RO/DI unit for a guy on the move

[aquazen]

Hey all. Been away awhile. Glad to see things are still pretty friendly around these parts.

Now, I live in a small one bedroom apartment. I'm going to be moving a lot, and chances are, I'll be moving into similar small one bedroom apartments in the next few years. Would it be possible to get a small RO/DI unit that's easily hooked up/disassembled? Any suggestions? I have a small 29 gal SW, so I don't need anything that needs to produce more than a few gallons a day. And, as with most things, price will be an issue. So under $150 is my budget.

TIA.

 

[ellisz]

The only hard part to a RO?DI is the feed water. You can get a garden hose adaptor to keep from having to pierce the water line. All you need is a drain other than that.

I have a 100 gpd unit and other than the hole in my water line, it would be easily movable.

 

[ccCapt]

Yep. Most units come with the adapter, or you can just ask for it when you order. Before I got the unit I have now under my sink, I had the old unit in the basement and just used the adapter to screw it on the spigot of the utility sink.

 

[usmcmarc]

I got mine at www.thefilterguys.biz but it costs more than $100. Definately portable though.

 

[aquazen]

Do you keep the unit hooked in all the time, or do you remove it after you are done collecting the amount of water you need? I have one bathroom sink, and one kitchen sink. Not a whole lot to work with. The more I think about the logistics of it, the more of a headache I get.

 

[usmcmarc]

I have it screwed into the wall....but, you could very easily make a small stand out of a couple of 2x4's. Put it in the closet when not using it, then take it out, hook it up to the sink and make what you need.

 

[cmor1701d]

I got a garden hose adapter for my kitchen faucet at Home Depot and use the garden faucet adapter for the RODI unit to connect to that. I drain it down the kitchen sink. It's only connected when I'm making water (in my case for about 36 hours straight once a month) and overnight another night of the month. That's because I have cold, low pressure tap water.

 

[aquazen]

Thanks. That helps. I may do the garden hose trick.

cmor1701d, What system do you use? And what's the yearly cost to maintain + initial cost?

 

[cmor1701d]

I bought the Typhoon III from Air Water Ice

I guess I'm making about a 100 gallons or more a month. I go through 4-6 sediment filters, one set of carbon and 2-3 DI (refillable) each year. That's about $70.00 I think. They don't offer that exact package but make it up for me each year when I order.

Walt recommends a fiter array of:
"Get a ten micron sediment filter for your first stage, no smaller! Then obtain a good quality five micron carbon block, acid washed filter for the second stage. The ten micron filter has removed all of the dirt and sediment over ten microns from the water which protects the five micron filter. Now, all the five micron filter has to remove is sediment between 5 and 10 micron. In the third stage get a quality one micron carbon filter or a sediment filter if you have well water. You have now accomplished filtration down to one micron, five times the manufactures requirements. You have not lost a great deal of pressure and the filter can now provide you full service. So to recap; the ten protects the five, the five protects the one, and the one micron exceeds the requirement to protect the membrane by a factor of five, so your membrane sees only one micron sediment... one fifth the requirement.

Protected by a 10-to-1 micron array, the membrane is free to go about the task of removing bacteria, virus, salt, ions and dissolved metals (TDS). The filters alone have no impact on the TDS and should never be relied on to remove bacteria. Ions and bacteria are best left to the membrane. After the work done by the pre-filters and membrane, your water is very pure. The final stage is DI -- A typical mixed bed DI cartridge is capable of reducing the TDS to zero (0). "

 

[aquazen]

Awesome. That's great. I'll look up the Typhoon III. Thanks.