RO Waste water safe to drink?

t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefreak29
the waste from the ro unit is highly consintrated in radon and heavy metals do not drink it.
How can this have any more radon, or heavy metals, than the tap water that first went into the system, which we drink everyday? It's already passed 3 filters, so nothing is being added, only bad stuff removed.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by stdreb27
Yes and that waste water I use to wash clothes with. I've tested the TDS of the water and it is, in my case, and the waste water has a TDS 2x's as high as my tap water, so I personally see no benifit to drinking it.
How is this physically possible? Nothing was added during the filtering process.
 
al mc

al mc

Active Member
If I ran out of other reasons/ways to use it (laundry/toilets, watering plants)
then I would consider drinking it as long as it did not go thru the DI unit. The question as I have read it pertains to RO water only. Luckily, I can usually find enough other things to do with it.
 
reefreak29

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
How can this have any more radon, or heavy metals, than the tap water that first went into the system, which we drink everyday? It's already passed 3 filters, so nothing is being added, only bad stuff removed.
if you have 25 gallons of tap going thruogh the ro filter and wastes 2.5 gallons all the crap it pulled out of the 25 gallons is now in the 2.5 gallons makeing it more consintrated in heavy metals and radium (sorry radium)
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefreak29
if you have 25 gallons of tap going thruogh the ro filter and wastes 2.5 gallons all the crap it pulled out of the 25 gallons is now in the 2.5 gallons makeing it more consintrated in heavy metals and radium (sorry radium)

wish this much of mine went through but his point is correct. you are concentrating the polutents. how much are in your waste water you have to test yourself cause yours may be different from the house down the road
 
reefreak29

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by chilwil84
wish this much of mine went through but his point is correct. you are concentrating the polutents. how much are in your waste water you have to test yourself cause yours may be different from the house down the road
yes it all depends if your water comes from shallow well , deep well, lake or river.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefreak29
if you have 25 gallons of tap going thruogh the ro filter and wastes 2.5 gallons all the crap it pulled out of the 25 gallons is now in the 2.5 gallons makeing it more consintrated in heavy metals and radium (sorry radium)
Valid concept

I would have just assumed that there was not a whole lot left after passing the first three filters. But what you say makes since.
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
Originally Posted by alix2.0
so im thinking it would actually be pretty good to drink. better than tap anyways.

I failed to mention the reson that the tfc rejected it. it simlpy cant filter the ammount of water were sending into it. The water is not so dirty that the membrane CANt filter it. it just dosnt have the time. think about your fridge for a sec, If you tack the little filter out of the back and break it open youll see it just a small amount of carbon. same thing thats in our rodi's, exept we have about 6 times more and a sed filter. just my .02
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
I failed to mention the reson that the tfc rejected it. it simlpy cant filter the ammount of water were sending into it. The water is not so dirty that the membrane CANt filter it. it just dosnt have the time. think about your fridge for a sec, If you tack the little filter out of the back and break it open youll see it just a small amount of carbon. same thing thats in our rodi's, exept we have about 6 times more and a sed filter. just my .02
You kinda of lost me sign guy, but what's your vote? Is that waste good or not?
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
You guys go right ahead.
But there is also all the sediments coming into your house from the street.
Also, you have five stage filtering? where does the waste from the first stage go? To the next stage.
Waste water is what you call the brine. All five stages mean is that only so much water passes RO on the first stage. Then it goes to the next stage and there on and there on. Finally you are left with complete sediment. It isn't because it is filtered 5 times....it is capacity issue. Your first stage doesn't filter to the second stage. Your brine of the first stage, GOES to the SECOND STAGE
It isn't that you are refiltering already filtered water. 1 filter only handles so much capacity.
YOu guys go on believing that your brine is actually filtered water. Or you can believe somebody who hasn't had extensive RO field training.
Carbon filter on your fridge...that just takes out the chlorine taste as that is what it takes out of the water. Not much of anything else.
What in reality is then RO filtering? Think of a tomato left in your fridge. Your fridge is a cool dry enviorment. The water in the tomato PASSes through the skin of the tomato and it appears to wilt. It doesn't wilt because the tomato is rotting. Pressure of the water inside of the tomato pushes it out into the air. That is called OSMOSIS.
REVERSE osmosis is the opposite action where under pressure you push the water back into tomato. If you put water into a container and put the tomato into it, then it will reabsorb the water into itself and will not wilt anymore.
So the only reason you have another stage is for capacity...not to double filter
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
are you disagreing with the fact the rejected water is cleaner than tap water or that rejected water is cleaner than bottled water? btw the first stage of your rodi is carbon so the only thing it pulls out is clorine and all oders. no sediments are pulled out at the first stage
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
Originally Posted by T316
I'm not talking about drinking tap water, whether the source be well or city. I'm talking about drinking the water classified as "waste" from an RO/DI unit. No matter the source, on a 5 stage unit such as mine, this "waste" water has just passed thru 3 filters, and is getting kicked out at the RO membrane. This is just prior to going into the DI cannister. So coming out of the RO membrane, whether it's the acceptable water going on to the DI, or if it's the rejected water going down the drain, what's wrong with it?
The point I was making was that they both died of the same causes. The only thing they shared in common was they both had wells for their homes. Apparently that is what made them sick...
But to them...the water smelled and tasted ...ok I never touched it.
And you can never compare tap water with bottled water.
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
Originally Posted by NOTSONOOB
You guys go right ahead.
But there is also all the sediments coming into your house from the street.could you elabrate?
Also, you have five stage filtering? where does the waste from the first stage go? To the next stage. not true a portion is left in each stage. if this were true you would only change the last filter in your unit. or am I misunderstandingWaste water is what you call the brine. All five stages mean is that only so much water passes RO on the first stage. five stage only meens there are five types of filters it dosent meen theat the water is recirculated five times Then it goes to the next stage and there on and there on. Finally you are left with complete sediment. It isn't because it is filtered 5 times....it is capacity issue. Your first stage doesn't filter to the second stage. Your brine of the first stage, GOES to the SECOND STAGE im lost, are you sujesting that the first stage dumps all that it pulls out of the water back into the water later on?
It isn't that you are refiltering already filtered water. 1 filter only handles so much capacity.
YOu guys go on believing that your brine is actually filtered water. Or you can believe somebody who hasn't had extensive RO field training. it dosent take extensive RO field training just an understanding of the filters. please dont talk down to but help explane what it is Im missing?
Carbon filter on your fridge...that just takes out the chlorine taste as that is what it takes out of the water. Not much of anything else. my point was that if its safe to drink from the fridge that its safe to drink the rejected ro water?
What in reality is then RO filtering? Think of a tomato left in your fridge. Your fridge is a cool dry enviorment. The water in the tomato PASSes through the skin of the tomato and it appears to wilt. It doesn't wilt because the tomato is rotting. Pressure of the water inside of the tomato pushes it out into the air. That is called OSMOSIS.
REVERSE osmosis is the opposite action where under pressure you push the water back into tomato. If you put water into a container and put the tomato into it, then it will reabsorb the water into itself and will not wilt anymore.
So the only reason you have another stage is for capacity...not to double filter
still confused and really wanting to understand, if you were to do a cutaway of the tfc membrane you would see that the rejectoin line has a small pressure valve in it this allows only so much water to pass through the ro membrane. it dosent meen that the water is so dirty that its thrown away but as you said befor its a capacity issue, its still gone through the carbon and the sediment filters
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
Originally Posted by ViPeR_930
Shall we break out our TDS meters and some bottled water?

sounds like a plan
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
Originally Posted by NOTSONOOB
The point I was making was that they both died of the same causes. The only thing they shared in common was they both had wells for their homes. Apparently that is what made them sick...
But to them...the water smelled and tasted ...ok I never touched it.
And you can never compare tap water with bottled water.
who got sick? I thought the questian was is rejected ro water safe to drink?
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
are you diagreing with the fact the rejected water is cleaner than tap water or that rejected water is cleaner than bottled water? btw the first stage of your rodi is carbon so the only thing it pulls out is clorine and all oders. no sediments are pulled out at the first stage
Actually, I am, because the waste water would be more concentrated then the tap water, because at that point it is running through a couple of filters and the sediment just keeps flowing. Where as yes the stuff is in the tap, but probably less concentrated. What comes out the first stage filter is RO water. What would come out a second stage...is the same type RO water. You are just squeezing out as much pure water as possible in multi-stage RO filters, because 1 filter can only handle so much. You try to force more pressure through it, and it will tear.
The brine that exist the system still contains water. Some places will reinstitite the brine back into the start of the filtration system to get peek performance
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top