anouther ro eqipment question

[ohio reefer]

just hooked up my aquasafe ro system. my question is: my system mkaes noise at the aquasafe exclusive e-z flush flow restrictor. it's a constant "water running through" sound. is that normal?

second question: is it normal for water to constantly runout the yellow water discharge line, even when i'm not flushing the system? I'm affraid my water bill be astronomical!!!

thirdly: it says you should empty the the resavoir tank once after it fills up. how do you do that? unhook the hose from the top?

thanks so much

mark

[two11devan]

My r/o unit makes noise when its working as well. Its just the sound of the water being pushed therough the different stages. Yes, lots of water will come out of the discharge line. R/O units are very wastefull and will discharge alot of water when making the R/O water. As far as the tank question, im not sure, I don't use my tank. I would assume that your unit came with a faucet mount fixture that you could drain the tank with. HTH

[ohio reefer]

that would make sense to empty the tank by the faucet.

sorry i'm a moron

thanks

mark

[justDIY]

from my research into RO, it appears there are 2 things to be done to keep production up and rejection minimized

maintain HIGH water pressure, 60 to 80 PSI

maintain luke-warm water, 70 to 80 degrees F

apparently if your water pressure is low, not as much water will get "forced" through the membrane as possible, and will instead bounce off and end up in the waste water line

also, if the water is cold, it makes it more likely to be rejected, my RO should be here in a few days, I plan on testing to see if running it on a hot+cold mix vs pure cold makes that big of a difference

the thing I'm not 100% on is what my water pressure is ... I believe the building I live in has commerical water pressure, and it's all brand new pipes, so it should be pretty good. I saw a pressure gauge on Drs Foster Smith website, was like $25 - might end up getting that so I know for sure.

[fishfreek]

Alot of the higher end RO units have built in water pressure guages on the intake and even have TDS meters on the outlet.

My RO unit runs silent. Well execpt for the sound of the stream of water pouring in to my trashcan and the stream of water falling into the drain.

[ohio reefer]

ok, it finally stopped making noise so i guess the the tank (3.2gal) is full, it took like 21/2 hours. man, you sure can taste the difference!!!

i think i finally figured it out.

thanks guys!

mark

[cal91666]

Originally Posted by justDIY

I saw a pressure gauge on Drs Foster Smith website, was like $25 - might end up getting that so I know for sure.

I can't for a minute believe you, Mr. DIY, would ever think of buying something like this when HD and Lowes has so many parts available.

[loganj]

Yeah....a brass tee and a well pump gauge will do the job and cost a lot less. Be careful about using hot water on the RO membrane. I know you intend to just use lukewarm water, but if it ever gets hot water, it will damage the membrane.
To address another issue with RO units...every time you change the RO membrane, it should be run for at least an hour to flush out the stuff it's packed in. That's why you were told to empty the tank after the first fill up.

[utahcutter]

Excellent info guys, thanks for posting ohio reefer. RO units are a mystery to me, and you answered a lot of questions. 8)

[ohio reefer]

yeah, your not kidding, i was pretty amazed at how easy it was to hook up. I still get my flashlight out to look for leaks every hour or so, i'm just weird like that so far none!!!!!!

thanks for the great advice

mark