Who buys there RO/D! water from culligan machines?

[Rathje70]

I have been buying my RO water from wal mart from their bulk culligan water machine, there is numerous places that have these from where I live and I have continued to buy from there. Has anyone else done this or have problems with the water from these places?

 

Where can I buy a TDS meter without purchasing one online?

 

Thanks for all comments!

 

Thanks,

Rathje70

[jejenkins]

I bought from Wal mart for months with no issues. Finally got tired of it and purchased my own RO/DI unit. But never had an issue with the culligan water.

[beeman7467]

Try your local Walgreens. They use to sell a meter made by Zerowater in the drinking water filters section, but have discontinued carrying the brand. You might be available to find one in the "bargin bin" shelf in the store. Most likely you'll have to look yourself as nobody in the store seemed to know what I was talking about. I got mine about a month ago for $3.99. If not, I believe Target carries them now, but they are about $40.00.

[jamesnmandy]

i personally do not trust the people at walmart or a traveling service man, whoever maintains those machines, to actually change filters and do proper service as needed

 

i can just see them looking inside at the date the filters were last changed, then tasting the water and saying...nah...it's good until next month....or even the Culligan company, in the case of a Culligan service tech doing it telling it's service people "in an effort to stay more profitable (aka, keep your job) we will only be changing out filters every 6 months instead of every 3 months because every 3 months was more than was actually necessary"

[Scott Riemer]

If I'm not mistaken, that water is only RO, not RO/DI.

[Rathje70]

Thanks for the replies, Sorry i meant to say RO. I have been using it for awhile with no troubles and live in the town of the best water in the nation haha.

 

Any other TDS options that could be bought locally.?

 

Thanks,

Rathje70

[jamesnmandy]

i use and have been using the Distilled water in the gallon jugs sold at Walmart for 68 cents a gallon or so, no problems here, have even substituted the Spring water when Distilled was sold out, and even used the Drinking water a few times, if you read the labels close, depending on the source, most are deionized, reverse ozmonated, carbon filtered, and UV treated

 

it's like getting water from someone's high dollar setup with a RO/DI + Carbon + UV sterilizer IMO

[Whacked]

walgreens, target, walmart or other similar stores will be your best bet at finding a TDS meter.

Just head to the purified water section, with the PUR, Brite faucet filters etc. Thats where I found mine.

 

I get my RODI from watermill express. there are 2 within a half mile of where i'm at. TDS ranges from 000 to 002 and at $0.25/gal, its cheaper than anywhere else.

 

But i'll be buying my own RODI unit sometime this year. its getting to be a hassle making trips to get water.

[jamesnmandy]

we just pick up 5 or 6 gallons each week when we go to the grocery store for top offs.....you should have seen my brother in law and i when we did the tank swap, we loaded a buggy with 30 one gallon jugs of distilled water....LOL, filled the back of the explorer

[coralcor]

we just pick up 5 or 6 gallons each week when we go to the grocery store for top offs.....you should have seen my brother in law and i when we did the tank swap, we loaded a buggy with 30 one gallon jugs of distilled water....LOL, filled the back of the explorer

im doing that soon lmao prod 2.5 gall ones but 34 gallons + topp offs

[Sac_State]

if you're buying 30+ gallons of water from the store at a time you really should look into getting a rodi unit. there are some pretty inexpensive, relatively speaking, units out now.

[coralcor]

if you're buying 30+ gallons of water from the store at a time you really should look into getting a rodi unit. there are some pretty inexpensive, relatively speaking, units out now.

[/quote

its only once just for filling the tank the first time.

[jamesnmandy]

if you're buying 30+ gallons of water from the store at a time you really should look into getting a rodi unit. there are some pretty inexpensive, relatively speaking, units out now.

[/quote

its only once just for filling the tank the first time.

 

 

 

same here, figured i would start the new tank with 30 gallons of newly mixed water, then added the rest from the existing tank.....normally its only 5 or 6 gallons a week for top offs, 15 gallons once every couple months or so for water changes

 

it would take a year or so of not buying water to pay for a RO/DI filter setup, not to mention we live in an apartment, no way to plumb a water line to the tank where it is, and nowhere to keep a storage container in between water changes....so a RO/Di setup does not make sense for us now

[Sac_State]

it would take a year or so of not buying water to pay for a RO/DI filter setup, not to mention we live in an apartment, no way to plumb a water line to the tank where it is, and nowhere to keep a storage container in between water changes....so a RO/Di setup does not make sense for us now

 

umm, you do know that you can hook them up to your sink, right? doesn't have to be plumbed directly to your tank (in fact, that's actually not a smart thing to do). and you can make small batches of rodi water as needed (just enough to keep one or two gallons on hand whenever you need it).

[jamesnmandy]

so i would have to what, somehow connect it to my sink, run the line to my container, wait (how long?) to get 15 or so gallons, and then disconnect when done

 

you would think hooking and unhooking it allowing air to get in and what not would affect the filter life somehow

 

i also thought these things had to have a constant drain because they are so inefficient and you have to give the waste water somewhere to go

 

i am interested, if theres one worth having for cheap and doesnt have all the problems i assumed we would have in our situation

[SmittyCoco]

I have used the watermill for my water as well. I biught a tds meter from walgreens and it works great as well. When I tested the watermill water it was 002. So I started testing other sources for zero. I found that safeways water is ALWAYS zero. so I get my water from there now. Get a tds meter you will not be sorry.

[Sac_State]

so i would have to what, somehow connect it to my sink, run the line to my container, wait (how long?) to get 15 or so gallons, and then disconnect when done

 

you could hook it up to the faucet in your sink, or use a saddle bracket to connect it to the plumbing under your sink. you'd then run the waste water into your sink's drain. the container can be as simple as a 5 gallon bucket right next to your sink. most units average about 2 gallons an hour, some a little more some less, it's relative to the membrane used in the unit. honestly, it's pretty painless. I make new rodi water every other week as needed for topoffs and monthly water changes. heck, for smaller scale needs something like this would work great: http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1MMDI/M...h_DI_Added.html

[jamesnmandy]

thats the thing, i need 15 or so gallons to do a water change, at 2 gallons per hour it would take a full 8 hrs to get the water i need, during which time i would have to be regularly remembering to take the 5 gallon bucket (which will not fit under our sink, small apartment, no spare space, all space used) and empty it into my 18 gallon tote every couple hours, which means i would be pretty much stuck at the house all day and night to do a simple water change because after getting the water it would take another few hours to get it mixed and aerated well and up to temp.....

 

OR, i can drive 150 yards to Kroger and pick up distilled water for 99 cents a gallon, OR drive 300 yards to the Walmart and get it for 68 cents a gallon, dump it all in the tote, add salt, 3 or 4 hours later i am changing my water and done

 

i just cannot justify the cost and hassle of it when i have other options that are much quicker and just as cheap i would say, maybe not in terms of total money over a year, i probably spend $200-$300 a year on water, but i also dont have any storage space in this apartment to set up a proper system for making and storing my own water, i am guessing between the filter setup initial cost and filter replacement it would run me $250 a year easy and then it's more of a hassle

 

when we move into a proper house i will get one and will have it set up to a metered drip rate to keep my tank topped off and can actually store water for changes, until then i will tote a few gallons of water once a week, no biggie, we get groceries once a week anyways

[Sac_State]

yeah, I guess it might be a hassle to run a rodi unit in an apartment.

 

one last bit though, you said "between the filter setup initial cost and filter replacement it would run me $250 a year easy". well, sure the initial cost is going to be higher, but filter replacement isn't that expensive once you have a unit, and most filters will last at least a year in between changes under normal conditions. so yearly maintenance is only around $40 a year to replace all the media in a 5 stage filter: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/RO/DI-Filter...oduct_info.html