Simple water station to meet a specific need

[jcjrogers]

I was in the hobby for 5 - 6 years in the mid-90's through early 2000's and am interested in getting back into it. I'm handicapped and have to figure out how I'm going to handle every facet. In this case, making RO/DI, storing it, and getting it to an ATO tank. Making saltwater is an adjunct of this, though one solution is to just use a rectangular Rubbermaid container on a temporary basis as needed. I operate mostly out of a mobility scooter, and my eye level is a little over 4' off the ground. Therefore, it is easiest for me to work with stuff between around 8" off the ground to 4' off the ground.


My plan is a 120 gal - 150 gal tank plus a sump. The tank will sit on a stand with the sump underneath. I have no dedicated room and no water source or drainage where the tank will reside. What I have is about 11' of wall space with around 36" coming off the wall (around 33 square feet). This area has to hold the DT and all equipment (including ATO), storage water, etc. We call this room our study, but it is really a computer room/exercise room/hobby room. It isn't our den or master bedroom but everything still needs to be fairly neat. I can get away with a container or two to hold water, but can't get away with a Christmas tree of valves and pvc. Also, running hose/tubing through the walls isn't realistic. My kitchen sink is a straight shot (I can see the counter from where the tank will reside) and is maybe 30' away.

My thought was to create some sort of roll-out system where I either: 1) Make RO/DI at the sink and roll out tubing across the floor running into a holding tank, or 2) Fill a holding tank next to the DT with tap by rolling out a hose across the floor, and then pumping tap from the holding tank through the RO/DI unit as needed. I kind of like option 2 but the problem is waste water. I could run waste water back into the holding tank as a quick search shows that waste water is just a little more impure than its source water (a little higher in minerals). However, I'm still not sure it is a good idea.

The other issue is my kitchen sink's head. It is connected to a hose and looks more like a shower head than a sink head, and I have to be able to connect to it. Alternatively, I guess I could run water into a bucket in the sink and pump water from the bucket through the RO/DI unit.

My ultimate goal is to eliminate carrying water containers and pouring into a holding tank as I can't physically do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Vinny Kreyling]

IF you can locate the RO either on a door under the sink or next to the sink it would eliminate the waste water problem because you can tap into the drain & the good water can be routed to a storage container next to the tank, easily if there is no doorway involved. More of a hassle if there is you would need to go over a ceiling or under a floor. The container should have a shut off float valve or switch.
This is where a local club would be advantageous for any help needed.
I have 2 containers stacked for space saving, the top is RO the bottom is too, but used for top off. This way when I do make water the RO runs for a long period of time & I get better water that if it starts & stops frequently. Hope this gives you some options.

[bhbell]

If this were my situation I would put the RoDi filter bank under the sink. What size system do you have? What is your water change amount and schedule? How much ATO do you use over what period of time? What's the production flow of your RoDi?
I ask all these questions to try to understand what you need. You need to be able to have sufficient RoDi available to make a fresh batch of saltwater without impacting ATO. RoDi requires 60 to 80 PSI to work efficiently. You can use a booster pump is the system pressure is too low, but I've never tried using a no pressure system from a sump to a booster pump to a RoDi bank. Unless it's a large system, I think two 55 gal plastic drums, 1 RoDi and 1 new saltwater mix tank might be a better use of space.

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[jcjrogers]

The sink has doors, though I figure the weight of the unit, especially with water in it, would make it pretty heavy for a cabinet door (e.g. stress on hinges).

My past experience was with a 75 gal and a 55 gal, both with make-shift sumps. The 75 gal was in-wall, with the back and equipment in a closet under my staircase (my tank room). I kept saltwater in a Rubbermaid container in the laundry room next to a utility sink and made RO/DI as needed and stored in 5 and 6 gal containers in the tank room. I'm starting all over in a different house and have to acquire all new equipment, including the tank. I'm guessing I'll need to top-off 2+ gallons per day so would like an ATO tank of maybe 15 gal, which would hopefully last me about a week. The RO/DI units I've looked at are 75 gpd and 150 gpd.

If I had an easy way to hook up, I thought about having my father-in-law make a small wooden two-wheeler to mount the unit to. That way, I could keep in a closet and wheel out when I needed. In my old house, the RO/DI unit was mounted to the wall in the laundry room, and was connected to a cheap 3-way valve connected to the utility sink's faucet. That isn't happening in my wife's kitchen, but I could likely mount the unit under the sink... the problem is getting water to the unit. I don't know how to quick connect/disconnect to the odd head on the faucet.

[bhbell]

The water supply under the sink has a stop valve for both hot and cold. You can add a T stop valve to the cold line after the existing one. Use that to feed the RoDi filter bank located in the cupboard. I agree that hanging it off a cupboard door is probably not the best option, but inside off one of the sides would be ok. Mount it up high enough that you can get a Tupperware type bread container under it to catch small spills when servicing the cartridges. Check the thrift store for them if you don't have one.

[jcjrogers]

This would likely work but the valve would need to be located away from the cold water supply connection or I couldn't reach it. However, having the RO/DI unit located under the sink would make things simple. The waste water line could simply be pulled up into the sink drain, and the 30' of tubing connected to the main line then pulled over to a storage container or ATO tank.

[bhbell]

How about using an electric pressure valve under the sink to stop the flow to the bank and a float valve on the end of the tubing. When your container fills the float valve closes which shuts off the supply to the bank?

[jcjrogers]

That's probably a good idea though right now the planned process is so manual, I'm not sure I have to worry about it. One thing I forgot is that I have a great big attic. Obviously I can't get up there, but if I did run tubing or something flexible, the longest runs could go through the attic running next to all the coax up there. If I could make it work, I could set the RO unit under my bathroom sink where I can easily get to and not encroach on my wife's space (the entire house less my 33 square feet + my bathroom sink):love2:. The problem is getting the tubing to the attic and then dropping down the wall where I need it. I can't do it but maybe someone could without having to pay a ton of money.

[Vinny Kreyling]

Us an Angle Stop Valve in the water line under the sink to supply the RO.
John Guest has them with 1/4" fitting.
Then use an inline shut off valve by the RO unit for convenience.
Buy both @ the same place or HD has the shut off valve.

[bhbell]

Temp in the attic mat freeze your line.

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[jcjrogers]

Good info., guys! Regarding freezing, the attic doesn't get as cold as outside, and I live in the south. That said, we typically have outside temperatures in the teens and even lower every winter. My thought was to mount at a high point in the attic then work down. After running, disconnect each end and allow each end to drain. I'm figuring a 15' drop on each end so most if not all of the water in the tubing should drain.