RO Water Filters

[GBryant890]

I've got a question regarding the RO units. If I end up using many gallons of water to make one gallon of RO water. Can I save some water and attach the dirty water outflow of the unit to the same source as the inflow? If the water is forced past the filter at pressure wouldn't I get more pressure and save water as well? I might be completely wrong here but I guess I don't know exactly how these things work.

 

[jbpig]

I guess you could but you would be putting NASTY water thru your RO, thus shortening the life of the filters greatly. HTH

 

[taikonaut]

Yes, jbpig is right.

However, there is some merit to your idea, since commerical RO use pressure pump to get better performance with less waste. However, these commerical units cost around $50K, and most reefer just relies on the line pressure (<100PSI) to do the work.

You can save the waste water for other tasks... for example, I save them to water my lawn, and have not need to turn on my sprinkler in past three years.

 

[Anonymous]

How do you use it to water your lawn? - Do you use a massive storage tank or do you just do that during the warmer months?

I suppose I could water my "lawn" right now with it and give the kids a skating rink to ice skate on.... :wink:

Seriously though, what do you do? - Just run the waste line out to a spot in the yard and move it around from time to time?

 

[taikonaut]

In my yards, there are many empty tanks. Currently, I used 100 gal tank to hold water (I have 7 of them, two got stolen...never mind, another stories..). Basically, drain the RO brine water to the tank, which has a spigot/valve on it to drain when water is needed. In So. Cal., many people use drip watering technique in the yard, and this works well. You can use plastic drum, or any container, but I affaid in Kalamazoo, MI it is not a good idea due to the busting potential of frozen temperature.

 

[Anonymous]

Ya, time for me to move then..

Bet those are interesting other stories, know what you mean too, I have them as well.

Think I'll just wait until summer, otherwise let the wastewater plant enjoy the extra load.

 

[taikonaut]

(You can make a huge ice "sculpture" (ice pillar) by dripping the brine over a spot in your yard... it will still have ice melting in July if you let it grow big enough... )