Ebay RO/DI

[Tim224DT]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...382838448&rd=1

I went to ebay like some members of TRT told me to, Im looking for a decent RO/DI unit. The shipping is $22.50 and the unit is $69.99. Has anyone ever bought this same unit off of ebay?

Tim

[ski1297]

I was looking at the same unit.

[Loverotties]

That look nice and replacements are cheap too!

[yardboy]

I hope you don't mind if I take this opportunity to make a comment about your question.

First, I think you should look really carefully at the makeup of this unit before you consider buying it. Study what RO/DI is, and how it works, and also know something about the quality of your tapwater, which the unit will be having to treat. As you probably know, first in the set is a prefilter that removes solid particles that can foul the RO or clog the DI. Second is a carbon filter that removes organics and chlorine that can damage the RO. The RO (reverse osmosis) unit removes a percentage of the contaminants (often called "salts"). We consider an RO dirty when it falls to <95% salt rejection. The 5% of salts left are removed by the DI resin. How do you know how pure the final product is? A conductivity meter that reads in "total dissolved solids" can tell you. The length of time you can run a RO/DI before you have to change the membrane and/or DI resin depends on makeup water, but as importantly, the effectiveness of the RO. Anything that gets through the RO will have to be removed by the DI resin. If the volume of DI resin in the system is small, it will have to be changed out more often.
Each step of the system requires high quality materials to remove the burden off the next step in the system. How much money have you saved if you pay $100 (which is about what that system costs including shipping and handling) and get 300 gallons of high quality water before resin changes and membrane replacement, if you even know when they must be replaced, or $250 for for a system that you'll get 1000 gallons of known quality water before the DI resin needs to be replaced.
None of our sponsors sells a RO/DI unit that sells for <$100 (I haven't seen) I think because it can't be done, and you'd have no real way of knowing if it was good or not. I've heard too many stories, and you'll probably hear them too, of people who buy these type units, swear they are great, get all kinds of quantity out of them, don't know the quality, then complain later when algae overruns their tank.
My soapbox on all this is everyone here is here because a group of sponsors thinks by supporting this forum so we can use it for free, they'll get more business. If not, they will leave and eventually the forum will close because I doubt there are many who will pay for the privelege of using it. I've bought products from most of our sponsors and in general I've been very pleased with their products and service. If not, I don't hesitate to say something about it to them, and to the forum. There have been very few problems with our sponsors, and those we have had are gone. Please, at least look and consider our sponsors stuff. If something is too cheap, there is probably a very good reason for it.
You may go ahead and buy the system off eBay. Good luck with it, and good luck it you don't have luck and try and send it back.

[VWD]

I think Yardboy said it all, You get what You pay for , Like I have said in the past,You have to be careful as many units are made very cheap. I have a spectrapure cost maybe 3 time that. also TDS meter on it .

[chlskt]

I have that unit, I've had it running for about 3 months now and I have had no problems with it. My RO/DI water tests at 1ppm. My tap is about 157ppm. I don't constantly use it. I turn it on about once a week.

[wharyat]

I got mine (4 stage 75 GPD) of ebay but it was pretty expensive; it also works like what I paid for it. Not all ebay ones are bad; but units under $100 I am a little skeptical of.

[menelaus22]

I'd go for it personally. But, I'd probably be telling you it's crap if I spent $400 on my Ro/di.

[yardboy]

I spent $250 for mine, but I won't say the one mentioned above is crap. Crap usually has a way of floating to the top anyway.

[volitansman]

I bought one from Aquasafe systems on ebay and I love it, it works perfectly and the cost was the same as the one mentioned above.

[Booboo33062]

I bought the same unit on e-bay and found it was a great choice. I've used it a few times already and have no problems. I couldn't afford the $250.00 ones right now and this was the only way for me. I wouldn't have done it any other way. I'm a newbie though.

[Tim224DT]

Thanks for everyones input. I cant afford the $250 ones either right now. Im going to keep looking around......If i remember i think my LFS has a pure-flo II 100GPD 5 stage RO/DI for like $160. I would have to give them a call.

Tim

[VWD]

Well Tim I think You got some good feedback here on the RO/DI unit from e-bay, Everyone here that has one from the seller on e-bay is happy with it.

[volitansman]

Here is a link to the type I bought if you want to take a look at it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4383524741

[Chief]

I bought an Aquasafe RO/DI off of Ebay and it works great. 43ppm in, 0ppm out.

Jay