When I lived in Somerset, NJ (closer to North Brunswick), my before tds reading was 352, my after was 0. In my current location the before is 76, the after is 0 (even with my horrible water pressure). My filter also has an adjustment to change the ratio of permeate to waste water (since it will be different based on temp of the water).

Tina
Click to expand...

Well, I live and Somerset now and never tested my TDS so that is good info for me to have. Thanks!
 
M

mladencovic

Subliminal said:
I gotta say...I don't quite understand the whole wastewater thing, but i'm guessing it'll be self evident once i receive and hook up my unit.
Click to expand...

It is based on the principles that osmosis works on. Basically on the unpurified side of the osmotic membrane you create positive pressure (pressure from the water supply line). That allows molecules of water to move towards the lower pressure (purified) side, until the concentration of the solvents (all those chemicals that you want to remove and that are left on the unpurified side of membrane) becomes high enough, so that osmotic pressure (water molecules trying to go from low concentration solution into high concentration solution) becomes equal to your household water pressure. By flushing down the drain those solvents that are left on the impure side, you are decreasing the osmotic pressure so that the water can continue flowing across the membrane. That is why it is called REVERSE osmosis - you create and maintain pressure on the unpurified side that can overcome the osmotic pressure.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Where are those nerd goggles when you need 'em!? LOL.

Thanks for the explanation, Mladen. Not sure that I'd go so far to research it myself, but it it interesting to gain a little insight into the process.
 
M

mladencovic

Subliminal said:
So, does this mean I need to have 2 tubs for water: 1 for the filtered, and one that I toss?
Click to expand...
2 pipes lead out. One gives you purified water, and you can either hook it into some kind of tank (they usually sell them in the RO kits) or you could connect it to the faucet or you could drain it your own container (in which case you might want to put a top-off valve to prevent the flooding). The other pipe leads out unpurified water and you hook it into your drain (or as some have done into your house's sump).

So when they talk about the 1:3 efficiency of RO unit, that means that for each gallon of pure water produced from one pipe, 3 gallon have to be drained and wasted from the other pipe.
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
Roger that.

Well, luckily, we just redid some of our drain plumbing in the house, and we used LOTS of access ports in the lines, so I think I'll just drill a pvc cap and have this dump into the sewer.

See...learn something new every day!

Thanks for the info!
 
H

hurtback

so, is that the way ro/di units work---1 gal of filtered water and 3 gals of waste water?---thats alot of waste water---i use a filter unit i got from foster/smith---i think its like $50-$60 for 3 filters--can be used to filter about 125-150 gal of water for each filter, and no waste water--does it make sence to get and use a ro/di unit and waste that much water!!!!
just asking a question
steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top