[Spruce]

Two of us using a 450GPD RoMan type R/O have managed prefectly ok for the last 7 years. It has produced water extremely efficiently since I bought the system secondhand nearly 8 years ago.

We use around 700 litres a day between us and until we got a third part time member on our team never ran out of water. We still don't but we plan ahead. My van will be brimmed in the evening and my sons van more or less brimmed in the morning. We start to fill the vans on Sunday.

In summer it takes around 26 hours to fill our IBC tank and just leave it to run as it will switch off automatically when the tank is full. Our system is not boosted and we have around 60psi water pressure.

In the winter when water production slows, we find the r/o is on most of the week and usually switches off on a Saturday.

I'm in the process of assembling a 4040 for our future use. It isn't up and running yet. I'm under a little pressure now as our membranes in the current r/o have started to fail after 6 years + and our tds has started to rise dramatically this past week.

An HF5 membrane works at a slightly lower pressure than the HF4. Pure Freedom did say that at 60 psi there is very little difference between HF4 and HF5 membranes performance wise. A fellow window cleaner has a Pure Freedom unit and he tells me that it will fill his 1000 litre tank in around 6 hours unboosted. He has an HF4 membrane fitted.

Personally, I would consider the Pure Freedom stand alone system
http://www.purefreedom.co.uk/2400-gpd-high-volume-reverse-osmosis-system-40-membrane-p-610.html
and purchase a used IBC tank and fit the incoming water supply with an on/off solenoid valve.

I did see an advert from Pure Freedom with a complete setup for £950 (recon tank). It would appear from the questions that Tony is new to this side of the business, and from personal experience, the world of r/o was very daunting when I first started. In view of this, having something already set up is a great way of getting started. As I can't see the advert at the moment, I doubt the transfer pump and hose is included - if not this will be extra.

However, I agree with Nicks comments wholeheartedly in that you do need to over buy initially as most find that they do 'grow' very quickly within the first couple of years and need to upgrade.

I presume that Tony's first thread stated that he needed to produce 300 - 450 gallons per day was actually 300 - 450 litres per day. If it wasn't, and he does need 1350 - 2025 litres per day, then he may even need a twin 4040 setup with multiple IBC tanks all linked together.

My son uses a backpack most days, and finds that he uses about 300 litres a day.

Spruce

[Tony Edwards]

       
Have seen this on soap national

Any good ?

300 GPD Pumped
Streamline 300
300 Gallon per day
Compact Free Standing
Booster Pump Fitted
3 x pre filters
1x membrane 300 gpd
Pressure Gauge
Shut off valve
Plug in Timer


VIEW PUMP
Price: £227.00 (Excluding VAT at 20%)

Quantity: 

[Nameless Drudge]

A big factor here is the ratio of pure produced to waste water produced.,basically how much you have to put down the drain to get a litre of pure.The cheaper RO`s tend to not do too well in this respect so long term they work out more expensive if you are on a meter.I think a Merlin RO chucks away about 4 litres of waste water to make 1 litre of pure.Adjust these cheaper ones to waste less water and the TDS spirals up and you start eating resin.

I like to know what i`m doing so i spent hour after hour after hour researching and then took best advice from this forum from posters that had done the same plus had experience of cheaper RO`s.Add in a friendly chat or 2 with June at Gapswater(no need to go bigger than 10 inch prefilters) and there is nothing to surpass a 4040.You need to make your life easy.
        Do things on the cheap and you`ll clean on the cheap,not neccessarily but most likely,its a mindset.

I use a 4040 HF5 unpumped(no electric),mains pressure 46-50 psi,tds in 300,005 out,2 to 1 ratio waste to pure.I put it together on some marine ply and simply lift it inside the house in freezing weather to protect it at night.
 

[richardlingard]

whoever said 450 gpd arnt man enough for window cleaning is sadly wrong,

i run a business with nearly 400 customers 5 days a week using about a 1000 litres a day and make a fantastic wage regulaly exceeding 400 a day. i have a pure freedom 450 gpd ro system which has been abused to the max running every day frequently forgot to flush and change filters, left out in the cold, dropped etc. and this system has never ever in the year and a half that i have had it let me down, i put it on when i get home from work into an ibc tank and turn it off the next morning and its about full.

as a sole trader im about as big as you can be customer base wise, and the 450 gpd unit is more than up to the job

[Tony Edwards]

whoever said 450 gpd arnt man enough for window cleaning is sadly wrong,

i run a business with nearly 400 customers 5 days a week using about a 1000 litres a day and make a fantastic wage regulaly exceeding 400 a day. i have a pure freedom 450 gpd ro system which has been abused to the max running every day frequently forgot to flush and change filters, left out in the cold, dropped etc. and this system has never ever in the year and a half that i have had it let me down, i put it on when i get home from work into an ibc tank and turn it off the next morning and its about full.

as a sole trader im about as big as you can be customer base wise, and the 450 gpd unit is more than up to the job

Richard is this the one ?

seems really cheap


450 GPD Compact Reverse Osmosis System

    

Price Starting at: £191.37 (£229.64 Inc VAT)

[richardlingard]

thats right mate, i promise you this is what you need, you can even double the speed if you buy a booster pump, i took mine off though as i didnt really need it

[Tony Edwards]

thats right mate, i promise you this is what you need, you can even double the speed if you buy a booster pump, i took mine off though as i didnt really need it

Thanks mate. Seems great for the price I just need to add a DI

[richardlingard]

there is no need at all to buy an expensive large di vessel, get a di polishing unit about £30 and change the resin probably about once a month (it doesnt hold much though) this is what i use, i changed from a large vessel costing about 100 and did the same job.

Filters on the ro should be changed around every three months (cheep)
you should flush abotu once a week (yall find out how to do that on here)

[richardlingard]

anything at all i can help you with richard@washmywindows.com

i have probably made and most of the misstakes already that you have come across.

[Nameless Drudge]

there is no need at all to buy an expensive large di vessel, get a di polishing unit about £30 and change the resin probably about once a month (it doesnt hold much though) this is what i use, i changed from a large vessel costing about 100 and did the same job.

Filters on the ro should be changed around every three months (cheep)
you should flush abotu once a week (yall find out how to do that on here)

Hello Richard,this is a good time to do a cost comparison ,what is your tds in/out and what is your waste/pure ratio,also how big is the DI vessel you are changing the resin monthly in.I`m guessing you have a tap running appx. 80-100 hrs a week.
               Judging on everything i`ve read in the past then your system is highly inefficient ,water cost and resin cost may mean your system costs have made a 4040 look like a bargain.I need another RO,i am about to buy one hence my interest in this thread.

[richardlingard]

tds in is about 200 out of the ro its about a 4 and then 0 out of the di vessel the di vessel is a polishing unit, holds only about 1 kilo hence the frequent changing a im not on a water meter and a 25kilo bag of resin lasted meabout 10 months before i had to change it, waste ratio is about 50 /50 and i have the tap on about 60 hours a week, you think this is highly inefficient

[Tony Edwards]

anything at all i can help you with richard@washmywindows.com

i have probably made and most of the misstakes already that you have come across.

Thanks very much mate. Really appreciate all your help and your offer

Thank you

[Nameless Drudge]

tds in is about 200 out of the ro its about a 4 and then 0 out of the di vessel the di vessel is a polishing unit, holds only about 1 kilo hence the frequent changing a im not on a water meter and a 25kilo bag of resin lasted meabout 10 months before i had to change it, waste ratio is about 50 /50 and i have the tap on about 60 hours a week, you think this is highly inefficient

The 50/50 waste to pure is more than impressive and super efficient when its rejecting at 98%,4 out ,200 in.

With them figures it beats a 4040,apart from speed of production,i was led to believe these types of RO didn`t operate so well on waste/pure ratio`s,i`m getting 005 from 300 in but i have 2 to 1 waste.Have you measured the ratio to any degree of accuracy?,i`m nearly incredulous but want to believe.

[richardlingard]

i havent measure with any degree of accuracy, but i will have a go later on with two cups i have the water coming out of the waste pipe at the same speed as the pure pipe though,

[richardlingard]

this is from a previous post from someone else

    Re: Got a spare 5 mins ?
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2010, 03:28:17 pm »    Reply with quote
My TDS in from the tap is 450 - 500 ppm and after the RO unit its around 3 - 4 ppm

The RO unit I have got is a RO Man 300gpd (3 x 100 gpd menbranes) pumped with a booster pump at 95psi

my waste ratio is 50/50

[Spruce]

tds in is about 200 out of the ro its about a 4 and then 0 out of the di vessel the di vessel is a polishing unit, holds only about 1 kilo hence the frequent changing a im not on a water meter and a 25kilo bag of resin lasted meabout 10 months before i had to change it, waste ratio is about 50 /50 and i have the tap on about 60 hours a week, you think this is highly inefficient

The 50/50 waste to pure is more than impressive and super efficient when its rejecting at 98%,4 out ,200 in.

With them figures it beats a 4040,apart from speed of production,i was led to believe these types of RO didn`t operate so well on waste/pure ratio`s,i`m getting 005 from 300 in but i have 2 to 1 waste.Have you measured the ratio to any degree of accuracy?,i`m nearly incredulous but want to believe.

I was once told that the quality of the membranes is the most important issue. RoMan advised me years ago that the price of membranes will aways be cheaper from the 'East' but with poorer quality and efficiency.
The last membranes I fitted were supplied by RoMan and were manufactured in the States and they have served me well over these last 6 years+.  I would always recommend an r/o be purchased from a reputable dealer. Yes the Pure Freedom or RoMan unts are more expensive than some on Ebay, but you know what membranes are fitted to these - good quality ones.

Our water initially was 254 in and 4 out. Peter Fogwill said not to bother with resin as 4 was fine for cleaning. About 4 years ago the water board replaced all our mains pipes and now tds is around 90 in and out between 1 and 2. Resin lasted from filter change to filter change and was changed automatically (the resin filter was the last housing in the system.)

The restrictor fillted is 3 to 1 (3 waste to 1 pure) and we aren't on a meter. The membranes have failed now but they are still producing at a tds of 10, which is what my mates Merlin does on the same water supply since new with much more waste.