[Cliff perkins]

hi al
does anybody put the waste water from their ro unit back into an ivc for example and then run that though the ro again to save on their water usage ?
or does it knacker up the membrane

regards

[Spruce]

You may be better able to answer that question if you take some tap readings with your system in operation.

Tap tds,

Pure tds after r/o

waste tds.

Lee Pryor did mention on one of his videos that he had a system that recycled some of his waste water if memory serves me correctly.

Membranes will have a reduced life as the tds of the waste water in much higher than your tap water. It's one of those situations that require you to balance the cost of early membrane replacement against the reduction of metered water costs.

I do feel for you guys on a meter. We have used 23000 litres this past 6 weeks of which about 10000 litres would be for window cleaning. This is a low consumption as we haven't done that much work because of the high winds.

[Cliff perkins]

hiya
haven't even got my 1st water bill yet but I'm already looking at ways of how to reduce it.
might even go into rain water harvesting yet and buy 3 or 4 ibc tanks

[daveappleby]

I think I read somewhere that you first filter the water and the waste obviously has a high TDS. Then you re-filter it then that waste (from first re-cycle) has a higher TDS and so it goes on with your TDS gradually getting higher and higher and so then the RO will stop working quicker???

[LBWCS]

I'm doing this now with my Merlin. As the waste ratio is so hi I'm gona keep doing it until the Merlin is done and then go for a 4040, having less waste

[Cliff perkins]

hi
i have a 4040 and a booster pump clarke cbm240e

I'm just seeing if anybody knows any tricks to reduce the water usage.

i just thought if i try to recycle the wastes water and put that through again i might be able to half my water bill.

if I'm barking up the wrong tree I'm sure somebody will have more knowledge or at least tried it and thinks it might not be worth it.

will go measure my waste water now and come back with a reading

[Cliff perkins]

my tap tds is about 225 and my ro waste is about 240

[Cliff perkins]

my tap tds is about 225 and my ro waste is about 240

not much in it from what i see if i put it back though again i will be saving myself water and reducing my water bill

regards

[Spruce]

my tap tds is about 225 and my ro waste is about 240

not much in it from what i see if i put it back though again i will be saving myself water and reducing my water bill

regards

That's not a big differential between tap and waste tds. Have you any idea what your waste to pure ratio is?

I have found that my system works well with about 50/50 waste to pure. I have also discovered that I can throttle the waste valve back a fair bit more and still retain the same tds output. If I throttle it back a little more, then the pure tds will go up a couple of points, but the slight extra cost of resin and reduced service life of the membrane will be more than paid for by the savings in water.

Rain water harvesting is also a good solution to top up your present needs, although you will have to factor in some small pump to transfer water through a filter and di vessel into your main tank.

[Clever Forum Name]

Sub meter sounds very attractive.

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=176832.msg1494488#msg1494488

[Cliff perkins]

how do i work out my waste to pure ratio

i got my setup from pure freedom and have the tap setting setup the way they told me to.
i open it all the way to flush it and close it all the way to produce pure water.

any tips might help
cheers cliff

[Spruce]

how do i work out my waste to pure ratio

i got my setup from pure freedom and have the tap setting setup the way they told me to.
i open it all the way to flush it and close it all the way to produce pure water.

any tips might help
cheers cliff

The easiest way is to fill two 25 liter containers at the same time. If they both fill at exactly the same time then you have a ratio of 50 waste to 50 pure.

If you fill the waste container and only half fill the pure container then your ratio is 2 to 1.

A fellow window cleaner has a PF 4040 and they use a brass gatevalve with a tiny hole drilled through the gate. It would be interesting to hear what their ratio is 'fixed' at because I think its quite tight to start with.

[Spruce]

On another thread Ionics do a unit called a ro-back which returns some waste water back through the r/i membrane

[Darren Spreadbury]

add another 4040 filter and run the waste through that, also phone the water board up and TELL them that your putting a meter in your van and that you will give them a reading every month and that will bring down your wastewater charge.

[Cliff perkins]

Thanks
Will find out water ratio tomoz

[Jonny 87]

It's a bit of a weird misconception that it is a terrible thing to put water down a drain because of all the waste. Children in Africa would love to have that water etc etc.....

Water goes down the drain, into the sewage system and is recycled back for use again. The only issue is cost to yourself. You don't exactly "waste" water .

There is exactly the same amount of water on the earth now, as there was  a few thousand years ago.

It's all one big cycle.

 

[Cliff perkins]

Water waste ratio is st at 50/50

[Spruce]

It's a bit of a weird misconception that it is a terrible thing to put water down a drain because of all the waste. Children in Africa would love to have that water etc etc.....

Water goes down the drain, into the sewage system and is recycled back for use again. The only issue is cost to yourself. You don't exactly "waste" water .

There is exactly the same amount of water on the earth now, as there was  a few thousand years ago.

It's all one big cycle.

 

I totally agree. Putting waste water down the drain is recycling but as you say its to do with cost.

[Cliff perkins]

tap tds and waste tds are practically the same.

i get a reading of 8 out my ro before it goes through di

I've got a ivc tank cleaned out today and I'm going to fill it up with waste water and then when its full I'm going to put it through the ro again and measure the results.

phoned up thames water and asked for a discount on mt waste to seer charges and they will call me back in 6 days.

now of to ebay to get a water meter.

have you lot that have fitted a water meter just stick it between a bit of hose in van or do you put it straight after your garden tap.

regards