Is a pressure tank needed for RO drinking water?

I'm getting an RODI unit....most likely the airwaterice Compact III. It comes with a DI bypass and a TDS Meter for 160, which is a pretty good deal.
Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Compact III 75GPD with DI Bypass Assembly and TDS Meter

I already have a goose neck faucet that I will be installing into the DI bypass to get RO drinking water. I'm wondering if I can just hook up the di bypass directly to the goose neck spicket thingy? Or do I need a pressure tank to store the RO water?

 

You can do it either way, but just linking the bypass will give you water as fast as the filter produces it. The pressure container will push it out quickly, I can't tell you how fast because I don't own one, but I can say I can't stand waiting a minute for a glass to fill. It won't give you cold water either (well, not down here, for you maybe not in summer), we just fill a slim gallon container and keep it in the fridge.

 

Without a pressure holding tank it would take you some time to fill up one glass of water to drink. I would go with the 2.5g tank especially if you make koolaid for the kids.

 

Filling a glass without a pressure tank is painfully slow, especially in winter months with colder water water temps or if you have marginal pressure.
I would suggest getting a pressure tank for drinking at a minimum.

My other suggestion is get a RO/DI with a full sized vertical refillable DI filter. Buying a full sized, standard sized replacement filters, reef quality system and adding a drinking water kit is usually cheaper than buying a drinking water system and trying to make it reef quality. It does not take many non standard DI replacements to make up the difference. The horizontal DI is smaller, much lower capacity and ends up costing more than buying bulk DI resin and filling a vertical 20 oz cartridge less frequently.

 

Thanks for all of the info, looks Like I will be purchasing a pressure tank too.

Would I just be replacing DI more often with a horizontal DI than the vertical? I'm assuming its because the horizontal DI is slightly smaller?

Also, all of the other stages are all cartridge type filters.....Are all DIs re-fillable or are some cartride? Whats the standard/preferred? I'd like to order the RODI today, but I still have so many questions! Why can't air water ice just pick up their phone!!!! Thanks 3reef

 

bump....more questions for 3reef......^!

 

AWI has really gone downhill in my experience, years ago I used to deal with Walter and things were pretty good but times have changed. look at all their Sponsors Forums on the various websites, they rarely answer questions.
The horizontals have a couple things that are not as desirable, one is they physically hold less resin, another is the flow pattern is horrible and inefficient. Water will take the path of least resistance and travel along the bottom of the filter never exposing the resin on top to water so treatment is lacking. Its called channelling or short circuiting.
Better reef quality RO/DI systems use a standard 10" canister with a refillable cartridge inside that holds 20 oz of resin when packed properly. They are also plumbed so wate renters the bottom and exits the top so the cartridge stays filled and all water and resin come into contact with each other, no short circuiting or channelling and as much as twice or more the resin for best treatment. Small throw away cartridges may also be outdated, resin has a short shelf life, especially if its not vacuum sealed, and are more expensive to replace than bulk resin or even some replacement cartridges. Then sme hold as little as 6 to 9 oz of resin, others maybe 12 but rarely are any of them packed properly so water will still short circuit even if you stand them on end so water enters from the bottom.
All true reef quality systems have full size 10" vertical canisters, a few examples are the Pro Plus forund here for $149 :
SpectraPure Customer Appreciation SALE! 20% - 50% off

The 75 GPD Premium or 75 GPD Reef/Residential found here for $169 and $277:
http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/showproducts.asp?Category=171&Sub=166

Or the Optima series found here starting at about $149 for the basic unit:
RO DI Aquarium Water Filters Home Treatment Systems Softener Tankless Salt Free

AWI also sells their Typhoon and Typhoon III which are good reef quality systems.

All are reef quality systems with full size vertical DI filters and can still be used for drinking water too.

 

Went with the air water ice Typhoon 75gpd 5 stage unit. Also ordered a TDS3 meter too! Should be here 2/8/10.

 

Don't pay attention to the word "stage", its an old ebay ploy to make drinking water quality systems sound like something special. For a very good reef quality RO system you want and need 3 "stages" and for a RO/DI 4 "stages". Thats it, You do not need nor want two carbons, it only causes a potential pressure drop to the RO membrane which means lower GPD and lower quality effluent. Ebay systems with two no name carbons and two little dinky horizontal DI's and a drinking water taste and odor carbon you throw away anyway have misled thousands of consumers.

If you want two stages somewhere get dual vertical DI's, this is money well spent unlike high micron rated, low capacity, short lived carbons. A single 1 micron or less carbon is more than suficient for both chlorine and chloramines which is harder on DI than it is on carbon.

 

Thank you for your advice. When the time comes, I may replace one of the cartridges with another DI.

Typhoon arrived on Monday and so did the TDS3 meter. I tested all the water in my house, then quickly hooked up the RODI under my sink.

My tap was 316ppm
My nestle bottled water was 90ppm
My picknsave water island (fill your own) was 20ppm
MY RODI, after 15 min of running is 0ppm

I plumbed the RODI to a 25 gallon clear rubbermaid tub with a lid. I also drilled the tub and installed an all plastic float valve I got off ebay for 6 bucks. Works flawlessly! Fills up the 25 gallon tote in a couple hours.

I did my 72 gallons first 10 gallon water change! I normally do 5 gals because I couldn't buy much water at once. Topoffs and water changes are so simple now!