Help me find my H2O

[goldfish]

Ok--I'm about "this close" to having to buy an RO unit, but I am trying to avoid it at all costs.
I've heard many of you say that you just buy RO water or fill up your gallon jugs with it at local stores. I do have a dumb question so please bare with me Some of you have mentioned that you get your water at Wal-mart, but my question is what exactly is it called?? They do not carry anything called "RO water" (which I knew it wasn't called that), but what name are you buying it under? Oops, was I allowed to say Walmart without getting the boot?! I'm just about ready to go and buy a unit, but I thought I'd give the water a try first.
Any thoughts or names that will help me find the right product will certainly help!!

 

[johnnysalt]

I think I may have helped start this frenzy a few weeks ago! Water from the Culligan machine inside my Wal-Mart is 33 cents/gallon.....and if you look at the process it goes through it will probably be worth it....in the "short-run" at least! Carbon filtered, RO, microfiltered and ozonation....and then shot through the uv at the end....yeah! Have fun,
[ July 10, 2001: Message edited by: JohnnySalt ]

 

[twoods71]

I get my water at a vending machine outside of a local grocery store for .25 a gallon. It goes through some excellent filtration so I find it worth the small cost.
I also see these machines in some of the shopping center parking lots.

 

[jimi]

Its alot easier in the long run to just bite the bullet and buy an R/O unit.

 

[goldfish]

Jimi,
You are right. I think I'm just wasting my time trying to find water when I know exactly how I can do it. I'll take care of it asap. Thanks!!

 

[caymanlovers]

Goldfish - Jimi is right, having your own RO unit can be very convenient but after looking into this I found there is more to it than just buying an RO unit. The problem I see is that RO units take time to produce the water. A 50 GPD unit only puts out 2 gallons per hour so if you are doing a 10 gallon change you will have to run the unit for 5 hours unless you have a storage tank. A storage tank adds considerably to the cost of the unit and space it requires.
I just wanted you to be aware of this before you jump in and buy a RO unit.

 

[goldfish]

Cayman,
Thanks for the advice! I have a large sink in my laundry room that I am going to house a 30 gallon "extra" tank. That way I can hook up the ro unit to the faucet and have it make the water directly into the 30 gallon tank. I have a 100 foot python that I use to pump the water into my fish tank.
I hope that is all I need to worry about. I do know of one that makes 20gpd, so as long as I hook it up the day before I should be ok. I only make about 10-15 gallon water changes when I do clean the tank anyhow.
Thanks for the tidbits of information! I really do appreciate it!

 

[broomer5]

You're right about RO or RP/DI units taking awhile to produce a gallon of water.
I went to KMart and picked up a 12 gallon plastic container, has a spigot/spout and a air vent. I set this into a 32 gallon plastic storage container ( also a KMart blue light special ) and then turn the water. I timed what it takes to produce a gallon of good RO/DI water, multiply by the number of gallons I need, set timer/alarm and that's that. If I happen it miss it, any water spills out into the large container, and I use it as well. Thinking of getting the float switch set up soon, and not mess with this babysitting the RO unit.
Get an RO or RO/DI goldfish - you will find it well worth the money, time and continuous search for good source of H2O.
You will not regret it, and you'll have it for years to come.
Brian

 

[jimi]

Buy the largest gpd unit you can afford. You can not appreciate how PAINFULLY SLOW 20 gpd is until you see it. For every gallon of water produced you probably lose a half gallon to evaporation by the time its full. I have a kent 60gpd and it is enough. I run the waste line down the drain and the good water into a rubbermaid garbage can.

 

[twoods71]

Thankfully a water vending machine is less then a mile from the house so I dont need to mess with the RO unit and storage space. I get excellent quality water when I need it and it only takes about 10 minutes to get there and back.