Sorry for the long read ahead of time. I tried to shorten everything!
I am looking to add a reverse osmosis to my system. When calling a local company I had a few questions in mind:
One, do they do DI tank regenerations? Two, do they rent DI tanks? Three, do they have a RO system that I could add to my DI tank to make my resin last longer?
Besides from the guy being a jerk he really confused me. He basically couldn’t understand why I would want a DI tank and a RO. He was saying that all I need would be one or the other. I explained what I do and approxamately how much water I could go through. He said that from the size of my tank that it could use approxamately 200 gallons before I would need it to be regenrated. Using the customers home pressure is around 8 gallons a minute. So I could basically use the tank for about 25 min according to his calculations. (I’m guessing he is calculating this on his experience of az ppm levels and since he rents them out)
Well that could end up being very expensive so that’s when I went on to say “well that’s why I would want a RO to make my DI tank last longer”. I had him go to WCR store and look at the current set ups for people after looking at them he bacame very standoffish (sp) and kind of rude. I showed him how almost all of the systems have both RO and DI.
He said “well you can rent DI tanks for 45 or buy there system for 1992.00 (apx). You would have to clean a lot of windows to make that back up”.
So to my questions:
Is this guy correct in saying that I really should only have one either a DI tank or RO but not both?
Is there a way to add a RO to my system with out having to rebuy another DI tank since I already bought the cubic foot vessel from WCR store?
Do you know what your TDS is? The guy doesn’t seem to be much help for you… 8GPM from a residential tap is rare - besides, you only need about half a gallon per minute to clean windows.
It makes perfect since to put a RO in front of your DI tank if your TDS is high enough. It’s a balance act between your TDS, how long a DI tank will last with that TDS, and money. You may have to pay a little bit up front, but it can save a lot of money down the road. Im sure Chris and Alex can set you up with a RO unit to put in front of the DI tank. Give them a call and they can help you plan it out and price it for you.
Ya he wasn’t much help. I have not checked a lot of places but at my house it’s around 500-600 ppm. Which is around the range from what I have measured. Makes sense what you are saying. I just got off the phone with Culligans and the guy I was talking to said the same thing. Why do I want both a RO and a DI set up? Is it possible that they just dont see how it applies to our industry? If I am getting a 00ppm after a RO why would I need a DI tank? I remember Steve saying that he bought the kit from WCR and bypassed the DI because it was at 00ppm after the RO. I could see if the ppm after the RO where not low enough where I wasn’t leaving spots then to run it through the DI. Which maybe my case here since the levels are pretty high? Micah do you use a RO/DI tank?
well…you don’t. you’d only need the DI when the tds starts to creep up from the RO output. If you already have a DI filter after the RO(like on a RO/DI cart) then it doesn’t hurt the DI filter to run pure water thru it.
The most TDS an RO membrane can remove is 98% of your total TDS, so the high your incoming TDS the higher TDS you will have out of your product water. That is what the DI is used for after the RO.
Thanks Bill for the insight. So any suggestions on what I could get to add on to my current DI woudl the RO set up WCR work with my cubic foot DI tank? I emailed Alex and he said he would get back to me. Just curious as to what everyone thinks or uses.
thats lame, he probably was a jerk to you because he knows if you get an Carbon block and RO in front of your DI, you wouldnt be coming back to recharge your tanks as often as he would like you to.
[FONT=“Arial”][B][I]When I was first getting into wfps, I had a culligan guy tell me I didnt know what I was talking about and said all I need is a [U]water softener [/U]system and DI/RO was a tremendous overkill…I just said OK thanks, and built my own system! [/I][/B][/FONT]
you can buy just what you need from WCR. all you need is the pump, motor, membrane, and pre filters and you can use the DI tank you have to finish it out that shouldn’t be a problem.
Billy ask Alex or Chris about the Pure Rinse R/O anywhere, I use it here in Phoenix without the DI option, BUT from experience I can tell you, I have found areas to have as high as a 1,200 TDS reading, especially in the summer months… My system will get a 600 TDS down to 006 without DI
You guys seem to do thing the long way round over there! Check out some of the UK suppliers options & systems for ideas to make your WFP setups simpler, cheaper and easier to use.
A very cheap and easy way to purify water is a static system at home. A smaller (often unpumped) RO can be run 24 hours a day if required filling a static tank in your yard or garage (protect from freezing in the winter!). Small RO=cheaper! I currently use a Merlin, but for my first year WFP i used a cheap 100GPD RO I got off ebay. It ran 24 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week to keep up with my water usage, but it was enough for my needs and cost only about $150. TDS in was 350ish, TDS out was 3 with a tap pressure of 50psi. Pre-filters should be changed every few months, but membranes often last 3 years or more.
The RO’ed water can be transferred to a tank in your truck (I have a 650 litre tank that lasts 2 days of work for me) using a submersible pump or transfer pump. I keep my DI vessels (a twin DI setup reduces resin cost) in my truck so the water is DI’ed as it fills into the truck tank. If I ever run low of water during the day, I can fill using DI only from the customers tap.
I re-fill my own DI vessels as there is no rental/recharge facility in Ireland that I know of,… but spent resin is harmless and can be thrown in the trash or used in the garden for pot plants. I buy 25 litre bags of resin for approx $85 and maybe use 2 or 3 (max) per year.
Running a DI only system if you have a TDS of over 100 is just throwing money away!!
I also have an on-demand propane water heater in my truck, so I clean with hot water,… much better for jobs that aren’t cleaned too regular.
We run about the same tds levels out here and we only us DI tanks. We rent from Culligan (our guys are nice … though I’ve never asked them about ro :))and typically get 1000 gallons out of them. Our mountain water pressure is great so we don’t run pumps. Running it through .25 inch inner diameter hosing we get a little more than 1/2 gpm.
Evidently, we spend quite a bit more than our UK friend here, but the cost hasn’t been an issue (I still can’t understand why us window cleaners are such cheap bastards … if it’s not the cost of di equipment it’s the cost of soap).
Although I can carry 275 gallons of pure water when I need to, I choose not to on a regular basis. 2,200 pounds of water is somewhat dangerous to transport, not to mention the wear and tear on your vehicle.
When you transport water you also have to use a pump to pump the water through the hose.
For those with high TDS readings, you could try harvesting rain water and then filter it. I’ve read some about it. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch some rain later this week so I can check the TDS of it.
The Culligans rep was a little nicer than the origional guy I spoke with. He offered me two set ups. One to get my mixed bed Resin recharged was 115.00. Then he offered me a monthly rental 2 tank system with $37 mo and $115 fee when ever I needed to regenerate. He said the 2 tank system would allow 800-900 gallons before I would need to regenerate. And the mixed bed resin set up I have now I would likely get 300 gallons before I needed regeneration (which was a little higher than the first company said).
Billy
It was a pleasure to talk with you on the phone today, thanks for your time.
At the rate the Culligan guy was quoting you, add it up, An R/O anywhere would pay for itself in less than 24 months. After that nothing but $$$ in your pocket, not their’s…
over 200 tds you need an ro to bring it down to as close as 0 it can.
the di will finish it off and keep it at o.
If you want to own a DI 36" unit and the replacement unit (inner unit) is only $145.00 and the di unit is $225.00 to own it.
we will sell it though WCR
Phil www.simpole.com
We will have an adjustable 85 4x6 4x7 4x8 SimPole
Retail for $3,675.00 on sale for testers for $2,975.00
10x6 60’ for retail $2,675.00 on sale for $1,975.00
3x6 1x2 1x4 1x3 sectional for retail $1,975.00 on sale for $1,375.00
All 3 for $6,325.00 -$725 =$5,600.00
