RO/DI question

G

gwhunter

Guest
So I'm moving some tanks around and I'm tired of refilling my sump in my living room by hand. I currently lose about 3g every 5 days. I'm going with a larger tank with MH lights and no glass lids so I'm expecting even more loss. My RO/DI setup in mounted on a wall in the basement and also services my tanks down there. My question is on tying in the tank upstairs to the discharge of the unit. As most RO/DI units don't have much discharge pressure, I doubt that the system will discharge into my upstairs sump. I know there are booster pumps for the intake if you home water pressure is low but is there anyway to boost discharge pressure? I plan on useing a level loc float in the upstairs sump. I believe it's around 15' of head. I should note I'm a electrician and controls tech so I could always make something work with a level switch and contactor but wanted to ask here first since this must be a common problem. And I'm also a fan of the KISS method.
Matt
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
I think what you should do is put a ro/di holding tank in the basement. Say 5 or 10 gals. Pump out of this small volume with a Peristaltic pump adjust it so the tank upstairs keeps up with the evaporation. Use a switch down in the basement to fill the ro/di holding tank if it does over fill the holding tank you will not lose the DTs livestock, and the flood will be in the basement…
 
G

gwhunter

Guest
Well not a bad idea I already have a 45g holding bin in the basement. The basement is also finished so this equipment is stored in a utility closed near my boiler. I'm thinking I could add another holding container the use a float switch to start the pump but use a timer as a fail safe. I just wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I work for days at a time so I really need something that works automaticly since the wife is busy with the little ones. One other idea I had was to get a non metal pressure rated vessel fill it with ri/do water than use a solenoid to let compressed air into the system. The air would force the water out into the sump but I'd probably end up dealing with splash issues.
Matt
 
G

gwhunter

Guest
So this isn't much help, I need to deal with the head issue. Trust there are fail safes that can be added to ensure no flooding of fresh water. I understand the concern and appreciate it. But what are your thoughts on the head issue?
Matt
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Why couldn't you mount the RO/DI unit on the highest level allowing gravity to carry the water to the lower tanks? And I have couple other ideas that would definitely work and solve the issue, but a little pricey.....
The first would be using a Litemeter III with the water change modules, and you would need to figure out what your exact evaporation rate is and you would program the LiteMeter III and it would send out the desired amount as you programmed over a specified period of time.....
The next idea would be to look at a product called Reef-iller Dosin pump, they make a couple modes, and they would basically do the same thing as the LiteMeter. The Reef-Filler Dosing pump will pump up to 200ft away. If you need PM me and I can give you a little more specifics on it.....HTH
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
All you need is a good Variable-Speed Peristaltic Dosing pump
Look at these
Aqua Medic SP 3000 Dosing Pump is fixed speed but it has a maximum head of 30ft
Innovative Aquatics Sentry Dosing Pump
SpectraPure LiterMeter III pumps either from a draw height of 12 feet or to a delivery height of 60 feet.
or get a lab pump
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
One way to increase the discharge pressure, would be to decrease the flow restrictor size (on the waste line). If you have a 100gpd unit, use a 75gpd flow restrictor. 75gpd, a 50gpd flow restrictor, etc... No guarantee that won't cause catastrophic failure somewhere else on the RO/DI unit though. One time I pitched the waste line on my garage door (I have a sewage pump, so instead of running that constantly, I just route the waste line out the garage and drain on the driveway), and within a few seconds, blew the tubing apart.
I think if you have standard water pressures levels though, the RO should be able to reach up to the main floor. I ran about 75 feet of air line tubing from my RO/DI unit in the laundry room, into the kitchen, down the hall, and into the office where my 240gal was filling up. No problems at all running it that far.
The guys do have good ideas though on how not to directly connect the RO to a tank.
 
G

gwhunter

Guest
Originally Posted by acrylic51
http:///forum/post/3280173
Why couldn't you mount the RO/DI unit on the highest level allowing gravity to carry the water to the lower tanks? And I have couple other ideas that would definitely work and solve the issue, but a little pricey.....
The first would be using a Litemeter III with the water change modules, and you would need to figure out what your exact evaporation rate is and you would program the LiteMeter III and it would send out the desired amount as you programmed over a specified period of time.....
The next idea would be to look at a product called Reef-iller Dosin pump, they make a couple modes, and they would basically do the same thing as the LiteMeter. The Reef-Filler Dosing pump will pump up to 200ft away. If you need PM me and I can give you a little more specifics on it.....HTH
The ro/di unit is mounted in a utility closet near my mixing tote. I have no other upstairs closets with water hook up. Besides it's current location is perfect for serviceing it. My pressure switch on my well pump is set at 65 so that should be my line pressure. I'll get a gauge and check for sure though. I've heard of the litermeter and will look into it. My concern on the para pump is that during certain times of the year and humidity the evap rate changes. So I'd have to be on the look out for that flooding the system too. Why is the ato with double floats and a timer so frown upon?
Matt
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I'm not frowning on a ATO, I frown upon hooking up the RO/DI directly.....Sooner or later something will fail, and flood the system, because of buildup......It sounds more like you want something to just monitor and do the monitoring for you. You still would need to monitor the system evap rate and make the adjustments to the dosing pumps accordingly.....
Your evap rate will change according to season, but doubt it will be that drastic. What I honestly would recommend even with running either of the 2 systems I recommended would be to still run them from a small container, not directly from the RO/DI unit, for the mere fact, even if you forgot to adjust the replacement rate, it would/might only alter the system a small bit instead of drastic in event of a total failure. If you have a 15gal container and you evap 13 gallons, at least the 2gal overage wouldn't be catastrophic, instead of having the ability to flood the system unlimited.
I'm following AquaKnight, but I do think that you will affect the RO/DI unit, and possibly blow it apart, again creating the possibilty of a very bad flooding situation, not only of the pump, but your house.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
http:///forum/post/3280224
I'm not frowning on a ATO, I frown upon hooking up the RO/DI directly.....Sooner or later something will fail, and flood the system, because of buildup......It sounds more like you want something to just monitor and do the monitoring for you. You still would need to monitor the system evap rate and make the adjustments to the dosing pumps accordingly.....
Your evap rate will change according to season, but doubt it will be that drastic. What I honestly would recommend even with running either of the 2 systems I recommended would be to still run them from a small container, not directly from the RO/DI unit, for the mere fact, even if you forgot to adjust the replacement rate, it would/might only alter the system a small bit instead of drastic in event of a total failure. If you have a 15gal container and you evap 13 gallons, at least the 2gal overage wouldn't be catastrophic, instead of having the ability to flood the system unlimited.
I'm following AquaKnight, but I do think that you will affect the RO/DI unit, and possibly blow it apart, again creating the possibilty of a very bad flooding situation, not only of the pump, but your house.
+1
 
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