New RODI unit, few questions

[eSoteric]

Just hooked up my new RODI unit. at first it shot out plenty of carbon smelling black water. now the water is clear. but iscoming out at a pretty fast rate. is this normal? i have the water hook up that feeds the unit wide open so i have good pressure.

anyhow. its making waster water even faster. I figure as it is used for the first few times that the filters arent as clogged with junk yet. is this true? any info please

this is a 6 stage 110 GPD unit.

thanks

 

[Mr. Slippery]

Do you have the lines hooked up correctly? the drain runs faster than the ro putput.

NM I just reread. Do you have a tds meter to test the output?

 

[_Eric_]

Sound like its working to me...The waste water will always come out faster than the RO/DI output.

Also do you have a preasure gauge hooked up to the unit?(Not to important just would like to know the water presure)

Whats your TDS from your tap?
Whats your TDS from the RO?
Whats your TDS from the RO/DI

The reasons for all the questions is because there is so many different varibles to see if you are getting the best results out of the RO/DI unit..
I ordered the Typhoon III for Airwaterice and I must say Water is awsome there. He was able to answer all of my questions.

 

[eSoteric]

TDS meter is coming in this week, but my buddy has one ill have him give it a look. i know the waste water is faster than the ro/di output

i have a ratio of 1:4 ro:waste

I cannott test the TDS on the RO since i dont have an expansion chamber for just RO water. the final water thatcomes out of my system is RODI as far as i can tell. thanks for the info time to make up my first batch of good water! so long phosphates!!!

 

[_Eric_]

That ratio sounds right to me.

According to my manual you will waste 3-4 gallons to produce 1 gallon of RO/DI..

 

[eSoteric]

also, what can i expect to read from my RODI water for TDS. what is ideal? and what does normal tap seem to run at as far as TDS goes?

 

[_Eric_]

Well thats a real tuff call.....I would expect you will have 0 TDS(Ideal) but thats if you have great water preasure aswell as having a water temp no lower than 66f and a tap TDS no higher than 300PPMs.

I have tested my water here in newbury and it was (Ballpark)156PPM...Then I went to my parenents house and tested theres...Results (Ballpark)387PPM...Then the BIG one SEABROOK water weighs in at over 500PPM's LOL..

So you can see were I cant really give you the answer you need...

Really though I think you will be fine.

 

[eSoteric]

I just cheked the system now. its been running for 3 hours. and it has made only a small amount of water. i no longer think its running fast. I had heard that 4-8 TDS was common for RODI water?

 

[nunofs]

The goal is really 0ppm TDS... having more or less TDS in the source water will only determine how fast your DI resin is used up, so you may get 0ppm at the output for a week, or a month, with the same amount of resin depending on how bad your source water is.

FWIW, I replace my DI resin when the TDS reading raises above 2 or 3 ppm.

Nuno

 

[eSoteric]

I have a DI refill. Thats the green foam looking tube right lol...mines clear. I heard that gets changed alot more than the other filters.

 

[nunofs]

My DI canister is refillable too (the non-refillable are really expensive IMO)... DI is indeed replaced much more often that other cartridges, especially if you have high TDS source water and you want to keep the RODI output as close to zero as possible.

Nuno

 

[Clam Man]

In my opion a pressure guage is a must you can tell when your filters are starting to clog buy the loss in pressure and for under $10.00 why not a inline tds meter for around $60.00 is also worth it how else do you know your ro/di is working 100% and one last thing i might add if you have the room add 2 pree filters i buy the clear canister ones so you can see the filters it will save you some money on buying expensive ro/di filters.note i buy my clear canisters at grossmans bargain outlet in worcester there $15.00 each so 2 for the price of 1 at say a home depot were there 30.00 for 1 and they have the pree filters there also they might also have them at like a building 19 for cheep money.it sounds like you ro/di unit is working ok it will take somtime break in but how good the water quality is you will never know without a tds meter

 

[NateHanson]

I had heard that 4-8 TDS was common for RODI water?

3 or 4 to 1 is a good ratio. I think things are running right.

Personally I would say 4-8 is too high for RODI. I'd say single digits is ok for RO, but RODI should really be zero.

With my Typhoon V, I have about 250 incoming TDS, and 0-1 RO, 0 RODI. (I don't go through DI resin very quickly at all.

 

[eSoteric]

OK, i have 109 tds in the input water ( not bad for tap after seeing some otehrs tap readings)

0 tds in the rodi water.

 

[eSoteric]

also. me and my brother both took a good cold glass of rodi water today and drank it. we both agree it tasted fine. much better than tap. anyone else drink their rodi, i know alot of people with expansion chambers on the unit get fresh ro for drinking..no harm in drinking rodi right?

 

[_Eric_]

From my reading of RO/DI its not good to drink....After many gallons of drinking this stuff it strips your body of the minerals it needs...(This is what I have read)
Drink the RO water.

As far as 109 out of your tap....That ROCKS!!! good stuff.

 

[gordonzoo]

Yep. RODI is dry tasting to me. That's why mineral water taste?s so good. Good water does have taste.

 

[NateHanson]

I don't think there's any danger to drinking RODI water, but some complain that the taste is flat. I drink RO, and the TDS is zero, but it's probably got stuff in there that is below the sensitivity of the TDS meter.

If you really want to make sure your setup is operating correctly, I'd strongly recommend disconnecting the hose that goes from the RO chamber to the DI cannister, and measure the TDS of the water coming out of that RO stage. It should be single digits, or else you'll use up your expensive DI resin very quickly.

 

[eSoteric]

I could put a inline splitter on the hose as it exits the ro part of the unit it, and when i want drinking water just close the vavle and divert the ro water to another holding tank.

 

[NateHanson]

You can also buy a pressure tank for the RO water, and tee off the line like you're saying, put a check valve in the line, so the pressure tank doesn't push back on the membrane, and then after the check valve tee it again with one side going to the pressure tank, and the other end going to a tap on your kitchen sink, the water dispenser on your fridge, or something like that.

Nate