RO system questions

[Chriswhit123]

I have an RO buddy that recommends water around 70f degrees to get descent life out of the ro membrane. its attached to a sink that I turn the hot all the way on and my cold about 3/4 the way on and the temps about right. after a little bit the cold back feeds probably due to more pressure on the cold side where its open less. thats just a guess on why. how would one fix this issue. I end up with 40f degree water.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm confused--how exactly is your RO hooked up? ROs are generally only connected to the cold water. They are not made for hot water (which will damage the membrane), but I have never seen anything that says that water should be 70 degrees. I also do not know what you mean that the cold water back feeds? I would be real surprised if the hot water is going through an RO.

 

[cardgenius]

Sounds like his hooks up to the faucet so you do have to be careful about what water temp you push through it.

Without the unit hooked up, try turning both hot and cold nobs the exact same amount(quarter turn or half turn each) and then see what the temp is at after it runs for a minute or two. Then you can adjust from there if needed, a little more hot or a little more cold.

RO units do have a range for water temp to get optimal water production but I don’t worry about having the temp exact, I just worry about having the water being too hot as it won’t filter as well and can damage the membrane. Too cold and that will cause the clean water production so slow to a crawl.

I also never turn both hot and cold all the way up on mine as it causes back pressure that vibrates the pipes in my house to where it sounds like someone is bumping a large car stereo system right out front.

 

[Chriswhit123]

my water in this area is 38 degrees when it comes into the house its that way both summer and winter. its connected to my faucet and yes i can just use cold but when I do my ro membrane has issues letting water through. the ro buddy website says this. copy and pasted from there site, "The optimal water temperature is 77°F. Using other water temperatures will diminish the effectiveness of the filtration and can accelerate degradation of the membrane".

My water has so much manganese that I can smell it and its dark grey instantly in a milk jug. I know hot will damage a membrane but so will 38 degree water so I use my sink as a mixing valve and get the water temp around 70-75f. its hooked directly where a faucet screen goes with an adapter. with straight cold it clogs and i only get waste water after 5 minutes of running. mixing it at 60-75 it will run all day. My guess is extreme manganese doesnt filter well in 38-40 degree water.

 

[Chriswhit123]

Sounds like his hooks up to the faucet so you do have to be careful about what water temp you push through it.

Without the unit hooked up, try turning both hot and cold nobs the exact same amount(quarter turn or half turn each) and then see what the temp is at after it runs for a minute or two. Then you can adjust from there if needed, a little more hot or a little more cold.

RO units do have a range for water temp to get optimal water production but I don’t worry about having the temp exact, I just worry about having the water being too hot as it won’t filter as well and can damage the membrane. Too cold and that will cause the clean water production so slow to a crawl.

I also never turn both hot and cold all the way up on mine as it causes back pressure that vibrates the pipes in my house to where it sounds like someone is bumping a large car stereo system right out front.

yes mine does that to. works okay till someone uses hot in kitchen to wash hands then it starts back feeding to the hot water tank and stops giving me ro water

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Is this a real RO system? An RO system usually has a system of filters (usually 4-6), an expansion tank, and a bypass system. Your RO membrane is supposed to have trouble letting water through. A normal RO will oftentimes bypass as much as 4 gallons of waste water to get 1 gallon of good water.

I see you quoted the website on the optimum water temp. The entire paragraph reads: "The RO Buddie should only be connected to a cold water supply. The optimal water temperature is 77°F. Using other water temperatures will diminish the effectiveness of the filtration and can accelerate degradation of the membrane." The only products I found look like they are menat to be connected under the sink to the cold water supply. Can you link me to the product you actually have?

It may be that if manganese is your only water problem there may be a better easier to use product than an RO, which takes everything from the water--even the good stuff.

 

[Chriswhit123]

Is this a real RO system? An RO system usually has a system of filters (usually 4-6), an expansion tank, and a bypass system. Your RO membrane is supposed to have trouble letting water through. A normal RO will oftentimes bypass as much as 4 gallons of waste water to get 1 gallon of good water.

I see you quoted the website on the optimum water temp. The entire paragraph reads: "The RO Buddie should only be connected to a cold water supply. The optimal water temperature is 77°F. Using other water temperatures will diminish the effectiveness of the filtration and can accelerate degradation of the membrane." The only products I found look like they are menat to be connected under the sink to the cold water supply. Can you link me to the product you actually have?

It may be that if manganese is your only water problem there may be a better easier to use product than an RO, which takes everything from the water--even the good stuff.

Is this a real RO system? An RO system usually has a system of filters (usually 4-6), an expansion tank, and a bypass system. Your RO membrane is supposed to have trouble letting water through. A normal RO will oftentimes bypass as much as 4 gallons of waste water to get 1 gallon of good water.

I see you quoted the website on the optimum water temp. The entire paragraph reads: "The RO Buddie should only be connected to a cold water supply. The optimal water temperature is 77°F. Using other water temperatures will diminish the effectiveness of the filtration and can accelerate degradation of the membrane." The only products I found look like they are menat to be connected under the sink to the cold water supply. Can you link me to the product you actually have?

It may be that if manganese is your only water problem there may be a better easier to use product than an RO, which takes everything from the water--even the good stuff.

yes i know it will waste roughly 4 gallons per gallon. I only get like a 5 gallons a day if i use water at tempature straight out of my well. I get 55 gallons a day when im at the tempature range they recommend.

 

[Chriswhit123]

I would think acceleration of degradation of membrane would be an unwanted affect not to mention less gallons as the temp drop waste water amount gets larger. minimum operating temperature is 50f and in the north by canada a mile from the atlantic ocean water from a well is with in 10f degrees of freezing all year round sometimes colder than water from my fridge. further along in the install pdf it states 50f is minimum operating temperature. here's a pic of what they give to hook it up. this product was manufactured in a much warmer climate then here. the ground outside is still frozen here

the bypass valve and tank you mentioned is for the drinking water part, I opted not to buy that part. theres only 2 ways to remove manganese. ro membranes and a very expensive full water system set up with some kind of electrolysis. got a quote of $4000 and $45 sounded better to me. sure the $4000 does my whole house and then I can drink my water. I crack both sides of the water and get the temp above minimum and below max. the flow of ro stops 100 percent below 40 but the waste water still flows. my issue is the cold water flows back in the hot valve if anyone uses any water in other locations at all. would be okay if after the use was over the back flow stopped so id continue to get more than a gallon every 8-12 hours. usually to fix the issue i have to turn the water off for a bit then back on and off till it finally decides to give ro water again usually have to work an air bubble out. Im usually at work and cant fix it wasting 80 or so gallons down my sink drain with maybe 4 or 5 gallons of ro water in my reservoir instead of 35-40. the back flowing water through my sink causes well temp water and also causes air bubbles in the system. what i wanna know is if they make a water pre heater to always be at a set temp coming in so that I dont have to use both hot and cold to make luke warm water. I tried just using cold but i barely get water not even 10 gallons a day. I'll agree my system is cheap but if my temp is close to 70 I get more ro water then my system is rated for. my ppm reading is 0 after its gone through the system which is better then they said to expect. Manganese is the hardest thing to remove from water almost like a curse.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

How much water do you need a day? I understand that well water can be quite cold. I don't know that I have seen any kind of water preheater for cold incoming water. I'm sure that there is probably some such device, but I expect that it would be quite expensive. It would need to operate much like an on demand water heater and those are pricey. What you might want to consider if you have room is some kind of water storage that is inside your home. Depending on how much water you need, you could use an expansion tank, or maybe some kind of small water storage tank--something similar to a small water heater, but without heat (or a small water heater with the electricity not connected). Just a storage tank so a given quantity of water could get to room temp before it went through the RO.

 

[cardgenius]

what i wanna know is if they make a water pre heater to always be at a set temp coming in so that I dont have to use both hot and cold to make luke warm water. I tried just using cold but i barely get water not even 10 gallons a day. I'll agree my system is cheap but if my temp is close to 70 I get more ro water then my system is rated for. my ppm reading is 0 after its gone through the system which is better then they said to expect. Manganese is the hardest thing to remove from water almost like a curse.

I’m not familiar with any kind of pre heater that you could hook up.

Sounds like your homes water heater is not big enough to keep up with the demand from the extremely cold water coming in? Are you on a well?

 

[Chriswhit123]

yes over 300 feet deep

 

[cardgenius]

Maybe some internal or external heat tape?

 

[Caw]

What about an electric wall water heater? The ones they have for people without gas service, or prefer electricity only.

My brother didnt get a gas bill for about 10 yrs. When it finally caught up to him (of no fault of his own other than not reporting he stopped getting a bill), they demanded like 14K immediately or they would shut the gas off. It made my sister in law so mad she said they would never use the gas company again and switched the whole house to all electric. She compliments our hot water every time she's over - "good old gas heated water..."

The electric ones apparently dont get as hot as gas, and theybgotta be adjustable. The starting temp of your water should help accommodate temp range, maybe?

Just a thought. Might want to investigate...?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

It is not the water heater that is the problem--his hot water is just fine. It is that his incoming cold water is too cold to go through the RO, so he is having to temper it with hot water. When someone else in the house uses water, it causes uneven pressure on the hot and cold lines and causes the water with more pressure to back up into the line with the lesser pressure. Cold incoming water is a problem for virtually anyone who lives in a cold climate and needs to have water lines buried deep, it is not something that just happens with wells.

And JFYI, electric water heaters work just as well as gas ones and can get as hot. It used to be that electric water heaters took a bit more time to heat up the water, but that is not really true anymore. The temperature is adjustable. They come from the factory preset to about 120 degrees to help keep children and the elderly from scalding themselves. You can turn them up.

I was thinking of a water heater without the added heat as it could be simply a water storage tank that would allow the incoming water to set for awhile and come to room temp before it was sent through the unit.

 

[Chriswhit123]

At max efficiency my system is 50 gallon per day. I have 25-30 mother plants alone. They will be dwindled down 7 strains 4 of each. A few will end up male. I’m picking the best mother of each. This is a joint grow with me and 3 other medical card holders

 

[Chriswhit123]

I know I’ll end up needing another ro system for a grow like that but to me efficiently utilizing the system means less power. If I’m dumping 150 gallons a day in waste water at max effiency lower temps mean 300 gallons or more a day in waste. 300x30 would be 9000 gallons of waste a month as opposed to 4500 gallons. Probably an extra atleast 100 on a light bill maybe more.