RO Unit hook up

[ellisz]

Hi all,

As my basement nears completion, I want to let the plumber know what hook up I need for a RO/DI unit. I had him stub me in a water line and a drain line. This will be in a closet adjacent to where my water heater and furnace are.

Should I just have him put a garden hose type fitting on there or is there something better or easier? It is just capped off right now.

Also on the drain, can this be hooked up to the unit with 1" PVC? I have the pvc stubbed out of the wall right now.

 

[jamal-188]

My RO unit came with a clamp type hook up. You just slid it over a copper pipe and tightened it. A little needle pierced the copper line and then formed a seal for the input to the RO. The drain came a clamp that tightened around a PVC drain and you just drilled a tiny hole and fed a pierce of tubbing which was supplied from the RO unit to the new hole in your drain pipe. Does that make sense? You can also get many RO units that come with other hook ups such as the garden hose hookup you mentioned.

 

[jerejohnson]

with my ro/di unit it came with a peircing needle, so i just found the cold water pipe and put it on there and turned the screw until water shot out hooked up the hoses and went that way i know that you could do a garden hose hook up? i guess its your prefrence but most ro units come with some thing like what mine did cause most are installing it under a sink or something like that. the drain you have will be more than enough. you will prolly just have a peircing needle for that also, i guess its all dependent on what unit you buy. remember that it has to be the cold line. good luck

 

[ellisz]

The piercing clamps will work but I would like something better. I had the plumber T into my cold water line and run the copper to the soon to be fish room. The drain was just stubbed through the wall. I have to make the connections for this on both ends.

The only thing using this water and drain will be the RO unit. I guess any type of plumbing line would probably work. I just was not sure what type of connection the RO unit allowed.

 

[reefrunner69]

What RO/DI unit are you getting? If your going to do auto top off from the RO, you will want a pressurized tank to prevent the RO from going on and off and on and off, etc...

You could do a garden type hose fitting, or the piercing type, depends on how you want to go, whichever route, make you have the ability to turn the water off to the RO unit, it's a real pain trying to change filters with water running through the unit, messy too.

My RO unit is hooked into the cold water line under the sink, via a coupler and a gate type valve for shut off, basically you put an extra piece between the cold water shut off and the sink, but I don't have copper pipes. If your having a plumber do it, just tell him what you want to be able to do and he should be able to do the job for you. For the drain, I have a saddle clamp, I drilled a small hole above the water line in the drain under my sink and put the hose through and the saddle clamp clamped it down.

 

[ellisz]

I thought most just went with the pressurized tank if they wanted the drinking water option?

I do want a top off system but I sort thought about having the RO unit dump into a container and then have a a float system set up from that container to the sump. I also read of someone using a small pump on a timer connected to a irrigation dripper that looked easy to do as well.

I guess I don't even know how the RO unit works I have never really wanted a 100gpd system since I do not need that much water. A 50gpd seemed reasonable but it seems the only ones you see are 85-100GPD. How does the unit know when to start/stop?

 

[reefrunner69]

I thought most just went with the pressurized tank if they wanted the drinking water option?

Most do, but if you want to top off straight from the RO, you need one.

I do want a top off system but I sort thought about having the RO unit dump into a container and then have a a float system set up from that container to the sump. I also read of someone using a small pump on a timer connected to a irrigation dripper that looked easy to do as well.

If your simply gonna fill a container and then use that for top off, you don't need one, unless you also have a float valve attatched to the container so you never have to worry about filling it.

How does the unit know when to start/stop?

Most RO units these days come with auto shut offs, so when there is back pressure on the line, it cuts the supply water off to the unit. I have a booster pump and use a solenoid and pressure switch, when the psi on the line reaches 40, the pressure switch shuts off water to the unit, and the solenoid cuts power to the booster pump.

 

[Anemoneman]

I hooked mine up ion the basement to a stubbed out tee the way you are planning. I suggest a tapered pipe thread fitting so you can screw on a ball valve for shut off. You could have him sweat on a gate valve (regular garden hose valve like on your house) and use that for your shut off valve or get your own from a plumbing supply house and have him sweat that on or screw it on. Once you have a valve in place you can adapt the fitting down to 1/4" copper refridgerator tubing and use that to feed your RO filter. What I did was use a large plastic barrel for my holding tank. I put a level float switch on it, wired to a low voltage relay to turn on and off a solenoid valve to supply the RO filter. Depends how handy you are with this stuff. They sell float switches that plumb to the water line to shut it off that way. You at least want that much. Put a bulkhead fitting in the bottom of your plastic holding tank, put a ball valve on the bulkhead, put the tank on a short stand and you can then dispense pure water into a container of your choice. There are a dozen different ways to do it.

Make

 

[ellisz]

Thanks for the replies!

I do have a shut off valve on the new line but it is the room next door

Sounds like I just need to have put the threaded fitting on and then I can just hook up to that.

I bought 2 float switches off ebay a month or so ago. I had planned putting one in the sump and I could put the other one in the RO water container. If the RO unit has an auto shut off, then this would keep the container from overfilling and the floats would keep the sump from overfilling and not allowing the water to be pumped(out of the RO water container) out unless there was enough in the container.

Can the auto shut off be depended on for this or could I use the float in the water container to help with this as well as not allowing the pump to move water to the sump unless it is up to a certain level.

Does this sound like I am in the ballpark?

 

[Anemoneman]

If the RO unit has an auto shut off

These are used with a pressure vessel. When the pressure in the vessel reaches a certain point, the auto shut off stops water flow through the filter.

keep the container from overfilling and the floats would keep the sump from overfilling and not allowing the water to be pumped out unless there was enough in the container.

Sounds like you need 3 float switches. One in the sump. Two for your RO water reservoir - one for high level shut off for the RO water supply, one for low level shut off for the sump replenishing pump.

 

[ellisz]

Could I get away with 2? The low side on the reservoir would keep a pump from burning up right? Not sure if tis would really happen though.

Almost need a flow chart with scenarios

Thanks

 

[Anemoneman]

If your RO filter makes more water than your aquarium can consume then you can get away without the low level float switch.