RO/DI waste water uses

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BruceLeroy

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 17, 2009
Messages
14
Location
Sugar Land-5 mins from Houston, TX
So I just hooked up my RODI 5 stage unit this weekend. I didn't know the ratio of good to waste water before running it for the first time. I was sure something was wrong because I couldn't believe the amount of waste water. I am no tree hugger by any means, but I hate to see one of our natural resources just being wasted by throwing 4 gallons of usable water for a gallon of RODI. I found a very practical use for this since my unit is in my laundry room. I am making a suspension shelf from the joist in the ceiling to support a 50 gallon septic tank. We do on average one load of laundry a day. I am going to plumb a hose to be able to fill the washer after we load the clothes each time. I'll essentially be getting my RODI water for free or my washer water for free. I gess it depends how you look at it.

I was curious what yall did with it. Yes I said Yall!:wave:
 
thincat does the same thing... melosu58 has his wastewater plumbed in to water his lawn. some people use it to fill their fw tanks. lots of uses, shouldnt be wasted ;)
 
I got a 25gpd 4 stage RO/DI unit delivered yesterday, I am getting atleast a 40g holding tank and also once my tank is full the water is plumbed into the house for use, as far as waste water, it is being sent back into our water supply for dishes,laundry showers ect.

with your waste water you can depdnding where you live, route it outside to a rainbarrel to collect the waste water then use it like others said outside the house.
The amount of waste is the only drawback for an RO/DI unit. I got my RO/DI for my fw tanks and am letting the wife have what RO/DI I dont use for drinking water and the ice maker.

just becuase its waste to the RO/DI its not waste at all really, its perfectly good water, more times then not better then what comes from that tap as fresh water.
 
Bruce, for use in laundry and shower those high TDS are actually helpful. you cant bathe in ro/di water because youd turn into a piece of jerky thru dehydration(water might be wet but with being stripped it will pull the moisture from your body mainly hair and nails suffer first)

wouldnt your ro waste water be loaded with TDS anyways? as waste that only makes sense, they should be flushed out with the waste water and would read higher then what was in there, correct?
 
Used mine to fill the washing machine. Actually had three trashcans, but I had the room. One was for the filtered water, in which I'd mix the salt or use for topoff, the second was for the waste water to fill the washing machine. The third can was for emptying the tank with old SW, which'd be throw away. It was just easy for me to see the drained water and look at the level exactly where my new SW was. Used to hate it when I took out more than I had to put back in. :)
 
Is that not a code violation?
if you own your own home, you can do whatever you want. once the house is built and meets the inspection they dont care anymore... not sure about up there, but down here they dont inspect houses unless you're building/adding/renovating/etc...
 
I plan on running my waste line to two places one will be the dogs water bowls outside and the other will be the pool and or hot tub for summer evap.
 
Yep, code only applies when you rehab or construct or add-on. then you must have all new work up to current code.

I already got the supply ran and passed inspection when I rehabbed my house last year so its open season from here on out. inside and out are done and up to code.

MFD its mostly a federal residential code, they all follow the same ground rules so to speak and then add their own codes for its village/town/city.

I dont live IN chicago so yes they enforce code when and only when you apply for a building permit.
 
Bruce, for use in laundry and shower those high TDS are actually helpful. you cant bathe in ro/di water because youd turn into a piece of jerky thru dehydration(water might be wet but with being stripped it will pull the moisture from your body mainly hair and nails suffer first)
QUOTE]

RO/DI water will not dehydrate you. Water is water and osmosis will take water from a high concentration (tub of water) to a lower concentration (body).

Salt water will dehydrate you if the concentration of salt is greater than what is naturally occuring in your body.

The cleaner water may more readily absorb natural oils from your body which would affect your hair first but I am not sure about that.
 
if you own your own home, you can do whatever you want. once the house is built and meets the inspection they dont care anymore... not sure about up there, but down here they dont inspect houses unless you're building/adding/renovating/etc...
Just add snitching to the list and it is the same here.

Modifying the plumbing beyond comparable repair counts as a renovation, and requires a permit. Technically it is unlawful for you or anyone on your behalf to do anything to your house that is against code, and can invalidate insurance coverage. Do people do? Sure. Is it a good idea, hard to say.

The question I have surrounding this setup is backflow prevention. In some areas you need to have outdoor faucets with backflow prevention because there have been cases of contamination of other houses attached to the same water supply. For that same reason I would question the legality and wisdom of the tie in to the fresh water supply without significant backflow prevention, even if it were on a private well.
 
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