Water Refill System at Walmart?

[FinsUp!]

The Super-Walmart in Leicester has this water refill system where you can buy a jug in a few different sizes (1-gallon through 5 gallon water cooler jug). It says it's RO water. You can buy the 5 gallon jug for $12.88, and then from what I understand, you pay 37 cents a gallon to fill/refill it.

Does anyone else's walmart have something like this? Have you tried it? Any problems with the water? I was thinking of going this route since I go through less than 10 gallons of water a week and don't really have much room to set up an RO/DI system and store the water it produces.

 

[aiaman]

I wonder what the TDS count is on that stuff

 

[Turbosnail]

+1 Could you test the water and let us know.

 

[Flame Angel]

Keep in mind it sounds like what every Walmart is doing it does not cover the last step of the DI process.

You stated it was only RO water and not RODI.

I would only suggest proceed with caution!

 

[FinsUp!]

I did notice that it only said RO, so that's why I was cautious and was wondering if anyone had used it and tested it. I don't have a TDS meter (I should probably get one though), but if anyone has one I could use or can point me in the direction of a good TDS meter that doesn't cost too much, I'd be happy to buy a gallon for testing purposes.

 

[pillowfish]

Any LFS should carry a hand held TDS that you can buy for pretty cheap money. Do you have a LFS near you that sells RO/DI, I know quite a few them do and I would trust their water over a filtering station.

Even if you just check the TDS once at the filtering station you do not know how often they change their filters and if you don't test every time you could potentially run into issues. I know you said you only need 10g for water changes but what are you using for top off? I'm sure you can find a pretty decent RO/DI system that is relatively cheap and will save time and hassle in the future.

 

[FinsUp!]

The 10 gallons a week includes top off and water changes. I do a 5 gallon water change every week and a 10 gallon change once a month. Don't get much evaporation. I usually top off about 4 gallons a week.

That's true about them changing the filters. Didn't think of that. I do have a LFS pretty close to me (Krystal Clear. I'll see if they have a TDS meter and ask how much their water is), but I was thinking if it's cheaper from walmart (which I'm sure it is. walmart is closer, too.) that it might be something to look into if it works. But maybe the fact that it's only RO makes it a no-go...

 

[MrX]

Krystal Clear is $0.75/gal RO, $1.25 if I recall correctly for pre-mixed.

 

[onefish]

do yourself the favor and spend the $100 or so on a RO/DI unit now before adding up all those gallons of water you'll buy and lug individually.

 

[pillowfish]

I would also keep in mind that having an RO/DI unit is probably a good investment down the road for several reasons. You will have more evap in the summer, you may find yourself needing to do an emergency water change at the most inopportune time due to many reasons(ph spike, a critter takes a walk through a powerhead, random tank wide RTN, etc.). Murphy's Law prevails in this hobby.

 

[stingythingy45]

I have tested the ro 1 gallon bottles at Walmart with a hand held TDS.
It had a TDS 2ppm.
But that was the prebottled green cap ro water.The Blue cap I believe is distilled.

 

[willray]

I had tested it at a Hannaford, I don't recall the numbers but it wasn't pretty.Probably get cleaner water out of your fridges dispenser.

 

[stingythingy45]

Should have seen the woman at the register when I showed with 2 shopping carts with 45 gallon jugs of water.lol
That's back when I first filled my 55 gallon,4 1/2 yrs. ago.

But,still not as funny as when I bought 2 large cocktail shrimp, loose, as they were cheaper.
She weighed them and said,"don't like shrimp much....do yah?".

 

[Dangger]

The RO refilling station at walmart is awfully slow. Plus I get RODI from LFS for $1 per 5 gallon.