[KevinMS]

Hiya guys. I just installed a Kent RO/DI system. The directions were not all the best but I managed it. For anyone who might have one of these filter set ups, I'm curious about several things. Why is there a waste water drain? This being a water filter, wouldnt any waste be contained in the 4 separate filter media's? Is it normal for waste water output to be double the amount of product output? Thanks for any info you guys share

[e_baer]

yup, that is normal for the waste to double the good water. I used to know the how the whole RO/DI thing worked, but over the paste few months it left me.

[KevinMS]

Wow..Lots of waste water, very little product water...Next project, figure out a drain of some sorts. For the moment its two separate 35 gal containers. The waste water container could easily fill in a day, thats not the case for the product water container though.

[stephaniesquires]

Rolling trashcans!!! Roll that waste water out to the yard and water something!! (car, grass, plants, the dog....)

[graveyardworm]

Usually the waste is much higher than double, generally 4:1 some units even more. Some peole use the waste to fill their washing machines, water flowers, it can be plumbed into your home plumbing drain. I have a floor drain in my basement right near the filter so thats where mine goes, back into the ground.

[dori9941]

I wish i had a drain in the floor!! I don't think the apt people would be ok with me installing that, lol
I'm not firmillar with the filter system srry. U seem to have good replies though! Best Wishes,
Amanda

[e_baer]

For me, I hooked my unit up to the washing machine hose thing. Then the wast water goes in the same pipe the washing machine waste water goes. They are all right next to eachother so it is nice an convenient.

[stephaniesquires]

Whatever you do - make sure the waste water hose goes where you want it too instead of the floor -

[KevinMS]

Originally Posted by e_baer

For me, I hooked my unit up to the washing machine hose thing. Then the wast water goes in the same pipe the washing machine waste water goes. They are all right next to eachother so it is nice an convenient.

This was the idea I came up with today. With a few extra materials this was a snap. Drill a few holes in a wall or two ( never a good thing when thats heard) snake some 1/4 tubing and viola!! Drain ran into washing machine drain. Not being much of a plumber I learned several things the hard way. And the two 35 gal cans, wastewater will be dumped( flowers could use a good watering) and it will now be used for a new saltwater mixing container. Woot!!

[e_baer]

There ya go! And you can always get some longer tube's if you need more room and dont feel like drilling holes in the wall

[firefighter4567]

heres some pics of my unit

firefighter4567/Fish Pics - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

its from the filterguys.biz and i added the aquatec 8800 just last week. i got it on ebay for i think 100 w/shipping. my tds readings have decreased vastly but i would like to also add a perminate (sp? i suck at in anyway) pump to try and decrease the waste even more.

any ideas???

[pogodzib]

Adding a 2nd RO membrane in series will cut your waste in close to half, or since you have a pump, you can try connecting the drain line back up to water supply line to create a zero waste unit similar to the link below. NOTE: I have not tried the zero waste method, but it should theoretically work as long as your pressure pump makes the pressure substantially higher than your home's water supply.

http://www.costco.com/images/content...pdf/722099.pdf

[firefighter4567]

hmm thats a good idea connecting the waste back into the water supply.... wonder if that would screw with the flow causing back flow. illl have to read into that when i get done with class

i love these forums u find out a TON of cool info and everyone love to help

[pogodzib]

The way that it is setup is having a tee in the house water line, pump, RO unit, waste line connecting back into house water line. By doing it this way, your pump will increase the pressure entering the unit so there is a substantial pressure drop between the water as it enters the RO unit to where the water exists it into the house supply. Like I said, in theory, it should work, esp. if you have low pressure in your house. Ideally, you probably would like to have a 50psi drop across the two sides, but you need to keep in mind that although most piping is rated for 150psi, you should never increase the pressure above 100psi.

[davemartin88]

Interesting idea to plumb the waste pipe back to the water line feeding the unit- is anyone actually doing this and does it work well. Wouldn't this waste water have a slightly higher TDS count than the water coming through the first time and would this cause a problem? by increasing the overall TDS count or is it no issue as long as it's within what the unit can handle? Haven't actually measured the TDS of the waste line but might do that as a starting point.

On my system, a simple tee would make this very easy to do and almost seems too good to be true?