Ro/di unit waste line

Why does a ro/di unit have a waste line.. I'm probably asking a stupid question but I was just wondering

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When you are creating "pure water" there is a percentage of water that is rejected by the RO membrane. That allows a small percent of water to go through the next stages of filtration and rejects the larger portion of the water that is not clean (Higher TDS, ect.) and dumps it. That is what is disposed of via the waste line.

 

agree with the above. It usually (depending on the unit) is 3 parts waste water to 1 part ro/di water. Some of your nicer units do a 1.5:1 ratio. If you have plants or soemthing you can use your waste water for that

 

The average RO or RO/DI has a 4:1 waste ratio meaning for every 5 gallons of water, 1 gallons passes through the membrane fabric and the remaining 4 gallons is what flushes the brine or concentrated waste from that 1 treated gallon off the membrane fabric. This is what allows a membrane to last for so long.

Reducing that 4:1 waste ratio causes premature membran failure since the TDS or dissolved solids begins to solidify on the membrane fabric since it does not have sufficient volume and velocity to scour it off and carry it away. If someone trys to sell you a low waste system don't believe them. There are only a couple in the world that actually work and they are not cheap.

 

i just hooked up my RO/DI system, it comes highly recommended from a close friend who got me into this hobby, he says its almost a 1 to 1 ratio.

Vertex PuraTek 100 GPD RO/DI Unit

and it makes a lotta water.

 

It won't last and you are going to be very disappointed. Read all the reviews on the forums, its a good idea but just does not work so easy. If it were tha teasy all the companies that have been selling RO/DI systems for 25 years or more would be doing it. Vertex did not do their homework and will not be selling them for long.

 

Hmmm that is wicked impressive. I looked at their site and it said the same but it is temperature dependent.

This one does 1.5:1 Aquatic Life But its also like $700+

 

There is only one on the market that really works and the others are imitations or poor clones.
The Spectrapure MaxCap UHE is unique in that it uses a microprocessor controller to flush the system with stored DI water unlike all the copies. The others tried to cut corners and use tap water which is the worst thing you can possibly flush the treated water side of your membrane with. Think about it, the treated side should be kept clean of TDS so flushing it withe the very water you are trying to treat and remove tha tTDS from is backwards. Not only does the UHE flush on a timed basis but it also double flushes then pickles or stores the RO membrane in DI water when the system shuts down so it pulls an remaining TDS out and it is flushed away on start up. No other unit does this very important step and I guarantee you they missed the boat.
I have owned the UHE for 3 years now an its still running at 99.35% rejection rate on the RO only and I have only replaced the MaxCap DI cartridge 3 times in 3 years and I replaced the SilicaBuster DI cartridge yesterday, 10/10/2011 for the very first time! And thats in Phoenix AZ with a tapwater TDS that varies between 535 and 830, extremely hard water and I am running it at 0.67:1 waste ratio or less than 1:1.

You get what you pay for.