Does/How might a RO/DI System Effect Water Usage?

[SSpiro]

As far as the water utility bill - how might a RO/DI system effect my bill?

[an411]

gonna go up. Cause for every gallon made Ro/di wastes 3 gallons. I believe that is the correct. or maybe its 2 gallons

[HumanIMDB]

A good production rate is 4 to 1. That means that for every gallon of purified water you make, four gallons goes down the drain.

At least that is what our filter gets and the documentation says is the "target".

[reef2]

my water bill only went up about 5$ a month from my rodi. i make 60-100g a month.

[SSpiro]

I wonder if anyone might be able to post some examples.

How can one reuse the waste water for every day uses? I.e. laundry, etc

[SSpiro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12349681#post12349681 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef2
my water bill only went up about 5$ a month from my rodi. i make 60-100g a month.

Nice.. I could deal with that.

[HumanIMDB]

We use our waste water to water the plants, but most of it goes down the drain.

Friends of ours use it to fill their hot tub, water the lawn/flowers, etc.

[Tswifty]

someone just posted a thread on this...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1372415

I make a ton of RO/DI water for my 55g and 90g tanks, plus my 50g storage.

It didn't hit my utility bill hard at all, I barely noticed an increase... Then again I stopped showering. ;) :eek2: :lol:

[HumanIMDB]

Compared to your electricity bill, your water bill is going to show a very small increase. ;)

[Playa-1]

The cost is minimal and I doubt you would even notice it.

You do not need to waste the reject water. You can recapture it if your worried about it and use it for any purpose you would normally use tap water for. I just waste it myself but you don't have to. The more efficient water treatment systems will get a better ratio of RO to Reject water. The units are not all created equal. Some of the cheapo's don't even filter the water very well. This isn't an area where you wan't to buy the cheapest unit you can find.

Regardless it's much more convenient and cheaper then buying the water even if you waste a few gallons here and there. The waste water is simply water that was not forced through the membrane. It may have slightly more tds then tap water but there is nothing wrong with it. You can make Cool-Aid with it.

An efficient unit will have a 3-4:1 and a less efficient unit may have more like a 8-10:1 RO to Reject ratio. I would recommend testing your tap water to find out the hardness and tds. It would also be beneficial to know if your water is treated with Chlorine or Chloramine. The DI may or may not be necessary. If your local water systems treats with Chlorine then a good Carbon filter should take all the Chlorine out of the water. The Carbon is much less effective with Chloramine and if your local water treatment system uses Chloramine to treat then you will want to use DI as it is effective at pulling out the Chloramine.

[an411]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12349725#post12349725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tswifty8
someone just posted a thread on this...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1372415

I make a ton of RO/DI water for my 55g and 90g tanks, plus my 50g storage.

It didn't hit my utility bill hard at all, I barely noticed an increase... Then again I stopped showering. ;) :eek2: :lol:

I thought i smelt something near the computer screen

[AZDesertRat]

You should not notice much of a difference. Yes they will waste 4:1 but when you figure you make what, 200 gallons of RO/DI maybe in a months time? Thats 200 good and 800 waste or 1,000 gallons total. In my area thats about $2 worth of water and about the same for increased sewer charges since they are based on water consumption so $4 a month.
If water is areal concern check out Spectrapures new 1:1 MaxCap UHE system. It onlys wastes one gallon for every good gallon and in most areas can even be set up to waste only 1/2 gallon for every gallon made. I switched to this unit myself and its great!

[Michael]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12349624#post12349624 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SSpiro
As far as the water utility bill - how might a RO/DI system effect my bill?

yes its 4-1 ratio, i gallon of ro-di to 4 gallons of waste but as azdesertrat pointed out the other day it also depends upon water temperature, the colder the water the more waste:) i suppose then in theory in winter months the water bill will be larger than in the summer months, makes sence dosent it?:mad: