RO/DI Unit Poll

[Snapper]

I am wondering if I can kill 2 birds iwht 1 stone if I buy an RO/DI unit for my WC as well as using it for family water drinking.

 

I am sick of spending $8 every week for WC where i can put a 3 month WC cost into buying an RO/DI unit at home.

[Rollermonkey]

No, I don't drink RO/DI water, nasty stuff. Makes my tongue feel like it's stopped working. Bleh.

 

I got one of the refurbished units from SpectraPure.

[Snapper]

hmm so I wonder how the Local water store that has a GIGANNNNNNNNNTIC water RO/ ( as he claimed DI as well) unit is in business if the water tastes bad.

 

maybe its only an RO unit?

[seabass]

You can drink RO water. There are drinking water kits you can get that fill a pressurized tank with RO water (that has it's own faucet), but still let you make RO/DI for your reef tank. BRS systems are decent.

[phiber_optikx]

You can drink R.O. Water but should not drink R.O.D.I. water. It will sap your body of minerals and people have died from it.

[Snapper]

so what if I use RO water instead of RO/DI water for my tank?

[cruiZe]

RO to fridge, delicious. Valve to send RO to the DI stage for fish tank. Don't drink RODI, not good for you ( maybe ) but mostly, waste of money. But the DI is worth it for the tank because even if RO is 5-8tds , those can be the worst particles

[cblair]

I drink from my brs ro/di unit but as has been mentioned dont drink the water after its gone through the di stage. I put a bypass valve before the di stage so i can fill jugs up with ro water for drinking. works great.

[Fluffeh]

i use the spectrapure , best ro/di unit in my opinion

 

i have a bypass valve where i can skip the DI if i want to drink just RO.

[eddiecorrea]

Spectrapure Refurb unit. Apparently they have a bajillion of them on refurb as they have had them for sale for well over 6 months now. Great deal for a great unit.

 

My tap water is 20tds so no need to drink RO. My water is already incredibly clean and healthy.

[Caronte]

I am wondering if I can kill 2 birds iwht 1 stone if I buy an RO/DI unit for my WC as well as using it for family water drinking.

 

I am sick of spending $8 every week for WC where i can put a 3 month WC cost into buying an RO/DI unit at home.

 

it depends on wich model you have. I got a 5 stages Spectrapure and customized, separating the Reverse Osmosis for drinking from the Dionized for aquarium just switching a valve depending on what I want (drink water or RO/DI water) So I can say yes, you can kill 2 birds or three if you also planinng to use the wasted water some how

[ballhog]

I bought mine from a combination of ebay, amazon and thefilterguys.biz

 

It's basically 3 filters, a RO membrane, then a DI Filter.

 

Yes like a few others have mentioned plumbing drinking water before DI filters.

 

Although if you can get a good deal on a spectapure I don't think you could go wrong.

 

Here's the quick estimate I made to build a 5 stage yourself

 

 

I would also add a 4 gallon storage tank, so add another 40 bucks.

[Mstefa1]

My unit has a pressurized tank with a bladder... It holds about 2 gallons. Hell if I had to wait to fill my gallon jugs with water I'd grow older with each water change! I've yet to setup a larger vessel with a float switch yet. I just fill 2 jugs at a time and keep 5 on hand so I pretty much have 7 gallons at my disposal at all time.

 

I don't drink it as I don't think it tastes good. Not bad tasting, just not good. That's exactly why they put minerals back into drinking water that you purchase at the store. Salts and other minerals make it taste better. But I have read that drinking RO water will draw the vitamins & minerals out of your system which is not healthy. My cat love her RODI water and she hasn't died yet!

[Mstefa1]

Oh and my Kenmore is not complex either. Just a pre carbon filter, a membrane, and a post carbon filter (exactly the same as the prefilter). I added the DI cannister after the tank. I have a faucet installed on my basement sink however you have to hold the button down so I just put a "T" in the line with a valve so I can just put the line in the jug and walk away during filling.

 

I've changed my carbon filters only once in the years that I've owned the system just recently as well as the DI media. I've never changed the membrane or performed any fancy flush. I do regularly test TDS before and after the DI.

[seabass]

One thing to remember about RO water is that TDS creep makes the first few seconds of RO production high in TDS. So I would use the drinking water system only after it has been producing water for a minute first.

[Mstefa1]

One thing to remember about RO water is that TDS creep makes the first few seconds of RO production high in TDS. So I would use the drinking water system only after it has been producing water for a minute first.

 

I've read this and I'm not denying it however I have never been able to measure it on my system. Water after my RO system is in the very low teens. This doesn't change regardless of how long or little my system is running. Keep in mind I have a tank. Water after my DI is always 0 (unless something needs to be changed). Confirmed with 2 TDS meters.

[lsuber]

Mine is from The Filter Guys. Very nice unit.

[seabass]

I've read this and I'm not denying it however I have never been able to measure it on my system.

I use a dual TDS meter which constantly measures the water. When I first turn my unit on, the water coming out my RO measures over 100 and then quickly drops below 5 within like 30 seconds (it then continues to produce water at this lower level until the unit is shut off for awhile). It's always zero coming out of my DI phase.

 

Why is this important? If my unit kicks on because I used my drinking water faucet, it gets refilled with water that's high in TDS. But if I use it while it's making water, it gets refilled with water that's low in TDS. If you want RO water, you probably don't want water which measures more than 100 TDS.

[AZDesertRat]

Places like www.buckeyefieldsupply.com sell a reef/residential, reef quality RO/DI system with a drinking water kit preinstalled too. The DI is seperated from the pressure tank by a check valve so TDS creep is not an issue. You could do the same with a Spectrapure reef quality RO/DI or PurelyH2o reef quality RO/DI with a $59 add on drinking water kit and a 1 psi check valve for another few $$.

 

I have drank RO only from a RO/DI system like this for over 15 years and wouldn't have it any other way. BRS would not be my first choice, or second or even third though as their systems are standard off the shelf and mediocre quality compared to many others with better filters, membranes, components and DI resins and their prices can be beat easily.

[seabass]

The DI is seperated from the pressure tank by a check valve so TDS creep is not an issue.

I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I probably just misunderstand; however, how does a check valve prevent high TDS water from entering the pressurized tank?

[rafastank727]

?

[MeepNand]

I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I probably just misunderstand; however, how does a check valve prevent high TDS water from entering the pressurized tank?

I think he meant to say something else. I think he means you can pump water from the tank with RO water in it through the DI to make RODI water.

[Grumblecakes]

You can drink R.O. Water but should not drink R.O.D.I. water. It will sap your body of minerals and people have died from it.

 

do you have ANY evidence to support this? not some pseud-scientific new age crap but real science (peer reviewed)? or any proof that some one died?

[seabass]

do you have ANY evidence to support this? not some pseud-scientific new age crap but real science (peer reviewed)? or any proof that some one died?

Dr. Zoltan P. Rona wrote "Early Death Comes With Regular Drinking Of Distilled Water", which might have been the source of this idea. However, this article, by Randy Johnson, explores the topic on the side that this is an unsupported claim. Although, as a common disclaimer, he refers individuals to consult their physicians on health related matters.

 

I personally believe that drinking RO filtered water poses no health risk to individuals who eat an otherwise healthy diet. However, I'm not a doctor, nor have I ever played one on TV.

[AZDesertRat]

The check valve does not keep TDS creep from entering the pressure tank. Its purpose is to seperate the pressure tank and the DI filter so you use RO water directly from the membrane to make DI and the pressure tank is reserved strictly for drinking, ice maker etc.

 

There is not proven medical evidence drinking RO or RO/DI water is bad for you, people have done so for decades. In theory, if man could survive on water alone it might pose some risk, but we must eat solid food and even one single potato chip replaces the minerals stripped from gallons of RO/DI water. Obviously if you are running the Iron Man Marathon and downing gallons of water without solid food and under extreme stress conditions it might not be a good idea but for the normal person its not an issue. We receive such a miniscule amount of our nutrients in water its really a non issue in most cases.

 

These drawings show the correct placement of a check valve to isolate the drinking and DI circuits:

http://www.spectrapure.com/huds/DWK-DI-AX.pdf

http://www.spectrapure.com/huds/MC-DWK.pdf

http://www.spectrapure.com/manuals/PRINTER_FRIENDLY/DWK.pdf