Options for RO water source

Just wondering if there are some more economical ways to hook an RO machine up than just hooking it up to a sink.

Could I use old res water perhaps? That obviously wouldn't be enough to be the only source. Would the put to much work on the filter? Possibly run it through a cheaper filter before it runs into the RO?

Also considering an AC unit in the near future. Think ive heard of people using their dehum.s and just hooking it up to the condesation tank. Can you do this with an AC unit too? That would be pretty cool

Any suggestions will be useful+appreciated. Thanks grow fam

do not use dehumidifier or A/C water, except if you sterilize it which is not efficient. it is full of the worst contaminants. That said, I suggest that you get yourself a passive filter wchich makes your hard water less "hard" but not totally distilled. growing plants does not need RO IMO. I use tap water with 240ppm with no problems at all. I know that my water ppm is mostly calcium and magnesium so i cut down on those in my feeding and it works great. I use the ppm of my water to feed my plants. chlorine levels after a night of sitting water is much lower than what a plant can handle, abd I avoid chlorides altogether in my feeding. a passive filter is simply attached to the tap and water passes through a filter no electricity required, it takes much of the hardness if you think you really need it. BTW why do you think you absolutely need distilled water?

thanks for the input. distilled and RO are actually different. I just want to do RO, I have pretty darn good tap water(<100ppm). The benefits of RO outweigh the disadvantages in my case. Plus I don't drink tap water so I won't give it to my girls

I try to do more than necessary though, especially if it doesn't break the bank

How about old(less than 2 weeks) res water?

Crispy Bacon,
Just so I am understanding you...you want to increase the efficiency of your RO unit? They are a little wasteful but not that bad. maybe 15 gallons wastewater for a gallon of RO. Water bills are usually based on 1000s of gallons.

I wouldn't feed nutrient solutions into my RO unit. Just pay the damn water bill. Insignificant...
JD

i use rainwater. cut the downspout half way and divert into 75 gallon heavy duty rubbermaid garbage can. ps- there's nothing wrong with my dehumidifier or ac water. i've used it for years. some new units can leach copper.

JohnDee said:

Crispy Bacon,
Just so I am understanding you...you want to increase the efficiency of your RO unit? They are a little wasteful but not that bad. maybe 15 gallons wastewater for a gallon of RO. Water bills are usually based on 1000s of gallons.

I wouldn't feed nutrient solutions into my RO unit. Just pay the damn water bill. Insignificant...
JD

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Well I just figured it would be better to try to use all of this water instead of just throwing it out. But you're right, the increase in the water bill will be pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Didn't realize they were that efficient actually. Thanks for the input sir

mandy1 said:

i use rainwater. cut the downspout half way and divert into 75 gallon heavy duty rubbermaid garbage can. ps- there's nothing wrong with my dehumidifier or ac water. i've used it for years. some new units can leach copper.

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I live in Colorado friend...after all the filtration is done I would get about 5 gal of RO water a year

Crispy Bacon said:

How about old(less than 2 weeks) res water?

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The RO filter requires high pressure to work. 40psi minimum, I think

Crispy Bacon,
Happy to help. I've used RO systems for the last 10 years. Use your old res water on your trees...then you won't feel like it's being wasted.
JD

Great idea KD,
how about using your A/c condensate as a water source.
My tap water is 110 PPM from the city the Flouride and Chlorine.
The condensate from my "cleaned line" is 45 PPM and no chemicals, PH 7.0.
I use it to water my little outdoor Herb Garden, I love fresh herbs when I cook!
And Before I cook and After I cook too.

I didn't see Crispybacon already pointed out A/C condensate!

God Im high, I didn't realize he had it in quotes, it's Mandy1 that does the same trick.
I do use my dehumidifier water in my resevoir, I bought it specifically for the Hobby!

JohnDee said:

Crispy Bacon,
Happy to help. I've used RO systems for the last 10 years. Use your old res water on your trees...then you won't feel like it's being wasted.
JD

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will the hydro fertilizers used on trees not harm the beneficial soil microbes ?

with ppm of 100, you will really see no benefits from a RO unit. the 100ppm is mostly Calcium and Magnesium which are plant food themselves.

Dehumidifier and ac water is not contaminated fyi. It is water vapour from the air.

Thanks again JohnDee, definitely will be doing that with my old res water. Grand Idea

So I guess as long as AC water isn't contaminated I might as well rig something up so the condensate feeds into the RO. It will be such a small amount but at least I won't have to empty the damn thing all the time(if thats how they even work? I'd hope a fancy one would have some kind of built in drain)

Thanks for the input though guys really appreciate it

Crispy,
Are you using a boost bump on intake side of RO unit? I actually don't have a clear idea of your setup. Do you have a flush valve on the wastewater line? That often gets used incorrectly.
JD

Haven't even opened the box yet honestly but I think its the same unit Ive used in the past. If I remember correctly it does have a flush valve though. What is the proper way to use it if you don't mind explaining? And I don't have a boost pump on it but I would if i chose to do this kind of setup

AC isn't anywhere in the near future though so I'm just going to hook it up the old fashion way for now

Crispy,
What's confusing to me is how exactly you would feed other water into the unit...when it's pressure water that actually drives the RO process.

Anyway, the valve that's on the wastewater tubing may look like on on/off valve but isn't. Because the wastewater comes from the upstream side of the RO membrane...filtered wastes accumulate there.

So for when you are in production mode making RO water...have the valve 90 degrees to the tubing. That's the restriction mode. And at the end of every run...turn the valve to flush setting for a couple minutes (inline with tubing) which clears out the membrane area, and thus prolongs the membrane life. Or so they say. I added one to my current system just because it seems like a good idea. PM me if needed.
JD

JohnDee said:

Crispy,
What's confusing to me is how exactly you would feed other water into the unit...when it's pressure water that actually drives the RO process.

Anyway, the valve that's on the wastewater tubing may look like on on/off valve but isn't. Because the wastewater comes from the upstream side of the RO membrane...filtered wastes accumulate there.

So for when you are in production mode making RO water...have the valve 90 degrees to the tubing. That's the restriction mode. And at the end of every run...turn the valve to flush setting for a couple minutes (inline with tubing) which clears out the membrane area, and thus prolongs the membrane life. Or so they say. I added one to my current system just because it seems like a good idea. PM me if needed.
JD

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot JohnDee, much appreciated!