How/Where To Hook-up RO/DI Filter????

[DennisW]

I got a new ro/di filter for christmas! Yeah!!!!!! A couple questions. If the minumum temperature of the incoming water is to be greater than 40 degrees, how could you hook it up to a garden hose or even a "cold water only" supply???? Isnt the temp of the incoming city water less than 40 degrees?????? Where do you have your filter hooked up? Please share!

Merry Christmas!!!!!
Thanks!

Dennis

[Doug1]

Dennis I put a T in the cold water pipe for the washer, ran a 2' pipe over closer to the RO, with a hose bib on the end. I can wrap it with heat tape if needed

[Doug1]

OK I lied , its more like 18" but you get the idea

[Big Dave]

Hey Dennis-

I still have mine hooked up to the hose outside. I haven't seem to have any problems that I know about. Eventually, it will get hooked up to the washing machine or in the garage. I just need to find a good drain area. I also want to get an auto-shutoff on there too, especially if it is inside the house.

-Big Dave

PS - BTW, the corals look great, even the pretty little green things!

[steveweast]

Dennis...this is a problem that we northerners face.....cold tap water. A heat tape would probably only add a few degrees to the water temp due to the short dwell time. In summer time, it takes 2 days to fill my water change resevoir...this time of year it takes four. This is why I have a unit that is rated for 180 gal/day...because reality is about 40 gal/day in winter. The only solution that I can think of is to have a small house water heater for the RO unit...I'm not ready to go to that extreme yet. Let me know if you come across a better solution.

[mullan2]

I purchased a saddle valve from aquatic reef systems. You drill a hole into you PVC inlet pipe and attach the valve. The unit then drips into my eurofil sump for topoff.

[DennisW]

Thanks a lot everyone! I went the "Big Dave" route. Garden hose fitting! Hope it dosent freeze!

Steve...I will let you know if I hear of a better way. And if YOU hear a better way......

Doug and Mullan, thanks for the info and the pic!!!

Dennis

[Doug1]

Mine is a 24 gpd Kent. Its slow enough that the warth absorbed thru the piping and heat tape does make a bit of difference. They always say dont use hot water, but how about a blended source that was closer to optimum temp.
Is hot water not recommended because of potential damage to the membrane , plastic housings from HOT water?

[cyberchef]

Originally posted by Doug1
They always say dont use hot water, but how about a blended source that was closer to optimum temp.
Is hot water not recommended because of potential damage to the membrane , plastic housings from HOT water?

As long as you could accurately control the temp so that it didn't get too hot, mixing hot and cold would be fine. Hot water causes the membrane to stretch and let unwanted particles thru as well as it can damage/destroy the membrane.

[DennisW]

For the filter that I got (and I would assume most others), 70 degrees is optimal for water temp. I heard a story of a guy that used water directly out of his hot water heater and fried ALL the membrane/filters in the unit.

Dennis

[Doug1]

OK I think the trick would be to Tee into both H/C pipes with faucets on each. Then it should be easy to just trickle hot water in to raise the temp. You could even add an inline thermometer. Nice stainless type similar to a meat thermometer but calibrated for the range we want should be available at photog supply. They even make an expensive style you plumb in line for monitoring water temp during film proccessing, but the regular on could be epoxied into a drilled plug and threaded into a Tee on the water line after the pipes join