ok a cpl of dumb questions

[partobe]

Hi Everyone;
I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a ro/di unit. After chatting with all of you I wish I would have bought one along time ago. The questions I have are. Can I just hook them up to my kitchen faucet? I'm a mechanical idiot and just know I would mess it up if I tried to hook it up under the sink. Once I buy the unit do I have to put stuff in the treated water before putting it in the tank? I also read it has to be hooked up to the cold water side. How do I get it to the correct temp(see I told you the questions were dumb)?
Thanks everyone!

[DebsSisterFlo]

Not dumb at all! I don't know how they work either! When I see them hooked up it sure looks complicated with all those lines running everywhere... and then it seems that it strips absolutely everything out of your water, good and bad, so you have to add all that stuff back to your tank again... sounds like a lot of extra work if you don't mind hair algae!

[partobe]

Ok I'm glad I'm not the only one intimidated by these things. I'm more concern with my nitrates that wont seem to come down.

[Hardhead Cat]

I have my RO/DI unit mounted to the wall by my sink in the laundry room, that way it doesn't interfere with anything going on in the kitchen sink. If you have a secondary sink/faucet you can use, that's probably best. My unit came with every thing, including the mounting hardware, and instructions on how to hook it up. You cannot use hot water it destroys the membrane but it's easier than you think to hook it up.

I also bought a pressure meter with it so I can tell when the water pressure is too high - some of the RO units come with them. You can't run your water full force or the membrane will blow - -

Good luck
HHC

[partobe]

I was looking at one on ebay and it comes with a faucet adapter and that looks really good to the mechanical idiot. I wrote them and asked what to do if for some reason it doesn't fit. HHC- I would only be using for the tank and if I read the web page right I can still use my faucet while using the r/o unit I just have to switch the adapter off. I live in a small apt in ny so I don't have the luxury of a laundry room(but would really love to have one). So if I can't run hot water through it how do I get it to the right temp? Do I nuke some of the treated water?

[zxcv123]

The units come with adaptors that you will manage to hook up to youre faucet after much tinkering without any leakage. There is a carbon blok in most of them that will removed all chlorines. Chlorine destroys the membrane

[reefBoyDc]

You can pretty easily hook it up below the sink. You just need the right parts from a hardware store, and I recommend a valve to turn it off. I attached a pic... my RO is connected to my washing machine cold water faucet, but it's the same principle as connecting it under the sink.

You also need to connect the waste water outlet to a drain.

As far as temp, if you connect it to the cold water pipe, there's no problem.

[Phishnoob]

Got mine connected with a Y adapter and have the hose end hooked to the cold water connection in my laundry room. The Y is available at Walmart for maybe three bucks and the hose end just hooks up to one side. Turn on the valve and off you go making wonderful water.

[yellow submarine]

Originally Posted by partobe

Can I just hook them up to my kitchen faucet?

go to HomeDepot, or Lowes, or Sears, during a slow weekday (not at night and NOT on the weekends when 2nd shift dumbaxx workers are there) and ask for the Plumbing Dept Mgr....they have RO units in stock.....and ask alot of questions.

Originally Posted by partobe

I'm a mechanical idiot and just know I would mess it up if I tried to hook it up under the sink.

if you DIY....you will end up spending more money, frustrate the heck out of yourself and have a halfaxx rig on your hands. call all your friends and family to see if they know of a plumber who works 'on-the-side' at night during 'off' hours. the install is no more than 1hr work for a good plumber. HAVE THEM QUOTE THE JOB and not per hour. total job should around be $100. you may also stumble across a friend or distant familymember who has good plumbing skills they'd probably do it in exchange for beer and pizza.....keep the beer out of sight until AFTER the job ;-)

Originally Posted by partobe

Once I buy the unit do I have to put stuff in the treated water before putting it in the tank?......How do I get it to the correct temp(see I told you the questions were dumb?

the RO unit has some type of value or faucet for you to get the water out of the RO tank:

1) tap the RO tank water and put in a 50gal plastic garbage can (with wheels!) or whatever rig you come up with....hopefully your tank, your RO unit and plans to keep this can all are on the same floor-level!!!! SW is about 8lbs per gallon of weight...making the garbage can impossible to move from one level to another.

2) you then add InstantOcean saltmix and other chemical you use

3) you then HEAT the water with an extra submersible aquarium heater

4) you use an airpump and an airstone and age the water for 1 day until water temp is exactly at your tank temp.....

5) BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WITH THE ELECTRICAL DEVICES such as the heater and airpump. have them plugged into a Ground-Fault-Interrupt (GFI) receptacle (if you have a newer home - you have one of these right next to your bathroom sink) (have one installed where you plan to keep your aquarium garbage can)

6) then you pump the water out using a tube connected to a powerhead....and the powerhead is laying on the bottom of the garbage can

[fchidsey]

Ok no such thing as dumb questions espesially here.

1. how ever you hook up you ro/di unit DO NOT use a copper line puncture clamp (this is a clamp that covers the copper line and then you screw a pin into the line that then feeds the water to the RO/DI unit.) over time they leak and will cause problems. I would turn off the cold water supplie to the sink or the hot water heater or where ever you are going to put it then install a TEE. from there you will reconnect the line back to what ever device it was suppling (ie hot water or sink) on the other part of the TEE connect the fitting to the RO/DI unit. run the waste water line to a drain and the clean water to a container or some sort.
If you take the unit to the store the plumbing people should be able to assist you with all of the neccessarty fitting required for the installation.

mine is from home depot and makes 25 gal per day it get stored in a tank that came with the kit and is also hooked up to the frige so I can have clean water in my ice and to drink.

plus everybody here would be able to help with a couple of pics.

as for the temp what ever you store the water in will be room temp and it does not make water so fast that it will be colder.

Fred

[skeety]

not sure if this will help or not, but:

http://thesodafamily.com/s0da/ro_di.html

[tdwyatt]

Heh!

I have all the stuff to do an install for Cath so she can use a RO/DI machine, one of these days I will get a round tuit...

since her birthday my work schedule seems to have jumped in the way of having any time to do projects...

excuse of the week

[tdwyatt]

oh yeah, btw, thee are no dumb questions here on TRT unless they go unasked...


There's a lot to learn by everyone (including me) here about keeping corals in closed systems.

[seshapir]

Mine is hooked up to the kitchen sink. It's a lovely addition to my kitchen counter!! The company we purchased our RO/DI from also offered the adapter. I'm also a technical idiot and thought I was going to have a hard time hooking it up. Let me tell you, if I can do it anyone can!

[NYer]

Ok I love that copper line screw in tap, not only does it make the whole installation take about 5 minutes it can be used as an on/off valve.
If it goes bad or leaks 'over time' you can replace it for like $5.
(just remember to put it over the tap turn off valve, and put the hose in before tapping.

Any way RO is the one easy installation for your whole saltwater hobby.
3 lines
1. Taps into copper cold water lead under sink (use that puncture valve)
2. Drill 1/4inch into sink waste line pvc and SILICONE the pipe (dont drill through it and hit hte otehr side )
3. Goes onto some sort of tank. (save and collect water)

Essentially that is it.