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gnorts
12/31/2008, 04:15 PM
So I just got my RO unit and of course my parents are giving me a hard time saying that Running the RO unit is going to Burn the well pump cause we are on Well. Is this true? Does anyone else with a well Make there own RO unit and is it a Problem?

gnorts
12/31/2008, 04:51 PM
no takers

CoRPS
12/31/2008, 04:52 PM
I have a well but I only use it to water the lawn. However, if your house is plumbed to your well I don't see how connecting the RO unit to the sink will do anything different from just running the sink without the unit.

Then again, I don't know anything about it, just my guess.

Edit: If they are worried about the water pressure then that's a non-issue.

gnorts
12/31/2008, 05:00 PM
there worried about running the sink for 3 hours is going to burn there pump in the well cause i need about 3 hours of filling with the unit

CoRPS
12/31/2008, 05:04 PM
Ahhhh, well in that case I don't really know what to tell you I don't have any experience with the longevity of the pumps. I know when I water the lawn the pump turns on and waters the backyard for 45 minutes, turns off for a minute and the check valve redirects the water to the front yard for an additional 45 minutes. I know that doesn't really answer your question.

192clark
12/31/2008, 05:57 PM
I have a well and I have been told by the guy who has worked on mine a couple of times, that it is better for the pump to stay on than to have it turn on then off repeatedly. When you are making RODI it will turn the pump on then after a while when the pressure in the well tank goes down it will turn the pump back on. So this guy suggested to me to run it for say an hour then leave it off for an hour and so on until you get the amount of water that you need. It would be great for you to have say a large brutt trash can to store water, then you will always have some on hand. That being the case you could refill the brutt over the course of a wk between water changes. It works for me.

AZDesertRat
12/31/2008, 07:05 PM
It depends on the size of the wells pressure or captive air tank(sizes like 80 or 120 gallons are common). Cycling on and off is not good for a well pump, or any other pump for that matter. You need to know the drawdown on the pressure tank, what I mean by this is how many gallons of water you can draw out of a full pressure tank before the well kicks back on to refill it. Most electric motors of any size should be limited to about 6 starts an hour or they get hot and can fail.
Another common problem with domestic well systems is they operate in the 30-40 psi pressure range which isn't sufficient for a RO membrane which needs at least 50 psi to operate efficiently.

firebirdcrzy
12/31/2008, 07:39 PM
I have been running a ro/di filter on a well for quiet some time and have never burned up my pump. I use it not only for the fish tank but also drinking water. You will more then likely find with a well your pressure will be to low for the ro membrane as stated earlier. You will need to also purchase a booster pump and pressure regulator for your ro to work properly with a well. A booster pump will run you about $100, Pressure regulator about $35. Hope this helps.

Pike614
12/31/2008, 07:48 PM
I've got a variable speed pump in our well, and notice that it does indeed run quite a bit more...didn't burn up the pump yet, but electric costs are significant!

mmedeiros2
12/31/2008, 09:00 PM
I run my RO from a well pump. No big deal. Once the presure tank fill up and shuts the pump off, the existing presure runs for a while before turning the pump back on. I'm not sure how long exactly but I can tell that the pump kicks on by watching my presure ga. on the ro unit. I though of this when I first started, but then I thought, taking a shower is prob. close to making some water. Check this out: My RO makes aprox. 144 gpd or aprox. 6 gal./hr. - with a waste to product ratio of 4 to 1, I am flowing aprox. 30 gal. / hr. - (6 product-24 waste) I checked my shower for flow rate and it was exactly 1 gal./min. or 60 gal./hr. - So for myself to make 3 gal. of product water,it would be like taking a 1 half hour shower. I take 15 min. showers, so 3 gal. of product water = 1 shower. I need 30 gal. a month, so that is like taking an extra 10 showers a month. That don't seem like too big of an expense.
I took this into consideration when purchasing the RO unit, thats why I spent a little extra to get a 180 GPD unit.
As far as what size RO unit you have and what your quantity needs are, it could be costly. Calculate it this way to give you some sort of idea.
With a 55 gal. tank at 20% change a month is 10 gal. / month.
You will need a booster pump though to bring your presure to 60 psi. I bought mine from a guy on ebay for $100.00. Aquatec 8800.
It sells elseware for $269.00 to $299.00. FIXYURWATER.COM
http://stores.ebay.com/fixyurwater
This one comes with the 24 VDC power supply.$92.00 / $15.63 s&h. I have had no problems. You can call this guy as well. He lists his tel. # at the top of their web. page.
Calculate my way and bring it to your parents in this sense. Mabey it won't seem like too much if they see this way. Good Luck.

iamwrasseman
12/31/2008, 10:07 PM
has anybody filled a 100 gal vat with faucet water and run a booster pump from that through a ro unit and run the waste water back to the vat continiously till the vat is almost dry ? would this eliminate the constant wasting of water ? waste water is just blow by around the membrane isnt it ? seems like a plausable idea i think . of course you would run the clean water into another holding tank . you may be able to use a topoff system to keep the dirty vat full . any comments ?

iamwrasseman
12/31/2008, 10:07 PM
has anybody filled a 100 gal vat with faucet water and run a booster pump from that through a ro unit and run the waste water back to the vat continiously till the vat is almost dry ? would this eliminate the constant wasting of water ? waste water is just blow by around the membrane isnt it ? seems like a plausable idea i think . of course you would run the clean water into another holding tank . you may be able to use a topoff system to keep the dirty vat full . any comments ?

iamwrasseman
12/31/2008, 10:08 PM
has anybody filled a 100 gal vat with faucet water and run a booster pump from that through a ro unit and run the waste water back to the vat continiously till the vat is almost dry ? would this eliminate the constant wasting of water ? waste water is just blow by around the membrane isnt it ? seems like a plausable idea i think . of course you would run the clean water into another holding tank . you may be able to use a topoff system to keep the dirty vat full . any comments ?

192clark
01/01/2009, 08:04 AM
your waste water is high in TDS, I think reusing waste water would cause you to use more filters and membrane.
I also belive the issue is the repeated turning on and off of the well pump. As I stated before my info comes from a well driller/pump installer. The concerns of burning out a pump with repeated on/off cycling is there. Will it burn up the pump in a wk/month/yr? No but it will cut down on the life of the pump. It is better to limit the on/off cycle as much as possible. Running for a while then shutting it off, another way is to use the RODI unit when other things are running ie. dishwasher, clothes washer or taking a shower. What that does is it could cut down on the on/off because the volume of water being used would cause the pump to stay on instead of turning off and on.

gnorts
01/01/2009, 08:16 AM
http://cgi.ebay.com/ro-filter-reverse-osmosis-aquatec-6800-booster-pump_W0QQitemZ310035033503QQihZ021QQcategoryZ20684QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

Is this what I am looking for? How does it work? How does it get hooked up?

192clark
01/01/2009, 09:42 AM
gnorts: yes that is a booster pump. You would also want a pressure gauge, prefilter. Check out airwaterice.com, they have all three together with connections instructions all that you need. The filterguys.com also a good source. That one on eBay may also sell everything that you need. I just like the whole package saves a trip to HomeDepot.

mmedeiros2
01/01/2009, 09:54 AM
That is the aquatec 6800. Good for 50 GPD. How many GPD is your unit rated for? If Above 50 GPD you should get the Aquatec 8800. That is the company though. Call them.
As far as hook-up, You need to purchase a faucet adapter for the sink, outside faucet, or a valve to tap into a cold water line. (One or the other) If you do not have one allraedy. DO NOT USE WARM WATER. The outlet of your charcoal filter will connect to the inlet of the booster pump. The outlet of the booster pump will connect to the membrane inlet. www.spectrapure.com/huds/BP_LLC.pdf
This should be in your manual. If you Google this you we find many hookups. The booster pump is basically the same hookup on any system. Google as much as you can.

gnorts
01/01/2009, 09:55 AM
Where does ther pump get hooked up to?

bubbas12
01/01/2009, 10:05 AM
I guess it really depends how much RO water you are going to be makng at a time.

It takes me about 2 hours to make 5 gallons of ro/di water from my well. The pump builds pressure to about 60 psi, then shuts off. The pump does not kick back on until pressure drops to 30 psi. It takes about 10 minutes before the pump kicks back on, then it runs for less than one minute to build pressure back to 60.

This is no strain on the well pump and you should not be worried about burning out your pump.


I make 5 gallons of water for my weekly water change. And another gallon or two for top-off.

I guess if you were making 10 gallons of water a day this could be an issue. Or if you were trying to make enough water to fill your tank initially.

Just making enough water for your weekly water change and top-off will not cause a well pump issue.

Hope that helps.

gnorts
01/01/2009, 10:10 AM
thanks bubbas do you use a boosterpump for your well. I only need to make about 10 gallons a week that it.

mmedeiros2
01/01/2009, 10:16 AM
I would do more investigating if I were you. You need to know what your well pump presure switch is rated for so that you know what the output presure of the pump will be and also take into consideration the flow rate needed for your size membrane.
Aquatec is considered to be a good pump for the money. Call companies like Aquatec and Fixyurwater, ask for tech. support, and ask questions. Don't be afraid that you might not sound intellagent enough. They will helf you learn at their cost. This is a cost that companies pay for wanting to be in business. Just end each call with - thank you very much, you have been a great amount of help, and I will probablly call you back when I am ready to order. You can do this with any piece of equipment. It is a lot quicker and easier to understand talking to a live person. I do Tech Support for a living and will give out any info. with pleasure. If a company does not have that attitude, then they are not worth dealing with. If they have a bad attitude, let the know it. It might help them out.

gnorts
01/01/2009, 11:03 AM
ok mmedeiros yea I know that I will need a booster pump and as far as sounding dumb on the phone I know thats going to happen cause i know nothing about anything about my well haha.

mmedeiros2
01/01/2009, 12:34 PM
Calling these people is the best way to learn in my opinion.