Is it time to stop buying water?

OK. So I plan to buy a unit, and install it in my basement.

What about water storage? When you all make water, how/in what do you store it? I plan on having 2 storage containers of course, RO & Salt. Do I just get garbage cans with lids, or true water containers? I believe I read somewhere I should have a water pump in both to keep the water moving.

Thanks.

 

A heavy duty trash can will be fine. I went on Craigslist and got 2 30 gallon rain barrels that I make and store my water in. You might want to keep a heater in them depending on what your temperature is in the basement. That is true. You do want to keep it circulating so it doesn't get stagnant.

 

Plain RO/DI does not need any circulating, it will keep longer if you don't, just keep it sealed or covered.

I use a 23 gallon Rubbermaid Recycling can for my RO/DI top off storage as pictured here:


The float switches control my RO/DI system on and off via a solenoid valve.


The small valve on the bottom ended up seeping so was replaced with a 3/4" bulkhead and ball valve to fill buckets and jugs. The can sits on a 24" high stand in my garage. The small top bulkhead is hooked to the RO/DI, the bottom one in these photos is the backwash line which feeds DI back to my MaxCap UHE for flushing. There is now a third small bulkhead about half way down that feeds the peristaltic pump on my ATO system which is 35 feet away in the house.

I use a Rubbermaid trashcan on wheels for mixing salwater and I don't keep much premixed on hand as I find personally it starts to smell pretty rank after a few days even when circulated. I usually make mine up that morning or the night before I need it then throw in a pump and heater or fan as needed for temperature.

 

Thanks AZDesertRat. I have my tank on my second floor, and the RO/DI unit will be in the basement. Are you using another container for saltwater storage, or are you mixing as needed? Would I need to set up an ATO for the RO/DI unit so it doesn't overflow the storage containers? Or I guess I could just turn a ball valve, wait for the container to fill, and close the valve. As simple a set-up as this?

 

I just fill up buckets, and store it in them. Less fancy than AZ's setup, for sure, but it works.

You could always use ball valves, but there's no guarantee you won't forget to close it again. RODI units are pretty slow, in case you haven't noticed; the norm is 50-90 gallons per day. That 23 gallon container that AZDR has, with a 90 GPD unit, would take about 6 hours to fill.

 

if you're making 15G a week, you may not need large water storage containers.

This is how my setup works:

I have long 15 ft 1/4" high-pressure tubing coming from my RO/DI unit with a push connect ball valve on the the end of it, so I can shut it off when not in use or when changing buckets. I have the necessary auto-shutoff valve installed on my RO/DI. I then have "tails" of tubing on two separate 5 Gal buckets that I use to store my water, and the buckets each have float valves installed.

One 5 Gal bucket stores water for my auto-topoff system. This one is normally hooked into the RO/DI when I'm not making saltwater.

When I need to make saltwater, I shutoff the ball valve and transfer it to the other bucket's tubing. The way I like to make saltwater is fill up the 5 gallon bucket and then add four measured cups of salt to it, then dump it into a larger 20 gallon reservoir with a pump and heater to let it mix for 24 hours. I change 15 gallons of saltwater a week, so I make three buckets and dump each one in... using this system, and measuring my salt dose, my salinity always comes to 35ppt, so I rarely even check with a hydrometer anymore... only when I suspect something could be off (and it rarely is).

So, to answer your question, I only use the pump in the saltwater mix, but the freshwater topoff is in a sealed 5 gallon bucket with a carbon filtered air intake, and it never needs maintenance.

not sure if this system would work for everybody, but it's simple and easy and works for me, and is realtively foolproof...

 

If your RO/DI has an ASOV (auto shutoff valve) you could do a simple float valve ($15 or so for a decent one) in your RO/DI storage container or can.
I used to fill manually but at the time the RO/DI was in the kitchen and i flooded the wifes floor once or twic....er, too many times to admit.
I later bought a $8 digital kitchen timer which had an alarm and I could wear on my belt like a pager or phone and I have a good handle on how long it takes to make XX number of gallons now. That was the second iteration and of course now its all automated.

I use a seperate wheeled trash can for mixing saltwater on an as needed basis. I also keep five 5G water jugs of RO/DI on hand for this purpose besides the 23 gallon ATO container.

 

go with the auto-shut off valve like the one I mentioned previously!! they will save you from floods in case you walk away and forget to shut it off manually...

Just don't get the ones like this:



I had one of these, and the float leaked and filled up with water, leaving the valve useless; also, the high-pressure valve's rubber gasket ended up getting a hole in it and leaked, which meant waste water was running constantly. I've heard many folks reporting similar issues with the coralife and similar manufacturer's products... I finally purchased a float and valve like the one in my previous post and haven't had any problems since...