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Save Water RO Owners!

These pictures show my RO unit and what I did to capture all the "waste" water. We use it to water our regular plants.

5 gallons of RO water produce almost 30 gallons of "waste" so the catch is significant. It is work, but I'm saving resources! Just think. With the stock RO system: if you used 100 gallons of RO water, you're wasting around 500 gallons of regular water! That's 600 gallons to produce 100 gallons of usable water. If you figure out how to save your waste water...even feeding a pond. You could have a great pond with all the water! There's no chlorine so it's probably safe for the fish.

Here goes. First there was the box:

The+box.JPG


So I installed the main unit:

Mounted+Unit.JPG


Then there was the tricky part. We have this adjoining cabinet, so I ran the line there. I used a metal detector to locate all the plumbing. then aimed and drilled a 1" hole to the outdoors. I ruined the hole saw going through the stucco but had the hole. I placed a 1/2" pipe through the gap in the wall, caulked it on the outside part, and used the glue gun on the cabinet. I had a little leak when I turned the unit on so it's a bit wet in the picture:

Intermediate+cabinet.JPG


Here's what it looked like going out of the house and into the Brute:

Connection+to+wall.JPG


Oh, I made that nifty bucket clip too. Here is the water pouring in:

Fill+her+up_.JPG



In conclusion, a little labor enabled us to save a great amount of water. We don't use the hose anymore! The trashcan is great for hand washing and whenever you need a large amount of water fast.
 
I already do this too! Mine is not an under the sink unit though and I have it set up outside. I can move it to where ever I want. Very similar in look to your unit. My unit seams to be quit a bit more efficent though. I can run about 10 gallons of RO water to 30 gals waste. It will improve slightly when using luke warm water.

Also have you tested the waste water? I use mine on plants too but my tap water is under 100PPM before RO. Some areas water quality my not let you use the waste water, as it will lead to toxic build up and kill plants. I know in the bay area you can have water that is 300-400PPM out the tap. As with anything you should test it before making the full leap, and if you can use your waste water I urge you to do so.
 
I only use my waste water to flush toilets....it's nearly 300ppm and I don't feel comfortable watering anything with it.
 
GREAT Job!

My tap water is like 506 ppm. The waste water is around 600.

Exo, not comfortable watering with 300 ppms? Ha! I do double that!

Anyway, I'm just excited that others are doing the same. Seemed such a waste.

I already do this too! Mine is not an under the sink unit though and I have it set up outside. I can move it to where ever I want. Very similar in look to your unit. My unit seams to be quit a bit more efficent though. I can run about 10 gallons of RO water to 30 gals waste. It will improve slightly when using luke warm water.

Also have you tested the waste water? I use mine on plants too but my tap water is under 100PPM before RO. Some areas water quality my not let you use the waste water, as it will lead to toxic build up and kill plants. I know in the bay area you can have water that is 300-400PPM out the tap. As with anything you should test it before making the full leap, and if you can use your waste water I urge you to do so.
 
my water right out of the tap is 50 to 60 ppm, so I water all my orchids with it and it seems to have no adverse effects on them, was thinking of getting a RO unit, do you think its necessary ? I use rain water on my cps, but at times it would be nice to just turn on the faucet and go.
 
On my greenhouses I have 60ft of 3/8" hose that I move around the yard to water the grass and trees. =) That said, I also adjust my brine rate down to approx 3.5:1-- the membranes I use seem to take it just fine, the ones I'm using right now are a couple years old and still doing great jobs.

Andrew
 
LOL I beat you all! My water comes out at 500-600ppm from the tap! My RO unit brings it down to 3-4ppm, and I don't even want to know about the waste-water :-))
 
yayyyy for 24ppm tap water.....nuff said
 
Probably not, as long as you top water all the time and still use your rainwater. In fact, you could mix rainwater and tapwater and get water that is lower in TDS than your tap! I would do that if I were you.

my water right out of the tap is 50 to 60 ppm, so I water all my orchids with it and it seems to have no adverse effects on them, was thinking of getting a RO unit, do you think its necessary ? I use rain water on my cps, but at times it would be nice to just turn on the faucet and go.


---------- Post added at 01:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:09 PM ----------

yayyyy for 24ppm tap water.....nuff said

:drool:

---------- Post added at 01:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:09 PM ----------

On my greenhouses I have 60ft of 3/8" hose that I move around the yard to water the grass and trees. =) That said, I also adjust my brine rate down to approx 3.5:1-- the membranes I use seem to take it just fine, the ones I'm using right now are a couple years old and still doing great jobs.

Andrew

Cool! The big trash can (it's on wheels) is great for me.

My membrane is already temperamental. The lowest ppm water I've seen is 17 from the thing :-(
 
  • #10
I think mine comes out between 30 and 60ppm depending on the time of year and how rainy it's been. When the RO unit is done with it, it's all the way down to 1ppm - sometimes it'll oscillate between 1 and 0. :D
I've been meaning to reclaim the wastewater, even though water is included in my rent. I'd like to store it out on my porch for watering my veggies and other non-CPs.
~Joe
 
  • #11
I think mine comes out between 30 and 60ppm depending on the time of year and how rainy it's been. When the RO unit is done with it, it's all the way down to 1ppm - sometimes it'll oscillate between 1 and 0. :D
I've been meaning to reclaim the wastewater, even though water is included in my rent. I'd like to store it out on my porch for watering my veggies and other non-CPs.
~Joe

Hopefully my picture series got you thinking about reclaiming again!

Wow. your membrane is really efficient. I'm sure the low ppm starting water REALLY helps though. My distiller gives me 2-0 ppm water, but it's expensive to run, unfortunately.
 
  • #12
I just recently discovered that my waste water is safe for fish!

I don't even need tap water conditioner. I wouldn't count on my findings though. Your water may be different. Anyway, I strung together several old siphon tubes to fill up a 100 gallon aquarium. It worked really well! The fish liked the gentle stream much more than the hose.

To find out if your waste water is safe, place a couple aquatic snails in a bucket full of it. If they are still alive after a couple of days, your water is probably safe to use on your fish. The next step is to actually test a fish, but it's probably unnecessary unless your fish require special water parameters.

Safe+for+fish_.JPG
 
  • #13
I think I'll pass on the fish thing.....I don't want all that crap and heavy metals in my fish water.
 
  • #14
how do you find out the ppm of your tap water.
 
  • #16
I think I'll pass on the fish thing.....I don't want all that crap and heavy metals in my fish water.

LOL, I understand. These are paradise fish that I breed outside :) Not too expensive, and I have a nice supply of them.

Aquatic snails are supposed to be (at least the chinese mystery snail) a good indicator of water quality. The particular species I have closes up when the water isn't quite safe. I have my snails in that grey trash can all the time, and they are always out and about.

There is one thing you need to remember: my tap water isn't filthy to begin with. And my waste water, obviously, doesn't do my fish any harm. Therefore, I will use it because I don't have to use water conditioner to remove the chlorine. Of course I don't expect this to be constant, so I'll be wary of using it and will test it on my snails quite often :) And when the carbon block filters go, I think I'll know.
 
  • #17
So I'm sure I'll save tons in water, but you never mentioned how much that unit ran you.
 
  • #18
So I'm sure I'll save tons in water, but you never mentioned how much that unit ran you.

I don't think you quite understand. "you never mentioned how much that unit ran you."--I don't really get what you're trying to say, but I have news for you:

This is a REGULAR ro unit. The mod cost less than $10. The actual 50 GPD RO unit with 2.4 G tank cost $150 (with filters also). In fact, I spent about $174 for the unit, the modification, and a digital TDS meter. No, I am not shy to mention the cost :-D

If you were thinking I spent alot of money on saving water, you're dead wrong. In fact, I will save money by saving water.

Why don't you go back and look at my pics again (if you even did.)


Anyway, the good news is that this is VERY simple to do, as others have pointed out. All you need is a long 3/8 (I think that's right) tube. Run it from the exhaust to wherever you want to put the water. Running that to an impression in the ground would make for a thriving pond :-)). I mean seriously. You could have a pond with the water you're wasting (if you are wasting it.)
 
  • #19
geez man, why the hostility?.. yeah, I looked at the pics, along with everything else in the thread. I was just thinking something this nice would be pricey. It's the first I've read about the subject. So you are indeed correct, I didn't understand. The construction on my new house starts in a week and a half, and a unit like this would make a great addition.
I guess I could've elaborated my comment a bit more, and asked more questions. But why beat around the bush? Anyways, you did a good job.. looks great.. well done. Thanks for sharing! Definitely gives me some ideas.
 
  • #20
Hostility?

You're way more hostile than I am :p


This thread is to give people ideas on how they can use their waste water. I'm glad it's working for you :boogie:

BTW, the mod isn't nice because I spent lots of money on it, but because I spent some time and had a goal. I custom-made several of the parts. If you get the basic idea, you can overcome the obstacles by being creative to somehow use your waste water. I'm not telling you how to do it :), I'm just trying to give you a goal to attain.

If anybody does (has done) something like this I'd like to see! Please post some pics!
 
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