New RO/DI

Hi, I recently purchased a RO/DI 100 gpd 5 stage unit online. Today I got it plumbed up and it seems to be working. I get a slow steady drip from the "pure" water line, and a crap ton of waste water down the drain. However, it seems to be producing an extreme amount of waste water (7+ gallons for every 1/4 gallon of pure) and I am wondering what the problem is? I have adequate water pressure to our home (Though I am using a "Y" splitter from our cold water supply on the washing machine, that could be reducing flow) Is it just new? I have never had an RO/DI of my own, I usually just buy water from the LFS, until I realized their water was 10+ nitrate straight out the tap.

Thanks!
-Atticus

 

That's very normal. many people collect the waste water for watering plants and lawn

J

 

Very normal. I have a SpectraPure, and typical operating range is 4-6 times waste water to pure water. I just have mine plumbed via 1/4" tubing out the garage and into the drain. Too much of a bother to me to collect, it's essentially the same stuff that's coming out of the drain, just a little more "stuff" in it.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but would that not mean 1 gallon of pure water would be in my case 4-6 gallons of waste water, not the 1 gallon of pure water 28 gallons of waste water I am currently seeing??

 

?? Am I just worrying too much? LOL

 

What pressure and temperature is your water running at? If it's too low, you'll get more waste than you should.

 

Is there a flow restrictor installed?

 

The industry standard is 4:1 waste to good so 4 gallons of waste to 1 gallon of treated water.

Most vendors take the easy way out and use a fixed non adjustable flow restrictor on the notion it is a one size fits all.
That could not be further from the truth! Your water condition, temperature and pressure are not the same as mine nor may you be plumbed the same as mine is so a "one size fits all" flow restrictor is not the answer.

Better vendors like Spectrapure and Buckeye Field Supply use capillary tube type flow restrictors that you can and should trim to fit your exact conditions once you have your system installed. It gets you to an exact 4:1 waste ratio when you follow the simple directions.


A capillary tube flow restrictor is about $5 and is a good investment for anyone with a RO or RO/DI system so they can fine tune the brine flow or waste ratio.

 

Atticus,

Mine does the same thing. What I do is set my RO/DI system on a chair outside close to a garden (but still under the patio so the RO/DI system does not get a lot of sun or wet from rain. I also put a towel over it too) I have the pure water going into a trash can and the waste water tube going straight into a garden. I just put a rock on the tube to hold it in place. I'll start up the system in the morning before I go to school (around 8am) and come home after work (around 9pm) and I will have about 3/4 of my trashcan full of pure water

 

There is a flow restrictor on the waste water out line. A 450 ML. It claims a 1:2 Ratio, but that is definitely not happening.