[lee_dewing]

merry xmas -happy new year everyone!

I want to change over to wfp next spring need some advice please.
been onto a company called gardiner pole systems on internet, lady kirsty was very helpful, build your own vehicle system for around £1000 mark.

was sent info 400 ltr tank hopefully fit in my ford escort van need to measure up!
Told this amount of water would last me all day.
runs with merlin(as you go) ro system, this suits me, i thought as i was told it's very quick filtration.

my problem is i live in a flat with no room for water tanks, i am also on water meter.
so i thought i would travel and fill up at parents house 20 mins away, was hoping this would take an hour in morning, to fill up.
    now found out that merlin ro system at very best would take 3hrs to fill my van, another idea was to fill a tank in parents garage overnight and then transfer to my ford escort,(how long would this take to transfer from 1tank to van tank?) but don't want take over all their garage with massive water tanks.
other idea is to run trolley system di but live in essex hardwater area,
  any ideas how much this would cost me a week, say you were going to do 12 3 bed semis a day, (i wish i had this much work!)
   help anyone, is there a ro system that could fill 400ltr in an hour?
  is  anyone  out there, running a di system in a hard water area?
any advice greatly recieved, any one know of d.i.y wfp sites.

   many thanks lee

[matt]

lee

DIY WFP below

http://www.d.co.uk

The "i live in a flat question has been asked B4"

http://d.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=111&highlight=flat

[REVIVE-A-DRIVE]

hi lee
i also live in a flat in essex, i did the di only as i didn't no any better and 11 litres of resin lasted about 4 days.
in the end i brought 200gpd ro and filled up a garden water butt that i have in a cupboard in my flat,
when i need to fill my van i run a hose down to the van( it's a pain in the ass as i have to run it along the balconey then down to my van) but fills up i less than an hour.
i looked at the merlin, but with high tds levels that we have the tds from the merlin would still be high.
i have a transfer pump, but because it has to pump alond distance it'sbit slow, i no some peoples pumps fill there tanks in 10 minutes.

[JM123]

get yourself a 1000ltr IBC tank and have the merlin running into it - put a 10Inch di or a di vessel after the merlin before it runs into the tank - cheap and resin will last ages.  I have a 1000ltr IBC with 1 inch hose from it to the trailer tank - fills 650ltrs in about 10mins.  400ltrs lasts most people all day but I use just over 500 normally.  I have my IBC raised off the ground so it gravity feeds or you can get a submersible pump for £50 that will pump around 100ltrs a min.

Less time spent filling up means more time working.

[Ian_Giles]

Well the first thing you should be aware of is that your tank is way to big for an escort van!
I'm not sure, but I've heard it said on the forum that 250l is about the max size you should go for.

You don't need an awful lot of space for a water butt, try getting a garden one, about 300-350l.
The R/O takes up very little space.
I've used WFP for 21 months now, and have so far only used as much as 300l in a single day on only 1 or 2 occasions.
I have seen on Gardiners site that they do submersible pumps at a very reasonable price (a bloody sight cheaper than the place I got an identical one from too )
Mine pumps out 135l (or is that 125l??) of water a minute, that fills up my tank in no time. Fed through a 1inch hose.

I have to pump it 45m up the garden, and it empties my 350l water butt in about 7 minutes.

My own R/O is much slower than than the Merlin, but it still fills up my water butt every day, but it does have the advantage of producing water prior to going through the DI resin at about 0.000-0.002 ppm on the TDS meter.
I understand that the merlin takes the water down to about 0.015 ppm prior to going through the DI.
Costs me hardly anything at all in resin.

The average semi will use up about 15-20l of water on a regular clean, and the average semi will take you about 10 minutes to clean with WFP.

Cost per litlre will depend on how hard your water is, and how low the Merlin will take the reading down too.
If you are producing about 200l a day, and the water is at 0.015ppm then you'll go through about a litre of resin a week...or at least that was what I was going through when my R/O lost efficiency
My own fault for not flushing the membranes regularly...or not at all for over 12 months
Live and learn though


Ian

[JM123]

Well the first thing you should be aware of is that your tank is way to big for an escort van!
I'm not sure, but I've heard it said on the forum that 250l is about the max size you should go for.

You don't need an awful lot of space for a water butt, try getting a garden one, about 300-350l.
The R/O takes up very little space.
I've used WFP for 21 months now, and have so far only used as much as 300l in a single day on only 1 or 2 occasions.
I have seen on Gardiners site that they do submersible pumps at a very reasonable price (a bloody sight cheaper than the place I got an identical one from too )
Mine pumps out 135l (or is that 125l??) of water a minute, that fills up my tank in no time. Fed through a 1inch hose.

I have to pump it 45m up the garden, and it empties my 350l water butt in about 7 minutes.

My own R/O is much slower than than the Merlin, but it still fills up my water butt every day, but it does have the advantage of producing water prior to going through the DI resin at about 0.000-0.002 ppm on the TDS meter.
I understand that the merlin takes the water down to about 0.015 ppm prior to going through the DI.
Costs me hardly anything at all in resin.

The average semi will use up about 15-20l of water on a regular clean, and the average semi will take you about 10 minutes to clean with WFP.

Cost per litlre will depend on how hard your water is, and how low the Merlin will take the reading down too.
If you are producing about 200l a day, and the water is at 0.015ppm then you'll go through about a litre of resin a week...or at least that was what I was going through when my R/O lost efficiency
My own fault for not flushing the membranes regularly...or not at all for over 12 months
Live and learn though


Ian

Usually the merlin takes it down to around 2ppm - I thought there shouldn't be a problem with a 400ltr tank? - if you want to fit it yourself remember that even a smaller 250ltr tank will kill you if it can move forward in an accident so if in doubt contact Reuben Reynolds or someone at Ionic Systems about a 300ltr system, expensive but are very good and can be fitted the FMVS standard (crash protection) - that's my only concern - I've seen a lot of systems van mounted with nothing between the tank and the driver and the tank not even held in place, remember the most valuable thing in the van will be yourself.

[Ian_Giles]

Has something changed about the Merlin?
I know hen it was first being bandied about, though it produced purified water at a pretty rapid rate, the trade off was the fact that the R/O only brought the water down to 0.015ppm or there or thereabouts.

Or does it depend on the starting point of your water reading?

No matter, its a good unit regardless.

But the size of the tank does matter!

400l is 400k and that is more than an escort van can legally carry, or it certainly would be when you factor in a tankfull of fuel, driver and possible passenger, weight of other equipment.
Gross payload is I think around 550k.

Whatever you put in there, make sure you fix it in securely!!


Ian

[Alex Gardiner]

The chaps have all made some good points, here lee.

Kirsty is putting together a price for a 400 litre per hour RO system (yes it is possible) look out for an email from her soon.

If you had a system this fast you could make do with a 250 litre tank and just make a bit more whilst out at a customers during the day.

Alex

[kingfisher]

My Merlin produces water at 22tds going in at 247tds

I think you would have to start off with a prety low tds reading from your tap to get it down to 2 tds.

Kev

[Jeff Brimble]

Justa Q about Merlin.
If you slow down the intake pressure/flow, does the tds improve ?

[lee_dewing]

thanks all,
much appriecated.
hope the xmas tips are flying in!
merry xmas!
lee