R/O waste water

[flowerseller]

I'm wondering what everyone does with all the waste water from your R/O unit.

 

Also, if you had to guess what you collect and save verses what you waste, what would that amount be.

How many gallons do you waste in order to collect 25 gallons?

 

Chip

[GaryL]

mine just goes down the drain, but i guess you could collect it and feed your plants maybe with it. it may be to chemically rich though.

 

good question chip. sorry i got nothing <_<

[steveoutlaw]

Mine goes down the drain as well. From everything I've read it takes 4 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of good RO/DI (1 gallon of good, 3 gallons of waste). I hope to H-E-double hocky sticks that it is not that bad.

[flowerseller]

I am interested in the ratio of save / collect also.

 

I'm thinking of getting a unit and not using just D/I

[rioreef]

I have my unit hooked up as an auto topoff that the solenoid is connected via timer set to go on between 6-7am. The waste line has a tee - half goes down the drain and the other goes to my house sump. From here is is pumped through a drain to three foot deep hole in the backyard that is filled with river rock. This is "up stream" from a tree that needs lots of water. Hopefully, the wonderful Virginia clay soil filters the stuff (about 10' from the tree) enough.

[eddi]

Chp,

 

I have tried to come up with ways to reuse the waste water before, to no avail. Currently, mine goes down the drain as I simply make up too much water to be able to store the "waste". I have a 100 GPD membrane that is just about due to be replaced, but I have never even gotten close to getting that kind of production. My water pressure is low, 40-45 PSI, and I am even bypassing the pressure reducing valve.

 

I tried setting up a MAG 24 in a sink, therefore with no head loss, and have the waste water go back in the sink for reuse, but the pump did not produce enough PSI. I also thought of buying one of those pressure boost pumps, but have not done it.

 

My water bill certainly reflects all the water I waste, but it's not a money issue. I simply hate to waste anything.

[xeon]

I have my waste water plumbed into a sewer pipe in my basement.... so I have no idea how much water I truly waste. I have thought about plumbing it through the wall to a container outside or a flower bed... but it is still in the sewer pipe.

 

I have seen and thought about getting a permeate pump that supposedly would decrease the amount of waste water versus the good water. I'm not really sure if it would work or not(since I'm not sure how it works)... but it does look interesting.

[ireland]

I played with ideas for a few months just to try and not waste so much. I got a 100 gallon rubbermaid container and used it to hold all the waste water, then used that for pretty much anything I could think of except to drink. I used it to do laundry, rinse the skimmer, water plants, flush toilets, you name it. Lot of bucket hauling. I can tell you that, (per the utility bill) I cut my water usage by about a third, but it was a big pain in the neck. (Not to mention that I annoyed the heck out of my girlfriend, can't blame her, you wouldn't believe the nonsense I subject her to). I have since bought a more efficient RO/DI unit, but now I only use a 30 gallon container to catch waste for other usage, and when that is full the rest goes down the drain.

[traveller7]

300gpd commercial system with 200PSI pump is giving me about 1:2 ratio of good to bad water. When cartridges are new, it is almost 1:1.

 

Very little wastewater goes to my freshwater planted tanks.

Very little wastewater goes to the house plants.

 

For the last few years, almost all wastewater is piped direct to my outdoor Koi pond which is 60% plant filter. Using this "flow through water change" in the pond has reduced pond maintenance to harvesting plants and feeding. Only negative is the pond overflow has caused a bit of erosion under my landscaped stairs :o

[HowardofNOVA]

Shoot I fill up gallon containers and drink it. The rest down the pipes unfortunately.

I got a Ebay 6in1 system and get about 4g waste to 1g RO/DI. Alot of waste unfortunately.

[GaryL]

Shoot I fill up gallon containers and drink it. The rest down the pipes unfortunately.

33355[/snapback]

 

wow howard let me know when that kidney stone passes..... you crack me up dude B)

[Grav]

I gotta back up Howard on this one, I've never read / seen anything to suggest that the "waste" water from an RO unit is bad to drink.

 

1. At a 4-to-1 ration waste to RO, worst case senario is the "bad stuff" from 5 gallons of watter is now in 4 gallons of watter. If this is going to give you a kidney stone in 4 years, you would have gotten one in 5 years anyway.

2. All the water, into your RO passes through 1 or 2 carbon filters before getting to the RO chamber... removing the greatest amount of sediment and other crud.

3. I have TDS tested my waste water and it was lower than tap water.

 

That said, mine goes down the drain too.

[flowerseller]

Why can't you collect the waste water and recirculate it back thru your R/O?

The waste water is merely blowby water anyway so.. so what if it gets recirculated back into the unit with a powerhead?

These units send excess water that can't be forced thru the membrane out so it doesn't get so high a backpressure right? Pretty soon you'll need to add water to the waste can to recirculate into the R/O unit.

Might I be on to something?

One can collects good water and one waste. The waste recircs into the R/O and soon you have none in the waste so you hook back up to the water line.

Does this make sense or am I all wet?

[Guest mikesroth]

I saw this on RC once, and I believe the reason you don't do that is because you end up making the RO/DI work harder and wear out quicker. If you do a search up on there, I think you can find all sorts of information about it.

[Grav]

Interesting idea chip, but it seems after a while all the "crud" ends up re-circulating back around all building up to an infinate level.

 

If half the waste water went back in.... then maybe...

[flowerseller]

Crud, you have crud in your water?

:D

The water will have passed through several stages (sediment - carbon -carbon) before hitting the membrane and being discarded under pressure. If it is then passed back again thru the carbon and sediment filters for a second chance at the membrane, it shouldn't do anything to them since it was already done the first time right?

Just a free ride thru with no more use on the "pre" filters all with the hopes of a ride thru the membrane or being yet again discarded back into the recirulation loop if you will.

 

Lee? Your opinions on this please.

[Lee Stearns]

hey this is one I am staying out of except to chuckle at Howard and his heading for early kdney stones! I drink the RO/DI side myself. I do not think Grav has a clue that if there is greater built up stuff, then you might be more sucetible to kidney stiones- earlier than later. Harumph- His TDS meter says is actually less in his waste water than his incoming tap then maybe we are doing something good- That being siad, we live in the kidney stone belt- with a fair amount of calcium in the water already. Now philisophically I do not see my waste water going down the sewer as waste- I would divert it to the lawn in a minute during a dry spell, which would be a fairly simple matter of adding a bit of line to the discharge and running it out the window near by- But in the bigger picture energy and matter are neither created nor destroyed- You are sending to the waste treatment and eventually to the ground water , rivers, etc. cleaner water than is coming into your pipe to begin with, The sediment and carbon filters take out the cloramide and other stuff- Sooo- reefers are helping clean up the world- How is that for spin---

[Grav]

Lee is right, I had no clue we are in the Kiney Stiones belt.

 

I'm sticking by my assesment of 5 years worth of "bad stuff" in 4 years.

 

Mine still goes down the drain.