new r/o unit * need a little help *

[newfishliny]

I just got this three stage r/o unit from my store,its made by culligan water filter company. I would like to hook it up in the bathroom ( under the sink ). it has a spout to place on top of the sink for drinnking water. My attention is to fill a 25 gal container , so how does that work. do you leave the water tap on and it drips into the bucket , what rate does it filter the water( time wise). gallons it makes 26 a day . how do you prevent over flow in the bucket.
There is a container that comes with it, it looks like a storage container, or a pressure tank. does anyone know.
Well I am going to open the box and read all the instructions , if at feed back please let me know, I bought this to get rid of brown alge , my tank is full of it, I was told because of the tap water.
thanks
Donald LI/NY

 

[jacksonpt]

I'm not familiar with your RO unit, so I'm not sure how much help I can be... but here goes...
I have my RO/DI unit hooked up to a untility sink in the basement. I turn the faucet on and leave it on until my bucket is full. Mine does 60 gpd, which equates to about 2-3 gallons per hour (filtration rate depends on a variety of factors). If yous does 26 gph, then you would get about 1 gallon per hour.

 

[melbournefl]

Everytime I read horror stories of flooding involving RO units it seems to boil down to one thing ... forgetting to turn off the water LOL The problem with RO units is that they are so damn slow in their production so it's easy to forget you're filling a tank or whatever. Jackson's method is nice because, if he forgets, the only thing that happens is that the bucket overflows and the water goes down the drain. I tood a little bit different route to reach a very similar point. The RO unit I got has the pressure tank holding 3 gallons by the way. I installed my unit in the stand of my tank with the pressure tank down there too. Then I ran a line from the pressure tank to the sump area with a valve on the end, I ran another line outside to the garage where I installed it in a 40 gallon "mixing" vat for my saltwater, it has a valve on the end of that also. The net result is that I have a constant 3 gallon back-up of RO water for the sump top-offs and can turn on the outside valve to fill the mixing tank. If I forget that I've got the RO unit feeding the tank in the garage, all I have is a wet garage floor, something I can live with. Sounds more complicated than it is LOL
By the way, if you didn't notice in the above description, we don't use the RO unit for drinking water but another line off the pressure tank to the "faucet" that came with your unit would let you get water from there also.
Not sure if this helps or hinders you but good luck!
Later,
Paul

 

[newfishliny]

Originally posted by MelbourneFL
Everytime I read horror stories of flooding involving RO units it seems to boil down to one thing ... forgetting to turn off the water LOL The problem with RO units is that they are so damn slow in their production so it's easy to forget you're filling a tank or whatever. Jackson's method is nice because, if he forgets, the only thing that happens is that the bucket overflows and the water goes down the drain. I tood a little bit different route to reach a very similar point. The RO unit I got has the pressure tank holding 3 gallons by the way. I installed my unit in the stand of my tank with the pressure tank down there too. Then I ran a line from the pressure tank to the sump area with a valve on the end, I ran another line outside to the garage where I installed it in a 40 gallon "mixing" vat for my saltwater, it has a valve on the end of that also. The net result is that I have a constant 3 gallon back-up of RO water for the sump top-offs and can turn on the outside valve to fill the mixing tank. If I forget that I've got the RO unit feeding the tank in the garage, all I have is a wet garage floor, something I can live with. Sounds more complicated than it is LOL
Yes you might be able to help me , as I said I will hook up the ro unit in my bathroom , mind as a 3 gal tank and 26 gal a day.
I have a 40 gal narrow commercial plactic tank that stands 3 ft high . I will stick that in a corner. But now is the trick what line do I run to this container from the r/o. the r/o instruction says that the tank shuts off when full. only on demand will the tank fill up.
the water spout for drinking is connected to that.
my understanding is the tank creates pressure that helps force water thru the filters, do all units use a tank or is this in the case of the drinking spout. also r/o i understand but what is the dI i see on some units, and what does that do. if your unit does 60 a day is the filter larger ? also that for every 1 gal made at least 7 gals is sent down the drain, they call it waste. is there a diffrent way to get quality water from the tap , that is not so envolved.
I am doing this because I get some much brown alge.
thanks waiting for a reply
Don LI/NY
By the way, if you didn't notice in the above description, we don't use the RO unit for drinking water but another line off the pressure tank to the "faucet" that came with your unit would let you get water from there also.
Not sure if this helps or hinders you but good luck!
Later,
Paul

 

[melbournefl]

Don, I'm rushing out the door for work right now but later on today I'll get back to you on your questions, promise. Be care when you "quote" somebody, when you quoted me I almost missed all your comments because they were in the same font and I thought you'd just quoted me and forgot your questions in the post LOL
Be back later,
Paul

 

[melbournefl]

Yes you might be able to help me , as I said I will hook up the ro unit in my bathroom , mind as a 3 gal tank and 26 gal a day.
I have a 40 gal narrow commercial plactic tank that stands 3 ft high . I will stick that in a corner. But now is the trick what line do I run to this container from the r/o. the r/o instruction says that the tank shuts off when full. only on demand will the tank fill up.
the water spout for drinking is connected to that.
my understanding is the tank creates pressure that helps force water thru the filters, do all units use a tank or is this in the case of the drinking spout. also r/o i understand but what is the dI i see on some units, and what does that do. if your unit does 60 a day is the filter larger ? also that for every 1 gal made at least 7 gals is sent down the drain, they call it waste. is there a diffrent way to get quality water from the tap , that is not so envolved.
I am doing this because I get some much brown alge.

Okay Don, here's what I did ...
I cut the "blue (clean) water line between the RO unit and the pressure tank and installed a "tee" fitting. From the "tee" I ran a line to my "mixing tank" and at the end of the line I put a shut off valve. What this does is, when I open the valve the water in the pressure tank is released to the "mixing tank" in a rush. Once those 3 gallons are gone I leave the valve open and the RO unit begins it's drip,drip,drip into the "mixing tank" when that is full, I turn off the valve and the RO unit fills the pressure tank again. I imagine some time in the future I'll change this to a float switch to avoid the problem of forgetting I'm filling the tank.
The pressure tank itself is filled *after* the water is run through the RO unit and it is only used so the "faucet" on the counter will produce water for drinking or whatever. As long as you tee the line between the RO and the pressure tank the system I described will work. Regarding the DI unit, it's a deionization filter that further purifies the water, I don't have one on my RO unit. You'll hear varying opinions on it, some won't run without them, some don't use them and some run ONLY DI. The big advantage to DI is that it alone can produce water that's of the same or better quality as the RO unit, the downside is they need to be recharged frequently, depending on your incoming water quality. The reason some people put them after the RO unit is it greatly increases the amount of water that can run through the DI before recharging the media. Another advantage of a stand-alone DI unit is that it produces no waste water, so that saves money on your water bill obviously. It's a trade off either way, all these methods will reduce your phosphates (your goal as I understand it) and I think you'll probably be fine with just the RO unit you have in hand.
To summerize the plumbing:
cold tap water to the RO unit (usually the green line)
waste water to the sewer (usually the black line)
clean water to be used (usually the blue line) run from the RO unit, tee'd to the pressure tank and your "mixing tank". Then from the pressure tank, also tee'd, to the faucet on the counter top or, in my case, to the sump.
Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions now that I've probably completely confused you.
Later,
paul